hi everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm joined here today by dr. grant colfax. and thank you rodney fong from the san francisco chamber of commerce. and we are at e.m.s. pilates studio and this is a place we wanted to come here today and as of today, august 20th, the new health order goes into effect with bars indoors and

gyms and studios like this are required to show proof of vaccination. and i want to start by saying this isn't about punishment. this is about trying to get our city to a better place. and it could be a lot worse if we've never even had a vaccine. and so yesterday, i went to the philmore western edition community, the place where i grew up and ms. cook, she and i attended the same church. i've known her my whole life. her son is a little bit older than me. he got sick. he refused to get vaccinated. within a week or so's time, he was in the hospital and sadly passed away and ms. cook talked

about how and how when our son came to see her, she was worried because she has had the vaccine, but she has underlying health conditions and was concerned about her health. she loves her son but she begged him to get vaccinated and the pain and hurt is really something that others are experiencing because what we're seeing was about 117 people in the hospital now when we were just not too long ago at less than ten people in the hospital. what we're seeing, we're, of course, very concerned about and we're especially worried about our children who are under the age of 12 who can't even get vaccinated. and so this requirement again, it's not about a punishment, it's really about a chance to try and get us moving in the right direction and keeping people safe. in san francisco, we have really been the model for the rest of the country. i'm really proud of the people

here. we have 79% of san franciscans that are eligible to get the vaccine that have been vaccinated. so that is absolutely amazing and i'm really grateful, but there are more people that we need to make sure get vaccinated. i'm tired of wearing masks. i'm tired of covid just like all of you. i'm tired of talking about covid, but just because we're tired of it, downtown mean it's tired of us and it's back here with its delta vengeance. what's interesting is i am getting more phone calls from people that i actually know that are getting covid. it's happening more regularly and in some cases, some of those people are actually vaccinated, i'm getting more phone calls from people who are telling me that their family member is in the hospital and they want to go see them and

there's a whole other situation that happens as it relates to that and this is like nothing that i've experienced even throughout this 16 months of dealing with covid. so what's important now as we try to get to that finish line, we keep talking about this light at the end of the tunnel, we're finally able to see one another again. we're finally able to go to restaurants and dine together and spend time with one another because during the pandemic, it was very difficult for us to do that and if we want to continue down that pads, as much as it's hard to continue to come out here and say i need you to do this, i need you to do that, i need you to do this, i don't want to keep saying that we need to implement health orders. >> i want us to be free to do the things we did before this pandemic existed. when i look at the data and what's happening in san

francisco and other parts of the country. i think about what we need to do and our goal is to beat back this virus once again and that's why we're implementing this new health order. it goes into effect today, we are trying to do everything we can to reach out and support businesses. we ask customers to comply with what businesses ask you to do. so, for example, we're asking for indoors to require the vaccination card and there's some restaurants who are choosing to do it for outdoors and if they ask you to show proof, please just comply. please, just comply with our health orders. it's not something that we're doing as a punishment and i just want to take us back just a little bit before i introduce dr. grant colfax, when this virus first hit san francisco or right before it first hit san francisco, a lot of us didn't know what was going on, how you would contract it, what's happening. we remember the ship that was stranded in the middle of the

bay and everyone concerned and all the uncertainty and all the fear because we didn't completely know what was going on and over time, we not only found out what was going on, but there were concerns expressed about whether or not we'd have a vaccine, you know, in the year or two and the fact that we have three options for vaccination has been absolutely incredible and dr. colfax will tell you about 1800 people that have been hospitalized since december onest of last year, only six of those people were vaccinated. so the whole point of these vaccines have a lot to do with keeping you out of the hospital. we're not saying you may not get covid. what we're saying is the difference between the sniffles and being home sick a few days and suffocating ending up in the hospital on a respirator and dying. that's what this is about.

so we're here to announce these new health orders to ask people in san francisco to comply and to be understanding. we want to get back to the life that we once knew. i want to go to a concert. i want to go hang out with my friends and settings and not worry about all these distancing requirements. i want to have a good time in san francisco and how do we get there? get vaccinated. get vaccinated so that we can continue to move forward and continue to make sure that san francisco is one of the safest cities as it relates to covid in the u.s. and, with that, i want to introduce dr. grant col fax to talk a little bit more about what is really going on. ladies and gentlemen, dr. grant colfax. >> good morning sxefsh thank you mayor breed for your continued leadership as we continue to work and reach out

to the business community moving together during this pandemic. i want to acknowledge our key partners in had this audience including kate sofis. rodney fong president and ceo of the chamber of commerce. it's great to see both of you and i want to thank tracy sill sylvester owner of this pilates studio. we know now covid is going to be with us for the foreseeable future. this is about the delta surge right now. it could be about the next variant fuelled search next. so getting vaccinated is so important. we're mott only worried about the suffering of this fourth surge, but we're also needing to do everything we can to keep the city as open as possible and continue our in-person learning with kids in school. and, today, requiring the proof

of vaccination to serve food and drinks or indoor events as another step forward as we continue to address the pandemic. this is navigating our new normal. we're here, d.p.h. is here to support businesses with the tools, signage, information, and other support to offer as we implement this order. and just a reminder that we will continue to send the vax to you team out to businesses to vaccinate five or more employees. that team has been busy. we asked businesses to take advantage of that. we will come to you and provide vaccines. in addition to implementing this order and i really also want to acknowledge dr. navina baba and dr. susan phillips on their work on implementing drafting the order and implementing the order, we've had a really busy week here at the department of public health. we have scaled up a new testing

site, high volume testing site which can administer up to 500 tests a day with turn around time in 24 to 48 hours and we also issued a new health order requiring large health care systems to provide testing within 24 hours for their patients and to turn those tests around within 48 hours and to report back to the health department on progress with regard to that. we've also implemented the cdc recommendation that immuno compromised people implement a third vaccine. and people take advantage of that at our many hospital clinics. our primary care clinics and drop-in centers for vaccination. our strategy continues to be to protect the most vulnerable due to covid-19 and, again, part of that is working with our business community to ensure that everybody has the opportunity who is eligible to get vaccinated, to protect our

children under 12 who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated so that we can get through this surge together and be as ready prepared for what may be the next. thank you. >> thank you, dr. colfax. i don't know about you, but i want to go to the movies and eat popcorn and have a drink when i'm in the movie theater. don't you think it's about time? let's get vaccinated so we can do that too. with that, i want to introduce kate sofis to talk a little bit about what we are doing to help support businesses during this time. >> thank you, mayor. thank you for your continued leadership and thanks to dr. colfax and our department of public health. as i stand here today, i deeply appreciate and recognize that so much of the responsibility to move us forward lies on the backs of our small businesses

and the leadership of our small businesses and we're about to hear from one that i'm personally so proud of that we stand before today. we have always been a city that's been at the forefront of things in this country. and, it is no surprise to me that we are stepping forward in advance of other cities and other communities and taking such an aggressive stance in trying to keep our community healthy and safe and so have these opportunities it's all what makes us want to be here to raise our children and live here and work here. i am proud as the head of the office of economic development. to make sure small businesses wherever they present in this

community have the support they mead to be able to effectively implement this health order to be able to properly implement this order. that includes signage. it includes training on how to check a vaccine card whether it's local or from other part of the country or from a visitor abroad. so i encourage all of you to go to that resource and then we have a wonderful team who are ready now to be able to work with any of our businesses or employees who have questions about how to comply with this order. point in time again, today, august 20th is the day when we were asking all customers who come into restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, places where you take off your mask to eat or drink or places like gyms and pilates studios where

you leave your mask on but you are breathing more heavily, these are really the two circumstances that the science shows there's a high orising of transmission and that is why we are focusing on these businesses. but we stand at the ready and able. i'm so proud of us as a city and, with that, i want to give the final comment here today to one of our very own businesses. i'd like to call up tracy, tracy sylvester who is the owner of the e.h.c. pilates. this is a business that has started for vaccine status. we are standing in front of 30 years and i want to recognize you for your accomplishment, your leadership, and, with that, you have the floor. >> hi everyone. my name's tracy sylvester. i first want to thank mayor

breed. it's been a really rough year and a half, but we're standing here today with a team of people ready to serve and we just wanted to share our story. we have been rolling out the vaccination status requirements today and with the leadership of the bar community that got together and decided to do this i think about a month ago, we really have been waiting in the wings. we tested systems in place to see how we would do it. we were talking to our customers, getting our staff prepared and so we can confidently walk into this new landscape together and i invite all the other business community members to join if you have any questions and want to know what it's been like here, we actually have had a tremendous response of support from all of our clients and our entire staff. we were almost being asked to do this and we were just again waiting for that full throated

support of our leadership. it gives us a way to be able to take an act in the public health of the public health and make sure that we are all safe and we are about energy, health, and strength and we are embracing this moment and invite the rest of our community to join us. [applause] >> thank you so much, tracy. and i've got to say thank you to the bar owners, to the restaurants and to e.h.s. and tracy and others because what i found out from talking to not only many of those people, but also many of their employees, what they were noticing was that some of their employees who were vaccinated were getting sick and they were concerned about being able to stay open. it has already been challenging to find employees to work at

many of these establishments and this was just a step that they felt was needed. many of their employees expressed a desire to see it happen because i know there are folks saying how are small businesses have enough to do? how are they going to implement this? it's just another thing that's added that's going to make things better in the long run and most people are willing to comply. and i want to express my appreciation because i'm sure many of you like going out to these places in the city and especially a lot of restaurants and i love what san francisco has become. the one good thing from the pandemic are these shared spaces where you can have dinner and hang out with your friends outside. even when it's freezing cold. we're used to this weather in san francisco. it's what we're used to as san franciscans and the fact is it has been great, but we're still in this pandemic.

we still have work to do and we're still very much appreciative to each and every one of you for being apart of the solution. let's continue to get vaccinated. let's continue to encourage others. yesterday, i was holding a man's hand said i'm only going to get vaccinated because you're holding my hand and i was like all right. and he was squeezing tight and he got it done. i know it took a lot of courage for him to do that and i get it. it's not easy. everyone who gets vaccinated, you're doing it not just for yourself, but you're doing it for your fellow san franciscans. and, please, support the health orders. we'll be out there monitoring, but most important, we'll be out there to educate people and to provide resources and support to ensure that there is compliance. this is not about punishment. this is about education. it's about helping to get our city through this pandemic and thank you all again so much for

coming. [applause] >> and, we can do a few questions with the press. >> i really want to see health and safety too and some of what i'm [inaudible] people vaccinated it still transmits the disease, but it mitt mitigates the disease. [inaudible] and people who are against the vaccine and, two, rapid testing at sites. [inaudible] and go see a doctor >> thank you for your question. i'm going to let dr. colfax talk about because they knows the latest of what's happening. >> so thank you for those questions. with regard to people who are vaccinated, we know people who are fully vaccinated can still

contract covid-19. thankfully for the vast majority of those people, the symptoms will be mild to moderate. as you know, the cdc did determine people who are fully vaccinated can transmit the virus. we're still waiting to determine how long they can transmit the virus and how much they can transmit it compared to people who are not fully vaccinated. that's the key piece. i think with regard to ongoing vaccine research. that's something that's being done and supported by the national institutes of health and cdc. these vaccines we have right now are really good. i can't comment on the nasal, any plausibility around a nasal vaccine. i will say we do have a one shot for people who don't want two shots. so that's great and we'll continue to see these vaccines in a very positive way as we learn more about the virus and variants. with regard to rapid test kits,

we're very much supportive of people using those and supporting them. we're working with community organizations to distribute home test kits when possible and plausible and that's another tool that we have now to help get this pandemic under control. we're encouraging people to get tested particularly if they've been exposed to covid-19 or, of course, who has any type of symptoms. >> and, i'll just say for the testing, we just opened another site at 7th and branding and soma and the whole point of having these testing sites are really to, we don't turn anyone away, but we try to make them available for people who may not have insurance and who employers require testing for whatever reason. if you're trying to get tested for your vacation, please contact your health care provider. we've also put forward some requirements from private health care providers to be, you know, just more responsive,

faster with providing testing for people. really, we want you to focus on your health care provider if you have insurance, but especially for those who don't have insurance, we wanted to provide those options. i also know they sell these rapid test kits in a number of pharmacies and so they are available as well. the tests that we provide is also free and we want to make sure people without insurance have access to testing. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> no i'm not. we have a plan in place. we have required at this time that everyone at least reports what their vaccination status is and we're talking about a very small number of people that have been suspended and we

have been prepared for that. so we're not concerned about first responders, but we are not going to deviate from our requirement to ensure that every city employee is vaccinated because not only does it impact the people that they work with, it also impacts the public that they work with. so we want to do our part as a city to protect the public and we will continue to take the appropriate steps necessary to do just that. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> so we have -- we do have a number of scheduled outdoor events and, for example, we know outside lands is coming up and we're working very closely with them and the goal is to require proof of vaccination for events that have 5,000 or more people in an outdoor environment and so we're

working with the promoters for a number of these large scale events to put forth the appropriate plan to provide people. so they are well aware in advance before they attend the event. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> no. you do not have to have a smartphone, you can have your actual vaccination card. some people will use a photo of their vaccination card. some people will upload it with the state system so they can show it's been verified. right now, we're not trying to get into micromanaging of what you show. we just want to make sure people get into the habit of showing proof and everything is contingent upon the data and what we start to see with the numbers and what happens in covid with san francisco and whether or not we take that a step further and require they be verified, but for now, we're doing it this way to make it as

easy as possible for people in & those businesses. and the people that want to attend those businesses. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> well, you have been the help. the press has been very helpful with communicating that. i think also i've noticed that people have already been asking for it. so i think that most people realize we're in a pandemic, we're still dealing with it, so it's a thing that people expect. so i think the word is getting out especially through the press. i think that's very helpful. i also think that businesses, when you sometimes book your reservation, they give you information about what their requirements are and even people when they book flights and you're starting to do things online, they're saying look at the requirements and there's a way to see what the requirements of an establishment are. so i think for the most part, you know, we're going to do our very best to get it out there

and this is just many of the things we're trying to do as a possible solution to get things better. we'll be monitoring the numbers closely and revisit these policies if we see improvements. we can lift policies and make changes. for now, this is just another thing we have to do. we're living with covid. san franciscans are resilient. we adapt. we keep moving. we're able to still go out and see one another like never before. so we'll keep doing what we can to get the word out. thanks everyone.

>> clerk: fire commission regular meeting august 25, 2021, and the time is 5:04. this meeting is being held by webex pursuant to the governor's order. meetings of the fire commission will convene remotely. you may watch live at www.sfgovtv.org, and to participate in public comment, please dial 415-655-0001 and use access code 146-382-3282.