San Francisco moves closer to being removed from state’s COVID-19 watch list

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – The city of San Francisco is moving closer to being removed from the state’s COVID-19 watch list. 

As evidenced Friday by a long awaited reopening announcement for the personal services community. 

If you work in the personal services industry in San Francisco it is an announcement you’ve been waiting to hear for the past 6-months.

“We are really excited to announce that we are finally able to allow some businesses to open to do outdoor services on September 1st,” Mayor London Breed said. 

The conditions of health order only allows for outdoor personal services where both clients and providers can be masked at all times. 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed says those businesses include:

“Hair salons, barber shops, nail salons,” Breed said. 

“Well I definitely think we are moving in the right direction,” Jay Cheng, with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said. 

The spokesperson for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Jay Cheng says this is good news for the personal care community.

“What’s important about today’s announcement is that gives a ray of hope for people in the personal care industry that there is a pathway forward for me,” Cheng said. 

“I think it’s something but this is not a long term thing,” salon owner Josie Li said. 

A long term plan that would include helping personal care salons convert to outdoor service is what the owner of La Boutique Salon Josie Li says she was hoping to hear.

“I don’t know this is going to work in the city because there are a lot of hills, it’s windy and there’s outside dining for restaurants and because it is the city it is very compact. So we need to have a plan in place and then implement it. Get approved  by the health department and start from there,” Li said.

The reason San Francisco is not completely being removed from the state’s COVID-19 watch list is something that ultimately could lead to being shut down again.

“The rate of new cases of COVID-19 which helps to show how quickly the virus is spreading is unfortunately too high,” Dr. Grant Colfax said. 

“And I want to be clear as more things begin to open in San Francisco the possibility of spread goes up. The last thing that we want to do is go backward,” Breed said. 

Officials with the health department say outdoor gyms and fitness centers can also reopen starting on September 9, 2020.

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