Mayor London Breed announced on Tuesday that San Francisco is forgoing plans to reopen restaurants for indoor dining on July 13th.
“As of today, we must announce that on July 13th we will not be able to allow restaurants to operate indoors, as we had planned,” Mayor Breed said during an 11:30am press conference. “Nor will we allow bars to open outdoors on July 13th.” The Mayor cited rising coronavirus rates as the reason the city decided to revise plans to reopen.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” she stressed.
Unfortunately the increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in SF, and large spikes throughout CA and the country, have made it so our public health experts feel it is not safe to move forward with the reopenings that were scheduled for next Monday, including indoor dining.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) July 7, 2020
We know the pause on reopening is disappointing, but we cannot risk letting the virus get out of control.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) July 7, 2020
We all need to do our part by wearing face coverings, keeping your distance from others, and getting tested so we can get to a place where we can safely resume reopening.
The city announced back in May that restaurants could reopen for outdoor dining on June 15th, and indoor dining on July 13th. Bars were scheduled to reopen for outdoor drinking on June 29th, but rising rates in California made the city rethink their bar reopening timeline.
SF’s decision to pause indoor dining comes on the heels of other county closures across the Bay.
Starting Thursday, Napa County will shut down dine-in restaurants, indoor wine, and tasting rooms amid a rising increase in coronavirus rates in the area. Outdoor dining will continue to be available. The Napa Register also reports that brewpubs, breweries, pubs, and bars will close for both indoor and outdoor service.
On July 1st, Solano County restaurants shut down for indoor dining after Governor Gavin Newsom ordered indoor businesses in 19 counties across California to close. Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties were also ordered to shut down indoor businesses, but as restaurants in both counties had yet to reopen for indoor dining, they were minimally impacted.
Over in the North Bay, Marin County restaurants were ordered on July 5th to close for indoor dining for a minimum of three weeks after being put on the statewide watch-list. The county had seen a record-setting jump in coronavirus cases over the 4th of July weekend, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
NEW: #COVID19 cases continue to spread at alarming rates in some CA counties.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 6, 2020
CA is now asking Colusa, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey & San Diego to close indoor operations for:
-Restaurants
-Wineries
-Movie theaters
-Zoos, museums
-Cardrooms
Bars must close ALL operations.
If all of these details are making your head spin, you are not alone. It’s been a wild and confusing week in SF Bay Area restaurant news, so check out our detailed breakdown of county reopening statuses here.
We’ll keep you posted with more updates. For now, we have both outdoor dining guides and plenty of takeout and delivery guides to help you decide what to eat tonight. Also, here’s where you can get some booze. If you feel like us right now, you might need it.
