indica News Bureau-
The public health officers for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties, as well as the City of Berkeley, will issue revised shelter-in-place orders this week, largely keeping in place current restrictions in place and extending them through the end May, a joint statement said.
The region-wide order was the first in the country to be enforced on March 17 in response to the coronavirus disease. The order has already been extended once to May 3, past its original expiration date of April 7. Residents are directed to remain inside their homes as much as possible and can leave for essential items, like to go grocery shopping or to go for a walk. The city now requires people to wear masks while in public, specifically when in the vicinity of essential businesses such as grocery stores or restaurants.
The new order will include a limited easing of specific restrictions for a small number of lower-risk activities. Details of the next phase will be shared later in the week, along with the updated order, reported Business Insider.
Although the stay-at-home requirement was set to expire on May 3.
“The shelter-in-place orders in effect across the seven jurisdictions are set to expire on May 3, 2020. Thanks to the collective effort and sacrifice of the 7 million residents across our jurisdictions, we have made substantial progress in slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, ensuring our local hospitals are not overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, and saving lives. At this stage of the pandemic, however, it is critical that our collective efforts continue so that we do not lose the progress we have achieved together. Hospitalizations have leveled, but more work is needed to safely re-open our communities. Prematurely lifting restrictions could easily lead to a large surge in cases,” The joint statement reads.
Full details are expected to be released later this week, the health officers said, and “will include limited easing of specific restrictions for a small number of lower-risk activities.”
“This global pandemic of COVID-19 is still in its early stages. The virus spreads easily, testing capacity is limited and expanding slowly, and vaccine development is just beginning. We expect to be responding to COVID-19 in our communities for a long time. As effective as our efforts have been, if we move too fast to ease restrictions, the potential of exponential spread could have grave impacts to health and wellness of our residents as well as the economy,” the statement said.
“The Health Officers of these seven jurisdictions have been working closely together in leading a unified, regional approach, to protect the health and safety of our residents. Details regarding this next phase will be shared later in the week, along with the updated order,” it added.
