Bay Area Extends, Tightens Shelter-in-Place Orders

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Heath and elected officials in six Bay Area counties moved Tuesday to extend, and substantially beef up shelter-in-place orders for around 7 million people.

Acting together, the counties extended the order from April 7th to May 3rd, with further extensions possible. In addition, new restrictions were added on construction activity, playgrounds and the ways in which people can gather.

Health officials in the North Bay are expected to also extend shelter-in-place orders in the coming days.

Under the new rules, the public will no longer be able to use playgrounds, dog parks or public picnic areas, and even funerals will be limited to 10 attendees. The order also closes all public sports facilities like basketball courts, golf courses, tennis courts, rock walls and pools.

In a significant change, the order also ends almost all construction activity, both residential and commercial. Only work that is deemed essential, things like healthcare facilities, homeless shelters, affordable housing and public works projects will continue.

In tightening the restrictions, health officers like Santa Clara’s Dr. Sara Cody pointed to data showing the region is bending the curve of the coronavirus, but stressed that more can, and should be done as the next few weeks will be critical.

The number of coronavirus cases in the Bay Area has risen rapidly, and is now over 2 thousand, with 59 deaths including Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties. In the past 24 hours alone, California has seen more than a thousand new cases, an increase of 17 percent.