SF Mayor Rolls Back Reopening as Coronavirus Cases Spike
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- Come Monday, the Sakura Sakura boutique inside the Japan Center in Japantown will be closed yet again. Under the city's new measures, indoor malls and nonessential offices must shut down.
"We're a store, our income is from a store, we don't have other things going on and that's our lifeblood, so when that's not happening, it has a heavy domino effect," said Stephen Jordan of Sakura Sakura.
News of the closure did not surprise Jordan, considering the public's too-lax approach to face covering.
"There are still those walking around that just feel like they don't need it and I think it's a basic understanding that you're protecting people from yourself," he said.
Mayor London Breed urged residents to avoid social gatherings outside of their immediate household and to wear masks on Friday.
The most recent data shows that the average age of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 has been 41 years old.
"What we know from our contact tracing team is that the large part of the new virus spread we're seeing is coming from people who are having gatherings outside of their households," Mayor Breed said.
The mayor added that residents have a small window of time to get cases under control before we could see another large outbreak. As of Friday, San Francisco is one of 30-plus counties on the state's watch list.
The new closures are happening as California's economy had begun to bounce back. The state added more than a half million new jobs in June.
Adding to the instability, a $600 per week boost to unemployment benefits helping millions of Americans expires next week.
"I would say I'm concerned because once that's over I won't have anymore income. So I'll have to start budgeting really closely," said Kyle Tarzon, who is currently out of work.
Mayor Breed said that if residents do not flatten this curve, she will be forced to close more businesses and activities. The reopening of other operations like hair salons and indoor dining will continue to be put on hold.
