COVID Reopening: San Francisco Lifts 10-Day Quarantine Requirement For Travel Outside Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Health officials in San Francisco announced Tuesday that residents who travel outside the Bay Area for nonessential purposes are no longer required to quarantine for 10 days upon returning as COVID-19 cases continue to decline.
The Department of Public Health lifted the quarantine order as the city recorded a seven-day average of 89 new cases per day, far below the 374 cases per day during the recent surge. The order was put in place during the height of the holiday travel season in mid-December.
While the quarantine order is lifted, health officials stressed that a state travel advisory discouraging travel more than 120 miles away from home is still in effect. Travel destinations further than 120 miles from San Francisco include Lake Tahoe, Big Sur and Mount Shasta.
"Lifting this order does not mean that it's now safe to just hop on a plane or go on a road trip," warned Dr. Susan Philip, the city's acting health officer. "This is not a travel free-for-all."
The state's advisory also urges those who have arrived from outside California from other states or countries to still self-quarantine for 10 days, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants.
"We've made tremendous progress and brought our case numbers down, but we need to keep our guards up. The growing prevalence of variants, some of which were brought from abroad, is further proof that we must be extra cautious," Phillip went on to say.
City officials said organizations such as schools and workplaces can continue to require individuals to complete travel quarantines already underway.
