At 1pm on March 16, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced at a press conference that the city of San Francisco would “shelter in place” for three weeks in attempts to slow the spread of the Coronavirus – COVID-19.  

In her official Twitter statement, Mayor Breed declared the following, “Effective at midnight, San Francisco will require people to stay home except for essential needs.  Necessary government functions & essential stores will remain open. These steps are based on the advice of public health experts to slow the spread of #COVID19.”  

Mayor Breed’s order took effect at midnight, March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.  Mayor Breed declared that this move was a “defining moment” for San Franciscans to help slow the spread of the virus that has impacted the entire globe. 

Other Bay Area counties followed behind Mayor Breed in ordering a shelter in place.  These counties included, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Alameda. Roughly 6.7 million people are affected.   

That decree has now been extended to at least May 1, with a possibility of it being extended even further. 

Bay Area residents, which include Riordan students, have been sheltering in place since the order took effect.  The Archdiocese decided to temporarily close its schools and churches in order to protect students and parishioners from possible infection.  

Riordan students have been at home using an on-line method of teaching.   Christopher Maund ’21 said, “Staying at home isn’t the hard part… It’s mostly online education and not being able to see most of my friends is the hard part. Communicating online with a teacher or friend isn’t the same as seeing them in person.”

Mayor Breed stated places that are deemed as essential and will remain open are supermarkets (Safeway, Whole Foods, Target), pharmacies (Walgreens, CVS), restaurants for takeout only (Joe’s of Westlake, Millbrae Pancake House, Angelina’s Deli), hardware stores (Home Depot, Ace Hardware).  Closed businesses include bars, malls, movie theaters, gyms, and other places where more than 50 people can gather.

The most recent recommendation is no more than 10 people should gather in one place, and should maintain a distance of six feet between them at all times. 

Maryo Mogannam is the owner of The Postal Chase on West Portal Avenue.  The Postal Chase, which is a shipping and receiving company, is considered an essential business.  The Postal Chase has shipped early test samples to the CDC. 

In addition to medication for customers, The Postal Chase has also shipped masks and hand sanitizers.  Even though The Postal Chase is open, many other businesses have closed. 

“Like everyone else, we have been affected,” said Mogannam “We are operating with shortened hours, reduced staff.”

Maund, who works at Guerra’s Quality Meats, an essential business on Taraval Street, said, “We are basically a smaller yet a higher quality grocery store.”  He added, “In the beginning it was like the holidays without preparation. The same week we got off of school were the craziest days I’ve ever seen.”  

Mayor Breed stated that local law enforcement is expected to “ensure compliance” with her order.  San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott stated that he is asking for the public’s help in adhering to the order.  

Although the order was in effect, San Franciscans were displayed ignoring the shelter in place with numerous people congregating at various locations in the city such as the Embarcadero, hiking trails, and stores. 

On March 23, Mayor Breed held a press conference and issued a stern warning to the residents of San Francisco. Mayor Breed stated that the city would close the beaches and public parks if people continued to not shelter in place. 

Mayor Breed stressed again, “I want people to have recreational support. If people continue the way we saw over the weekend, we’ll have to close our park system.” Mayor Breed further stated that she would also be forced to take a “more aggressive direction.”

Chief Bill Scott stated, “We have to balance common sense, civil liberties, with the necessity to stop the virus.” The San Francisco Police Department will enforce the shelter in place for both individuals and non essential businesses who after being educated, continue to break the order. 

Chief Scott, in urging the public to adhere to the shelter in place, stated, “If someone you care about is elderly or in one of the vulnerable populations, this should be personal to you. Think about that person in your life and then ask whether your actions would put that person at risk. If you reflect on that, I think you would do what is right.”

Community support for the shelter in place and for the businesses that have remained open has been growing since the order went into effect.  Mogannam stated, “I have seen countless numbers of community support for small businesses, it is truly inspiring.” 

He added,  “When this crisis is over, people will need to get off-line, it will be difficult.  They will need to shop local, eat out, thank those that stayed open and welcome back those that had to close.”

As of publication time, these orders are to remain in effect until May 1, 2020.  

For more information on the shelter in place order, go to the section of the city’s website dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic.