Civic

Some San Francisco bookstores carry a colorful magazine that looks like the New Yorker of the west coast. This is the San Franciscan, a volunteer passion project. Amanda Legge and Erica Messner are two women living in San Francisco and working full time in non-media jobs who started the magazine purely for fun. Messner says part of the inspiration for the magazine came from a desire to reflect the...

City officials said Wednesday that the city would be leasing some 7,000 hotel rooms to house those who may have COVID-19 and cannot isolate themselves, and some vulnerable homeless people, and also announced new mental health support programs for frontline workers and city employees. Listen to the full press conference audio here for these and other updates.

As the SFMTA makes drastic cuts to service to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, drivers are afraid of being infected and are asking for masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and wipes. Five cases have been confirmed among Muni workers. Roger Marenco, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, which represents Muni bus drivers and some other transit workers, said the city has not been a...

San Francisco leaders announced at a press conference Monday, April 6, that changes would be made to the emergency shelter at Moscone Center West after 19 people there were found to have had contact with two former residents of another shelter who have contracted the coronavirus. Listen to the full press conference, including updates about testing, hospital capacity, and coronavirus data, here.

As of Monday, April 6 three people in San Francisco’s shelter system had tested positive for coronavirus. Chris Herring, a sociologist and doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, is among those who have been calling for homeless people to be moved into hotel rooms. Herring has studied homelessness and its governance for the past decade, and says the coronavirus crisis has int...

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: With extended shelter-in-place, officials also recommend wearing face coverings in public. Mayor London Breed lays out who will be placed in empty hotel rooms. SFPD begins to issue citations for noncompliance with shelter-in-place order. City College gets...

As the third week of sheltering in place came to a close in San Francisco, city officials said efforts to move homeless people into hotel rooms would be focused on the most vulnerable, and asked for trust and compliance as the city manages the coronavirus pandemic. Listen to the full briefing audio from 4/03 here.

In mid-March, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued what he called an eviction moratorium. But many tenant advocates say the term is misleading, because it postpones evictions rather than prevents them. Some landlords, too, are wondering how they’ll make ends meet, and to what extent the state will step in to help them if tenants just can’t pay. Advocates for both groups say landlords and tenants should start...

A request for comment from UCSF was not returned by broadcast time, but we will update this story with their responses if they become available. 

At this 4/01 press briefing, the mayor called again for compliance with the now-extended shelter-in-place order and responded to continued calls from advocates to house homeless people in hotels. Listen to the full briefing audio here.

Asked for comment on some of Ramos’ statements, Lyft referred to its coronavirus pandemic updates website and sent a written statement, which you can read here .

Find resources to report and avoid scams at sfpublicpress.org

S.F. officials offer an update on the shelter-in-place order, which is being extended to May 1, and on the COVID-19 outbreak at Laguna Honda hospital. Listen to the full briefing audio here.

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In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: Officials express alarm at San Franciscans not sheltering in place; Governor suspends evictions for two months; CCSF chancellor resigns; public transit reduces operations. Coming up: Three new coronavirus testing sites are expected to open this week.

Hear the full audio from a virtual press conference San Francisco officials held on March 27. Announcements include the closure of parking lots at some public parks to prevent crowds, that the public lab's testing capacity is expected to increase to 450 tests a day, and a warning from SFPD Chief Bill Scott that police may soon begin enforcing the shelter-in-place order.

Bay Area biotech companies are using their resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Warner Green is a senior biologist and clinician with Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. He and his colleagues are using techniques developed in AIDS research to understand the life cycle of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and how existing drugs that have already been tested could be used to treat pat...

Grocery stores have been deemed essential during the pandemic, and their employees are stationed on the front lines. One San Jose grocery store worker has died of COVID-19, said Jim Araby, strategic campaigns director at United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5. The union, which represents some 30,000 workers at Bay Area stores such as Safeway, Walgreens, CVS pharmacy and even some cannabis disp...

One person has now died of COVID-19 in San Francisco and as of Wednesday the city had confirmed 172 cases. At a virtual press conference Wednesday, city officials urged San Franciscans to stay home and warned that the crisis has not yet reached its peak. Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax said he expects a surge in cases hitting in less than two weeks that will necessitate 5,000 additional...

Potential donors may review eligibility requirements to give blood on the Red Cross website or by calling the eligibility hotline: 1-866-236-3276. Appointments to give blood can also be made online (donors should try again later if there are no slots available immediately) or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.

At a virtual press conference live streamed from San Francisco’s coronavirus emergency operations center at Moscone Center, city officials offered updates on their work to enact social distancing protocols, source hotel rooms for people who need to be isolated and deliver personal protective equipment to healthcare workers. Listen to the full press conference audio here.

Millions of households have received an invitation in the mail to complete the survey, and nationwide more than 20 percent of residents have done so. But there are many groups of people who won’t be counted this way. Some do not receive mail, some have no fixed address, or live in group settings. The Census staff who will be going into the field to count those communities are also practicing socia...

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: Mayor emphasizes importance of shelter-in-place; City works to find shelter for the unhoused during coronavirus pandemic; BART reduces hours. Coming up: City continues to encourage remote participation in meetings rather than in-person, and many meetings a...

You can find the  form to submit an incident report here .

Trust in institutions, business and government is critical during times of crisis and never more so than during a worldwide pandemic that brings with it panic buying and stock market collapse. Donald Palmer, professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, describes how dissonant messages from public leaders have further eroded trust in government. Palmer’s areas of research include the ca...