UPDATE San Francisco Remains On State's COVID-19 Monitoring List
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Health officials in San Francisco on Thursday confirmed that the city and county remain on the California Department of Public Health COVID-19 watch list.
"Our latest news release issued today, still shows San Francisco on the County Data Monitoring list," CDPH spokesman Dale Schornack told KPIX 5 in an email. "The latest County Data Chart does NOT indicate that San Francisco County is currently on Day 3 of meeting threshold."
According to available figures, the county is currently over the "100 case per 100,000 residents" threshold. That figure jumped to more than 122 Thursday. After a county is within threshold for all metrics for three days, it is removed from the county monitoring list the following day.
The announcement comes a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said that San Francisco was on the verge of coming off the California monitoring list.
"It is likely that as early as tomorrow -- though we'll see as the numbers come in -- that San Francisco will be added to that list [of counties coming off the monitoring list]. That is not the case today, but it looks as if they're in a position to get off that monitoring list," Newsom said.
The California Department of Public Health places counties on the COVID-19 watch list that are experiencing negative trends in key indicators, including testing, cases and hospitalizations.
San Francisco has been on the watch list since mid-July when its case rate hit a state benchmark, leading city officials to pause all re-opening that has the potential to increase the spread of infection.
"In order to be removed from the watch list, a county must meet state thresholds on these key indicators for three consecutive days," the release issued by city officials read. "San Francisco is currently not meeting day one of the three-consecutive day threshold. Therefore, we have been informed by the CDPH that San Francisco will not be taken off the watch list at this time."
The release asked that San Francisco residents continue to work together to decrease the transmission of the coronavirus by wearing face coverings whenever leaving the house, practicing social distancing, washing hands frequently and staying home when sick.
More information on the California Department of Public Health watch list is available at the state's county data monitoring web page.
