As part of an effort to expand testing to all San Franciscans the city is offering free coronavirus testing to all essential workers, even those without symptoms.
Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the city’s Department of Public Health, said Monday that testing is now available to all public and private workers deemed essential, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
“Healthcare workers, first responders, grocery clerks, construction workers, drivers, childcare workers and others who continue to leave their homes to serve our city,” he said. No doctor’s note will be required. Those with private healthcare are urged to contact their providers, but tests can also be taken at several city clinics by calling 311 to make appointments.
Last week, Mayor London Breed announced that hotel rooms set aside for people without housing during the pandemic would not be available to homeless people from outside the city.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that people have come from as far as Stockton to camp in the city in hopes of getting hotel rooms. City data show that at least 70% of the homeless people in San Francisco originally lost their housing in the city.
The San Francisco Public Press asked Homelessness and Supportive Housing Director Abigail Stewart-Kahn about the Chronicle’s claims and to clarify the city’s policy.
“What we know anecdotally is that — we are hearing from people who are unsheltered on our streets right now — is that they are not from here,” she said. “And so what is very important to me is that those individuals who tell our system of care, ‘I was told I could come here and get a hotel room,’ that they hear the message in a very clean way. Because I think it’s very important for us to be honest with our homeless neighbors, which is that if you were not known to our system before COVID — meaning you are not part of receiving services and in our databases — then you are not first on the list for the unsheltered hotel rooms.”
“And this is not because we don’t care about you,” Stewart-Kahn added. “This is because there have been people who’ve been waiting here in San Francisco, known to our system of care, for a very long time.”
Other issues discussed at the briefing include:
- Breed said the city is keeping a close eye on crowds at Dolores Park in the Mission District, where many people have not been following the rules of social distancing. If that doesn’t change, she said she would instruct police to close the park.
- Other updates from today’s press conference:
- Breed said she was worried about crowds in Dolores Park. (7:03)
- Breed discussed plans to manage homeless encampments in the Tenderloin following a lawsuit brought by Hastings College. (46:44)
- Dr. Colfax discussed progress toward a goal of universal testing. (27:18)
- Stewart-Kahn explained the city’s policy for homeless people from outside San Francisco seeking shelter in city-sponsored hotel rooms. (56:11)
A segment from our radio show, “Civic.” Mayor’s Press Conferences Listen day of the event at 7 p.m. on 102.5 FM in San Francisco.
