The Bay Area hopes to launch a coronavirus and heat wave glove this weekend with sun-hungry citizens heading to parks and beaches amid a coronavirus outbreak that surpassed 600,000 statewide on Thursday night.
Temperatures are expected to reach 3 figures in the Bay Area this weekend, a major fear for fitness staff who expect crowds of bathers, beers and frisbee to throw frisbee into the area.
The number of coronavirus cases has increased in the Bay Area this month, with an average of 1,036 new cases reported each day, an increase of approximately 27% over the daily average of 818 cases in July. This is much worse than in June, which averaged 393 new instances consistent with the day.
In the Bay Area, another 66628 people tested positive for coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic and 941 have died.
The National Weather Service issued a heat warning Thursday for temperatures expected to exceed 90 above charges in the Bay Area on Friday and Saturday, reaching 105 and potentially 108 in the bay inland cities such as Livermore, Antioch and Brentwood.
Even cooler coastal regions like San Francisco and Oakland will revel in the temperatures of the 1980s and 1990s, an attraction that would arguably be too difficult for others who are eager for human companionship and excitement after so much isolation.
Mild temperatures would likely cause others to worry about coastal mist blankets in the Bay Area in recent weeks, but reinforce considerations about infection.
UCSF epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford presented an uplifting story: in Israel, a heatwave in May led school officials to let young people take off their masks, contributing to the major resurgence of cases.
“People will have to take off their mask when it’s hot,” Rutherford said. “Don’t do it.”
The good weather is likely to cause tensions in places where other people congregate, such as Lake Merritt, where a lawyer for neighboring citizens is urging Oakland to bann vendors in May. While coronavirus cases in Alameda County have skyrocketed, vendors have helped create a party atmosphere on the lake for much of the summer.
Councilman Nikki Fortunato Bas, who represents the area, hopes to move merchants to a safer location, such as the small strip of El Embarcadero between Grand and Lakeshore Avenues, or near the Lakeview Library. He is wary of coronavirus transmission, but acknowledges that distributors “are there for economic necessity.”
On Thursday, a jewelry broker known as Yassini at Merritt Lake, promoted chains, Nefertiti gold pendants, rings, felt hats and straw hats with feathers from folding tables next to his van, which he parked on Lakeshore Avenue.
Yassini, who needed to make his last call for fear of political reprisals in his home country, Tanzania, said he agreed with many considerations and had no objections to permission. But he disagreed with the considerations that distributors pose a threat of coronavirus spread.
“It’s very much here,” Yassini said, dressed in a black Gucci mask as a low soundtrack sounded from a car near idling. He says neighbors target distributors because they are predominantly African-American.
Creation Makomen, which sold pipes, lighters and clothing, said he had to close his store in the Fruitvale district because of the pandemic and sold his products at Merritt Lake to make ends meet.
“It’s a form of survival,” Makomen said, indicating that he couldn’t worry about getting sick.
Brenda Jackson, who was sitting in a blanket near having a picnic with her husband, said she was not afraid to get the disease.
“All very intelligent, socially estranged and dressed in masks,” said Jackson, who came to Lake Merritt from his home in the Montclair community to enjoy the warm weather.
On Thursday, the trail surrounding the lake and the surrounding grassy hills were filled with runners, parents picnicking with baby strollers, cyclists and others who shared exercise equipment near the hostel.
The number of coronavirus cases in California skyrocketed in June and July after businesses began opening, calls for shelters on the site were quiet and Black Lives Matter protests erupted statewide.
The outbreak forced Gov. Gavin Newsom to order bars, indoor restaurants, gyms, grocery stores and other department stores closed for the time being in dozens of counties where the virus was spreading faster. He also ordered county schools to start the school year with distance education than face-to-face teaching.
Since the onset of the pandemic, another 597,121 people in California have tested positive for coronavirus and 10,856 have died. However, the average number of daily registered instances appears to have decreased this month to 7,697. In contrast, July saw an average of 8,579 new instances consistent with the day, more than double that of June, which averaged 4,007 instances consistent with the day.
In California, it took 124 days to move from the first reported case at the end of January to 100,000 cases. By the time California exceeded 400,000 instances on July 21, it would take 10 more days to spend the 500,000 instances on July 31. Now, thirteen days later, California’s instances have exceeded 600,000.
And the deaths are emerging across the state.
In August, an average of 131 other people inflamed according to the day died in California, compared to 101 in July and about double the average of 64 COVID-19 deaths in June.
Higher numbers were recorded despite a computer error that recently led the state to underestimate coronavirus cases. Deaths are sometimes two weeks or more new cases.
The bad news came after California won applause this spring for its early closure across the state, slowing down the spread of coronavirus after its arrival in the United States.
Newsom said this week that California is “taking the turn of this pandemic”: the 5,422 hospitalized patients make up a minimum of 19% in the last two weeks. But he promised to act cautiously and make the same mistake as before, when the restrictions eased too quickly.
Most outdoor public spaces and car parks are expected to open this weekend, and efforts are expected by local crowds on a case-by-case basis.
Parks and beaches in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area are expected to remain open this weekend, adding Fort Funston, Fort Mason, Crissy Field and the Ocean and Baker beaches in San Francisco, as well as Stinson and Muir beaches in Marin County.
GGNRA officials have closed many reception centers, daytime usage spaces and other pickup locations, adding the Presidio Visitor Center and Fort Point National Historic Site in San Francisco, and the Marin Headlands Visitor Center, Point Bonita Lighthouse and Battery Townsley in Marin. Homes in Ocean Beach and Muir Beach are also closed.
Warm weather is expected to increase the chimney’s danger, as well as other considerations over the next two months, which are the driest time of the year in California. The National Weather Service has issued “excessive heat monitoring” for much of the interior of California and parts of the East and South Bay from noon on Friday through Sunday night.
Temperatures are expected to cool on Mondays and Tuesdays, but the heat will persist indoors until midway through the week, and may get even warmer until the end of next week, according to the National Weather Service.
Peter Fimrite, Rachel Swan and Brett Simpson are editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Twitter: @pfimrite, @rachelswan, @brettvsimpson