- A four-block area in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco will be used for a temporary project providing pedestrian spaces for maintaining physical distance during the novel coronavirus health emergency, city officials announced Friday. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will bring sidewalk expansions, the Play Streets program and the Shared Spaces program to a stretch of Jones Street in the Tenderloin, which has been hard hit by the pandemic Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Matt Haney, whose district includes the Tenderloin, a densely populated neighborhood with a high percentage of low-income residents, people of color, seniors, and transit-dependent residents, announced the project. The SFMTA is removing a parking lane and a travel lane on the east side of Jones Street to create physical distancing lanes that will provide an additional 5 to 8 feet of walking space, adjacent to a sidewalk, and protected from moving vehicles with concrete barriers. Play Streets will provide a safe recreational area for children and adults in the neighborhood by closing a city block on Saturdays, and outdoor-dining streets will be created by the SFMTA in coordination restaurants and merchants in the neighborhood.
- Three months ago Dr. Marty Fenstersheib was pressured to reopen the economy in San Benito County. He knew COVID-19 cases would surge if he bowed to the pressure. Hours after a high-stakes confrontation with county supervisors, he quit. Now, he is the COVID-19 testing guru in Santa Clara County where he is credited for the dramatic increase in testing in the county. Although Fenstersheib doesn’t like discussing his resignation months ago, he landed the job at Santa Clara County a few weeks later in May, and it’s a homecoming of sorts. He worked here for 29 years, including two decades as the county’s health officer, before retiring in 2013. “I was asked to come out of retirement basically,” Fenstersheib said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Since many of my old colleagues are still here, it was very easy for me to fit in and work with everyone.” The head of coronavirus testing for Santa Clara County was at the center of controversy in April when a San Benito County supervisor urged the county board to cut ties with Fenstersheib over his resistance to reopening local businesses.
- As of 5 p.m. Saturday, officials have confirmed the following number of cases around the greater Bay Area region (“+” number added since last check Sat., Aug 1):
- Alameda County: 11,524 cases (+40), 189 deaths
- Totals include Berkeley Health Department data
- Contra Costa County: 7,966 cases (+160), 125 deaths (+4)
- Marin County: 4,994 cases, 70 deaths (not updated from Saturday)
- Totals include San Quentin State Prison
- Monterey County: 4,822 cases (+125), 30 deaths
- Napa County: 888 cases, 8 deaths (not updated from Saturday)
- San Francisco County: 6,811 cases (+88), 61 deaths
- San Mateo County: 5,544 cases, 119 deaths (not updated from Saturday)
- Santa Clara County: 10,626 cases (+305), 191 deaths
- Santa Cruz County: 1,152 cases, 4 deaths (not updated from Saturday)
- Solano County: 3,611 cases, 37 deaths (not updated from Saturday)
- Sonoma County: 3,055 cases (+111), 37 deaths
- Statewide: 509,162 cases (+9,032), 9,356 deaths (+132)
- Alameda County: 11,524 cases (+40), 189 deaths
Bay Area coronavirus updates | Sun., Aug 2
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