Bay Area hospitals are working around the clock to increase the number of hospital beds, ventilators, and protective gear as they expect an increase in coronavirus patients. The number of COVID-19 cases has increased to 3,000 in the Bay Area. This is happening as the number of health care workers positive with the disease has tripled in the last 7 days and as hospitals have complained about the lack of equipment needed to successfully fight the disease.

Ronald Konopaski, an 86 year old anti-abortion protestor, allegedly became the first person to be fined by the police for violating the stay at home order. He had previously been warned several times by the police for sitting on the sidewalk and handing out leaflets outside a Planned Parenthood clinic after several neighbors of the clinic complained. After his citation was issued, SFPD announced they would begin citing people for breaking the stay at home order. While Konopaski hopes to appeal the citation, he has stated he will stop protesting outside the Bernal Heights location, as he has been warned he will be arrested by the police if he does.

As many residents have been unable to pay their rent due to the shelter in place order, the city of San Francisco and the state of California have set up a variety of programs to help people through this difficult time. If you or someone you know wasn’t able to pay their rent, please follow the link provided below to get the assistance you need.

Representatives of OPEIU Local 29, a union representing hundreds of homeless shelter employees, claim the shelters are failing to provide an adequate amount of gloves, facemasks, and hand sanitizer. This is after a shelter resident tested positive for the coronavirus. Union officials aren’t placing the blame solely on the shelters and nonprofit organizations, stating they often are going out of their way to get safety materials. They claim the city isn’t doing enough to get many of these low wage employees the material they need to do their job safely.

California Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon announced the emergency recess of the state legislature has been extended until May 4th, adding 3 additional weeks to the recess. Each house has until May 29th to pass new bills in their chamber and they must approve a state budget by June 15th or lawmakers will go without pay. There was no announcement of possibly trying to continue to work via teleconferencing. 

25 new free Wi-Fi “SuperSpots” have been added by the city to assist students who need internet access to continue learning. Each spot can support 100 users and will remain in place for the remainder of the school year. This is in addition to the 5,000 laptops distributed to students along with the 4,000 purchased. As schools remain closed, SF Unified has announced distance learning classes starting on April 13th. However, 29% of students do not have access to internet at home and an estimated 10,000 students need a device to engage in distance learning.

Requests for free meals for students from SF Unified has doubled each week during the crisis. In the first week, it was 20,000. In week two, it was 40,000. Now, in the third week, the number of students requesting free meals has increased to 80,000. This has been part of a growing trend, as SF-Marin food bank has reported an increase in the number of people requesting food from their new pop up pantries.

Edward Reiskin, the former director of the SFMTA, was appointed city administrator of Oakland on Friday. After serving a variety of jobs in Oakland, Washington DC, and San Francisco, Reiskin was appointed to head SFMTA in 2011 by then-Mayor Ed Lee. Following Lee’s death, Mayor London Breed let him go after 8 years as the chief of the transit agency. His appointment as city administrator was a promotion, as Reiskin has been serving in an assistant role at the agency since August.

The first case of COVID-19 in the homeless community was confirmed yesterday. A resident of the Division Circle Navigation Center at 13th and S. Van Ness tested positive and is now in a room at an isolation hotel and said to be in good condition. The center’s staff have been given additional masks for residents to wear and will be conducting more screenings, and a cleaning crew will be sent to disinfect the space.

Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi reports on Mayor Breed’s announcement on Wednesday that homeless people living on the street who are over the age of 60 and have underlying health conditions will be prioritized to relocate into vacant hotel rooms the city is securing to help avoid an outbreak in the homeless population.

Curbed SF reports that home going up for sale in San Francisco have all but dried up in the weeks since the shelter in place went into effect, and how several San Francisco Supervisors joined lawmakers around the country who are calling for state and federal officials to halt mortgage and rent payments during this crisis.

SF Supes Ronen and Haney say Gov. Newsom’s moratorium on evictions doesn’t go far enough, as renters will be on the hook for back payments once everyone is back to work.