Counties in the San Francisco Bay area of California are placing tighter restrictions on social gatherings as the nation’s top infectious diseases doctor said he would support similar action nationwide.
San Mateo County in the Bay area is the latest to restrict gatherings of 10 or more people, including at restaurants, bars and theaters, unless all attendees can be at least 6 feet away from each other. Gatherings of 50 or more are banned outright. San Francisco has banned visitors and nonessential personnel from hospitals.
California has 288 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. More than 200 of them are in the Bay area.
Symptoms are mild for the vast majority of people who contract COVID-19. But for some, including the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, symptoms can be much more severe.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday morning that more needs to be done to reduce personal interactions throughout the country.
“I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,” he said.
