San Francisco Makes Change to Stay-at-Home Order
SF Gate | December 15, 2020 | Amy Graff

If you live in San Francisco, you can now go on a walk with a friend and not be breaking the COVID-19 rules.

The SF Department of Public Health updated its stay-at-home order last week to allow two individuals from different households to spend time together outdoors, masked, and physically distanced and in certain outdoor recreation activities with safety protocols in place, officials said.

“This change was made to balance the risk of negative impacts on mental health for those in complete isolation of others and the risk of transmission between two masked, distanced individuals who are outdoors,” the department said in a statement. “Although it is safer not to have any interactions outside the household, people living alone especially need an outlet to maintain their well-being during the current surge.”

The city emphasized that while it’s now allowing two friends to meet outdoors, the underlining message is to avoid gatherings as much as possible.

San Francisco’s update to its rules around gatherings came after the state changed its order to allow playgrounds to open.

The updated order states that playgrounds will remain open “to facilitate physically distanced personal health and wellness through outdoor exercise,” according to the California Department of Public Health.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she was glad the state adjusted its rules and the city updated its guidelines to reopen outdoor playgrounds last Thursday.

Change in U.S. law will make millions more masks available to doctors and nurses, White House says
Washington Post | 3/20/20 | Jeanne Whalen

New legislation signed Wednesday provides manufacturers of N95 face masks protection against lawsuits . . .

What lawsuits, specifically, were they afraid of?

. . . when selling certain masks to healthcare workers, Pence said. That will free producers including 3M and Honeywell to sell tens of millions more masks per month to hospitals . . .

The change means Minnesota-based 3M will now be free to sell 420 million masks a year to the U.S. healthcare sector, Pence said.