San Francisco will allow indoor hair and nail salons, gyms and hotels to open with limited capacity Monday, nearly six months after coronavirus shelter-in-place orders shuttered them.
The moves accelerate San Francisco’s timelines for reopening, after the city previously signaled a cautious approach to the loosening of restrictions permitted under new state guidelines for resuming business operations, schooling and other activities during the pandemic.
Indoor massage businesses, tattoo and piercing services, outdoor family entertainment centers, drive-in movies, and outdoor tour buses and boats can also reopen Monday. Places of worship and political facilities, such as campaign offices, can open for one person at a time, with up to 50 people allowed outdoors.
Indoor museums and galleries can open on Sept. 21 with approved health plans, and the city also expects to allow elementary schools to reopen for in-person classes that day with approved safety plans, on a “rolling basis.”
Customers must wear face coverings at all times.
“Given our local trend in COVID indicators, low-risk, limited-capacity indoor activities may resume,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s director of public health, in a statement. “We will continue our gradual reopening as it allows us to monitor the spread, manage its immediate challenges and mitigate the long-term impact on our city.”
The reopenings come after months of criticism and protests from gym and salon owners, who argued they could operate indoors safely, as well as complaints from religious leaders that indoor services remained restricted.
“It’s evident the ongoing pressure by struggling neighborhood gym owners is helping the city to see the benefits fitness represents to its citizens and the ability to reopen indoors safely,” said Dave Karraker, co-owner of two MX3 Fitness gyms in the city and a leader of the San Francisco Independent Fitness Studio Coalition, which represents nearly 100 small studios that employ more than 800 people.
On Wednesday, the city closed indoor gyms and fitness centers for police officers and other city employees to prevent coronavirus spread, according to a letter sent to city department heads obtained by The Chronicle. Those centers will now be allowed to reopen Monday at limited capacity.
While private fitness centers have been shuttered since the March 17 shelter-in-place order, police officers, city employees and some civilians have worked out in a slew of gyms operating under the premise that they are an “essential function,” according to sign-in sheets.
In a letter to city officials, Dr. Tomás Aragón, San Francisco’s health officer, said city-owned gyms have the same risks for coronavirus transmission as private ones.
“I recognize that there has been some confusion about the interplay between my orders and the changing state orders and Cal/OSHA requirements,” Aragón wrote. “But the same health and safety concerns that have compelled me to temporarily close indoor gyms due to potential transmission of COVID-19 apply to the operation of the indoor city gyms. Indoor gyms and fitness centers greatly increase the risk of virus transmission, including from asymptomatic people, due to the relatively limited air circulation, the increase in particle exhalation due to exertion, and the increased risk of people touching shared equipment.”
San Francisco gym and fitness center owners complained about having no city guidance for six weeks after reopening plans were paused in mid-July. On Sept. 1, Mayor London Breed said that outdoor operations could begin the following week and that indoor operations might return by the end of the month.
San Francisco is in the state’s red tier, the second-worst in coronavirus spread, but is allowed to open indoor gyms at 10% capacity. State officials have said individual counties can have stricter rules.
Napa and Santa Clara, the only other Bay Area counties that are classified red, have already opened indoor gyms. Marin is on the cusp of being classified red and has plans to reopen gyms and resume other activities when given the state go-ahead.
Gym owners had been grappling with the logistical nightmares of trying to open outdoors without space, insurance and places to change clothing, critics say. Poor air quality, including Wednesday’s orange haze that blocked out the sun, is another challenge.
“I just can’t imagine how this could possibly be harder for a small fitness business in San Francisco struggling to survive,” Karraker said. “Let’s all hope Godzilla doesn’t decide to show up next week.”
San Francisco also set goals for further reopenings. Places of worship could be allowed to admit up to 25 people or 25% of their capacity by the end of September. Middle schools could allow in-person learning in October, and high schools in November.
San Francisco said it will open community hubs Monday to support distance learning, with the youngest children allowed to resume in-person education first.
Private and charter schools are expected to be among the first to reopen for in-person learning, while the San Francisco Unified School District is still negotiating with its teachers’ union over a resumption of in-person education.
Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron