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DPH outlines testing expansion, equity priorities and phased reopening timetable
Summary
San Francisco Department of Public Health leaders reported nearly 70,000 tests to date, an equity-focused plan to expand testing to vulnerable communities and a phased reopening tied to four‑week monitoring windows and masking requirements.
San Francisco Department of Public Health Director Grant Colfax and deputies told the Health Commission on June 9 that the city’s COVID-19 response is moving from crisis to a cautious recovery phase, with testing and equity at the center of reopening decisions.
Colfax framed the briefing by saying recent events have underscored racial inequities: "The murder of George Floyd has further exposed the ongoing systemic racism that drives injustice in our country," she said, adding that the pandemic has "disproportionately impacted black African Americans." She then summarized the department’s COVID-19 data and priorities.
Deputy Health Officer Susan Phillip described the city’s testing principles and operational progress. "We have done more than 69,000 tests and a 5 percent overall positivity rate," Phillip said, stressing that the 5 percent figure is an average since March and that current day‑to‑day positivity is lower. She said the department operates 29 testing locations and is targeting roughly 1,800–2,000 tests per day to meet regional reopening benchmarks.
Officials highlighted concentrated case counts in specific neighborhoods, noting that the Bayview, the Mission and South of Market have been heavily affected. Colfax said Latinx residents account for nearly half of diagnosed cases in the city and that Black/African American and Asian populations also show concerning patterns in case and death rates; the department is analyzing whether access to testing, age distributions and localized outbreaks explain those disparities.
Health Officer Tomas Aragon laid out a risk‑based, staged reopening aligned to the state's resilience roadmap and explained the rationale for four‑week intervals between stage changes. "There is a lag of 2 to 4 weeks between increases in activity and hospitalizations," Aragon said; for that reason the department will observe data for roughly four weeks after each phase before moving ahead. He emphasized universal masking, physical distancing and testing as the tools intended to keep the reproduction number below 1 as activity increases.
Commissioners pressed for more granular demographic and site‑level testing data. Colfax and Phillip committed to returning with breakdowns showing testing access by neighborhood and by demographic groups, and Phillip said the department is scaling low‑barrier testing in affected communities using partnerships with UCSF, Chinese Hospital and community groups.
The presentation closed with an operational note: 17 of 21 skilled‑nursing facilities had completed resident and staff testing as of June 1. Officials said targeted outreach and continued monitoring will guide where to locate additional testing sites.
Next steps: DPH said it will return to the commission with more detailed demographic testing analyses, ongoing updates on the 1,800–2,000 tests‑per‑day goal, and surveillance indicators tied to progress on reopening.
