* The shelter-in-place order in the San Francisco Bay Area is being extended through May.
* The regionwide order, which was the first in the US, had already been extended once, from April 7 to May 3.
* Residents have been isolating inside their homes for weeks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
* But until factors including widespread testing and contact tracing are considered, reopening is unlikely.
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The shelter-in-place order for the San Francisco Bay Area is being extended through May, past its previous deadline of May 3.
A joint press release issued on Monday by public-health officials across the Bay Area said the modifications to the order — to be officially made later this week — would include "limited easing of specific restrictions for a small number of lower-risk activities."
An expiration date wasn't announced, but the order will be enforced through May, the officials said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed had said in a Friday news conference that an extension was likely.
"What that means is another few weeks or even a month of asking you all to comply and to remain at home and to continue to follow the social-distancing orders that we put forth," she said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The region, as well as the rest of the US, continues to fight the spread of the coronavirus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19. The regionwide order was the first in the country to be enforced, on March 17.
The order had already been extended once, to May 3 from April 7. Residents are directed to remain inside their homes as much as possible but can leave for essential activities like grocery shopping or going for a walk.
San Francisco now requires people to wear masks while in public, specifically when they're at essential businesses such as grocery stores or restaurants.
Another Bay Area county, Solano County, north of San Francisco, had already extended its shelter-in-place order through May 17.
For the most part, Bay Area counties have been following the same recommendations from public-health officials on how to modify the shelter-in-place orders for their locales.
As of Monday, there were 7,720 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Bay Area. In San Francisco County, there were 1,424 confirmed cases, with many coming from nursing homes and homeless shelters, including MSC South, San Francisco's largest shelter. The shelter experienced an outbreak in early April when 70 people tested positive for the disease.
A reopening plan detailed by Gov. Gavin Newsom said multiple factors — including widespread testing and contact tracing — would need to be considered before restrictions could be relaxed. Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 19.
San Francisco's public-health director, Dr. Grant Colfax, said on Friday that while the "curve is flat" in the city, that doesn't mean life can return to normal just yet.
That reality is especially stark for people who have been grappling with the economic fallout of the pandemic. The mayor said on Friday that her office expected the city's unemployment tally to soon reach 100,000, or about one in every nine residents, Curbed SF reported.
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