California Churches Back In Business / San Francisco Fire Burns Fishing Industry
California Churches Back In Business
California churches can resume in-person services but worshippers will be limited to 100 people and they should wear masks, avoid sharing prayer books and skip the collection plate under state guidelines released Monday.
The California Department of Public Health released a framework under which county health departments can approve the reopening of churches, mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship that have mostly shuttered their doors since Governor Gavin Newsom’s March stay-at-home order designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The guidelines also urge houses of worship to avoid large gatherings for holidays, weddings and funerals and warn that activities such as singing or group recitation — which are intrinsic to many faith gatherings — “negate” the safety benefits of social distancing.
Worshippers have been eagerly awaiting their turn after Newsom began relaxing constraints on stores and other secular outlets as part of a four-phase plan to reopen California’s economy, saying progress is being made in reducing the spread of COVID-19.
Some 47 of 58 counties have received permission to move deeper into the reopening by meeting state standards for controlling the virus. The state on Monday cleared the way for in-store shopping to resume statewide with social distancing restrictions, although counties get to make their own choices of whether to permit it.
Churches are included in the next phase of the reopening plan, which could come in the next few weeks.
But several thousand churches have vowed to defy the current stay-at-home order for May 31, which is Pentacost, a major holiday for many Christians.
As of Monday, California had at least 94,558 confirmed cases of COVID-19, more than 3,000 hospitalizations and 3,795 deaths.
San Francisco Fire Burns Fishing Industry
A huge fire that tore through a warehouse on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf has destroyed fishing gear used to deliver about two-thirds of the city's fresh seafood.
The fire erupted before dawn Saturday and wiped out the warehouse the size of a football field near the end of Pier 45.
Larry Collins, who runs the San Francisco Community Fishing Association, estimates that thousands of crab, shrimp and black cod traps worth up to $5 million were lost in the blaze. He told theSan Francisco Chronicle the numbers could be far higher since port officials changed the warehouse's function into a storage facility in February because it lacked proper fire sprinklers.
“Pier 45 is the heart and soul of commercial fishing out of the Bay Area. To take a hit like this, it’s a bad one. Most people don’t think about where their salmon, crab or black cod come from, but that’s where: It’s Pier 45.”
The concrete pier is home to a mix of seafood and maritime businesses and tourist attractions, including the Musée Mécanique, a museum devoted to historic arcade games, and the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a historic World War II liberty ship. They are among numerous tourist attractions on the wharf.
Visitors also come for the Dungeness crabs, clam chowders served in sourdough bread bowls, the sea lions that lounge on the floating docks and shops on Pier 39.
The Chronicle reported that most of the salmon gear was saved because it's currently on boats. The black cod traps are largely in place for next week.
However, the crab pots that were packed to the ceiling in the warehouse couldn't be salvaged. With the Dungeness crab season expected to begin in mid-November, local crab boat ownerslaunched a campaignto raise $1 million to buy new gear. Crab pots cost up to $300 each. Collins said:
“We’ve got to get this fixed. The fleet that fishes out of here is basic to our food security.”
Investigators were assessing any damage to the pier and were looking into the cause of the fire.
