San Francisco curbs virus but once-vibrant downtown is empty

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco is reopening more businesses this week, thanks to low coronavirus case numbers that have allowed the city to move into California's most permissive tier. It means more people can go back to offices, dine indoors and visit museums.

But businesses and those residents who haven't joined an exodus out of the city are wondering when san Francisco's once-vibrant economy may bounce back.

As the coronavirus pandemic transforms the workplace, legions of tech workers have left, able to work remotely from anywhere. Families have fled for roomy suburban homes. The exodus has pushed rents in the prohibitively expensive city to their lowest in years. Tourists are scarce, and the famed cable cars sit idle. Bay Area Rapid Transit ridership is down nearly 90%

“Is it ever going to get back to normal, is it ever going to be as busy as it was — and will that be next year, or in 10 years?” said Evan Kidera, CEO of Señor Sisig, whose Filipino fusion food trucks were a common lunchtime sight in downtown San Francisco pre-pandemic but have gone elsewhere because there are practically no office workers around to feed.

Last week, San Francisco became the only urban county in California to move into the state's most permissive reopening tier, a testament to strong coronavirus restrictions that took effect early on and remained in place even as neighboring counties began reopening restaurants, gyms and salons.

The result: San Francisco, which pre-pandemic had nearly 900,000 residents, has recorded just over 12,200 cases and 145 deaths, among the lowest death rates in the country.

But the restrictions also smothered critical elements of San Francisco's economy — tourism, tech and the city’s main business and financial districts, packed with high-rise condos, office towers and headquarters for the...