SAN FRANCISO, Calif. – California Governor Gavin Newsom said physical distancing is working and it’s buying the state more time to bend the curve.

“If we continue to do that, we continue to hold the line, then these models will continue to buy us time because you by definition are bending the curve,” Newsom said.

Before Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order, San Francisco became the first major city in California to take action by issuing a shelter-in-place order last month.

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It has been more than three weeks since the Bay Area turned into a ghost town, and while the curve has not yet flattened, some doctors are saying social distancing and staying home are working.

 

 

 

“What we’re doing is working, it doesn’t change that this is a bad situation, but it is minimizing what we can now that we’re in the situation that were in,” said Doctor Timothy Dyster, a resident physician at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dyster is a third-generation physician and New York native who is in his third year of residency at UCSF. He explained that before San Francisco’s shelter in place order took effect, the curve appeared exponential. Dyster, who has been monitoring the data released by the San Francisco Department of Health, says the case rate slowed down after approximately seven to 10 days of people staying home.

“It doesn’t say that people aren’t going to keep getting sick. There will be people who are getting sick, but it does suggest that the rate is low enough that we’ll be able to keep up, and if we’re able to keep up, we’ll be able to save more people,” Dyster said.

While worried about his friends and family back in his home state, Dyster says he will continue to do everything he can to take care of his patients.

“If you stay home to protect people I love, I promise that if someone you love gets sick, I will do everything I can to keep them safe,” said Dyster.

As Dyster finds hope in most of the country’s efforts to stay home, he recognizes California is still in the calm before the storm phase and urges all of us to keeping doing our part as he continues to do his from the frontlines.