As the world has spent most of 2020 to date scrambling to address the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, most Bay Area counties led the nation in issuing shelter in place orders to help slow spread of the disease.
Hit especially hard within the region, Santa Clara County issued an order on March 19 only allowing for “essential infrastructure” work to continue including, “public works construction, construction of housing (in particular affordable housing or housing for individuals experiencing homelessness).” This differed from a subsequent statewide shelter in place order that requires people to stay at home except for essential service workers, which appears to allow for construction to continue more generally.
However, on March 31 Santa Clara County, along with most other Bay Area counties, issued a new order tightening restrictions on what is considered to be essential activities due to a, “Significant increase in the number of positive cases, hospitalization and deaths from COVID-19, which is beginning to strain healthcare resources.” The latest county order also extends the emergency measures through May 3.