3 Things The Bay Area Didn’t Do Until Coronavirus

By on April 3, 2020

A beautiful day for “Foxy” at Thornton State Beach in Daly City. (photo credit: Fernando Ventura)

A lot has changed in a very short period of time since the coronavirus sent us all indoors with our families and pets. Before then, we all enjoyed activities like board games, trail hikes, baking and binge watching tv. Now, we’re doing that stuff all the time! And then, there are things we as residents of the Bay Area just didn’t do…until now. When the boredom of sheltering in place becomes so intense, the good people of the nine county San Francisco Bay Area resort to various activities that otherwise would rarely, if ever, register a blip on our radar.

WE DIDN’T GO TO THE BEACH: The water is cold, the sand is cold, the wind is cold…it’s COLD at the beach! It’s also kinda dirty and carcasses of various, dead sea creatures wash up there all the time. The only people from the Bay that like the beach aren’t even people. Your dog. Your dog loves the beach! Mostly to roll around in the scent of those dead sea creatures. The rest of us forget it even exists except for that one 75 degree day that causes us to strip down to our shorts and a tank top and pretend we’re SoCal. But then the governor said we should stay at home and only come out for a walk for some fresh air. Suddenly, everybody is at the beach! It got so crowded one day in Marin police had to close down roads and send people back to their homes. Soon after, the beaches were closed.

Marin County health officials order immediate closure of county’s parks, one day after visitors crowded parks and beaches despite California’s shelter-in-place order.

Story by @MatthewKawahara: https://t.co/FWLD5pr2ry

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) March 23, 2020

2. WE DIDN’T BAKE BREAD AT HOME: We are fortunate to live in an area of the country where we have sooooooo much GOOD. But if there is one GOOD that we have more of than most other cities it’s GOOD FOOD! Including the most delicious bread! Raymond’s in South San Francisco, Semifreddis in Kensington and Boudin in…all over the place, all make sourdough bread so well that the San Francisco area is famous for it. But in the last few weeks, it feels like all seven million people of the Bay Area have decided that bread is best baked at home. This has lead to a full on, clean sweep of baking aisles at every supermarket from Solano to Santa Clara. But while there are plenty of flour alternatives for your cookies and cakes, yeast is absolutely necessary to make your bread rise. I’m convinced there is no yeast available in the entire western United States. We may have to import our bread ingredients from far away places like Nebraska. But, check this out! Here is a gentleman who claims yeast is something we can make ourselves.

Friends, I learned last night over Zoom drinks that ya'll're baking so much that there's a shortage of yeast?! I, your local frumpy yeast geneticist have come here to tell you this: THERE IS NEVER A SHORTAGE OF YEAST. Here's where I'm a viking. Instructions below.

— Sudeep Agarwala (@shoelaces3) March 29, 2020

3. WE DIDN’T DRIVE SO FAST: Many of you know that I split my time living in San Francisco and Sonoma. When shelter in place went into effect, my husband and I high tailed it to Sonoma because we have a lot more wine stored for “emergencies” up here. You can keep your toilet paper, I want Pinot Noir. This means that each weekday I’m driving to the City. Normally, the commute is awful. One lane down Arnold Drive to highway 37 feels endless when you’re behind a car doing only 25 in a 50 mph zone with no chance to pass. When you get to 101, it’s stop and go the rest of the way. But coronavirus has changed all of that. Now I can make it to San Francisco in LESS than an hour. And that’s not going over the speed limit…by much. An interesting thing is happening with fewer cars on the road. The drivers that are on the road are driving faster. A lot faster! Under normal circumstances at rush hours, our roads are so congested no one can reach the limit let alone break it. Now, to keep up with the flow of traffic, the speed limit is more like 75, not 55. Let’s not mention the high speed, lane change acrobatics from the far left lane to an exit ramp some daredevils are performing! The CHP is noticing too by stepping up their patrols all over the Bay so keep an eye out and manage your speed.