Bay Area coping with shelter-in-place

OAKLAND, Calif. - With schools, businesses and gyms closed and millions of people told to shelter-in-place, boredom can set in pretty quickly for Bay Area residents.

As a result, many people are doing what they can to keep from going stir crazy.

“Normally I would literally be at work until about 4:30 p.m. and then I would be rushing home to pick up everyone from school,” said Jade Hardin.

We caught up with her at Emeryville Marina Park where she brought her three school-aged children to work off some energy.

Hardin is among the roughly 7 million Bay Area residents who have had their lives upended by a shelter-in-place order that was issued Monday by the leaders of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.

California is currently dealing with over 400 coronavirus cases and a majority of those are in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Local leaders hope that the drastic measure they have taken will help curb the spread of the pathogen.

Hardin said she expects the challenges will only continue as she works to come up with ideas for how to keep her children busy throughout the shelter in place order that is currently set to run through April 7.

“Keeping stability, (a) routine is necessary to keep yourself together and family as well and then just keeping everybody sane,” she told us.

People we spoke with who were walking a park in Emeryville to keep busy, seem to know that the coronavirus pandemic has guided the country and Bay Area into uncharted territory and have kept their distance from others with whom they come across while outdoors.

“Well, I’ve been doing like everybody else. We’re doing our cleaning projects, our work projects, fixing everything,” said Oakland resident Sharon Delap.

While the shelter-in-place is in effect, health officials are encouraging residents to remain active by walking or hiking, but they warn that people should not gather in groups to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.