page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in the San Francisco Bay Area
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in the San Francisco Bay Area / Social impact / Education
caption_attribution_description: English: A sign at the Steindorf STEAM School in San Jose, California, announces the school’s closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place order.
context_page_description: The San Francisco Bay Area, which includes the major cities of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland, was an early center of the COVID-19 pandemic in California. The first case of COVID-19 in the area was confirmed in Santa Clara County on January 31, 2020. A Santa Clara County resident was the earliest known death caused by COVID-19 in the United States, on February 6.
  Local officials instituted some of the first mitigation efforts in the United States. The first mandatory shelter-in-place order in the mainland U.S. took effect throughout the Bay Area on March 16 and 17 and continued until mid-May, affecting nearly 6.7 million people. The early government response is credited with mitigating the spread of infection compared to cities on the East Coast.
  Closures due to the pandemic have resulted in mass unemployment and significant disruptions to the economy, replacing local governments' budget surpluses with historic deficits. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of distance learning among schools and telecommuting among businesses, especially in the technology industry. Air quality around San Francisco Bay improved as a result of a temporary decline in traffic volume.
context_section_description: On April 1, school superintendents in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties announced that in-person classes would not resume during the 2019–20 school year.
  Many Bay Area colleges and universities have announced tentative plans for instruction in fall 2020 in response to the pandemic:
  Berkeley City College –  most classes online
  California College of the Arts –  mixture of online and in-person classes with distance learning options for some first-year undergraduates
  California State University, East Bay –  most classes online
  California State University Maritime Academy –  most classes online
  California State University, Monterey Bay –  most classes online
  Cañada College –  most classes online
  City College of San Francisco –  online
  College of Alameda –  most classes online
  College of San Mateo –  most classes online
  Contra Costa College –  online
  The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone –  in person
  De Anza College –  most classes online
  Diablo Valley College –  online
  Dominican University of California –  in person
  Evergreen Valley College –  online
  Foothill College –  online
  Holy Names University –  in person
  Laney College –  most classes online
  Los Medanos College –  online
  Menlo College –  in person, but start of fall semester delayed
  Merritt College –  most classes online
  Notre Dame de Namur University –  new undergraduate admissions suspended
  Pacific School of Religion –  in person, but introducing distance learning options
  Presidio Graduate School –  resuming online instruction with monthly in-person residencies
  Saint Mary's College of California –  in person
  San Francisco State University –  most classes online
  San Jose City College –  online
  San Jose State University –  most classes online
  Santa Clara University –  mixture of in-person and online classes
  Santa Rosa Junior College –  most classes online
  Skyline College –  most classes online
  Sonoma State University –  most classes online
  Stanford University –  most classes online, all single dormitory rooms
  Starr King School for the Ministry –  most classes online
  University of California, Berkeley –  some or all classes online
  University of the Pacific –  in person
  University of San Francisco –  in person
  William Jessup University –  in person
caption: A closed elementary school in San Jose
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4032", "Image ImageLength": "3024", "Image Make": "Google", "Image Model": "Pixel 4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "HDR+ 1.0.309798350zdh", "Image DateTime": "2020:05:15 09:29:57", "Image YCbCrSubSampling": "[2, 2]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[37, 15, 5543/100]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[121, 55, 267/50]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "146/5", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[16, 27, 16]", "GPS GPSDOP": "6601/500", "GPS GPSProcessingMethod": "[65, 83, 67, 73, 73, 0, 0, 0, 102, 117, 115, 101, 100]", "GPS GPSDate": "2020:05:15", "Image GPSInfo": "31769", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "32144", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8725", "EXIF ExposureTime": "333/500000", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "52", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0231", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2020:05:15 09:29:57", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2020:05:15 09:29:57", "EXIF OffsetTime": "-07:00", "EXIF OffsetTimeOriginal": "-07:00", "EXIF OffsetTimeDigitized": "-07:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "211/20", "EXIF ApertureValue": "253/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "451/50", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "253/100", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "521/250", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "146/25", "EXIF SubSecTime": "658498", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "658498", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "658498", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3278", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2862", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "32020", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "181/100", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "43", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "a8c29afb98b311760000000000000000"}