San Jose streets quiet as shelter-in-place order nears second week

Monday, March 23, 2020
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The Bay Area's largest city was eerily quiet Monday as the mandatory shelter-in-place order nears its second week.

It's a tour of San Jose unlike you've ever seen it before.

Cesar Chavez park was empty.

The normally bustling downtown is now full of shuttered shops, a ghostly Santana Row and at Watson Dog Park there were more landscapers than dogs.

RELATED: Coronavirus Bay Area: ABC7's drive around San Francisco shows empty streets, businesses shuttered

San Jose seems to be heeding Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest warning to take the shelter-in-place order seriously.

"Those young people are still out there on the beaches thinking it's time to party. It's time to grow up, time to wake up," Gov. Newsom over the weekend. "Time to recognize that it's not just about the old folks, it's about your impact on their lives. Don't be selfish."

ABC7'S Julian Glover thought he would find people looking to stretch their legs after a week of working from home and limitations on travel, but streets were largely empty.

RELATED: DRONEVIEW7: Video of empty San Francisco streets after coronavirus shelter-in-place order

J.J. Atherton was out walking his two dogs Starsky and Hutch.

"On the streets, people will walk to the other side of the street if they need to if they see you coming you know," Atherton said. "You feel like you should get out of people's way too."

As for the governor's appeal for younger people to take the virus seriously, he said for the most part they are.

"We haven't had any quarantine ragers" he said. "There have definitely been a few gatherings of six, 10, 12 people, but it's definitely not like people are having these huge quarantine parties."

With the streets of San Jose this empty let's hope this is a sign that life may be back to normal sooner than we think.
Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.