San Francisco’s LGBTQ community, led by a city supervisor, is calling on the federal government to greatly step up distribution of vaccines against monkeypox, a highly infectious virus now spreading mostly through male-to-male sex.

The city is home to more gay, bisexual and transgender men than anywhere in the country, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said Tuesday, which makes residents among the most vulnerable to the virus. He introduced a resolution urging the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prioritize vaccine distribution based on risk.

“Gay and bisexual men are once again being failed by our federal government,” Mandelman said on the steps of City Hall, invoking memories of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. He was joined by the city’s top health officials, Dr. Grant Colfax and Dr. Susan Philip, and representatives of other communities at heightened risk for monkeypox, including transgender people and sex workers.

“Would monkeypox receive a stronger response if it were not primarily affecting queer folks?” Mandelman asked rhetorically as supporters hissed.

He and other speakers drew comparisons not only to the early years of the HIV epidemic — when the government was slow to respond to the public health emergency hitting primarily gay men — but to the COVID-19 pandemic, where federal officials have made the coronavirus vaccine as easy as possible for everyone to get.

dr Grant Colfax, director of health, joined public health officials during a press conference outside City Hall calling for more support from the federal government to combat monkeypox.

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

San Francisco’s public health experts said they aren’t seeing the feds prioritizing monkeypox the same way.

“We are literally beginning our federal partners to provide more vaccine,” Colfax said, noting that the city’s health department has received only 2,888 vaccines from the state since early June — and it took until this week to get 2,300 of them.

Yet the monkeypox hotline at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation is ringing off the hook, “getting one to two calls per minute,” said Tyler TerMeer, chief executive at the agency, which held a monkeypox virtual town hall Tuesday evening.

Across the country, 866 monkeypox cases have been reported, including 148 in California, according to the CDC. Of the state’s cases, 40% are in San Francisco — up sixfold in the past month, to 60.

OnTuesday, Dr. Erica Pan, state epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health, revealed that scientists have detected monkeypox in Bay Area wastewater surveillance systems, the first such occurrence in the country.

“This implies there’s a lot more disease there than we realize,” she said in an online health update.

Pan said the state is giving a vaccine, called Jynneos, mainly to people who have been exposed to monkeypox: lab workers who do testing, doctors and others who treat infected patients, and people who have attended an event where someone had a confirmed case.

A cousin of smallpox, the disease generally is not deadly, and most people recover without treatment. But its painful lesions can last for weeks. Other symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches and chills.

Children and people with medical conditions that make them more vulnerable can have more severe cases.

Two patients are hospitalized for monkeypox at UCSF, one of only four or five hospitals in the state with Tpoxx, a drug to treat smallpox, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UCSF infectious disease expert who appeared with Pan.

Unlike COVID-19, monkeypox is not generally transmitted through respiratory droplets, although it can be caught through kissing and breathing at close range. It spreads mainly through intimate contact, and most cases so far have been reported among male-to-male partners.

The White House announced its vaccine strategy on June 28, and said it will allocate 296,000 doses “over the coming weeks,” and 1.6 million doses “over the coming months.”

People stood in long lines to receive the monkeypox vaccine at San Francisco General Hospital.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Noting that the US Department of Health and Human Services has said it will buy enough additional vaccine to fully vaccinate about 2 million people through 2023, Mandelman said that’s not enough.

More than 4.5 million men in the US say they have sex with other men, the supervisor said, citing a 2016 study in the journal JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. The same study indicates that in San Francisco, 18.5% of men have sex with other men.

Having to wait five to seven days to get monkeypox test results is also a problem because people may pass along the virus before they know they have it, Paul Aguilar, HIV chair of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, said from the City Hall steps, where he joined Mandelman.

Philip, the city’s health director, blamed the testing problem on a bottleneck at the state level but said new labs are opening, and “we’re hoping to speed up the process.”

Mandelman’s resolution would require the Board of Supervisors to urge the CDC to release a vaccine prioritization plan “based on the risk of contracting the virus and medical vulnerability.”

The board would also call on the Department of Health and Human Services to buy and distribute enough vaccine for every at-risk person to easily get it.

The board is expected to vote on the resolution next week.

Chronicle staff writer Catherine Ho contributed to this report

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov

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San Francisco Ballet is back – with a vengeance! The first program of their 2022 season concludes with arguably the most joyous 35 minutes of dance ever created, George Balanchine’s neoclassical masterpiece Symphony in C. Set to Bizet’s fizzy first symphony, composed when he was only 17, the entire ballet is a delight, but it reaches its apex in the final movement as dozens and dozens of dancers fill the stage, their stark white and black costumes standing in sharp relief against the sky-blue backdrop. As the dancers dive into the challenging choreography with gusto, it feels as if the stage erupts in a burst of fireworks. Yes, this is exactly what we’ve been missing for the past two years, this feeling of rapturous joy that simply cannot be transmitted via a video screen.Max Cauthorn and Sasha De Sola at San Francisco Ballet’s
production of Helgi Tomasson’s Trio

Program 1 opens with Trio, an attractive ballet by SFB’s soon-to-retire Artistic Director, Helgi Tomasson, and it’s what I would call a patented Tomasson piece – decent choreography set to gorgeous music with ample opportunity for terrific dancing. It’s not the kind of ballet that’s going to set the world on fire, or that you’ll likely remember a year from now, but it is very pleasant to watch in the moment and shows off the depth of talent in this remarkable company. In this case, Tomasson has chosen Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous Souvenir de Florence, which surprisingly wanders from Italy to Russia over the course of its four movements, the latter two combined into one (thus giving the ballet its name). A playful pas de deux opens the piece before giving way to a melancholic trio with undertones of a plot involving death conquering love, and the ballet concludes with a folk-dancy romp. Tomasson’s movement is consistently attentive to the shifts in the music, even as he cribs from Balanchine along the way. But as they say – if you’re going to steal, steal from the best.

(L to R) Daniel Deivison-Oliveira, Dores André and Luke Ingham in
San Francisco Ballet’s production of Helgi Tomasson’s Trio

The opening night cast was terrific top to bottom. Sasha De Sola and Max Cauthorn danced beautifully together in the first movement. She astonished with her spitfire turns and languorous balances, and he seemed perpetually airborne. Doris André, Luke Ingham and Daniel Deivison-Olivera made a nicely understated trio in the sorrowful second movement, letting the choreography speak for itself without piling on the pathos. Angelo Greco and Misa Kuranaga injected the finale with a spritz of playful energy that brought the ballet to a rousing close. And the corps de ballet of 10 dancers gave beautiful support to the principal dancers throughout, most notably the duo of Estéban Cuadrado and Mingxuan Wang, two dancers of different physiques and temperaments who somehow met in the middle through the perfectly matched elegance and lightness of their dancing.

Sarah Van Patten as the title character in Cathy Marston’s Mrs. Robinson, flanked by the corps de ballet

The middle piece of the program was the much-anticipated world premiere of Cathy Marston’s Mrs. Robinson, based on the source novel for the celebrated film The Graduate. Marston’s fresh idea is to tell the well-known story from the perspective of the middle-aged title character. This sounded fascinating in concept, but in execution, not so much. Working closely with dramaturg Edward Kemp and composer Terry Davies, Marston knows how to tell a story through dance – this is not one of those narrative ballets that leaves the audience mystified as to what they have just seen – but she does not have a feel for devising distinctive movement that illuminates character. Yes, there are odd sparks of this along the way, like the way Benjamin’s signature gesture of running his hand upwards over his face speaks to his discofiture in the world, but those moments are way too few and far between. Instead, we get multiple sequences of women in aprons miming household chores and falling to the floor. It’s a choreographic notion about the stultifying life of a housewife, but it’s not a novel or interesting one so it goes nowhere, even as it is repeated over and over again during the overlong ballet’s 45-minute running time. Sure, we get the concept, but we don’t feel it.

The central tries between Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin are equally lacking in imagination and, more problematically, real passion. There are some easy visual jokes about his awkwardness, including unfortunately broad allusions to his erection, but we never feel the couple’s true connection. This ultimately robs Mrs. Robinson’s emotional journey of any real impact. When she meets her unhappy end, it is mystifyingly abrupt and vaguely reminiscent of The Stepford Wives. What we really need is a culminating solo for Mrs. Robinson that delineates through movement her emotional state. Instead, we get a non-ending ending that leaves the audience perplexed.Joseph Walsh as Benjamin Braddock and Sarah Van Patten
as the title character in Cathy Marston’s Mrs. Robinson

Marston is not helped by her creative team. Patrick Kinmonth’s costumes seem oddly stuck in the staid 1950’s rather than the hip 1960’s and his sets look cheap and ill-constructed, rather than spare and stylized as I presume was intended. The lighting design by the usually terrific Jim French only calls attention to those deficiencies. I even began to wonder if this was on purpose, that the point was to shine a light on the shoddiness of the society it depicted. On the plus side, the dancers in the huge cast of 36 uniformly danced with commitment and style. I felt badly for Sarah Van Patten and Joseph Walsh in the leading roles. They are two of SFB’s most accomplished dancing actors and they complemented each other beautifully. Even with her beguiling opacity and his emotional transparency, though, hard as they tried they simply could not make their characters register for the audience. Oh how I would love to see them both dance a much better version of this same story!

After the low-key bewilderment of Mrs. Robinson, SFB came roaring back with the infinite glories of Symphony in C. Featuring an enormous cast of 52, including no less than four leading couples, there are simply too many moving parts for any ballet company to give a perfect performance of Symphony in C, but SFB gives it their considerable best. The corps women were stunningly light and crisp in the opening allegro movement, with a standout Julia Rowe in a demi-solo role. A playful yet regal Sasha De Sola and Aaron Robison, astonishing in the height of his jumps, led their ranks with dash and panache. The achingly gorgeous adagio second movement showed off just what Sarah Van Patten can do with a role worthy of her talents, as she alternated swoony melancholy in her pas de deux with Ulrik Birkkjaer with crisp changes of direction, mid-leap mind you, in her solo. Dores André and Max Cauthorn brought impish high spirits to the third movement before Henry Sidford and Jennifer Stahl kicked off the final section with spritely command.

(L to R) Elizabeth Mateer, Anatalia Hordov and Tyla Steinbach backed by the corps de ballet in George Balanchine’s Symphony in C

That last movement becomes a sort of balletic relay race as the tempo speeds up and teams of dancers from each of the proceeding movements dash onstage, performing brief flashes of intricate movement before ceding the stage to the next team. And there are delicious moments of unison dancing for the leading ballerinas, and then the leading men, that allow us the pleasure of watching these artists dance in synch with each other while still expressing their individuality. When the ballet ends with a celebratory whoosh of all 52 dancers filling the stage tutu to tutu in a kaleidoscope of geometry, jumping and twirling in delight, it is a distillation of pure joy.

[All photos by Erik Tomasson]

Live performances of San Francisco Ballet’s Program 1 continue through Saturday, February 12th at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA. Running time is approximately 2:40, including two intermissions. Proof of full COVID vaccination and wearing of masks while in the building are required. For tickets and additional information, visit www.sfballet.org or call (415) 865-2000, MF 10am-4pm.

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Mark Twain didn’t really complain about the San Francisco weather (the person who coined, “The coldest winter I’ve ever had was a summer in San Francisco” never claimed the quote), but he did further dispute with the city.

“An old house broke from its berths last night and drifted down Sutter Street towards Montgomery,” the famous humorist wrote in the Daily Morning Call in 1886, above that office, and she finally stopped in the middle of the thoroughfare and stares dejectedly in Towards Montgomery Street, as if she wanted to go down there, but really didn’t feel up to the exertion. “

Aside from Twain’s wonderful personification of a sad, lost house in the middle of San Francisco, the scene he depicts of a house gliding through the city streets may seem like a bizarre spectacle – but it used to be a common sight.

This photo, recently shared on the excellent History of San Francisco Instagram, made me wonder a lot.

How do these poor horses move a villa?

Why move a house at all and not build a new one?

Seriously, are these horses okay?

Many of the answers can be found in Diane C. Donovan’s fascinating book “San Francisco Relocated”.

It turns out the photo was taken in Pacific Heights in 1908. The house with the overhanging windows on the far left still stands today, although it is painted white, at 2402 Steiner across from Alta Plaza Park.

While we don’t know where that particular traveling home ended up, Donovan reveals in her book that mansion relocation is a little-known part of San Francisco’s history. Due to the constant reworking of sidewalks, streets, and grid lines through the young city – and the fact that San Francisco’s redwood houses were relatively light as opposed to brick houses on the east coast – huge structures were often seen on the streets.

So much so that they became a public nuisance not just for Mark Twain.

“The business of buying these ancient clams, moving them … and selling them for long loans has become a regular business,” wrote the Alta California in 1868, “followed by a number of people making profit for themselves themselves, but have loss to the general public. “

The activity wasn’t much fun for the horses either. However, the method they used to move the huge houses was pretty clever and went something like this:

The house would be jacked up and placed on greased beams. As the house moved forward, the workers picked up the boards and ties that had been left behind and rebuilt the track in front of the house. A winch or drum was placed in the middle of the road and connected to a huge cross member on the structure with a pulley. The two horses circled the drum, unwound the roll, and slowly dragged the house down the street.

The method is pretty clear in this photo of a New York state house that moved in 1893:

Moving in, New York State, 1893.

Archive / Unknown

Even when gas powered trucks were available, horses were still used because they could step in circles over the large cables, which at the time would bring a truck to a standstill.

Moving homes and even churches and schools was a big industry in San Francisco for a short time. The 1900 edition of the city’s business directory lists no fewer than 19 companies offering their services to relocate your home.

Herbert L. Hatch’s early attempt at viral marketing on a postcard titled “Moving Day in San Francisco” shows a cable car passing under a huge house on Washington Street. (The building on the right is now Danielle Steel’s Spreckles Mansion.)

“Moving Day in San Francisco”, c. 1900.

Archive unknown

One of the most extraordinary examples of frivolous buildings in San Francisco, as if they were monopoly hotels, came in 1913.

The Newton J. Tharp Commercial School was completed in 1910, but just three years later all 9,000 tons were lifted and 1,485 feet moved to make way for the new Civic Center. The school was moved from Van Ness to 170 Fell Street, where it still stands today.

The move was captured in this wonderful (filled with typos) postcard entitled “Biggest Moving Job Ever”.

“Biggest moving job ever.” The Newton J. Tharp Commercial School was relocated to San Francisco in 1913.

Archive / Unknown

As the city’s infrastructure established itself and building materials became cheaper, traffic, phone lines, and other services ended the era of building moving in San Francisco.

Some historic buildings in the Bay Area are occasionally relocated today, such as the historic Lathrop House in Redwood City, which moved to its third address, 701 Hamilton St., in 2019 to make way for an office building.

This structure was moved at speeds of 1 to 2 meters per hour, with a large crew of engineers, seismic fitters, industrial hydraulic rollers – and without horses.

Here are some great time-lapse footage from this step:

More San Francisco history

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