The article is misleading and demonstrates such a degree of ignorance of the SF Bay area that Google Maps would expose it.
First, only the fringes of cities that border on rural areas were affected. In Silicon Valley, that meant that the western edges of Cupertino south to San Jose and the eastern edges of Milpitas and San Jose were affected. In between, unaffected, were some 1.5M-2M people (our home included). The same was true all along the SF Bay Area, millions of residents were unaffected, including ALL of San Francisco.
Second, anyone capable of using and reading Google Maps can see that from Cupertino north to South San Francisco, 1/2-2/3 of the San Francisco Peninsula is rural, dotted with a few towns. Similarly, in the East Bay, from the Bay to I-680, 2/3 or more is rural, etc.. The North Bay is even more rural. The SF Bay Area is not even close to "one of the most densely populated parts of the country". Even in CA, the LA area, northwestern Orange County, San Diego metro area, and the Sacramento metro area are probably more densely populated that the SF Bay Area.
Stupid and ignorant hyperbole - assuming the author even knew it was hyperbole - like that diminishes the credibility of the article and CNS News as a news source.