four years ago, the us declared covid a public health emergency. today, the debate continues over whether we should memorialize the lives lost, perhaps with a monument or holiday and ahead of president's day. what is new and

noteworthy about this year's retail landscape and holiday sales? what to buy and not to buy. but first, the carnage that is mass shootings in america that's taking a toll in lives and mental health. you're watching getting answers. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. new developments in the investigation into the mass shooting at the kansas city chiefs super bowl parade and rally yesterday, police now say the shooting started as a dispute between several attendees. a mother of two was killed, nearly two dozen others were hurt, including children. three people are in custody and police say two of them are juveniles. this marks the 48th mass shooting in america in this new year. gun violence is taking a toll, not just on those directly impacted, but on the mental health of the masses. joining us live now to talk about it, erica felix, professor of clinical psychology at uc santa barbara. professor felix, thanks for joining us. thank you

for having me. it's an important conversation. i know you studied the effects of disasters, terrorism and mass shootings on our psyche. what happens to us when something like this happens ? >> well, when we see this on the news, we are compassionate people. we feel emotions like anxiety, worry, stress. we sometimes put ourselves mentally in the picture of a family member that might be experiencing this. because we are empathic people, and so it can take a toll even if we weren't directly there watching repeated media coverage of these mass shootings takes a toll on our mental health, and we've heard from students, teachers, parents that there is a constant worry about when the next mass shooting might happen and how they will all handle that. so people worry about that in places they go for enjoyment in their community, their schools, even though that out of all gun violence, mass shootings is the

rarest one, they get so much media attention that their impacts are felt very broadly. >> you know, when we see that what is actually happening to our brains, is it feels much closer than it is, and we can have the release of stress hormones, just as if we were there. >> and that's why when people watch several hours of this, it can really increase their anxiety and stress levels and can have a longer effect. so one of the recommendations we have is that people limit the media coverage on this. obviously we want to stay informed, especially if it's happening in our community, but also making sure that we are not watching hours upon hours of this because it makes it feel like it's closer. here we are, 2000 miles away and it was a big event and we feel like, oh, we want to go to these places and enjoy a

super bowl celebration. it should feel natural to be able to do that. um, but it can make us feel unsafe in so many places around us that we have to realize, like these get mass attention and it can make it feel psychologically closer than what it actually is for us. >> i just ask you if psychology has made it more so that way for example, you know, back when columbine happened, right in the age before instant internet and tiktok videos, um, was the impact on our psyche lesser? i suppose if you weren't immediately there or knew someone who was? >> yeah. i mean, i think we could think about this with all mass communication. things started getting into our living rooms and on the news we can think of, like the vietnam war and other things when just with tv or print journal ism and that can cause distress. but i think now in the era of social media, there can be a lot of unfiltered images from the scenes that are

out there. i think it can be harder for parents to monitor their children's exposure to this, because, yeah, back in the 1990s and pre 2001, parents could turn up, change the channel on the tv. um, if there was something distressing on that, they didn't want their child exposed to. but it's much harder when it's coming through your smartphone and nearly all teenagers, us and many younger than teens, have them readily access to a smartphone and can get access to unfiltered images and have it on repeat. >> pete, can i ask you, how does it manifest itself when someone suffers the psychological impacts after seeing something traumatic like this? like for example, if you were a student, you know what destructive things might happen. how might you cope ? >> yeah, i guess for many of us, like we have short time, transitory, understandable reactions. so we're going to feel stressed. we're going to

feel some anxiety. we can feel sadness or because we see this so often, it's also common for people to feel some numbing about this because we feel like we keep seeing this over and over again and sometimes feel helpless about that. all of that is, um, very understandable. and when we stop watching this, our emotions tend to go back to where they were. but but because it's been repeated, there's a thought in the back of everyone's head. and a lot of people that this can happen and that this is a and that can cause stress amongst all the other things that are stressful in our lives, like the economy, the, um, family life, other stuff that can be causing stress. so it's just one more thing that keeps adding up in our lives that is becoming like a chronic worry for us. so what can we do? >> right? because cause, i mean, i suppose you can consume no media. i suppose you could say i'm not going to put myself in

public. i'm not going to go out to places with a lot of people to minimize my risk. but, you know, usually what i hear from experts is that, well, that's not an answer either. so what do you think? >> yeah. i mean, i want we need we need journalism. we need all of this to let us know what's happening in the world. but we also have to moderate our media diet. and so it's not about going to nothing. there's a lot of wonderful things about social media. there's a lot of wonderful uh. we just have to recognize that there's only so much we all should be exposed to and limit the coverage. we can't go no coverage. um, also in terms of just kind of calibrate our risk perceptions because because we see it regularly on tv, it feels closer than it is and it can inflate our risk perception. however, for most of us, um, we have not been directly exposed to one of these things. we go to celebrations, we go to the grocery store or the movie theater or all these other places. and we've been

safe virtually every time we've gone. and so we have to remember that we have to recalibrate that risk. yes. this is happening to often in the united states, and we need to work together in a multifaceted way to make this rare again. but we also have to recognize that for most of us, most of the time, um, we are safe when we go to these communities and that there's people there working to make sure that these places are safe. and so avoiding things can make it even worse. and avoiding tends to build up anxiety about going out rather than reducing it. right, is some of the things that i would say now i don't know if you feel this way, but many experts feel like this is at a public health crisis level in terms of our mental suffering due to these kinds of events. >> the mass shootings. um, if so, if you think so, what can be done? i mean, does it take more government funding? does it take more studies? does it take, i

guess, what solutions are there? >> yes, i mean, i do think that we are at a public health crisis about gun violence in general. and there's multifaceted things we can do. there are, um, obviously there can be policy changes. and people often look to like congress, but there's also local and state policy changes that can help. also improving funding for mental health services. um, because what we know about these events is that when somebody perpetrates these stressors have been building up in their lives, and we'd like to get it before they get to this crisis point where they feel like they have nothing else to lose. and, and, and do this. and so having better mental health supports, um, having threat management teams at universities and schools, um, where we can take a multidisciplinary approach to help when threats are made and evaluate what can be done to

help prevent something like this is also very helpful. um, making sure people gun owners are locking up their guns and the ammunition in a variety of things can all be done to help reduce risk of mass shootings. so a lot. >> professor erica felix at uc santa barbara, thank you for sharing your time with us for this important conversation. >> thank you. >> up next, honoring the victims of covid 19 in a san francisco woman leads the charge to memorialize the 1.1 million americans who have died since the pandemic began. how technology is helping her bring

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pulled into the port of oakland with a covid outbreak that eventually resulted in 28 deaths at the time. few people had ever heard of the virus that would lead to a pandemic that would forever change our lives. since then, 1,176,000 americans have died from covid, and the san francisco woman who lost her dad is fighting to ensure we don't forget. joining us live now is kristin urquiza, co-founder of the justice and remembrance movement called marked by covid kristin. it's been a few years. it's great to see you. >> great to see you too, kristin. >> your father, mark, was one of the earlier victims of covid, right? tell us about his circumstances as he was actually living in arizona. >> so i had one foot in a state that wasn't taking it as seriously as another foot in california, and especially the bay area, where we took swift action. our public health officials came together and we

all, as a community, made decisions and sacrifices that saved countless lives. um, unfortunately, the state of arizona was quick to reopen and ended up having some of the worst health outcomes and in the entire country as compared to us in the bay area in san francisco , having some of the best, right? >> and i'm so sorry for the loss of your father. and i know for the past two years you've been advocating for national memorial to covid to remember him and all the other victims, right? >> that's right. we're working for permanent memorials, both in the mall, uh, in dc, but also all across cities and states across the country. um, we have been working with snapchat to incorporate an augmented reality memorial that will allow for any single person to submit a remembrance and what you're seeing some of those videos right now. so that way we can make sure we don't miss a single individual, whether that's the over 1 million people nationwide or the 1303 people that we lost

in san francisco county, this is truly an original idea. >> when i first saw it, i didn't understand what i was seeing. um, i think what you can do is choose a location that you like, right? like the golden gate bridge, and then you can upload pictures of your loved ones. is that how it works? and then you is it through like ar augmented reality that that this all happens. >> yeah. so the marker what happens is that we couple an actual marker that can attach to a physical site, whether that is what you're seeing right now, like on the mall in d.c. or the golden gate bridge, and create a space in which there is a remembrance place. and then any single person can insert a loved one. remembrance. and the thing that's really exciting about this, kristen, is that this has the capacity to have space for everybody as well as connect memorial halls across the country. so i've been visiting

memorials in arizona and kentucky and new york and, and, and triggering this marker in order to show the breadth and depth of who we've lost. and we're so grateful to our partners at snap for working with us to ensure that every single life that we've lost is remembered. this is so artistic as i think the best memorials are. >> um, but of course, this is kind of a modern artistry and i want to ask you, though, why is this so important? right. because kristen, a lot of people seem to just want to move on and put in the rear view mirror. why is this important? >> well marked by covid? the group that we've led has been bringing people together for years now to really kind of learn about why it's important to remember and what we've actually been able to come up with is that this is a concept that helps bring people together. um, we build bridges across our grief and our collective losses, not only to heal this, you know, the trauma

that we're holding from this really horrific event that we went through, but also to continue to push forward public health solutions that help all of us. covid is still here. um, we need to continue to be doing everything we can to keep vulnerable populations, uh, safe . and that's like things like, you know, upgrading our ventilation or whenever we're having a surge, having masks in health care. so our memorial is both about the here and now to heal, but also about that long terme vision of growing from the sacrifice pieces that we've all made to ensure that next time something happens, we are in a much better position to lose fewer lives. so your advocacy obviously has not ended. >> it's continuing. and you first became very vocal on the national stage after your father's passing. i know you attended the democratic national convention and a presidential debate between biden and trump. um, you believe that trump administration didn't take the pandemic seriously enough and

didn't do enough? what do you think the biden administration, you know, how do you think it's done? and in terms of the report card and what more you would like to see? >> you know, we've lost too many people, even underneath the biden administration. and we are so grateful for the vaccine and other sort of countermeasures we put into place. but one of the places i think the biden administration has really failed on is ensuring that we are upgrading our ventilation systems so that every single public school and public library and post office that they air there is free from viruses, whether that's covid, rsv or something else. um, but then also on this issue of masking, while we're in health care settings, we know that patients in the hospitals are really susceptible to all sorts of respiratory illnesses. so we need to also make sure that we're implementing guidance that keeps these folks safe by simply ensuring that, you know, everyone's wearing a mask while

in there. and i think the biden administration could take a leadership position on both of these issues, as well as recognizing our losses, sitting down and, um, you know, looking us in the eye and being able to, um, commit to something like a permanent memorial or a permanent memorial day, which we observe every first monday of march, which is coming up this march 4th. >> yeah. >> look, i know you have this art project, the art installation, the digital memorials, but do you still hope to see a physical memorial or monument. at. >> oh, yes, absolutely. and the great thing about the are monument and memorial is that it couples with physical spaces. and i hope that here in the bay area we have multiple of these so that people can come together slosser be able to remember our loved ones, make those commitments to do better, but we also need something in washington dc on the on the scale of the nine over 11 museum and nine over 11 monument, because we've never lost this many people in such a short amount of time, um, to a public health crisis. and i think that we need in our nation's, um, and

sort of heart and center for a firm reminder that we're committed to doing much better and doing better by the memories of over 1 million people that we've already lost to covid. let alone the millions of people who are still suffering from long covid, which is, you know, a disease that we don't have. you know, enough answers about right now and need more research funding to be able to ensure those folks can reenter our society. >> yeah, we all know people who are suffering from that. kristin urquiza, mark bykova, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. >> and for more information about the covid memorials, you can visit. marked by covid dot com up next, we're going to shift gears here because we are approaching presidents day. that has become a retail holiday, a consumer expert joins us with her tips for best deals. when we get getting answers continues

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george washington and later abraham lincoln, as well as now morphed into a celebration for retail. the holiday has turned into one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, joining us live to help us gear up and navigate the deals from the duds is consumer savings expert andrea warren. hey, andrea. >> hi. thanks so much for having me today. >> i know, are you geared up? this is like your super bowl. how did president's day weekend become such a shopping event? >> it just seems like any long holiday weekend event, um, especially after the holidays, there's been a lull. people aren't really out shopping, not spending. and so retailers are trying to get people out the door and into their stores and by hosting sales, they are able to get people to shop. >> all right. so which items what types of items can we find the best deals on this year? >> okay, so i dug through and i have some examples to go through everything. the first look at big ticket items a mattress is a really good purchase. over presidents day weekend. i see a

wide selection of deals from a variety of stores from big box department stores to specialty retailers. there's here's a deal that i saw at bloomingdale's. you can get 78% off the sealy posturepedic holiday mattress, and that's just $500. i'm also seeing mattress stores offering free delivery and sometimes 0% financing deals, so you definitely want to take advantage. and remember, this isn't something you want to skimp on, so focus more on the quality than the price, and then look for these deals to help you save. next on my list are appliances you can save about 40% off those large home appliances from best buy, lowe's, samsung has some deals. they were offering $1,000 off their bespoke ultra capacity front load washer and electric dryer, and they're even saying, hey, you can get an extra 500 off if you do a package deal. and then keep this in mind if you're buying an energy efficient appliance, you might actually qualify for a rebate. so definitely look for that because that can help cut some costs off another big ticket item furniture. so if you need a

new bed, new, um, new shoe dresser, maybe new dining room furniture, or go to a store like ashley furniture, they're giving you hot buys, saying you can save 40% off a variety of styles . just don't look at the patio furniture just yet. that would be a better buy in the middle of summer, when we'll see some sales. and the last two things on my list winter apparel. even though the weather is still cold, stores are getting ready for spring, so you're seeing about up to 60% off clothing. um, i saw gap was offering over 50% off the big puff cinch jacket, and then you could score 40% off the north face boots from backcountry, and then finally, luggage is a good deal right now ahead of spring break. you're looking at 40% off luggage and travel accessories at target, and amazon has some deals as well. got it. >> okay, we have less than two minutes left, so i want to get to items that we should skip right now. and maybe wait for a better deal on. yeah skip spring apparel. >> you're going to get better

deals in the middle of summer. there's some sales right now, but again, wait until summer starts for those deals. tvs we saw a lot of sales on big screen tvs ahead of super bowl. so that's kind of dying off right now. more sales will come during amazon's prime day and then jewelry, you know, right now after valentine's day we saw some sales. but those deals will come around mother's day again. and then just a couple of things you could do to save more. make sure you're looking for those coupon codes, especially on clearance. clothing gap was giving you an extra 25% off if you signed up for their text alerts. you can also download a plug in to your browser called sidekick, and this is from couponcabin. they're going to give you coupon codes, and you're also going to earn cash back for your online purchases. 5% cash back at samsung, over 8% cash back at mattress firm. and considering you're spending hundreds of dollars on some of these big ticket items, that could add up fast. so again, that was that coupon cabin.com. i got a lot of cash back recently. it's just an easy, no brainer way to make something

back for all your purchases. you're making anyway. >> hey, is it worth it to open a new credit card to cash in on deals? >> yes, i love that you mentioned this. i do see some retailers offering 0% financing deals, which is a great thing to take advantage of, but another option would be opening up a new credit card that's offering you 0% apr on new purchases. the capital one quicksilver card says that you can get 0% for 15 months, so that means you have over a year to pay off some of these purchases. and here's the other bonus you can get a cash back if you spend a certain amount in the first three months of opening that a card, and they're saying they'll give you an extra $200, right now. so that could help pay off your purchase. if you're buying a new couch or a new mattress. wow such great ideas and great information. >> consumer savings expert andrea warren, thank you so much for joining us today. >> thank you so much and happy shopping. >> happy shopping to you too. remember abc7 news is streaming 24 over seven. get the abc seven

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from around the bay area. world news tonight with david muir is next. i'll see you tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the high drama in court. the prosecutor who brought the case against donald trump suddenly in court defending herself, and you'll see it. also tonight, we're tracking those two winter storms moving in, already tonight, the 30-vehicle pileup. first tonight, that unexpected moment in georgia playing out late today. the fulton county d.a. suddenly