afternoon of news connected with the coronavirus. i'm larry beil. >> and i'm dion lim. right away that breaking news, in san francisco starting monday all schools, pre-k through 12 will close through spring break. >> the san francisco unified school district is taking the time to prepare school communities in the likelihood of a prolonged covid-19 epidemic. this is not business as usual. >> that is the san francisco unified school district superintendent, vin seng vincen matthews, speaking less than an hour ago. the district is closing all schools to train staff for a possible long-term change. >> all services will be closed, including before and after school day care and enrichment services. they are working on ways to provide lunches and child care to families in need. new developments have been coming in minute by minute.

four san jose firefighters have tested presumptive positive for covid-19 putting an entire station under kwoequarantine. >> the president says travel restrictions to california or washington are possible if the infection rate gets out of control. disneyland is closing its gates on saturday, the first time since the september 11th attacks. we're just learning that universal studios is also shutting down and more sporting events are suspended, postponed, cancelled. this includes the ncaa tournaments and major league baseball has pushed opening day back at least two weeks. locally the exploratorium and california academy of sciences are closing their doors. >> many industries are being hugely impacted. locally hotels and restaurants are suffering. >> melanie woodrow is live at union square with that part of the story. >> reporter: larry and dion, foot traffic is noticeably lighter here today at union square. with so many of those conventions that have been cancelled, hotel occupancy is down and all of the businesses

that surround the hotels are feeling the impact as well. at capacity, hotel g union squa have anywhere from 300 to 500 guests. the hotel is currently at 30% occupan occupancy. >> we would normally be in the 80 percentile range. >> how mas just under 50 employees. >> as those occupancy levels change, it will dictate how many people will work. >> reporter: the ceo of the hotel council of san francisco says the greatest impact will be on employees. >> they're doing different types of things, whether it's letting people take vacation time or work schedules, but i believe there are hotels that have started laying people off as well. >> reporter: restaurants are suffering too. pacific heights taco bar owner jack schwartz says he's seen a drastic reduction in business. >> foot traffic is not what it usually is. >> reporter: he's adjusting employees' schedules to account for the decline. >> we haveut down on hours,

definitely. >> san francisco's economy is going to be significantly impacted. >> reporter: fanis m loon breed. p ithe han of small business owners. >> we're trying to set up to do just that and allow the private sector to contribute to that funhey need to cover some expenses they're able to do so. >> reporter: mayor breed said officials are also exploring a moratorium on evictions. he businesses i spoke with say that they are doing everything in their power not to lay off employees, even if it means those reduced hours. their biggest fear, they say, is not knowing how long this will last. live in san francisco, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >> empty streets at union square, normally packed. the coronavirus pandemic

sent wall street into its worst slide since the black monday crash of 1987. the dow jones industrial average fell by nearly 10%, down over 2,300 points. a few weeks ago the dow was at 29,000. now we're down to 21,000. both the nasdaq and the s&p also plunged by more than 9%. at one point the new york stocko exchange suspended trading for 15 minutes because stocks dropped so quickly following this morning's opening bell. that's the second automatic halt to trading that we've seen this week. long lines and frustrated passengers at san francisco international airport 24 hours after president trump's european travel ban. now the president is saying domestic travel restrictions possibly involving california could happen. abc 7 news reporter ancer hassan joins us live from sfo with more on this. >> reporter: good evening. there was a lot of confusion at sfo today. many european passengers thinking they have to leave the u.s. by friday or be stuck here the next 30 days.

that of course is not true. others getting email alerts to p numbers weren't working and those at the desk didn't seem to know how to help.aneain >> it actually says your flight on the 14th of march was cancelled. >> reporter: they called the airline and their travel agent but couldn't figure out what to do. >> i called the travel agency in germany and they said we cannot reach anybody. so they're coming up with an emergency plan right now but that's all i know. >> reporter: much of the confusion comes from president trump announcing new travel restrictions on foreigners who visited the shenzen zone. it's an attempt to stop the spread from the areas with the highest number of cases other than china. >> we're from itrip, which was

cancelled because of the coronavirus. they were lucky to get new tickets, trying to get home before friday's ban. >> for us right now it's important that if something happens, that we're at home and closer to people that we love. so yeah, we're not taking our chances but we're not panicking either. >> reporter: european passengers may not be the only ones facing a travel ban. earlier today president trump announcing domestic travel restrictions are a possibility. >> other countries are cracking down. some people seem to think it's a good idea, but i don't know how necessary it is. if it's going to keep people safe, i'm all for that. >> reporter: now, once this travel ban goes into effect, all european flights will be directed to one of 15 u.s. airports. that list hasn't been released yet, but i spoke to sfo officials and they say since the cdc is already here since the wuhan outbreak, sfo will likely be one of those airports.

ancer hassan, abc 7 news. >> we appreciate you clearing up that. governor newsom provided updates on the state's efforts to fight the coronavirus. as of 10:30 this morning the governor set 198 californians have tested positive for the virus. that is 21 new cases overnight, about a 10% increase. four people have died. the governor has also asked gatherings of 250 or more people to be cancelled statewide. >> the directive is effective for the rest of this month. we will extend it as necessary. it's likely it will be extended. >> newsom also said the state is ramping up its efforts to test for coronavirus. there's currently a little more than 8,000 tests available for all of california. stanford, ucla, uc san diego and the city hope hospital are offering tests. he hopes that kaiser will have tests by next week. a day after the nba announced it is suspending its

season, other professional sports leagues were quick to follow suit. major league baseball saying it will delay the start of its regular season by at least two weeks because of the outbreak. the a's and the giants were scheduled to play two weeks from today. major league baseball is suspending the rest of spring training. mlb has not had a mass postponement of openers since a players strike delayed the start of the 1995 season. and there will be no march madness this year. the ncaa's board of governors today cancelled the division i men's and women's basketball tournaments. that happened this afternoon. not postponed, they cancelled it. the decision came after major conferences, including the p pac- pac-12, and two national powers, duke and kansas, announced they were suspending their seasons. today we learned a second nba player tested positive for the coronavirus. donovan mitchell is now infected. his positive test comes a day after rudy gobert became the

first player to test positive. that prompted the league to suspend its league. here he was joking about the virus touching all of the microphones at a news conference. today he apologized for what he called his careless actions. high school basketball impacted as well. the california interscholastic federation cancelled the boys and girls state championship games that were scheduled for tomorrow and saturday in sacramento. the decision impacts several bay area high school teams. officials say that decision was made after careful deliberation and in the primary interest of protecting health and safety, especially of the student athletes. the commissioner of the national hockey league announced today the season will be paused. the nhl hasn't said if any of its players have tested positive for the virus. that decision comes with 189 games left in the regulared som about how many games, if any, could go on before the playoffs or if those will be played at all. major league soccer suspending its season for 30 ea.

the mls was just about to play week three of its 2020 schedule this weekend. now, as you can imagine we are constantly updating our website with the very latest information. head to abc7news.com/coronavirus for the latest closures, cancellations and tips on how to protect yourself. not everybody is losing business because of the coronavirus. >> we have shown you countless seen scenes of long lines in stores as people buying cleaning supplies and toilet paper get to - (phone ringing) - big button, and volume-enhanced phones. get details on this state program. call or visit

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and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit more than 2,000 people have been let off the grand princess cruise ship at the port of stay

there until at least sunday. laura anthony is live for us at the port with the very latest. laura? >> reporter: hi, dion. i just heard from some of the passengers still on the grand princess behind me. they are from oklahoma, from florida and from as far away as poland. they are hoping to get off sometime tonight. there's also an effort to keep the ship here for a few more days. the plan is to get at least some of the crew members also off and on their way home. >> this was the day we had hoped to conclude that process. >> reporter: four days into the ship's stay at the port of oakland, governor gavin newsom says all but a few hundred passengers are off the grand princess, including all of those from california. >> we have three flights s ora.ed, miram cepting texas not americ citizens that are notat

than 500 passengers remained on board this morning, many of them from other countries who will require more time to accommodate in terms of transportation back to their homes. there's also an effort to repatriate the 1,100 crew members rather than sending them back out to sea. >> we have been in contact with the embassy of south korea, japan, india, philippines substantively to address the needs not only of the crew but the remaining foreigners that are still onboard. >> we're going crazy. >> reporter: in the meantime, hundreds of former passengers, many from the bay area, are now into their 14-day quarantine at travis air force base. not all of them are satisfied with the accommodations. suzanne is especially concerned about the lack of testing. >> part of the routine is that we don't know much. can't find out when we will be tested or if we will be tested. there seems to be a lot of conflicting information about that. >> reporter: and here's a live

look at one of those passengers still here on the grand princess. again, the governor said today the plan is to get most, if not all the passengers off by the end of today. as for those folks at travis, you heard that young womanay th s to get tested. at this point it's not clear whether all of the people who were on the ship will get tested or just some of those who were exhibiting symptoms. at this point the official number that tested positive for the coronavirus from the ship remains 21, but the governor did indicate today that there have been some more positive tests. they're just trying to collect all that data so the number will hopefully not much higher. laura anthony, abc 7 news. princess cruises is suspending sailings on its 18 cruise ships for the next 60 days. passengers on cruises that will end in the next five days will continue to sail through the end of the itinerary. current cruises that extend

beyond tuesday will end at the most convenient location for passengers. customers can request a cash refund or get credit for a future cruise. coronavirus fears are translating into more business and more money for some local stores. at the same time, those stores have to worry about shorted aagf certain items and keeping their employees and customers safe. eric thomas is live at a market in alameda with more on the story. eric? >> reporter: larry in, some parts of the store, business is too good. this is where the hand sanitizer goes. this is where the hand soap goes. you see it's all gone. and when they get some back in, they put up this sign saying one per customer now. you only get to buy one. but there's always been logistics involved in running a grocery store. now there's also a public health aspect. >> there's a little more frenetic energy around the shopping. >> reporter: the market owner, joe trimble, on the impact coronavirus fears are having on business. >> business has been good.

i'm not super happy that it's good. i wish that it was a little bit calmer. >> reporter: trimble saw an 18% boost last week and a 50% jump over a normalame ly >> so far i think everything i needed is still here. i haven't checked the toilet paper yet or purell. >> can't seep purell or antibacterial wipes in stock and can't get any from suppliers. as for toilet paper, this section was completely full this morning. look at it now. retailers are trying to keep their spaces as safe as possible. business here has also been good. >> we are cautiously optimistic that if -- that people seem to be going about our business normally. >> reporter: jesse was shopping for sneakers with his three kids. >> you've got to live. thyas toeep going soho but alsonk it'susp clean. >> reporter: stores are currently doing their part to keep necessities on shelves, but

some also realize that a sick employee or enough sick customers could shutter the business, at least for a while. >> i don't think we're there yet, but it's definitely something that goes through my mind. >> reporter: now, at sports basement they speculate a lot of people staying home from work still have to get out and get some sort of exercise so they don't get spring fever so are continuing to shop there. here it's all about necessities. people want their hand sanitizer and antiseptic wipes, but you have to go a lot of places, in some cases, to find them. eric thomas, abc 7 news. >> abc 7 news east bay community journalist melissa documented what many of you were seeing. dion, you were in the middle of one of these crowds recently. huge crowds at costco. this is the store on monument boulevard in concord. people loading up packs of water bottles here off of a pallet and putting them right in their

containers to take them out, their carts. they ran out of toilet paper within 30 minutes on the shelves. no toilet paper in sight. >> i've been searching for almost two weeks. finally got some today. finally. an aide to the brazilian president tested positive for coronavirus just days after attending an event with president trump at mar-a-lago over the weekend. the brazilian president's communication director has tested positive. he posted this photo of him standing next to president trump at the eventuringesenisit tth u. president trump, though, says he's not concerned. >> we'll finding out what happens. i guess they're being tested right now. let's put it this way, i'm not concerned. >> the brazilian government says they are monitoring president in boe's health. and canadian prime minister

justin trudeau is self-isolating over coronavirus fears because his wife began showing mild flu-like symptoms after speaking in the uk. the couple is staying at home until their test results are returned. trudeau is not showing any symptoms and is working at home out of an abundance of caution. let's take a break from the coronavirus for a second. it's not all actually doom and gloom because it's a beautiful sunny day out. >> we have one more beautiful sunny day before it starts to get really cold and winter-like. here's a look at live doppler 7. mainly clear skies. the fog has lingered at the coast and is expanding a little bit right now. here's a live view from sutro tower. it is currently 61 degrees here in the city, 70 in oakland, redwood city 71, mid-70s at san jose and gilroy, and 54 at half moon bay. check out the golden gate. the fog just keeps getting thicker and lower, as is visibility. current temperature readings in other locations right now 74 in

santa rosa, petaluma only 65. 70 at napa, 80 at fairfield. it has been very mild in many inland locations. 76 apiece at concord and livermore. here's a view from mt. tam. you can see lots of clear sky above but that finger fog continues to push through the golden gate and out over the bay. we'll see areas of fog during the morning commute tomorrow. mostly sunny by afternoon and mild once again tomorrow, but over the weekend a dramatic change in our weather pattern. it will turn cold and wet and that pattern will continue through the weekend and into early next week. overnight lows under partly cloudy foggy conditions will be mainly in the mid to upper 40s, a little chillier in some north bay valley locations. tomorrow look for some oast but will shine brigom low up to about 72 deg in the mies no's sp ahead to the weekend as the cold, wet weather

comes our way. here's our forecast animation starting at 5:00 saturday morning. notice the rain stretch sweeping through as the cold air settles in. there will be snow in the sierra, rain in the bay area. temperatures will drop sharply and that rainy pattern will continue through saturday, through sunday, into monday and possibly even into tuesday. not only will we get a decent amounti of rainfall here but decent snowfall in the sierra. rainfall totals will be half an inch to an inch and a quarter. heavy snow is expected, several feet of know some to impossible travel conditions will prevail. here's the accuweather seven-day forecast. the storm coming in over the weekend ranks only 1 on the storm impact scale but it will be with us for three days, saturday, sunday and monday and maybe even lingering into tuesday. temperatures will drop sharply. high temperatures, which are mainly in the 70s, will only be

in the 50s saturday, sunday and monday. so a turn toward winter-like weather. >> it was like a joke from mother nature. >> it's a joke all i of metastatic breast cancer.e but i did pick clarity by knowing i have a treatment that goes right at it.

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♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ all we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all we need is someone to lean on ♪ grocery delivery companies seeing a spike until sales. >> michael finney is here with those stories. >> everyone is really getting in on this. the federal communications

commission, it wants to help those impacted by the coronavirus. it's doing that by working to improve broadband connectivity for a huge swath of americans. the commission is looking to improve service for doctors and nurses as well as covid-19 patients and those quarantined. the fcc also wants to work with educators to help schools that have closed facilities that are still holding classes online. grocery delivery companies are seeing an increase in business because of the covid-19 crisis. you would expect that. as more people are told to work from home and refrain from eating out, companies like insta cart are seeing a boost in sales. farmstead saw a 30% to 50% boost last week. starbucks is doing its part to prepare for the covid-19 outbreak. the coffee retail giant said it may limit seating and keep only drive-throughs open at some of

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here at 4:30, he's a look at the stories making headlines. the san francisco unified school district closing all schools pre-k through 12th grade because of the coronavirus. closures start monday and last through spring break. more than 1,300 people have tested positive in the united states and 39 people have died. the president is considering a travel ban to california if the infection rate becomes too high. disneyland and universal studios is closing and more sporting events are suspended, postponed and cancelled. this includes the australian grand prix just 20 minutes ago. major coronavirus developments in the south bay today. four san jose firefighters have tested positive for coronavirus. this comes as three tsa agents at the airport were also infected. abc 7 news reporter chris nguyen ha this story.

>> reporter: the novel coronavirus has found its way to the front lines of the san jose fire department. at least four firefighters hav now tested positive for covid-19, and two others who have symptoms are in ordered isolation at home awaiting formal test results. the sick firefighters also have multiple family members who tested positive. >> we are certaily taking steps to reduce spread in our community by modifying programs and by proactively cancelling events. >> reporter: nearly 80 firefighters have at one point been in quarantine due to documented exposures. this afternoon the san jose firefighters union released a statement saying, quote, responding to the covid-19 pandemic as it grows among our residents is an unprecedented challenge and we are up to that challenge, but it is also taking a tremendous toll on us as we fall ill and support our ill family members. assistant fire chief reggie williams says it's not clear where the firefighters contracted the illness. >> because our firefighters work in teams and they train together

and eat together and sleep in the same areas, they are at risk for possible exposure. >> reporter: at mineta san jose international airport, three tsa agents who work at terminal b on the night shift are now at home after being diagnosed with covid-19. the agency releasing new eaertis wguesnd t public as february 21st, february 26th and march 2nd. at least 40 tsa agents are now in self-quarantine. >> what weeed a lot of testing and a lot of contact tracing after that testing to identify who may have had contact with an infected person. >> reporter: city and county officials are urging the federal government to immediately provide more test kits to santa clara county. >> please get us the kits that we need to test our community, so we're not only able to be responsive but we can be informed. >> reporter: in san jose, chris nguyen, abc 7 news.

>> now, we have a team here at abc 7 of coronavirus experts. one member is somebody that you've seen on the air a lot, our medical expert, dr. alok patel. not just a pediatrician but a journalist and a producer. quite the resume. thanks for coming in again. >> thank you, larry. thanks for the intro. >> no, it's great actually to talk to somebody who's so well versed and can communicate so effectively. so let's start with the san francisco unified school district, which about 90 minutes ago said that they're closing schools -- >> yeah. >> -- for three weeks. now, as a pediatrician, what is your advice to parents to communicate to their kids about what's happening, because they're little kids and may not understand this. >> totally. it depends on the age, but one general rule is honesty. just be very honest with children. children want to know very basic things. number one, am i safe? are mom and dad safe? that's one thing parents can communicate to their kids. also children want to know how

is their day-to-day life going to change now. for some families, that's a difference in child care, or a difference if they can get food or not for their child so it really depends. honesty is the best thing. one other fun little note to add, children often use play time to get themselves through stressful or fearful situations. so parents have all the means and the right to be creative in any way they want to to explain this to their kids. >> i know there are a lot of kids going, hey, no school for however long it turns out to be. >> and hopefully parents teach good hygiene practices and model it at home. >> everybody is washing their hands longer than i've ever seen, ever, ever. i want to talk about italy, because they clearly were not prepared for what's happened. and it's really sad. >> absolutely. >> it's tragic because you have scenes where people are not even being attended to in the hospitals. the whole health system there has been overwhelmed. they don't have enough doctors, they don't have enough

personnel, and people are literally dying in the hallways. can our health care system deal with this if this thing spikes? >> if it were to spike overnight, for example, we are -- we are overly fearful that our health care system would hit mass capacity. for example, we have 100,000 icu beds. we have millions and millions of people in this country. we have something like 70,000 venting laters which oftentimes are mostly being used right now. if we were to have this overnight spread, chances are we would not be able to handle it right now with our health care system. we don't have the capacity to build hospitals overnight and get more personnel in. that's why the major, major goal is to slow the spread. we're still going to have the same amount of cases over a certain amount of time. we want to slow that time down in order to get our health care system to catch up. whether that means more protective measures, anti-viral medications or vaccine, we have to slow it down. >> i've been doing a lot of reading about the practices in china, because they have more

experience since they have been through this before and this is where this outbreak started. what they did was when they realized they were at a flash point, they pretty much just shut down major cities. we're talking about tens of millions of people, 50, 60 million people. we don't do that in this country. but social distancing can help. so what is your advice for people? because even when i see you, like the first thing is we're going to do a fist bump or shake hands, whatever. how important is that to try to stop the spread of this? >> i think one quick thing to differentiate is social distancing is a behavioral change. so it's different than something like a quarantine or isolation, which actually is a definition of your boundary. so i think it's crucial in having everyone practice some degree of social distancing to basically limit the amount of t if you're asymptomatic.k you could get sick and pass icd

distancing includes staying away from people from about six feet away, which isn't always possible. it could also mean, and this is very annoying and frustrating for some people, but to avoid mass gatherings. concerts are being cancelled, sporting events are being cancelled. all these things we normally look forward to, we're not able to do. but it's very important in helping us slow the transmission. we can do that by all taking our part. we just saw that story of someone who flew from florida -- i'm sorry, from new york to florida, got off the plane and then said, hey, by the way, i tested positive for coronavirus. these are the behaviors we want to really make sure we're not doing. we're all taking protection for ourselves and for our community. >> we're already out of time but i'm going to ask you one more question. how long do you think we're going to be in this mode? >> in the social distancing mode? >> where everything is kind of paralyzed for the moment. >> with regards to public health, i could see it being the larger part of this year. >> year? >> we really have to slow things down. we're just gambling on live television. do i think we'll have a shutdown

of schools and all this for that long? i don't. i think this will change the way we look at transmission of disease. >> all right. dr. patel, thanks as always for coming in. again, i want to make sure you have the latest developments and are prepared and safe. that's why we have a team of experts, including dr. patel, coming in. thanks again. >> thank you. well, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted many bay area companies to encourage or even require employees to work from home. now, before now that hasn't happened on a scale with tens of thousands of employees at a single company. david louie shows us how working remotely is working. >> reporter: this is a strange sight in silicon valley. the parking lots at cisco are empty because nearly 18,000 employees here in san francisco and pleasanton are on mandatory work at home status. they're using webex. so did we to interview about what they have leshds with their local workforce at home. >> if we're not careful, we could be sitting here in our

office all day long, versus what we're normally used to, walking building to building and offices. we're trying to give our people breaks so they can get up and stretch. >> reporter: only a skeleton crew is staffing kbm hogue. 150 employees are working at home. so far it's working, but not for every aspect of their work. >> at some point, somebody wants to sit in a chair, they want to touch a fabric. some guys need to pull up in a pickup truck or a van or parcel van or 45-foot trailer and offload or build furniture. so we're good so far but this is a dynamic situation. we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. >> reporter: for realtors, safety is also a consideration. open houses may be changing. sandy jameson is president of the association of realtors. >> for the elderly sellers, we're recommending to not have the open house because we don't want to ask them to leave the

home for an afternoon and put themselves out in the public space when they should really be staying home. >> reporter: so many offices have spaces like these where people can collaborate, where interaction among employees is encouraged. this curren crisis may cause some companies to think about working from home, might be an idea whose time has come back. in san jose, david louie, abc 7 news. >> if you are working from home, you can always watch us here on tv. the abc7news.com website and the abc 7 news app. we are constantly updating our coronavirus stories at

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feel real relief. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. an unpleasant side effect of coronavirus which originated in wuh wuhan, china, is a growing spread of xenophobia and racism against asian americans. she wrote an eye-opening opinion piece for "the new york times" about her experience. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> the piece all stems from experience you had at a nail salon in los angeles. when i read the op-ed my heart sank because i thought have we got to this point. >> yeah, this past month i went to a nail salon to get a manicure. the nail technician who came, she started interrogating me, asking me are you chinese, where are you from? are you from china? i said yeah, i'm chinese. she started aggressively attacking me and chinese people

saying you guys are terrible, you guys are gross, obviously in response to the coronavirus. and it was mohorrifying. when it happened there was so many bystanders and there was absolute silence. nobody spoke up, nobody said anything. a lot of why i wanted to write the op-ed was to share what was going on and to say you can speak up and say something if this happens to you. >> we got to know each other over instagram and kind of agree that ever since the coronavirus outbreak started, people have really been more vocal, at least online. what do you think people can do in real life? because you didn't have anyone speak out for you. >> yeah. i think check in with the people, check in with your asian american friends. are they okay? travel in group, not alone. also i think sre muman aerse out, we got thousands of responses. i just wanted people to be able to share that. >> and your response of what you did i thought was very

refreshing because oftentimes we're told to sweep these incidents under the rug or maybe don't speak out. maybe it's a cultural thing. but what you did next and confronting the people at the salon was really telling of your character and i think of making change. >> i think the most important thing was to approach it with love and understanding that there are other people that also experience discrimination and to share facts, not fear. so i think especially when we're ve isrobably the most helpful and effective in helping one another. >> and one last question from me is that as a journalist, we are criticized oftentimes in how we cover the coronavirus, especially the images of people wearing masks and they all happen to be asian. the asian american journalism association put out a call saying that we as an organization, all of us, need to be okay. what would you like to see in coverage and also on social media when it comes to sharing stories of coronavirus? >> i think i would love

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league in the country has postponed or cancelled events because of the coronavirus pandemic. major league baseball is shutting down spring training, postponing opening day for two weeks, hoping to start in mid-april but who knows. the ncaa didn't just postpone march madness, they cancelled the whole thing. the nhl and major league soccer both announced they're suspending the rest of the season, following suit with the nba's surprise suspension of play last night. schools closing as well. san francisco the latest. it's a three-week closure. are any of you surprised at how swiftly things have changed in just the past two or three days? >> it's as if a light switch went off and people said we have to get serious about it. >> once the pro teams did it, everything else follows.

can they actually really resume when they want to? like halfway through a season, for example? how easy is that? >> i think it would be challenging, especially as you get two weeks, three weeks, four weeks in, guys are out of shape. so tn he tt everybody back together again. then what happens if somebody else tests positive? okay, another two weeks we'll check back in and pretty soon you're into october. nobody knows. even the nba owners, the board of governors is split as to whether it's really feasible to even think about continuing this season and having a championship this year in the nba. >> it could just be a lost season for so many. >> talking about large gatherings now because not long after governor newsom recommended gatherings of 250 people or more be cancelled across the state but said disneyland would remain open, disneyland actually decided to shut down. the main park and california adventure will close on saturday and stay closed through the end of the month. cast members will be paid.

disney is the parent company of abc 7 and, yeah, maybe this is similar to sports. now we're starting to see, what, disneyland japan also closed. >> hong kong shanghai a long time ago. disney world remains open right now. >> and smaller venues are closing down. broadway shows are closing down. first it was any theater with a seating capacity over 500 people. now it's all broadway theaters shut down. >> that is right. also the exploratorium, just yesterday they were saying we're changing up our exhibit so it's less interactive. today of course with governor newsom's 250 people recommendation, it's totally going to be closed for a while. so that could be happening every day more and more. >> it's the new norm. >> for now. >> for now. international health organizations are using tiktok to create flashy videos to combat social media misinformation about the coronavirus. the world health organization

joined tiktok in late february and they were soon joined by the red cross and others. the videos debunk various methods of treating the virus, like a rumor that hand driers might kill it. they're providing handshake alternatives and hand washing techniques. at least they're trying to have some fun, but these are challenging times. >> whatever it takes, right? young people will listen to something that's on tiktok. short attention spans. >> my son is on tiktok. if that's where the kids are, makes sense. >> and my grandsons are singing happy birthday as they wash their hands. it's a way to lighten the mood a little bit as we achieve a serious purpose. >> and it actually helped them learn better too when it's fun for them, kids anyway. >> better from the w.h.o. than joe shmo giving you some instructions. >> sorry to joe schmo out there.

>> unfortunately, we're all joe schmo to the kids. >> all right. well, there are people in vietnam who are thinking up new baseel p h all right, i can dig this. staffers at the pro style hotel in ho chi minh city choreographed a dance routine. vietnamese influencers and unicef vietnam joined to post as many dance videos as possible to spread the word. early on they had a good handle on the coronavirus because of that song. >> it's amazing, isn't it? >> my first thought was that they're standing too close. that was the first thing that popped into my mind. >> despite them having a good handle on it, tourism is down so maybe those hotel workers didn't have other things to do as well. very creative. >> i think anything that helps

to inform the public about what we're facing i think is helpful, whether it's music, whether it's dance, whatever you've got to do. >> or casual chats like this. >> i agree. i think conversation is the starting point. >> absolutely. >> we're doing our part, guys. >> even if we are too close. >> all right. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun

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we've been telling you that one of the very best ways to stay healthy is to wash hands. our abc sister station in new york experimented with a black

light to show you just how important hand washing is. >> i'm almost afraid to see this beusi ve a feeling i know what's coming. >> wash your hands often. >> wash your hands. >> wash your hands. look out for the symptoms. >> reporter: they keep saying it, but this image right here is proof we all could be doing a better job scrubbing. with the help of barbara smith -- >> i'm going to give you a small drop. >> reporter: we put fake germs on my hands. they look clean under normal light but they're not. >> you notice there's a lot of white spots there, dan. >> reporter: they're full of germs, all those little white marks. after shaking the nurse's hand -- >> just my shaking your hand, i got your germs transferred on mine. >> reporter: so i wash my hands with soap and water for ten seconds and take a second look. >> after ten seconds i still have germs. >> yeah. i guess we have to do a better job. >> but washing my hands soap and water for longer, 20 seconds, made all the difference. >> much, much better. hardly anything left. after 20 seconds, your hands

were almost completely clean and we didn't really see any more of those fake germs. >> but that's after really scrubbing them. >> you were doing a really good job there, dan. >> reporter: she also recommends drying your hands completely after, using the towel to turn off the faucet. >> the germs are easy to travel from one person to the next if my hands are wet. so the germs like wetness. >> let's look at those results again. my hands without washing. after using soap and water for 10 seconds and after 20 seconds of scrubbing with soap and water, which the cdc recommends. >> reporter:. >> if you can reduce the germs from your hands, you can protect your family from getting more germs. >> if you don't have access to soap and water, the cdc recommends hand sanitizer that has at least 60% alcohol. >> thanks for joining us for abc 7 news at where can a healthier heart lead you? for people with heart failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities.

entresto helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the st serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. our schools are going to close for three weeks effective

monday, march 16th. >> an about-face for san francisco. students will stay home instead because of coronavirus. talk of a domestic travel ban creating confusion at local airports. travelers don't know what to do. the lack of available testing kits for covid-19 is a big problem. even the governor is frustrated. >> just about every professional sports team is going into hibernation because of coronavirus. even little league is down for the count. >> the struggle for bay area hotels' occupancy rates are plunging. >> and the timeline for the grand princess is growing. the san francisco unified school district is taking the time to prepare school