>> a huge step forward in closing the digital divide. oakland students getting some help from a local billionaire. good afternoon and thanks for joining us on this friday afternoon. i'm larry beil. >> and i'm kristen sze. twitter ceo jack dorsey surprised everyone today by donating $10 million to the oakland unified school district. we'll have more on that in just a moment. but first -- >> but first, though, yeah, a week from now all but one bay area county will be in phase 2 of reopening. napa, sonoma, solano counties are already in phase 2. marin county, san francisco and san mateo counties will move into phase 2 on monday. alameda and contra costa county will follow some time next week. santa clara county has yet to determine a date. abc7 news reporter chris nguyen joining us in san jose to explain exactly why that is the case. chris? >> hi, larry. officials in santa clara county say the data and the science will continue to drive their

decision-making process, a at public safety remains the key. in san jose's willow glen neighborhood, many businesses remain boarded up due to the novel coronavirus crisis. hairdresser erika martin is still out of work, but stopped by lincoln avenue to help support the local economy. >> it is important that worry safe, but it's also important that we do maintain the revenue that's generating in this ome of normalcy when all can things do go become to normal, according to science. >> as of friday afternoon, santa clara county hasn't said when it plans to move into phase two of governor gavin newsom's four-tiered plan to open california. stanford university infectious diase expert dr.ys the sw and s of the unique characteristics that make up the bay area most populous county. >> you have east san jose which, again, much more densely packed. you have a lot more multigenerational families in

housing and much closer quarters. >> the pandemic has articularly is to bring down community transmission across the board. >> we don't suddenly have herd immunity. we don't suddenly have a vaccine. we have exactly the same conditions that we've had in march. so that if we did's up, we would see a brisk return of cases, hospitalizations, and a brisk return of death, to be quite blunt. >> the first phase of stage 2 allows nonessential services such as curbside retail and office space to reopen unless more strict local orders are in effect. >> as counties open up, we will see that people are making decisions based on their own assessment of what their personal risk is. >> sjsu economics professor dr.

colleen haight says it's a balancing act. >> but if they feel it's safe to go out, it doesn't matter whether your county is closed or not. if you can go to the next county, those people will do that, travel. >> latinos account for more than a third of those who have died from covid-19 here in santa clara county.veafn in san jose, i'm chris nguyen, abc7 news. >> chris, thank you. from the south bay we go north to sonoma county, reopening more businesses today. this is video of a car wash that opened up this morning. other places now up and running include outdoor museums, botanical gardens and pet groomers. shopping malls can provide curbside pickup. sonoma county moved into phase 2 a week ago following the state's guidelines. county leaders are encouraging everyone to continue their social distancing at businesses that are back opac other top sc single child access to a laptop

and internet in their homes. thanks to a big donation from twitter's ceo. education someone of the four issues we're dedicating more resources to in an effort to building a better bay area during this pandemic. abc news lyanne melendez has the story. >> just yesterday 11th grader jessica ramos proved that words have energy and power. >> i am not alone. many of my peers from deep east and west oakland do not have access to technology and resources. the impact on our academics and future is big. >> ramos was on a zoom called hosted by the oakland unified cool district, looking to raise $12.5 million for more computers and internet access. phase 1 of the plan was to raise $2 million now. phase 2 would come later, $10.5 million. this morning twitter ceo jack dorsey tweeted $10 million to give every single child in oakland access to a laptop and internet in their homes, closing the digital divide. heard mayor libby schaaf and

oakland unified call and funding immediately. >> an amazing shot in the arm for us. and what this is going to do is it's going to enable us to have computers in schools, and it's going to enable every student in our district to have a computer at home as well. >> according to the superintendent, 17,000 students in oakland lack high speed internet access, and 5,000 have no access at all. >> you cannot be an active member of society without having access to the internet. >> the bay area has roughly 75 billionaire, and some like dorsey have come forward to donate money, but only after city officials complained that some had not done enough to help during this pandemic. >> we have to make sure that they understand their social responsibility of being not only a san franciscan, but someone who should be contributing to society in this way because a lot of the money that's being made is really off the backs of a lot of the folks that we need to help right now. >> and that seems to be working. today the controllers office

released the names of those who have already donated to the give to sf nur abc7news.com. lyanne melendez, abc7 news. >> we want to hear your ideas about building a better bay area. you can share them by joining our building a better bay area group on facebook. oakland is trying to cut down on large crowds that we've seen gathering outside on weekends. leaders are rolling ow parking restrictions at lake merritt. parking around the lake will be blocked off on fridays, saturdays and sundays. food trucks will be banned on weekends. people say they understand the need to keep crowds to a minimum. >> i'm still going to come to the lake, but i've got to park some where else. >> when i see people hanging out and maintaining their six feet, i think it's fine. it's the larger groups that are a lull more concerning. obviously we're not out of the woods yet. >> oakland police and city ambassadors will be out remining

people to keep their distance. parking lots at all city parks are closed until further notice. san francisco's opening a new safe sleeping village for the homeless. mayor london breed made the announcement. it will be in the former mcdonald's lot on stanion street. this is theleing ville that s ft civic center plaza near city hall. white squares line the lot where people can set up their tent. the mayor said this is the safest option for now because shelters are easy targets for coronavirus. the past few months have really been a struggle for so many of us. restaurants having to basically reinvent themselves, and will need even bigger changes in the future. new proposed legislation to give them financial relief. plus two south bay students identified a problem and came up with a solution. with a solution. how theycalifornia phones offers free specialized phones... like cordless phones, - (phone ringing) - big button, and volume-enhanced phones. get details on this state program.

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musician jorge santana, brother of carlos santana has died. jorge started playing guitar at the age of 14 in san francisco and formed a band with some high school friends called the malibus. they would later become malo and scored a top 20 hit with the song "suavecito." he would later team up with his brother in the 90s, going on tour and releasing an album. he was on a board with dan ashley. they were good friends and jorge would also play with dan's band. his family says he died of natural causes. he was 68 years old. pars of is the bay area rattled by an earthquake that hit western nevada early this morning. it was 6.5 in magnitude. the quake hit near tonopah 400 miles east of san jose. several small aftershocks followed. the earthquake damaged u.s. 95. that's the main highway between las vegas and reno. look at the crack there, nearly two inches wide in the road.

a stretch of the freeway is closed so troopers can assess the damage. tremors were felt in southern california's central valley. video from fresno shows a vand here swinging back and forth. the usgs says this quake was the largest in nevada in 65 years. retail in the bay area is preparing to reopen for curbside pickup, and restaurants are looking forward to day when they can start serving people tableside again, as we continue to look for ways to build a better bay area and our economy, abc7 news anchor dan ashley tells us how restaurants trying to navigate an uncertain future. >> the blue plate restaurant has been a fixture of san francisco's mission street for more than two decades, but it hasn't had table service for nearly two months, and it may be a while before they see a full restaurant again. when the city ordered people to shelter in place, it switched to takeout. >> it was like opening a whole new restaurant. we've had to restructure where everything is. we've had to put a ton of stuff in storage. we had to create menus that would travel well.

>> the restaurant has seen its business drop by about 60%, and that's considered good by current standards. when the city finally gives them the green lig rpe it will likely t mor us h a full staff and be running on full silter, we have to have a full restaurant. >> lori thomas is executive director of the golden gate restaurant association. she says her own restaurants will take some time to get ready to reopen. food needs to be ordered. staff needs to be trained on new safety measure, and bills that have been piling up for the last two months have to be paid. >> what we're concerned with in the city is trying to prevent a situation where we get into a spike in infections because we've done such an excellent job of maintaining a low caseload. >> 88% of the restaurants in the city have fewer than 40 employees. that sounds like a small number until you find out there were 3900 applications for restaurant permits in san francisco last year. >> but if we can have some forms of economic relief that can

provide a bridge or an ongoing source of financial health, then maybe it works. >> she says the only way they'll survive is if the government steps in with tax relief and programs like the paycheck protection program, ppp, that give forgivable loans to small businesses. >> if there are landlords that are willing to negotiate a different type of a lease model as opposed to a fixed rate every month when there is revenues down here, then we might be able to make it. >> we need to give these businesses a lifeline. >> senator scott wiener of san francisco has introduced legislation to help restaurant owners get out of expensive leases without bankrupting them. senate bill 939 would place a moratorium on commercial evictions, give restaurant owners a year to make up past due rent, provide an option to renegotiate the lease terms, and if negotiations fail, the restaurant can terminate the lease. >> and so for the building owner, to me, it's a choice of

do you get no rent or do you get a reduced rent? and i think for most building owners, it's going to be better to get the reduced rent. thinking bill just one of many trying to help small businesses keep their doors open. despite the sudden shock to the industry, restaurant owners are trying to stay optimistic, and looking forward to serving their customers again soon. >> everyone is asking me when we're going to reopen, when i think, you know, the restaurant will be full again. and i think for me to say anything would be naive. i don't know. >> an uncertain future in uncertain times. dan ashley, abc7 news. well, we all know that coronavirus pandemic has shifted millions of americans into working from home. >> now we're learning that could be the latest reason people are moving away from the bay area, in particular san francisco. 7 on your side's michael finney joining us live now. michael, these numbers are

really interesting. >> wow. they're mind-blowing to me, b i live in san francisco. maybe that's why. half of san franciscans say they would skedaddle out of the city if working from home became a full-time permanent thing. how do we know this? redfin surveyed home buyers and sellers and found that most would move if they never had to return to the office. expensive coastal cities like san francisco or most likely to be affected by this new love of the suburbs. so are new york, seattle, and boston. grocery stores may be thriving these days, but you can't say to the same for retail. stores took a record plunge in april, dropping by 16%. clothing and furniture stores took the biggest hit. the commerce department says the pandemic collapsed things so quickly that sales are down a crippling 21% overall compared to this time last year. it's the opposite story for the video gaming industry.

check this out. sales have soared to nearly $11 billion in the first quarter of this year. that's a record, jumping nearly 9%. that's year-over-year. an nd on everything from digital content, subscriptions, even gaming accessories. nintendo is really cashing in, selling 8.1 million copies of its latest version of animal crossing. we're bored. we're on the computer. i've lived in almost every county in the bay area. they all have so much to offer. but it's amazing to think that half the people of one county would take off. it's just amazing. >> totally. >> certainly a lot cheaper. >> oh, sure. >> so much cheaper to live elsewhere, right? see? see what happens. thank you, michael. it's obviously been far from the typical year for hypothetical seniors in the bay area. for those planning to attend college in the fall, sheltering in place has made it so

difficult to get advice from mentors already attending those schools. abc7 news reporter david louie tells us how two south bay students identified that problem and then came up with a solution. >> with students dispersed, finishing up classes online, resources are slim for high school students to get advice where to apply or which college to attend. milpitas high school senior tanya had a big decision to make. >> i was strongly considering uc berkeley, san jose state, and santa clara university. >> colleges have online resources, but ucla freshman an found them lacking. >> pretty much on there are facts and statistics about it. that's not enough to make the college decision. >> she and her friend emily created offbeat advising to match collehigh school seniors college students so they connect by phone or videoconferencing to address concerns and to answer questions. >> what do you do when you're in

a big lecture hall and you need to get to know your professor? they won't advertise that. so hearing from a student is super helpful. >> tanya was leading towards uc berkeley but had nagging questions about campus life. >> that's why i wanted to reach out and ask how competitive it was, and are people happy? are all of them really stressed out all the time. >> her mentor's advice helped to rule out santa clara and san jose state universities. a senior at san jose's leland high school. he was uncertain whether usc or uc san diego was the right choice. his offbeet advising mentor at usc provided candid comments he didn't receive from a panel he attended before sheltering in place. >> he told me some of the things he didn't like about usc. and i thought that was really useful because it allowed me to weigh the pros andns >> now that college decision day has passed, offbeat will switch to mentoring next year's class

about the application process. david louie, abc7 news. >> all right. the weekend is almost upon us. some of us have really big plans like going from the living room to the kitchen, maybe taking out the recycling, and then coming back to the living room. who knows, spencer christian, what we're going to do. we'll figure it out. >> hey, spencer. >> well, today was such a beautiful day. if you could, you should have gotten out for just a moment or two. hard to believe that looking at how nice it was today that we've got stormy weather coming our way. but as journey would say, don't stop believing. it's breezy outside. we've got wind speeds around the bay area right now ranging from, oh, 15ut mes ur geanve g ls of sunny sky at the moment. let's take a look at current temperature readings. 64 in san francisco. 70 at oakland. redwood city 73. san jose. 76 in gilroy and lots of blue sky over the san francisco skyline right now. it's 74 up north in santa rosa.

mid-70s at petaluma and napa. mid-70s at concord and livermore. and 81 degrees right now at fairfield. and now let's take a look at our forecast features. it will be mainly dry and mild through most of the di tomorrow. but then the clouds thicken. showers arrive in the north bay in the evening hours tomorrow, and it's going to be wet and stormy for the most part through tuesday of next week. here is a little look at our forecast animation. overnight you'll see lots of high clouds moving through overnight. even low clouds will push up against the coastline. we'll start the di tomorrow with the bright skies. but the clouds will thicken ahead of the arrival of that rain. let's take a look at the overnight lows. generally upper 40s in the inland valleys to low to mid-50s just about everywhere else. and then tomorrow's highs for as long as we get the bright skies will be in the low 60s at the coast. low to mid-70s around the bay shoreline tomorrow. and we'll see more upper 70s in most inland areas. but now the storm impact scale. the storm moving in tomorrow night and sunday bringing showers to the north bay tomorrow night and then area

wide showers and rain gusty conditions on sunday. and a chance of some thunder and hail after that. so here is our forecast animation. starting at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon, notice how quickly the showers move into the north bay by mid evening tomorrow night. we'll see lots of rain up there. it is going to swing southward, eastward during the overnight hours into sunday morning. sunday will begin as a wet day. we may get a little bit of a break in the middle of the day. but more showers come in sunday night. and that stormy pattern continues into early next week. so by 11:30 sunday evening, we can expect rainfall totals ranging from a quarter inch to just over half an inch in most bay area locations. but up in the north bay, it will be even wetter than that. here is the accuweather seven-day forecast. once again, the storm activity is coming our way. it ranks 1 on the storm impact scale. but it's going to have a lasting impact for several days before we get clearing around the middle of next week. larry and kristen? >> okay.

there was no judgment in that hmm, okay. >> i know. >> thank you, spencer. all right. so a trip to the hardware store has changed a last over the past several weeks, as you know. an east bay owner managing type 2 diabetes? audrey's on it. eating right... ... and staying active? on it! audrey thinks she's doing all she can to manage her ty 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk? maybe not. jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. so it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and it lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare, but life-threatening bacteuld occuection...e ine stopg jardia ketoacidosis is a serious call ysyhibaerl infectbe fatal. ...koas,r anllgi stopg jardia ketoant take is a serious call ysyhibaerl infectbe fatal.

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as part of our ongoing limited series covid-19 diary, we are looking at how life is evolving in the bay area under the shelter-in-place order. >> today it's a hardware store in castro valley where the owner says every day is really a new adventure as they adapt to the new normal. >> usually by the end of the day here at pete's hardware, we're exhausted. a lot of people just yelling and berating and swearing at us. because we're trying to follow the rules. we're trying to keep our employees safe as well as the

shopping experience for the customers to be safe. i'm linda roark. i'm the owner of pete's hardware in castro valley. every morning as we get there, there are people that are waiting to come in. we kind of forget about the retailers, forget about the truck drivers, forget about the warehouse people. they're risking their health by being there and exposed to the number of people that they're in contact with every day. we have the people that thank us and that just reallyep going. one customer stopped by the store with little mini frostees for every employee, because she had been in the store and listening to others yelling at employees. and she felt so bad. close to easter, we had a

customer wearing a face mask of an easter bunny, and it just brought us a giggle for all of us. i had one man running in right before closing one evening, and he suddenly had no power in his house, and he had been fiddling around trying to fix it. you know, you have to be there for that. and so we will be. >> you can see more of the covid-19 diaries limited series on abc7news.com. old mask given new life. how a tech entrepreneur, a hospital, and a church are teaming up to help others. plus clues in the fight against covid-19. local researchers hoping bats, yes, bats can help we're here for you and we're open. wow. i'm an original. one of a kind. you feel me? love ya'. oop! you look cute! better than you? pop my 100% all-white-meat classic or

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building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. this is abc7 news. >> a san francisco boutique has filed a class action lawsuit. they say the insurance company travelers failed to pay business interruption claims that were related to covid-19. abc7 news reporter melanie woodrow with the story. >> in san francisco's pacific heights neighborhood, children's boutique and gift shop mudpie is a long-time family-run business. manager sarah says the brick and mortar store had to quickly pivot to online and curbside options in light of covid-19. >> it's impacted us drastically. the sales are nothing like what our daily sales were. >> she is trying to stay positive. >> it's my livelihood. it's very creative outlet, and it's my passion. >> according to a class action lawsuit, mudpie purchased comprehensive commercial

liability and property insurance from travelers to ensure against risks the business might face. she filed a claim with travelers for the interruption to her business, but it was denied. a travelers spokesperson tells abc7 news it is committed to paying covered claims, but cannot pay for losses a policy expressly excludes. in our standard commercial property policies that include business interruption coverage, we have very specific exclusions stating that losses resulting from a virus or bacteria are not covered. amy ziemann is her attorney. >> it isn't clear that exclusion applies. the business interruption here is occurring due to the government shutdown orders. >> ziemann says she is hearing from small businesses across the country who are being impacted by the shutdowns. given that litigation like this could take a while, she recognizes some businesses may have to permanently close in the meantime. it's an outcome purless doesn't like to consider. >> i would like to see the

insurance company step up and do what's right. >> in san francisco, melanie woodrow, abc7 news. well, because of the coronavirus outbreak, the way we work undoubtedly will never be the same. right now 40% of workers in the u.s. are working from home and using different tools to stay connected. the changing workplace is just one of our four areas that abc7 news is focused on as part of our efforts to build a better bay area. abc7 news anchor dion lim is giving us a glimpse into a high-tech way to work which could be in your future. >> can you show me around a little bit? >> sure. well, welcome. >> what you're watching is almost like a sci-fi movie, except i'm in it, along with the founders and heads of the augmented and virtual reality company spacial. so i can just circle what i like. i can x out what i don't like. >> spacial takes the average two dimensional zoom meeting to a whole new level where social distancing doesn't really matter. >> i can put my arm around anna. >> and frankly is so realistic,

it's blowing my mind. >> you know, this really creates a life like experience. i feel like him miami a party almost. >> spacial was born out of necessity 3 1/2 years ago by adnan, jacob loewenstein and jin ha lee. >> there are teams spread out in new york and missouri. and wouldn't it be cool if i could show you this stuff on a tv screen. i want you to be here with me. >> and had unexpectedly exploded with a thousand increase percent in customer. >> mattel uses it to collaborate on 3-d molds. pfizer used it to plan factories, for example, but we've heard from all kinds of people, doctors wanting telemedicine visits. >> using any augmented or virtual reality device, or for a paired down experience, just a computer camera. users are transformed into a multitude of workplaces. here the team is showing me how workers can collaborate on the layout of a cell phone store. >> i want to say hey, we need another phone out here. >> to designin and trying on

back packs. >> there you go. you're scribbling. awesome. >> or figuring out what size sneak area t-rex wear. >> make it nice and life-sized. >> one of spacial's goals is shared by professor ofnocs an niclabloom, how to solve the awkwardness and forced feeling of a two dimensional group video chat. >> zoom parties don't work. no one in a party, you don't have a party where there is 30 people in the room and only one person talking. it feels like a speech. where zoom events at birthday parties, it's just not natural. >> we keep hearing from our customers about this videoconference burnout that they're feeling. and we're wondering what the story with that is. and we think what it is it's the lack of a personal attention when you're in the meeting. we want to bring that back and make people feel like they're actually together, that they want to hang out together. >> in addition to a better work from home experience, the company aims to save users time. >> wouldn't bit great if we never had to go on a ten-hour, 40-hour business trip across the world to have face-to-face

meetings? >> and companies save money. >> companies are reeling how much they were spending on travel to put people in the same room with each other. >> as the cost of vr headsets keeps going down, currently ranging at several hundred dollars each, the growth is inevitable. but professor bloom and the spacial team acknowledge there will always be a need for in-person gatherings. >> the more we have virtual reality headset, the better i think we need to be in the office three days a week just to see each over. >> we absolutely agree with the value of being in the same room with somebody. >> just where and when is up to you. in virtual reality, dion lim, abc7 news. >> welcome to your future. if you couldn't attend your graduation ceremony, you could actually do it today online with oprah. yes, oprah as sh u n how to putat new and mor evolved normal, a world more

just, kind, beautiful, tender, luminous, creative, whole. we need you to do this. >> the online commencement was hosted by facebook and featured a whole bunch of celebrities. former president barack obama will take part in a virtual graduation ceremony. that's tomorrow night, and you can watch it right here on abc7 at 8:00. all right. well, tens of thousands of expired n95 masks are getting refurbished at the hands of volunteers. this is a labor of love between an east bay church and ucsf. leslie brinkley has the story filled with good news. >> it's as simple as this, old masks given new life by a tech entrepreneur, a hospital, and a church all teaming up to help others. the dilemma, 80,000 expired n95s at ucsf that could not be worn by medical staff. sohy is anit'shi plastic

strap has deteriorated over time and rips. all it needs is a new elastic strap and they're good to go. >> we can't assure the filtration since they're ranked as expired masks. but they serve perfectly good purpose as surgical masks or community mask. >> these are going to be pretty high quality compared to any home baked solution. and we can give these out to nursing homes, homeless shelter, people who are really at high risk and who need them. >> so volunteers are coming to creekside community church in alamo to first sterilize themselves at a workstation, and then stable elastic. in the hopes of finishing 10,000 masks this weekend alone. >> the vision iskind of that ti trainer, get one church to model this hopefully another church will do this, develop relationships with hospitals that have expired masks, and we

can, again, get them on faces. that's what we know this pandemic needs is masks. >> in alamo, i'm leslie brinkley, abc7 news. a carmel restaurant owner is keeping his restaurant open despite facing criminal charges. what he says is going to have to happen to get him to close. abc7 is celebrating the bay area's class of 2020 by featuring as many high school seniors as possible. you can get your grad or senior class featured by posting candid pictures with the #gradson 7 or going to abc7news.com. congratulations to you, class of 2020. ♪

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and right now, is a time for action. so, for a second time we're giving members a credit on their auto insurance. because it's the right thing to do. we're also giving payment relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. right now is the time to take care of what matters most. like we've done together, so many times before. discover all the ways we're helping members at usaa.com/coronavirus okay. time now for the four@4. dan, spencer and of course larry. so it's going to be good. a carmel restaurant is facing charges for allowing dine-in

service. the monterey county d.a. says they provided table service and allowed customers to eat on the premises against health department orders. the owner is also accused of not wearing a face covering with customers present and not practicing social distancing. >> and i'm still going to stay open. if you want the send a s.w.a.t. team and cuff me, come on and do it. >> if we need to take additional action to secure compliance, then we'll do that. >> the charges carry the possibility of $3,000 in fines and up to a year and a half in jail, but he says he has been unable to pay the rent for his restaurant or the mortgage on his home. so he plans to stay open unless police arrest him. i will just say i've been to tech box. they have really unique and amazing scones. so it saddens me to see them in this situation right now. spencer, what do you think? >> well, it's a painful situation for all of us right now.

the four of us are very kwcht. we can continue working from home and earn a paycheck. so i get that. and i understand that he is trying to, you know, keep his income flow going, but there is an air of defiance there in not wearing the mask. it doesn't seem to be all about just staying open and generating revenue, but i'm not going wear a mask, i'm not going to protect your health, i'm going to show you how defianty be. it's hard for me to have a lot of sympathy. >> yeah, spencer, that's super out of this answer. >> i agree with spencer. and i sympathize with that business owner and so many others, but i'm concerned about copycats, you know. if no one will follow the rules, we're going to be back to square one very, very quickly. and it's easy to have sympathy for them, but if everyone starts doing this because they see he does it and gets away with it, we may have a big problem. >> yeah. >> i just wish there was some

middle ground there. at least wear the mask. if you're going to be defiant, at least wear a mask and protect everybody. an australian restaurant is adapting to the post coronavirus normal, whatever normal is these days. it's a way of giving customers a more realistic dining experience. sydney's five dining has placed cardboard cutouts of people at open tables. it looks pretty realistic from a distance. just give it a little more ambience. they've added a recorded soundtrack of people talking. australian restaurants and cafes en ts wee cto are allowed inside at a time, which can make the dining room feel a little bit empty. this reminds me of the story we had a couple of days ago where some restaurants had dummies that they set up as a way of creating social distancing. i know spencer we have often talked and sometimes we look around and feel like we're surrounded by dummies. >> not in the workplace. not in the workplace. >> no, no, never.

never in the workplace. of course not. and that is one of the funniest things i've seen. very, very amusing. i could go for the cheap joke and say i'll come back to work when there is a larry cutout. but actually, i really miss the real live larry. >> we all do. >> i was going to add that. i've been at meals where i wish everyone at the table was a cardboard cutout. >> oh! dan! >> totally kidding. it's a clever idea. it makes it fun. we were talking about this the other day. people finding creative ways to get on with it and also have a little fun. >> i like it. i just want to see the cutouts represent real people more. they're all so young and fashionable, you know. where is the one that represents me or you? >> young and fashionable, kristen. >> i was fishing for that, dan. thank you. >> you bet. >> we can move on now on that note. a casino reopening near tulsa, oklahoma drew a huge crowd this morning. check out this long line of people just waiting to get in. the osage casino had been closed

for more than a month because of the pandemic. while there was a lack of social distancing outside, guests will th sal gloves anges inside. readily available. >> thank goodness, right? think of the money they've saved in the last couple of months by not going gambling. >> yeah, that's true. spencer, when you look at that, what do you think? >> well, i think welcome to the new normal. this -- there is going to be a lot of adjusting that we're going to have to do in all of our social activities for quite some time. so, you know, i guess this is the start. >> i think we're all going to be -- it's going to be interesting how much more cautious we're all going to be around groups of people even when this is passed, we're all going to be a little on edge, i suspect. >> but they didn't look cautious. and i saw a whole bunch of people without masks. >> true. >> so i wonder if i could get a bet down on how many of those

people will be in the icu in three weeks. >> i know. >> but if you -- i understand. i would love to go out in a crowd and go do something, but i'd be too scared just walking in no mask with everybody else. >> me too. >> it doesn't seem like it. >> it's too soon to make joke about russian roulette, but it does make me worried a little bit. >> yeah. safety. you've got to think about the safety. this is real. how many people have to die before people take it seriously? i don't know. >> and not just your safety. other people's safety. >> yeah, for sure, for sure. this is more fun now. it's the story of blinky, the curious koala. the principal at an australian high school posted this video on facebook. look at the koala. he is running around campus. this is a couple of days ago. maybe he got out ofden.prcipal that classroom learning would gradually resume in about a week

and a half. oh, look at the nice leap and landing by blinky there. and he's making himself at home. i don't know if you guys ever had a chance to pet a koala? i spent some time in australia. they like their eucalyptus and kind of makes them all mellow. they're fun. fun to hang out with. >> all they eat is eucalyptus and specific types of eucalyptus, if i'm not mistaken. maybe i've been out to lunch, but i've never seen video of a koala moving and running around. usually you see them clutching a tree and staring at the camera. it's fun to wat themcampus. >> i koala-ty. >> they also have their run of the campus, right? i don't know how excited he actually was to have the kids come back. this is my turf now, you know? >> exactly. it's koala school opening on monday. all right. that's it for the f

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researchers say they want to know more about bats. and this is in the scramble to find treatments for covid-19. so they're looking at bats, the history of interacting with deadly viruses. abc 7 news anchor dan ashley explains why some researchers are so interested to learn more about these bats. >> they fly through the night, sometimes carrying deadly viruses, but still surviving. that's why bats have been such a boon to researchers. groups like the one health institute at uc davis have used bat populations as an early warning system, sampling to learn what viruss are doing. but now other scientists are hoping bats and their incredible immune systems can provide different clues in the fight against covid-19. >> bats are amazing. they have a super robust anti-virus response, but they have a very strict regulation of the inflammatory response soft they have kind of the best of

both worlds. >> aaron and his colleagues wanted to learn how bat species are able to fight off viruses that have jumped to other animals and eventually to humans with such deadly consequences. in their lab at mcmaster university in canada, they isolated a powerful amino acid that helps unleash proteins called interferons which kick the bat's immune responses into high gear. but then they went a step further, transferring it into a human sample. >> and we've been able to show that introducing this one amino acid enhances immune response in human cells. >> he says the work is still in the research phase, but the idea of using interferons is already a major clinical trial at stanford where patients are given a drug within days. the evolution in bats might help inform strategies for giving the human body an advantage. >> what we'd really like to be able to do is make people more

bat-like in the sense so that they would be able to do what bats do to knock down the virus and not get sick while doing it. >> very promising in terms of looking at other adaptations in bats, like the anti-inflammatory adaptations. what can we learn from this and extrapolate that in terms of therapeutic products. >> perhaps whether we will develop immunity over time. for now, though, their questions scrambled by millions of years of evolution, a process that's left these tiny flying creatures in a position that humans can still only hope to be. in san francisco, dan ashley, abc7 news. >> really fascinating research. they're also looking specifically at the resiliency of these bats. times when they're affected by a virus put but manage to fight > e h its famed

victorian gardens today. guests can now take a self-guided touchless walk around the estate. the tour includes new audio content including sarah winchester must wear a face ma practice social distancing. the winchester home itself remains closed. so it's something. it's better than nothing. one of these days we'll get back inside. but for now that looks like a nice option. how does the weather look, though, spencer? >> well, it's changing. let's put it that way, kristen. overnight we can expect a mix of high clouds and low clouds. overnight lows mainly in the low 50s. tomorrow it will be pretty mild early in the day. skies will be bright, but clouds will be thickening. highs tomorrow low up60e a sto coming in tomorrow fight. that will bring lots of rainfall starting in the north bay, swinging to all parts of the bay area. over the weekend it's just going to be wet and stormy. so the accuweather seven-day forecast looks like this. we've got three days of stormy

weather sunday, monday, and even part of tuesday before we start to get dryer, milder weather late next week. larry and kristen? >> all right. spencer, thank you. it's okay to stay indoors sunday. you know why? a daly city family is very excited for the "american idol" finale this sunday. >> we're really proud of him, and we really hope he goes so far with his career. >> up next, we catch up with francisco martin and his family. and dan is here with what's ahead on abc7 news at 5:00. >> really pulling for him. new at 5:00, kristen, a man many thought would not make it. now awake from a coma after testing positive for coronavirus. it's a miracle recovery. we'll have the story. plus -- >> this project so much is the berkeley spirit of you see a problem and here is a solution. >> the students who built a virtual graduation and are now hours away from seeing it all come true. come true. those stories and

♪ got me we have been following along with bay area nay native all season on american idol. he made it to the final. family and friends talk with community journalist. >> francisco started on american idol has a shy kid with a ton of talent and expectation. now he's in the final. >> i remember i first started. we don't know who's going to make it through. we're just very happy for him. from all the contestants that auditioned he's in the final. >> his family and friends across the country have been cheering all season. you may notice his brother who is proud to see where he ended up. >> when he was younger he was the annoying little brother. i'm so proud. he was an every day kid. seeing him on national tv, we're

really proud of him. and we hope he goes so far with this career. >> fellow bay area native just short of the top 7. >> i texted him and said represent the bay area. go for the the whole thing. he's so excited to represent the bay.i can't wait to see what hes beyond american idol. >> the support doesn't stop in the bay area. he is getting love in votes from across the globe. a humbling experience for him. but he's grateful. >> i'm grateful for the support. i didn't expect to be this far in the competition. i'm happy i have the support. and both sides of america and philippines. >> just after the top five are announced on the east coast which is 5:00 p.m. pacific here on sunday. voting will open. should he make it through these are the ways you can vote for him to win american idol.

we'll have this information on our web site. good luck. the whole bay area is pulling for you. >> supposed to be unbiassed but i think i know who i'm rooting for. sunday night at 8:00. thank you for joining we're all doing our part by staying at home. that could mean an increase in energy bills. you can save by using a fan to cool off... unplugging and turning off devices when not in use... or closing your shades during the day. stay well and keep it golden.

for coronavirus. how often do people need to do it? especially if you work at a nursing home or retail out let. an expert has the answers. >> now giving the green light to car based gatherings. how it will impact graduation and going to church. >> napa county formally asked the state for permision to reopen. small business owners remain frustrated and confused. >> a man with a message. he spent ten weeks inhe