san francisco's latest weapon against covid. millions of dollars in support for immigrants and undocumented families. abc 7 news starts right now. building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. this is abc 7 news. so, yeah, it's a little scary for me because, to me, it's life and death. >> tonight, relief is finally on te way for thousands of californians who have been unable to get unemployment benefits. governor newsom announced a new strike team to address the numerous problems and the backlog. this is an issue abc 7 and 7 on your side have been on since day one. in fact, we've received about 2,000 message about edd since the start of the pandemic. and after last week's full week focus on edd problems, the 7 on your side team was inundated with 600 more, all from viewers pleading for help to get their unemployment benefits. abc 7 news reporter has the details.

>> reporter: governor gavin newsom is promising to fix the state's overloaded unemployment system with a strike team. newsom explained there should be no barriers between californians and the benefits they have earned. he pointed to unprecedented demand due to job loss during the pandemic and an antiquated system creating what he calls an unacceptable backlog of claims. his office estimating there could be about 1 million claims eligible for benefits with added information. welcomed news for valerie dean. >> i hope that it brings about action for so many people. i mean, i think that they're just completely overwhelmed and i feel for the unemployment department employees. >> reporter: dean initially reached out to 7 on your side's michael finney for help after losing her job at a printing company because of covid-19, edd started paying her benefits, but then the money stopped. according according dean, edd flagged her for a job from three years ago. deducting penalties this year.

she went seven weeks without a paycheck before winning on appeal. dean, a breast cancer survivor, is still under treatment and hopeful the governor's help will get things back on track. newsom's action plan includes deploying a strike team to modernize information technology programs and transform the customer experience focussing on immediately processing claims and enhancing partnership with the legislature to improve communication with claimants. priority will go to the oldest claims first. dean says she's unsure of where she stands and has struggled to reach anyone with edd. >> and the phone rang and the phone rang and the phone rang for an hour and five minutes. until it just stopped rining. >> reporter: since march, edd has processed more than 8 million unemployment claims and distributed more than $49 billion in unemployment benefits, and according to newsom's office, within 45 days the strike team is expected to have a game plan to improve the system. abc 7 news.

our 7 or your side team is dedicated to getting you help on our unemployment claims. if you're having trouble contacting edd or have questions about the stimulus package, you can get in touch with michael finney and the team right on our website. just go to abc7news.com/7onyourside. troubling records were set today both locally and nationally in the coronavirus pandemic. the u.s. now has more than 4.4 million confirmed cases according to john hopkins data. the number of deaths has reached 150,000 nationwide, the highest toll in the world. in california cases are above 470,000. health officials say 197 people died tuesday from covid-19. that's the highest number of deaths in a 24-hour period. here in the bay area, cases grew by more than 1,000, now surpassing 50,000 cases. the latino community is one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. now a major announcement from san francisco mayor london breed. abc 7 news reporter kate larson

explains how a new outreach program is expected to increase testing and everyone hopes contain outbreaks. >> reporter: the city of san francisco announced a new strategy to bring recovery resources to the latino community, which accounts for half the city's coronavirus cases. >> we as a community need to be able to say it's okay to come out and get tested because we have resources to help you. >> reporter: john is the health committee chair for the latino task force which partnered with the city to bring awareness to new and existing programs. >> if you are undocumented, you know that you don't qualify for any of the state or federal benefits that apply to others, and so if you know that, you more than likely will be timid to get tested if you're asymptomatic or not and be told you have to stay home for two weeks. at that point if you have to stay home for two weeks and you're going to lose your wages, you may not be able to recover that and that really could be the ball game for your financially. >> reporter: this is a game to let immigrants and undocumented

immigrants know there is money they can access should their families be affected by covid. amounting to $1,285 for up to 1,500 san franciscans who test positive for covid-19. family relief fund already offered $500 to $1,000 monthly for families that do not qualify for local, state or federal assistance. and immigrant workers fund makes one-time $200 payments available for supportive services in food, ucsf just launched a testing program and study in the mission district. jacobo was there and said they tested 500 people who lined up down the block. >> in april when we started to do testing, we had to get gift cards from safeway to try to get people to get tested. there has been a huge mood shift where people are taking it very serious. >> reporter: we have more resources listed on our website, abc7news.com. kate larson, abc 7 news. it's a tense wait and see in

san mateo county. businesses are on the verge of shutting down again now that san mateo county has become the last in the bay area to join the state's watch list for covid-19 activity. if san mateo county remains on that list for three days in a row, places like indoor malls, hair salons and gyms would have to close beginning saturday. >> you know, hard for all of the business owners, yeah, it is. and some people get to stay open and some people don't. >> really who it's going to hurt, people who work in the back of the restaurants, people who work at the airport. >> last week san mateo county's public health officer blamed social gatherings without proper safety measures being taken for driving the spike in covid-19 cases. and we are tracking every county in california to see whether it's made the state's watch list and how long it's been there. you can check out this interactive map on abc7news.com. for the first time governor newsom is withholding money from states that defy state health orders by allowing all businesses to open. the state is withholding nearly

of $5,000 from atwater and $45,000 from losing if they don't toe the line on coronavirus measures. the first pet dog to contract the coronavirus has died. buddy in staten island started having breathing trouble in mid-april. he lost weight and became lethargic. buddy tested positive for covid-19. additional testing five days later shows the virus was no longer in buddy's system. he did have the antibodies, though. his family says buddy's health got so bad they had to euthanize him. new blood work the day buddy was put down show he most likely had cancer. we put together research and compiled a brand-new calculator showing you just how risky certain scenarios are like riding a bus or going to the gym. you'll find it on abc7news.com. new developments to report to you. a followed judge sided with activists and has placed more

restrictions on the force that oakland police can use to control crowds. today's order bans wooden, rubber or rubber-coated bullets along with stringer grenades. oakland may still deploy tear gas, flash bang grenades and foam teamed projectiles only if there is an imminent threat or significant property damage. oakland police told abc 7 they will abide by today's order. a sculpture and school sign bearing the name of sir francis drake was taken down. not only a british explorer but a slave trader. the action comes as cities and schools across the bay area and the nation are debating the legacy about historicl figures. it's a big part of our efforts to build a better bay area. j.r. stone has more on the major actions in marin county. >> reporter: this used to say sir francis drake high school, but now it just says high school

as employees have removed sir francis drake. in letter to parents, the principal saying one of their goals is to become more anti-racist. >> my immediate reaction was they're actually listening, they're actually responding to the public demand that we remove this stain of slavery from the school. >> reporter: the removal of sir francis drake above the gym entrance comes less than 24 hours after officials in larksburg temporarily removed the statue near the ferry terminal. that in response to a planned demonstration to tear it down on thursday. much has been made in recent months of drake and his dealings in the slave demonstrated. >> the paper is actually covering the sir francis high school sign. while we were interviewing folks over by the gym, someone walked up and ripped this paper right off. >> i don't think it's appropriate to take down the sir francis drake sign without more community input than a few agitators on the internet, frankly. >> reporter: others believe it's wasted time and would like the

focus in marin county to be on race relations between police and minorities. >> i'd love to see people focussing on that rather than diddling around with the sir francis drake name. >> reporter: some, though, say it's about setting the right tone going forward. >> there's a lot of symbols, there's a lot of names, a lot of people we hold in high esteem that shouldn't be. some of them, a lot of them should be brought down. >> reporter: as for changing the name, the school is accepting recommendations up until the end of august. j.r. stone, abc 7 news. new developments, trader joe's now says it is not rebranding certain items despite a petition drive by an oakley teenager callin some products racist. the grocer dismissed reports it had planned to change the names of international food items like trader jose and trader mings. trader joe's disagrees with accusations of racism and the

chain says it doesn't make decisions based on petition. coming up, san francisco's ghost town. close to 90% of buildings downtown sit empty. so what's happen with all this empty space and how is it impacting real estate? those answers next. distanced learning details. tonight, one east bay school district lays out its plans for fall. mysterious seeds from china are now landing in bay area mailboxes. did they show up in yours? why local agricultural officials are warning don't plant them. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. hot summer weather is ahead. i'll have those temperatures for your weekend coming up. first, a look at what's coming up tonight on "jimmy kimmel live" with guest host sean haze. >> thanks, dan and ama. >> america, if you could see sean when he's not guest hosting something, first of all, did they rent you that hair? what time does that hair have to be

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your furniture, all over your home to make it part of your tidying up routine. febreze fabric refresher, for an all-over freshness you'll love. going through san francisco south of market and financial district neighborhoods feels like touring a ghost town. it's an eerie kind of empty and it's having an impact. 90% of the city's workforce is

working from home and millions are leaving the city. what does it mean for real estate? as part of builds a better bay area -- the coronavirus pandemic is upending some bay area real estate trends. abc 7 news reporter stephanie sierra breaks down what we know about all this empty space. >> reporter: before the pandemic san francisco had the highest building occupancy rate in the country. now most of the city's stay scrapers sit empty. the question is how long will it stay that way? it's an eerie feeling. staring at an empty office building that sits across from an empty row of brand-new luxury condos. it makes you wonder, is all this emptiness driving prices down everywhere? that wasn't the case for newlyweds jason and stephanie hicks. >> you know, severely over asking. probably $400,000 over asking. >> reporter: in the midst of the pandemic, embracing permanent work from home schedules, the two are leaving soma, hope for a

better value in alameda. >> we fell in love this this house, a beautiful house in downtown alameda. we learned 85 folks were very interested in the same property, which was kind of scary. >> 85 offers? >> yeah, it was crazy. >> reporter: in this case, a seller's market in alameda, but real estate agents neil and daryl of the canless brothers say in san francisco -- >> property values have taken a little bit of a hit, but there are pockets. there are certain areas to where they're stronger than other. >> reporter: one pocket hit the hardest, south beach. 147 luxury condos are on the market. according to an abc 7 analysis of real estate data. >> comparing it to the past five years has been -- it's really unheard of. >> reporter: in just the last two days, 25 people posted on the south beach next door feed they are moving out of their san francisco condos. citing everything from work from home, high costs, to there's nothing to do. >> it's all about supply and demand. >> reporter: there's plenty of

supply in soma, south beach and mission bay. of the more than 1,300 active listings in san francisco, nearly 1/3 are in those areas. with inventory high, prices are taking a slightdip. bfore covid the average listing price for a two-bedroom condo in south beach was around $1.95 million. now the average price has dipped down $30,000 to $1.92 million. for one-bedrooms, that average price is only down $15,000. >> we will continue to see a bigger vacancy rate because people don't need to live in the city. >> reporter: no need to live or work in the city. as some companies are gone for good. we know that from san francisco's building vacancy rate. abc 7's data analysis shows at the end of last year it was 5.4%. now it's close to 10%. comparable to what other major cities are seeing, like seattle and boston. >> yeah, it seems probably much worse than it actually is. >> reporter: but if you ask

robert samits, a senior researcher with cushman and wakefield, most companies are still keeping their leases. >> most of these spaces, most of these buildings have leases in place, long-term leases in place from very well-funded companies, for the most part. so, you know, that's the good side of it. >> reporter: the tough side, not all of the 7,500 companies leasing building space in the city and county are well-funded. the real question is, how much longer will those tenants last? >> that's the tough question. you know, without -- without a vaccine, without other things in place, we just don't know. >> reporter: assuming there is progress with the covid vaccine, sam yis anticipates companies both big and small will start allowing employees, 25% or so, back into the office by the fall. of course, that will be gradual and depend on the current state of the pandemic. in san francisco, stephanie sierra, abc 7 news. join 7 on your side's

michael finney tomorrow at 5:15 for housing help, renters and owners. we'll have a digital-only discussion with tenants and landlords about the current situation in the bay area's rental market. you can watch on abc7news.com, our facebook page or youtube channel. berkeley's school board just approved a distance learning plan for when classes begin next month. for elementary students, teachers will meet with families online for the first two weeks. middle school and high school students will attend class remotely four days per week. schools will follow strict safety rules if campuses are allowed to reopen. today san francisco mayor london breed announced her proposed city budget will include $15 million for public schools. that money will help offset the $22 million in revenue san francisco school districts lost due to covid-19. some of the money will support distance learning. mayor breed will reveal more in her two-year budget on friday. all 50 states have warnings

about strange, unsolicited seeds people are getting in the mail. maybe you saw them. tonight one of those people is sharing her story and tells us what tipped her off that something wasn't right. >> so this, i have no idea what this is. >> reporter: kamala bastidas ordered seeds from amazon, but when her shipment arrived, she knew something was wrong. the package labels indicated that jewelry was inside, not seeds. most people who are receiving the mystery seeds didn't order any at all. >> over the last couple of days in solano county alone, we've received over 30 calls from residents who have received unsolicited shipments of seeds that apparently are originating from china. >> reporter: agricultural officials are warning people not to plant the seeds. >> they could impact agriculture, water resources, cause fire hazards, and so on. so it's best that we -- that we stop this potential threat immediately. >> reporter: kamala didn't open the seed packets and says some

look like tomato and corn. she says amazon has notified the usda and she will turn the seeds over the county agriculture department. >> when you order something and it's not labelled correctly and it's, like, under a disguise, it raises red flags. >> sure does raise red flags. so what's going on? the leading theory about the seeds is they are a brushing scam. that's when people paid by companies send other people items they did not order and then write glowing product reviews on their behalf. >> hmm. tonight supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg is resting at a new york hospital after undergoing a nonsurgical procedure. the 8-year-old had a stent replaced. this procedure is unrelated to her cancer which she announced had returned two weeks ago. the body of congressman and civil rights icon john lewis has been returned to georgia. tonight he is lying in repose in

the state capitol. former president obama will deliver the eulogy, former presidents bill clinton and george w. bush will participate in the service as well. abc news will have live coverage tomorrow on air and online. now your accuweather forecast with sandhya patel. hi there, everyone. let's take a look at a time lapse from our mount tam cam, watching that fog rolling in over san francisco earlier tonight. and it is going to continue to advance during the overnight hours, pushing over parts of the bay. just a cool view of our moderating influence. natural a/c or free a/c if you will. live dopplar 7 showing fog pushing into parts of the east bay tonight. as we take a look at the wider picture, a reason we haven't seen much change in our wider pattern, area of high pressure, low pressure over the desert and pretty much sandwiched in between. not until this weekend that the area of high pressure builds in and brings the desert heat with it. so until then we're going to keep it going the way it is.

temperatures right now anywhere from the 50s to the 70s. this is what you're going to have to deal with tomorrow morning at commute time. low visibility due to fog in san francisco. so morning fog and low clouds. a wide range of temperatures tomorrow afternoon and we are talking about hot summer weather this upcoming weekend. your hour by hour forecast. pretty widespread gray across the bay area going into 8:00 a.m. might need windshield wipers in spots if you're driving because of mist and drizzle. as we head into the afternoon, the fog will burn back to the coast and just hang around near the beaches. temperatures will look like this in the 50s, 60s out the door. it's going to be a sunny, warm day inland. 91, concord. 73, oakland. 66 degrees in san francisco. wanted to turn your attention to newly formed tropical storm isais.

expected to get pretty drenching rain in the bahamas and eventually making its way toward miami, southern florida area as you will notice by saturday evening as a tropical storm. so keeping tabs on that for you. also keeping watch on our local weather and it looks affect on the accuweather seven-day forecast. the fog giving way to sun for most areas tomorrow. temperatures coming up a little bit. friday, saturday, sunday, it's definitely going to be in the hot category for august with mid-90s and low to mid-60s coast side. ama and dan? >> sounds good. thank you, sandhya. tomorrow on "good morning america," kerry washington

the country's top infectious disease expert anthony fauci and former 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick are being recognized. they'll received 2020 ripple of hope award, the award is given to people who are leaders for social change. past laureates include barack obama, apple ceo tim cook, house speaker nancy pelosi, and the late civil rights icon, representative john lewis, who we spoke about moments ago. his body has now been returned to georgia where he will be bu

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three-run bomb. 6-2, padres. to the eighth, giants are down 6-3. have no fear, donovan solano is here. down the line, a certain loss turns into a 6-6 tie and hen in the ninth, yaz again. good night. game over. drive home safely! dave's got another one and he's into the drink this time. the giants with a dramatic 7-6 comeback win. >> that was weird. i didn't know what to expect. sometimes in that situation you just got to follow the lead and everybody was doing the right thing, so we -- we just jumped around, i guess. >> across the bay, a's and rockies, afternoon delight. first inning and gone. matt chapman, his first homer of the year. 1-0 a's in a flash. the rockies load the bases against frankie -- steve piscotty is there but he can't

make the catch. very long rbi single and it's 1-1. the rocks take the lead on the sac fly. arenado throws home. matt olson tagged out or was he? might have been safe there. a's do not get the calls. robbie grossman goes down on a check swing strike three. rocks sweep this two-game mini series 5-1. the reward for rebuilding the franchise and getting to the super bowl is a five-year contract extension for 49ers gm john lynch. coach kyle shanahan recently received a six-year extension. these two will be guiding the red and gold until at least 2024. the next task, signing star george kittle to a huge

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an army family who is always at the ready. so when they got a little surprise... two!? ...they didn't panic. they got a bigger car for their soon-to-be-bigger family.

after shopping around for insurance, they called usaa - who helped find the right coverage for them and even some much-needed savings. that was the easy part. usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it- easy. all right. that's going to do it for us tonight. thank you so much for watching. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. for larry beil, sandhya patel, we appreciate your time. we appreciate your time. on jimmingle, - today on "tamron hall," after the tragic loss of her 7-year-old daughter, a mother reveals how she found the strength to turn pain into purpose. her powerful message will inspire you. - i can't thank you enough for what you just offered us. thank you. - plus, how the stars of hgtv's "home town" are bringing even more heart to homes across the country,

and fear not! words of wisdom with iyanla vanzant. an all-new "tamron hall" starts now. [dramatic rock music] ♪ - welcome to "tamron hall" from my home. well, when someone has been to hell and back, the story they share, i find, is usually something we can all learn from. i know you're thinking, "well, how do you define hell and back?" i'm sure many of you have your own definition right now considering what we're all going through, different degrees of it. but my first guest's journey is one we would all agree fits the description of hell. over and over, michelle hord had been told she would not be able to have children. so when she gave birth to a daughter at age 39,

she called it a dream, a miracle from god. gabrielle hord, gabbie bear, grew up surrounded by love. she had her own dreams, already enrolled in a dual-language class in second grade. she wanted to travel to faraway places like china and egypt. she loved reading with her mom, dancing and playing music. at age 7 and 10 months, she was an unstoppable burst of energy with the brightest of futures ahead of her. michelle and her husband, neil, ended their marriage in 2017. a day after the divorce was final turned into the darkest day of michelle's life. michelle learned that her precious baby girl had been killed by the child's very own father. neil white was found guilty of murder. prior to his sentencing, michelle bravely spoke with all the ferocity of a mother fighting for justice. - neil, you chose to murder gabrielle.