a live for several parts of the bay area. six months into the pandemic, we are checking how bay area small businesses are faring. owners tell us their perspectives and plans for the future have changed since march and dr. fauci weighs in on voting. why he says if you want to vote in person maybe you shouldn't worry. >> building a better bay area, for a safe and secure future. this is abc 7 news. >> so now here we are not only with covid, but now we've got heat. >> adding insult to injury, a heat wave amid this pandemic. stay inside this weekend and

ration their electricity, too. good evening, thank you for joining us. i'm dan arbery. >> i'm ama daetz. let's get right to meteorologist sandhya patel. >> yeah, dan and ama, this dangerous heat wave will last for days and let's check out the temperatures already in the triple digits and 103 in fairfield, and 101 brentwood and liver more. 94 in santa rosa and 94 in san jose. we have a number of warnings and it's covering most of the bay area and this is an excessive heat warning and 11:00 p.m. tomorrow until 9:00 p.m. wednesday and the east bay and the santa clara valley and parts of the north bay will be under an increased risk of heat illnesses and upper 50s -- upper 90s to the mid-100s, excuse me. we also have the lake and mendocino counties up to 103 degrees and it is going for the bay shoreline and the north bay 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

tomorrow. this is something that could be very taxing on your body. add to the mix, we have leftovers from once hurricane a elida. >> thank you, sandhya and when we see you next we'll have more on the spare the air alert coming back tomorrow. >> it is prompting the people who run the state's power grid to issue a flex alert from 3:00 in the afternoon until 10:00 in the evening. the california independent system operator is urging everyone to conserve electricity by not using major appliances during this timeframe. set air conditioner thermostats to 78 degrees or higher and turn off all unnecessary lights. >> several cities will be opening up their cooling center and we'll have more on those on our website on abc 7 news.com and on both you can find the latest forecast for where you

live. two separate fires are keeping people busy. sky 7 show willowview court. a two-acre grass fire broke ut not too far away. sky 7 takes us to how close they're to one another. it appears they have both incidents under control and we're waiting for a call back from the san ramon valley fire department to see if they know what started the fires. >> as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drag on, we are taking a look at how it's affecting the economy and how things could be made better for these bay area businesses. more than 2,000 have shut down permanently. that includes 369 restaurants that have closed between march 1st and july 10th and 303 stores permanently closed between march 1st and july 10th and abc 7 news i-team reporter stephanie sierra talked with business owners who say they're just losing hope. >> it feels lonely. walking down clement street in

san francisco, six months of businesses closed or boarded up for good. it's not the lively neighborhood pete hoped would bounce back. >> it's someone's dream and it's their life's work. to see so many shuttered you know each individual person has gone through so much. >> a san francisco staple for more than 50 years and he won't make it like this for six more months. we're living off of inventory and we're selling it to help pay for things. >> each week. >> we're generating very little income. >> reporter: that's what donna o'leary told us. she owns ambiance, a women's clothing chain with three store it is a cross the city. the warehouse is $50,000 per month. we've lost between 2 and $2.5 million in sales.

if rent isn't lowered she will have to close all locations in a mere four months joining other retailers that closed permanently. >> i had to cut my workforce in half. yeah. not good. meanwhile, paul robertson is barely holding on week by week. he's hoping history repeats itself. >> just pullback and then wait. we did this in 2008. we pulled back and then you wait. >> many can't wait any longer. according to analysis of yelp data, more than 5,000 businesses in the san francisco-oakland, metro area have closed from march 1st to july 10th, but 2,000 of those bees are gone for good. a raw reminder of that loneliness, he hopes it won't be him. >> so many statistics and this

is want junot just affecting businesses. a south bay city is about to launch a unique way to offer rent help to people affected by covid-19. abc 7 news reporter david louie explains how interest-free loans will be done over a mobile app. >> an average apartment in cupertino rents for $3200. the covid-19-ravaged economy has caused some to fall behind. the city council has forged a unique partnership with the silicon valley start-up to provide 25 residents with interest-free loans to cover rent. prment wi the payment will pay out $2,000, cupertino fronts the money and it handles the distribution and payments. it first rolled out the first two years ago to front gas money for florida residents to evacuate during hurricane florence. >> people are thankful for the assistance in the time of need and when they're in a position to pay back people are usually

happy and thankful for what happened. >> the rent has to be at or below the median income. cupertino's council decided this no-fee, low-interest concept was a grant that it and other cities used to prevent evictions. >> what can we do to encourage people to be fiscally responsible and give them a sense of that agency where they can say, okay, i'm part of this community mere and this is what i can pay back. >> it was for moderate income workers to get paychecks. borrowers are in with rents for others. the city can help others in the future. $50,000 is available for 25 renters and applications will be accepted a week from now. in cupertino, david louie, abc 7 news. the economy is one thing

we're focused on on abc 7 as we work to build a better bay area. ago key topic, education. stanford is walking back its plans for on-campus classes and housing this fall. their president published a letter this week. it would allow freshmen and sophomores to go to some classes. it was hoping the pandemic would improve before the start of school, but that hasn't been the case and now all undergrad classes will be held online. another athletic conference has decided to delay fall sport, st. mary's and santa clara are all part of the west coast conference. they reached the difficult decision after considering the health and safety of student aths lets. the sports affected are soccer men's and women's cross-country and women's volleyball. conference officials are still hoping to have a basketball season this winter, but we'll see.

>> the u.s. has reported more than 5.2 million coronavirus cases and these are people who have since recovered and more than 166,000 people have died and reported deaths in the country have been above 1,000 a day for more than two weeks and here in the bay area and santa cruz county, we are closing in on 69,000 cases. meantime, presumptive nominee, joe biden says every american should be wearing a face mask when they're outside for the next three month, minimum, he says. three of four states have mandatory mask orders and biden says all governors should have them in place and president trump said his administration has urged americans to wear masks and he said what do you have to lose? >> the government's top infectious disease experts say says americans should be able to go to the polls in november. dr. anthony fauci said voters should be fine to follow social distancing guidelines and he

likened the situation like going to the grocery store. >> many regions, counties and cities that are doing it correctly. they have xs every six or more feet and it says don't leave this spot until the person in front of you left their spot and you can do that. >> he says if people are compromised that's another situation saying they should vote by mail. since the very start of this pandemic, we've been told things can start getting back to normal when there's a vaccine, but when will that be? this week abc 7 news is featuring a special series of reports exploring the bay area's role in the development of possible vaccines and the bay area is very involved in the effort. catch the race for a vaccine on abc 7 news on our app and on our website. the valentine's day sausalito mudslide of 2019 may seem like a distant memory, but not for those who lived through

it. tonight wayne freedman talks to a woman who achieved closure by opening up a building. >> it is quite a view for the woman who once lived. inside. >> the furniture, the rugs and lamps this and that is all in tuned there. >> it's been 18 months since this sausalito hillside ripped loose, tore out a house and left this one as a virtual island with no way to get that furniture in or out until this morning. it was because her landlords built a scaffold allowing landlords to come and go from what had become a pre-covid-19 time capsule. this video shot by karen shows the furniture pretty much undamaged, but outside it's still a mess with beams exposed by broken bones and splintery testimony to the mudslide's might. >> i've had to re-create my whole self. >> she's the neighbor who rode the house next door a floor sun

tumbling over me and beams. >> reporter: yet 18 months later still no resolution as to who was to plamblame? it was the city of sausalito? was it cal trans? the national park service? >> no one is taking responsibility? >> who is paying your bills to get this done? >> we're paying them ourselves. >> sausalito had begun a study to identify other slide, but when covid-19 hit and the tourists stopped coming that money went away. >> even if we were to study the landslides in sausalito, wherever they may be, could we have prevebed all of them? i down the it. >> all of the pain and trouble, just a bad memory in the rear-view mirror. i just want my stuff and i want to go. >> she's moving to oregon. in sausalito, wayne freedman,

abc 7 news. coming up in alameda, dueling petitions and the debate over whether to rename godfrey park and the legacy of his namesake former mayor. after months being stuck aboard her family, a 10-year-old will join them tonight. how the pandemic interrupted their plan to emigrate. >> a celebrated bay area sculptor is being recognized with her own for spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on theubcofrom g? get a freeeler perk when you r.- [group] g.

here at abc 7 we are taking a very serious look at, of race and social justice. in alameda a debate is growing over whether renaming some parks will build a better bay area. andrew jackson has been stripped of one park anda i quieter change with godfrey parkrey parp

mayor that had a problem. >> i've been coming to this park for my whole life. >> michael houlihan's mom also played. it is a part in alameda called bay front island. >> this stuff is important to me especially what we name our public places. >> it is named after milton godfrey, who oversaw world war ii and he was worried about the explosion of blacks coming and the problem of the increased negro population. >> to prevent what he called the influx of african-american workers coming to alameda and it being an issue bothers me. >> so michael launched a petition on change.org to convince the city to change the name and has received more than 600

>> a relative of the former mayor launched her own petition drive to keep the godfrey name. >> it is also on change.org and is closing in on 500 signatures. mayor godfrey's great-granddaughter megan budrow says in her post, quote, he was honored for his hard and selfless work to promote honest, local government, but the current mayor told abc 7 news, quote, it seems appropriate to consider renaming godfrey park at a time when our city is focused on addressing racial justice issues and the housing crisis. this park visitor is onboard. >> i 100% agree with renaming the park. >> the city council has committed to explore the changed parks and monuments that might be racially offensive. in alameda, eric tom a abc 7 news. >> right now, a 10-year-old girl is on a flight headed to san

francisco to be reunited with her family. she's been stuck in the middle east alone for the past five weeks due to unexplained delays with her immigration visa. this is another example of the trump administration separating families. >> reporter: it's a big day for the saleh family. >> speaking through an interpreter little mia says she can't wait to be reunited with her sister. >> it seems ridiculous and overkill and this little girl and these two waivers to come to the u.s. to come with her family. >> he is fighting her case. she's been stuck in egypt for the past five weeks alone, unable to emigrate with her family in the united states as they flee the civil war and famine raging in yemen. her father came four years ago to get a job and save up before the family arrives. the family traveled to egypt to

get the immigration visa and her visa was delayed without explanation and with the thought of losing immigration, the mother made the difficult decision to leave her daughter behind. >> obviously, she is very distraught and she was crying every day on the phone. she was scared and she's a 10-year-old girl and doesn't know what will happen to her. >> after a political fight led by the yemeni-american association her visa was approved and she arrived in new york last night where she was greeted by her father and bring her to san francisco. >> we will do a celebration for her birthday. >> this is a win for the family, but he also adds these types of delays seem to be politically motivated. >> sure, you can say they madeai mistake. that's terrible and we're glad it got sorted out and the administration has a very clear pattern in the most challenged

interpretation disregarding children's needs to be with their parents. >> her flight arrives at sfo tonight. ance ansar hassan, abc 7 news. sandhya

now your accuweather forecast with sandhya patel. >> hello, i hope you're all doing okay with the warmer weather. take a live picture of the east bay hills camera. we're seeing a combination with higher humidity and also because the sun is beating down on us. so here's what's left of was once a hurricane. you can feel the warmth in san jose, 12 degrees warmer and live doppler 7 showing you the tropical clouds headed in our direction and the moisture has resulted in numerous

thunderstorms off the coastline. there is a slight possibility that we could see a thunderstorm develop later tonight and certainly the humidity will linger into tomorrow, and the regional camera showing you a hazy view, santa rosa and petaluma and 103 in fairfield and it is cooking, 101 in livermore and looking back toward sutro tower and the visibility isn't so great and 77 in san francisco and 82 in oakland and 100 in gill roadway. so we've had 70s to 1 hu1 hun1 s and you'll be grateful for a breeze tonight. humid with a thunder chance into tomorrow and we do have a high risk of heat illnesses continuing for a stretch of seven days. here's a look at the hour by hour forecast. at 7:00 tonight you see the clouds moving in from the south and the green that you see there is one model possibly bringing a few isolated showers and thunderstorms. this is not all going to reach

the ground and keep in mind there is a dry air mass and we're keeping this in the forecast going into tomorrow and as we head into the afternoon the humidity will leave us. it is going to be a mild morning, mostly 60s, 70s and a few 50s there and the clouds will hold up tonight and tomorrow afternoon the heat is going to beat down on us. 105 in gill roadway and humid. 104 in morgan hill and 95 in the south bay and milpitas on the peninsula and mid-90s in palo alto and 79, warm and half moon bay and downtown san francisco and 79 in the sunset district and 97 san rafael and 101 in santa rosa. temperatures well above average and could see records in the east bay and 94 fremont and head inland and 108 degrees in fairfield and 106 in livermore and 107 in concord and spare the air alert and air quality suffering because of the heat

and the lack of strong winds as you check out the accuweather seven-day forecast and it's extreme tomorrow, very dangerous and triple digits for the next seven days, but the heat does ease some day before you start to see the temperatures rise again. >> what a pattern that

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finally tonight, a set of commemorative stamps will honor ruth aswawa. a set of forever stamps with ten drawings depicting asawa's most well-known works and today's livestream ceremony was next to his origami fountain sculptures and this is the first time an artist is being honored and it's a well-deserved honor for such an influential figure. >> she was a living example to be a japanese-american artist and use your culture to help feed your creativity and to allow you to incorporate those elements into your art work. >> asawa called san francisco home for decades until her passing in 2013. world news with david muir is next.

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tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the wildfires exploding out of control. thousands of structures threatened as the lake fire multiplies in size. dramatic images of a firenado. hundreds of firefighters trying to beat back the flames on the ground and from the sky in los angeles county. changing their tactics because of covid-19. nearby residents evacuated. a new crisis in the middle of a pandemic. also new tonight, the biden/harris ticket asking the nation's governors to mandate mask-wearing for the next three months to beat covid-19. that's just one issue playing out as america remains stressed over children returning to the classroom. what dr. anthony fauci said about temperature checks in schools and the funding fight some schools a