>> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc7 news. welcome. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." this is an appropriately titled show today because we have a lot of questions as governor gavin newsom announced a completely different system, an overhaul how counties and businesses can reopen. so this is it. the new tier-based plan is focused on sectors. there are four tiers, take a look, widespread. that's purple. substantial, red. moderate, orange, and minimal, yellow. you can see there are guidelines for each tier, looking at the positivity and the number of new cases. substantial, meaning some non-essential indoor business operations are closed instead of

being mostly closed. the daily new case rate needs to be between four and seven cases per 100,000 people along with a 5% to 8% positivity rate. in theory, you then graduate to moderate and then move down to minimal. but there's a mandatory 21 day waiting period between moving between tiers and counties, must meet the next guidelines for 14 straight days before advancing. don't worry. i'm not giving you a test on this. to figure this out, the state launched an updated web site at covid19.ca.gov. so you see that, you type in your zip code or county and then what sector you want to view, for example, hair salons and barbershops, and then boom, you get a specific tier and you see here, san francisco, hair salon, substantial meaning some non-essential indoor business operations are closed but look below that. it says hair salons and barbershops in san francisco are open indoors with modifications

or can be. but we know that's not the case in san francisco right now, that's not the reality. so what is going on? right now, it does say for every single county, you can have indoors hair salons and barbershops in the state or county if they allow it. stricter guidelines apply. phil matier, nice of you to drop in. do you think this new system is easier to understand? >> just as many questions coming out of the web site, for example, if i put in gyms and went to look in san francisco,

chances are it could be open. so city hall is getting these calls saying the state says we can be open. when are we going to open and the city goes, no, that's not the case. you can maybe open outside come tuesday when we make our decision but it still is confusing. once again, have to rely on what your county is doing in each of these instances and wait to see. >> this is our producer playing around with the web site right now. in san francisco, as you notice, the substantial category. not the most serious, not the purple >> right, that's not the case and what we see, either an increase in let's just get down to basics. you want to get your hair done, and go to a restaurant chances,

some allow you inside if it's properly spaced. allowing movie theatres to open. theoretically not set up to open and county permission. >> movie theatres, if you're in red, which san francisco and santa cruz technically are, not that they're going to go there yet and take advantage but they could open indoors. what is prompting this change in the system? is the governor responding to a particular criticism? >> one of the criticisms, too many metrics. there were too many things that were being looked at. sometimes, the daily briefings had so many numbers, so many different categories from fatalities to infection rates, to this, to that. people weren't able to figure it

out. push it down and then get it into four categories, and then color code themment ev. it's still complicated. two criteria and it could be red in one and purple in the other and you might wind up red or could be purple in one, which is severe and then wind up being red overall. when we were talking about metrics and the color code, the businesses aren't opening and those that are, only at quarter steam or half steam. and the number that continues to amaze is the unemployment rate and the number of people asking, when are we going to get back and that's not just a decision that the state or locals are going to make. even if they say open up the high-rise buildings, office complex, there's a question about when they're going to open up and when people are actually going to come back.

>> governor gavin newsom actually calls this system the more stringent approach compared to the old system but if it is more stringent -- >> here's how it it's more stringent. in the last system, you had all of these different things and one of the things could be, a county could submit say wedding plan to do this, this, and this or doing this, this, and that and that could green light them to go to the next step. we had lots moving ahead of san francisco, when the rates were worse because they had a plan or something that they said they were going to do. this says, you've got to prove that you're doing it. the idea of this entire infection rate per capita what you have set up to handle it. >> we talked about the pressure that governor newsom has come under for the reopening method. which sectors have the most vocal about the burden that the

old system put under. and concerns about the tourism industry. when are hotels going to open up over the summer and when people can do non-essential leisure travel. you still can't get a hotel room in san francisco and i don't believe in alameda county either unless it's for an essential reason. the fire victim or quarantine or traveling through. in san francisco, they would like to get at least, the industry would like to reopen but we don't have the county or the state on board yet. >> i know you always talked to a lot of political types. what's the feedback fa gerr neom announcement? >> the feedback is confusion on the city level and the county level, the officials that have to implement it.

policy-wise, what we have is everybody sort of just holding tight and trying to sit this out. something about this is that the governor comes out and says this is new and changing but it is really for the average person and for the average person, it's still kind of a daily walk from jell-o. things are there but you can't go into them, whether it's your haircut or your office, one thing that might change in the next couple of weeks and looks like it's going to is the return of open schools. in the next couple of weeks >> got the approval and open in person today. more flexibility.

but right now, just looking at the state's web site, it does say as of august 31st, when all the new system takes effect in a few days, activity that opens up with modification, all retail, shopping centers at maximum 25% capacity. that sounds like malls, hair salons and barbershops indoors. >> do you expect this to have a boost on the economy and governor newsom? >> i don't think it will have a boost on the economy at this

boost on the economy at this point. the economics, that's a whole different season outside of the governor's control in some ways because even if people are allowed to go back, there's a real question whether it's bart or a movie theatre, will they go back, what is the crowd comfort for the citizens out there? what is the crowd comfort for people because that's going to be the ultimate determinant, you can open the door, but will they walk? >> that's right. and people will be able to walk in more, feel more comfortable doing so if everyone is wearing their mask which is the message he continues to send in public health officers as well. phil matier, fun talking with you. we are not done talking, well, not so much fun but certainly enlightening. >> we try to do both.

>> we're not done talking about the new system. we talk to the california director for state of counties and new overhaul, the san francisco gym owner is

london breed announced gyms with hair salons and barbershops, she said this before governor newsom unveiled the new system. joining me to get into this is the co-owner of mx3

out of touch the mayor is. >> we've been operating outdoors since july, part of the program. and now outdoors as of september 9th. i don't know who she's talking to. >> you've been allowed to operate outdoors. why is that insufficient? >> let's start with air quality this week. the rain soon to be here.

outside, there's a lot of things that are issues. and let's switch this around. go tell twitter to move their business outside. tell facebook to do their business outside. >> are you confused with other gym owners about what's happening and the discrepancy between the state rules and the city rules? because i'm looking at the new state rules at the new color coded system. it was not 10% or 25% capacity. that's not the reality in san francisco. >> no, this is the whiplash we're facing right now. the governor says one thing. the mayor says one thing.

dr. hcolfax says something else. the governor said today, gyms in san francisco have the capability to reopen at 20%. said we're open, not that we could be but we are. at the end of the day, the city holds the parts. they're the ones that say whether or not we can open that but the city, the person of fit ne ness. not when or how we're going to reopen and they keep us lumping into this big box. we're we're, same physical therapist. if you think about that, one trainer. one person.

1400 square foot gym and i can do one person at a time with one trainer and just doing that would pay rent if we could do it. >> do you know anyone who's doing it behind closed doors and curtains shut and training people indoors? >> at this point, everybody's struggling. people are goig out of business. these are businesses that haven't been able to get substantial revenue since march. these aren't restaurants. these aren't liquor stores that are all allowed to reopen. tell the landlord for six months, i don't know what's going to happen. i don't have any money. explain how the landlord will react to that. >> your landlord is not cutting you any breaks, right? a few days ago, you took it to

city hall. asking the city to do right now. >> first and foremost, the city helped us financially with rent, help us with addiction moratoriu moratoriums. help us with no no interest loans. and the second demand, tell us a plan, on the watch list, and how it will move. pretty simple. >> dave, thank you so very much and mx3 gym, i wish you luck and keep this conversation going. appreciate your perspective. >> thank you very much. take care. >>

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selected it leaves the house in tack. you now know that in the next earthquake your house will be standing and welsonur earinrance.if tart. our house has a better chance of surviving in. we continue to try and work through this new overall for how

the state will reopen. as we said, it's now color coded and to talk about this, director for the california state association, graham knauss. thank you so much for making the time. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> we welcome the new blueprint. it's been incredibly difficult over the last several months in every corner of government in and our communities and the narrowed focus on data to keep communities safe is very helpful as is a road map in timeline for how we may begin to emerge from covid-19. >> what are the biggest concerns from counties? >> change is very hard

we face questions from residents and businesses with how to sort how how the rules will change, learning at the same time we answer the questions. that's always a challenge as we navigate through this. >> do you feel like this gives counties more authority to control more of what they want to do? >> it provides an opportunity to have a more focused to allow communities including county leaders to know what it takes in order to open in a safe manner. that is critically important for us to take steps forward to continue to protect our community and to reopen our

economy. >> you talk about discrepancy f you look at the state web site, certain things seem to be allowed or ready as of august 31st. they're already in red, not even the most serious category. are you urging counties to kind of have an approach more uniform or abide by these guidelines or are you urging the counties to continue in their own ways and do what they see fit? >> it's reasons why we have the 58 local health departments in counties in california and that is because community are different and because communities are different, the way in which we should respond should be different.

what may take place in san francisco, it makes sense in its community, it may be different if you look at shasta county up north. so having a structure that allows for that areauation to occur is incredibly important to empower communities. >> which is the part in the new system that you appreciate most? >> having a road steps laid out in front of us and focus on data. ownership in which we can take steps to move forward. i'm sorry, go ahead. >> actually, i was going to ask you to go, but what about the

fact there's more waiting period between movement between the tiers. you have to be in a tier for 21 days and then once you achieve better numbers and can move down a tier, where more things can open, you have to be on that for 14 days before the next step. so it's really like five weeks, right? before anything really, really changes. is that a promising approach in terms of really containing covid? >> we certainly look to september 8th as the next step in terms of looking at where things are at and whether or not there's movement within communities communities, a new level of reopening. so having some time is

critically important. some working and we continue to take steps forward. >> we have 30 seconds. so in terms of the county's approach to whether they grant a variance or waiver for elementary schools to reopen? >> certainly, there's a lot of conversation about that throughout the state and in my household as well. it's very important for there to be an open dialogue with the public health officer and local schools in that community to ensure that the overarching goal of making

sure our children are healthy and safe is maintained at the same time. >> thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. wear your mask. >> absolutely. got it r

we're back. thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show. "getting answers." we certainly got a lot of answers today about governor newsom and california's new plan

for reopening the state. gone are the old. we'll see you again on monday. have a great weekend. bye-bye. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. tens of thousands in the nation's capital for the march nation's capital for the march on washington. breaking news as we come on the air. demonstrators from across the county flocking to the national mall demanding justice and racial equality. the family of jacob blake, son shot by police, speaking on the step steps of the lincoln . george floyd's brother breaking down at the microphone. p r>> martin luther king's granddaughtp granddaughtegr messamessage alp messageme. t r >