good afternoon, everybody. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." we're asking experts questions for you in real time every day at 3:00. we're focussed on the weather today. the fire risks, we have a packed show and later we'll have chris mcginnis on. he's going to discuss the upcoming holiday season and the rest that many are worried about keeping the coronavirus under control. and both sides of the at base driving deekt, prop 22 that we're voting on right now.

first, we're talking tact weather. so let's get the latest on the power outages happening in the area. put your dwoes us on facebook live right now and we'll try to answer them as well. is red flag warning is in effect until friday afternoon this fire danger is forcing pg&e to warn n customers wherever except francisco and morin for now that there might be these shutoffs. they say they're expecting any power shutoff to first start around 6:00 p.m. tonight and others would start in stages after that. power likely wouldn't be stief restore until it's safe to do the powerlines. that could be thursday or friday night. right now on our website and our free app we have easy tips for how to prepare for these shutoffs and this address guide to find out if your home is in a

potential shutoff area. so take a look at that. as do you and as you explore that power outage, as you see it, no public power shutoffs have gone into nekt our area, meaning you still have time to prepare. joining us, our very own meteorologist spencer christian. good to see you. >> thank you, liz. good to be with you. >> all right. so start us off -- >> even under the -- >> even under these circumstances. i know. it's a busy time. you guys. give us the latest on the full forecast and what we're seeing with the red flag warnings. >> sure. ok, liz. here's the situation. it is hot. it is extremely dry and it is gusty. those are the main ingredients for fire gks books weather. some of the graphics, you can see how hot it is right now. we're not in the main part of the heat yet. it's 81 in san francisco and

virtually all our inland areas have low to mid 90s. even on the coast, nemgts the 70s right now. as for the wind the surface winds are t not very strong. they're generally between 10 and 20 miles an hour. the gusts in the hills are getting stronger and stronger. the that's what we're concerned about. these gusts will probably intense fine overnight. the wind is surging downslope, it's drying out, it's warming up and it's moving more rapidly. of course that adds to the concern for fire. here's that red flag warning issued through midday friday for virtually all the bay area, the north bay, the east bay. winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour at the peak. the strongest gusts likely overnight. very low humidity. once again fires can start and spread easily under these conditions. apart from the red flag warning, there's an advisory in effect

for vir capitol hill all the north bay which is where we expect to have the strongest wind gusts. in those areas there's the possibility of downed trees, maybe powerlines and the fuels or the vegetation will be at record dry levels so that again raidsed the possibility of fires. and what we can do under these circumstances to protect ourselves and our property is remove flammable fall vegetation, if possible. pack or update your emergency kid. prepare several evacuation routes just in case you find yourself in danger, and review the insurance policies for your property. it's going to be this way, liz, for the next two days, thursday and friday, before we start to get some relief. so these are critical fire conditions that are not going away anytime soon. >> ki see that. i know a few years ago people weren't making these go bags. now it's top priority for all of us. it's so smart to prepare. >> it certainly is.

>> spencer, could the heat -- i know you talked about this. what are some of the areas that are most atlanticly going to have the power cut, from what you're hearing and seeing? >> yeah. from what i'm seeing, liz, it looks like the most likely area where pg&e would start would be the north bay. the entire bay area in the higher elevations are at risk. the north bay seems to be the initial focus thachlts focus also easily shift to the east bay hills and the valleys, by the way, many of our red flag warnings for conditions like this tend to cover elevation above a thousand feet. this warning is for the hills and the valleys of for the north bay and the east bay. even in the lower elevations, there is high fire danger. to the santa cruz mountains, that's the third likely area to be the focus of concerns for fire. it's going to be get hotter tomorrow and friday than it was

today. we've already seen temperatures in the mid 90s today tomorrow and friday, we could see inland temperatures in the upper 90s to near 100. right around the bay shoreline, places like oakland and san mateo will probably lit 93, 94 degrees over the next few days. half moon bay, bayley city will hit 84, 8, 86 degrees over the next couple of days. >> what spots are safe? san francisco. i'm surprised to see mar inner isn't on shutoffs. >> i don't know about the shutoffs. i nomarin is under the red flag warning. >> ok. >> because of its proximity to napa and sonoma and those areas that have had a bigger problem with fires in the past. it's certainly under the red flag warning but marin may not be one of the first areas to experience the shutdown. looks like napa and sonoma

counties. then over in solano, of course, all around the north. >> i was going to say gosh these areas have been through so much. i think people just want to know how much more of this are we going see this year? it feels like we're in the middle of fire season. do you have any sort of optimism that we're almost done? >> well, let me try to offer a little bit of an optimistic view. >> ok. >> i have a couple more illustration of bad news before i get you the good news. the projected high temperatures tomorrow, hotter tomorrow and friday than today. we're expecting highs tomorrow of about 98 degrees, 98, 91 at oakland. i'm going to revise that i think that might be low oakland could hit 93 or 94 tomorrow san francisco, 91 and 82 at half moon bay.

when did we see 80s in our coastal towns? look at friday. we're talk about the temperatures rising maybe even another degree or so, closer to a hundred degrees in some inland places like fairfield, conquered and napa expected to hit 97 0r9 8 on friday. it will be warmer on the coast on friday than today. good news, saturday, we expect a slight ridiculous in temperatures. just a few degrees but that can make a big difference. as i give you a look at sunday, then we start to get some serious cooling. sunday temperatures will get closer to average for this time of the year. we'll see coastal temperatures in the 60s. even san francisco will probably not history 70 degrees on sunday. we'll see mid 70s. in our inland areas, upper 90s, will reach into the throw mid 80s on sunday. that's the good news. >> yes. >> the concern is that prior to

getting to sunday, prior to sunday, we've got three more days of this rather intense heat, extremely low humidity, dry vegetation, dry fuels and of course the gusty winds and the wind gusts probably will not diminish significantly until late friday into saturday. so we really got to be cautious and on our toes the next couple of day ts. >> let's hope we can get through the next few days safely. thank you for joining us. we priernlt. all right. a hot button issue as we get close to the holidays. how safe is it to fly? should we even be traveling to see family and how many other people might be taking that sflisk a top travel expert

welcome back. this is a top concern about the coronavirus. the possibility about a surge in travel and thus increased transmission once we hit the holiday season in a few weeks. officials are warning about family thanksgiving gatherings. retarls are urge us to buy online this year. what should we know to stay safe? here's chris mcginnis. thank you for being here, chris, and for bringing your hawaii spirit to us. >> ready to jump on that plane. >> we all are. what's happening with hawaii? you call it hawaii's murky reopening in your sf gate column. why is that? >> that's happened with hawaii, they've been wanting to reopen for the past three months.

they started out saying they were going to reopen in august. then they said september, then they said october 1st. then they moved it to october 15th, which is tomorrow and what the governor of hawaii has done is now requiring that everyone who goes to hawaii has to get a covid test within 72 hours of their departure and once you have that test and you get to hawaii you're no longer subject to a 14-day quarantine, which was keeping a lot of people away from hawaii ever since the pandemic began. >> in order to get this covid test it has to be an approved test by the state of hawaii? >> right. >> what is an approved test? how do you know which is approved? >> there are -- and you're right. that is the murky part. everyone has been wondering, what test do i knee, how long will they do this? my advice is the first thing you

need to do if you want to get a test is to talk to your own health care provider. be it kaiser, your private doctor, whatever. try to get a test that way and make sure that it is the right kind of test. i don't have the exact wording right now. it is on sf gate. your doctor will know it. the airlines and the airport will know what this specific test. it's basically the swab test that they have to do in your nose. >> ok. got it. and are all our airlines offering flights to hawaii now from sfo? >> yeah. in fact, because of the reowning, a lot of the airlines have started to bump 7-their schedule. they were cut down severely but now we're seeing a lot more flights, a lot more flights coming, a lot more people being interested in going. but i think it's going to be a slow go because people still

aren't quite sure about exactly what's going to happen once they get there. right now a lot of the different counties in hawaii like maui, kauai county and others. they're asking them to go through a secondary test and that's the murky part. we don't know exactly who has to get that test and what happens if you fly all the way to hawaii, get a test, and then test positive? you're going to have to stay in a hotel for two weeks at your own expense. swhoi not going to let you in. there are a lot of risks involved in going to hawaii right now which i think will tamp down the enthusiasm. >> that's a good point. having to pay for two weeks in a hotel is going to stop a lot of people talk about the holiday travel season. are you expecting a busy season flying? people are penalty up and want to fly or is it the opposite?

maybe people are driving instead? >> there is tons of pent-up demand for travel, not only the holidays, but just about anywhere. everyone would thereof go hoept home for the holidays but everyone has been waiting for the last minute. few people who are still traveling are all waiting until the very last minute. october typically is the time we're looking for great deals to fly home for the holidays. some people are doing that but everyone's putting the brakes on and taking a wait and see approach. maybe we'll have a vaccine, maybe we won't. maybe we'll be in a second wave during christmas and we'll be on lockdown. most airlines have reduced the amount of money you have to pay to eliminate change fees or cancellation feeds so that if you cancel your plans, the financial visk not that great. >> what do you think will be some holiday destinations for us

in the bay area? >> the most popular destinations are going to be those that you can drive to. i think over thanksgiving, for example, there's going to be a lot of people headed up the freeway to lake tahoe. my advice is if you're planning on going to lake tahoe for the holidays, don't plan on driving the wednesday before or the sunday after. i have a house in san francisco and in palm springs. i'll be going back and forth myself. i'm leaving on tuesday and coming back on friday just to avoid the bad traffic i know that's going to happen on i-5. this is definitely going to be the year of getting in the car and going over the river and through the woods. probably not so much on the plane, so traffic, road traffic is going to be the big issue this year, not crowded airports. >> i'm planning to go see some family in san diego, but you're making me have second doults.

but yeah, leave early. talk about international travel. you mentioned on sf gate that some flights are opening up from here to latin america. are you starting to see more international travel? >> yeah. we were hearing for a long time, americans are welcome anywhere. the world is starting to open up slowly. but just in the last couple of weeks we've seen costa rica and panama open up to allow americans in. which is a great thing. both of those countries are fantastic for eco tourism. they've got great beaches, a lot of great snorkeling. i was recently in panama city that copa airlines. it's a fantastic city. they -- it's very modern, very clean, because of the american influence there during the canal, the panama canal days, it

feels like an american city. that's a great option for people who just are dying to get out of the country. so are panama and costa rica. >> any place with a sbaech a good thing, good way to social distance as well as stay safe. thank you for joining us again. we priernlt. >> of course. >> talk to you soon. when we return, lifetilyft, employees or independent contractors?

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usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa welcome back. this is the most publicly known proposition on the ballot, millions of dollars many advertising with mr. more millions of dollars in economic impacts. weir talking about prop 22. should california consider app-based drivers as independent contractors or full employees?

so here's what you're going to see on your ballot. a yes vote would define them at independent contract ors and would arrive development wage and. would allow no california's assembly five to decide that uber and lyft drivers would be clafs fight as employees. both companies does not pass that means they'd have to suspend their operations in the state. this is really one of the most costly ballot issues. we want to get answer from how the drivers feel themselves, the ones impacted. joining us now we have doug meade and micheela edwards who drives for uber in oakland. thank you both for being here. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> my pleasure. thank you for o having me on.

>> doug, let's start with you. you say yes to prop 22. tell us why. >> the biggest reason why would be the flexibility. all kinds of surveys have been put out and studies show that the vast majority of drivers want to keep their flexibility. they do not want to be employees. i am certainly one of them. i have a heart condition. 50i678 1-year-old and i have a heart condition. it's difficult for me to work a regular job. this is a stress-free way for me to make a living and do it the way i want to on my terms. >> you're against it, so why don't you tell us why that is? >> well, the problem very with prop 22 is that it is a proposition that will take away the right that workers like me, gig workers that ray forded to me from a profit ab 5.

under ab 5 i have equal protection under the law as a work, and proposition 22 is a proposition that would take those things away from me and other drivers like me. >> prop 22 is a compromise. the tech companies say they'll pay into benefits for drivers that work a certain amount of hours if it passes. and there's a dpern it doesn't pass uber and lyft won't be able to hire people like they are now so people maybe will lose their jobs. what's your rebuttal? >> everything they're offering us is based on engaged timing. even though they're offering $300 for health benefits, it's based on engaged time, what engaged time means is that there has to fwufl for me, actually, is that there has to be a passenger in the car. we know that there's been research done where drivers

spend one third of their time, at least one third of their time in the car waiting for a request or something like. so how much time, how much -- how long will we have to work in order to earn that $300? the second thing is that this $300, for example, that go towards health care is not even enough to pay for the bond level of health dmar california. in bronze level is the lowest of all levels with high deduction and everything like that this $300 will not cover that. now because of ad 85, we qualify for employer-sponsored health benefits. >> right. that makes sense. but doug, on the flip side, i think there's a lot of anger towards the tech companies that some say are skirting around the laws. it's a slippery slope and more

companies could start calling people contractors instead of employees to avoid paying suspensions. how do you respond to that? >> i can't speak about other industries. as far as this industry is concerned, the ride share food delivery industry, a lot of money has been put into this because it affects millions and millions of californians, not just the drivers. we're talking about the customers that receive the food in grocery deliveries, people that accept ride shares, and the restaurant owners themselves. you know, it affects millions and millions of california yangs. taking away those hundreds of thousands of jobs at a time when the economy is a complete mess, that makes no sense to me whatsoever. yes, there has been a lot of money thrown into this campaign by the corporations but we're also talking about a proposition that is affecting a great number of californians. >> smart. good points made by both of you.

it will be interesting to see which way this goes. doug and micheela, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me today. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. ok.

all right. thank you automatic so much for joining us on this interactive show "getting answers" we'll be here every day at 3:00 and streaming. stay prepared for these potential power shutoffs by heading to abc7news.com and on our free app. we'll have the latest coming up at abc7news at 4:00 p.m., live reports throughout the bay area on the red warnings.

world news tonight is next. we'll see you here at 4:00 vchlt a great one. and the president tested positive, too. and the president is asked about his son today, what he says, then quickly pivoting to his supreme court nominee. this all comes as the number of hospitalizations rises in at least 36 states tonight. amid concerns of a second wave in this country, with americans closer together in the colder weather. the warning late today from dr. anthony fauci about thanksgiving gatherings. we also have news on children and vaccine trials tonight. and the second wave already hitting europe. the supreme court showdown. judge amy coney barrett, the president's choice to