hi there. i'm kristin ste. we're asking experts your questions to get answers for you in real time. today we have oakland mayor libby shaff to discuss a variety of issues from potholes and sidewalks to violence and homeless encampments. it's all on the table. first, lots of covid-19 news today, so we'll begin with usf drchltd peter jin hong. nice to see you. >> thanks for having me on. >> let's get started. the uk is preparing for human challenge trials that will deliberately infect people with the coronavirus.

people see the headline are asking why, what is this is all about? >> well, they're going to take people age 18 to 30, basicallyay in london, one of theirs, and find -- and give them a small dose of veergirus, see what syms they get and test them vaccine versus placebo. >> so is the idea that by purposely infecting people as opposed to just giving them vaccine and wait for them to somehow catch it in the community, by giving it to them in a controlled environment, does that somehow speed up the whole process of whether a vaccine is did and can be released to all? >> so basically what will happen is you have a certain duration

of time that you can get beyond to foster people infection. we've done this with other infections, even influenza, chole cholera, typhoid. with other kinds of infections, we have treatments that are effective early in the disease. not sure 100% with covid yet. >> if human trials had been done, why is there not a consensus, in fact, there is some degree of concern and outrage among some in the medical community -- i know it's not monolithic -- that something feels like this shouldn't be done. why? what are the downsides? >> because two things. one is that we don't have effective treatment, yes, that treatment everyone a hundred percent. they're on the order of reduced, may or may not help with that. secondly and most importantly

you could survive covid but the long term effects that we're now understanding and there's nothing to say that these trials may not have some of these long hauler symptoms or long-term effects of covid. >> ok. so do you support it, then? >> i support it in concept, but i've been nervous about covid in particular because the more we understand about covid, the more, you know, humbled we are by this infection because it affects so many parts of the body and you can get covid and then you can get post covid which is even after you get over the up fedex, chronic fatigue, all that. >> all right. definitely some reason for concern, but of course, i can also see why that might seem attractive to some people right now. they should be the people in the lowest category of risk, young people, healthy people.

i want to move on. because while we talk about vaccines, we have a lot of trials going on. astrazeneca trials in brazil, understand a participant died. can you tell us what you know about the circumstances? >> yeah. so he was a young doctor treating covid patients and he died of covid, so it's not really sure -- clear whether or not he was in the vaccine or placebo group and whether or not this is a failure of the vaccine and not really -- or a side effect. we're not really sure. all this needs to be investigated. it's interesting that where this occurred is continuing on with the trials, even given this death. >> ok. i want to get to also a new cdc study. this one is alarming to a lot of people. it seems to suggest that the true number of coronavirus deaths in the u.s. could actually be 400,000. that would be double the current

count. can you explain that? >> yeah. so the main way that covid deaths by confirmation, so you have to like say someone definitely died of covid before you caught it, so this is different from other kinds of infections. if somebody died of a heart attack or even some other kinds of up fedex like, end zo influenza. given [ inaudible ] lots of people who died of things that didn't have that confirmation so that they have been counted as such. >> ok. >> as covid. >> i got you. so given that, though, can we talk about who is most impacted as in these excess deaths, are there certain communities that

seem to have been harmed more so that others? >> certainly i think that the people who don't have access to tests, the people who don't have access to the health care system, so they are probably at home and have died of some other illness, which in advantage seeps like covid would be communities of elderly patients, people who don't have health insurance, people we worry about as needing to have a safety net for. >> wow. ok. i think the study does suggest, too, that covid might be impacting and harming younger people, people 25 to 44 -- >> yeah. >> dr more so than previously suspected? is that part of it? >> yes. people if they have a mild symptom, you know, if i were a young person in college, i may sort of like ride it out and

wait till i feel better. all these cases will not -- again you have to have confirm nation in covid. in other diseases you have to have an exact test. >> hopefully our signal -- our connection will hang in there. i have a couple more questions. covid numbers nationwide are concerning. 60,000 new cases yesterday. 36% increase in infections. what is driving that? >> people are thinking two things about driving this. one is not wearing masks consistently, and the second is pandemic fatigue, which is major course of what had been thought about the exclusion in europe. so i think those things, i mean, wisconsin's only thinking about a mask mandate, which is kind of old news to california. these two things are really contributing.

>> all right. well, that's something for us to all think about as we head into the winter. a quick question from a viewer on facebook. is type a blood more prone to covid-19? i heard that type o may be more immune. can you talk about what you know about blood types? >> pointed out. type a is a little more prone to covid. not only covid but other infections as well. the idea is that when you have blood type a you have this pro teen sticking sup on the blood, which is a, so it stimulates the immune system to create antibodies. when you have, oh, there's nothing on the surface, so it's like a quiet immune system. the idea is that thing that makes the immune system active will pretent -- more information and not just covid but other

infections, so i think that's the -- on the other hand like you pointed out when people seem to be a little more protected, not only against infections, but other things, too, heart disease. it's an being thing when you look into it. >> wow. who knew that? i never knew that about the kimpt blood types. that is interesting and a little bit fright opening. alaska -- >> yeah. >> they're seeing a record number of cases. does that say anything to you about the virus in colder weather? >> it's intriguing that when the dust settles covid is influenza and go up in the wintertime and down again in the summer. now it doesn't matter what temperature. but yes, we would expect that winter, the virus loves the cold, and people get together in the cold from the elements

outdoor. you have the perfect storm. in winter is probably best for the virus. >> all right. we're not even in the really cold season yet. that is still to come. i want to ask you about what we're seeing in california. so far we seem to be in a holding pattern and doing pretty well with san francisco moving into yellow and producer, correct me if i'm wrong, but almeida coup just moved into yellow, is that right? not in the yell e but i see they're opening up more because their numbers are doing better. that's not the case on the northeast. northeast seems to be seeing that second wave. boston had open schools and is now shutting them down again. new york had considered a travel advisory on visitors from nearby states, new jersey, for example, that's too difficult, the way they're interconnected. what does that suggest, what should we take from that? we've opened a few but not

overwhelmingly so. >> i think what i take from that is that we have to be flexible, but again, new england, colder and also they're close to europe and europe explodes, the east coast gets hit because of a frequent travel, people moving back and forth. it's multi-model. i'm worried with this holidays, california is -- may see a little hit but hopefully wouldn't get surge that the rest of the u.s. is seeing right now. >> yeah. no. absolutely. hey, i want to bring back the question about the blood sometimes. our viewer wants to know what about type b? what is covid's impact on someone who has type b? >> type b doesn't show any up crease. it's kind of a wash, but a is a little bit more and a is on the

other extreme. so i think the other blood type, you know, it doesn't matter. it doesn't increase or decrease your risk. i think it's really a small thing. anybody to worry really the other things are much more important lining wearing a mask and keeping distance in terms of protection. >> all right. thank you so much. we'll take a short break in

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lshtd. we are back with the doctor talking about the latest code 19 news. i'm reading that the cdc is expanding the testify anything of who is a close contact with

an individual with covid-19. can you talk to us about the new guidance and whether it impacts schools or work maces or family gatherings? >> we don't know that that guidance, but maybe if you let me -- if you tell me i'll -- >> oh, absolutely. this is just coming down. so don't feel bad that you don't know. i'm seeing it just now. the cdc has defined a close contact somebody spend 15 total minutes with within six feet. the new guidance -- and they rely on contact tracing. for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. so what are they doing here essentially? are they relaxing things? where does this leave us

>> i think they're tightening up the definitions. we're for a 24 period,period, be nice but may reflect some confusion as to, you know, just minutes -- is it 15 consecutive minutes, is it 15 minutes, be sure what that guidance means. having a strict definition for people who need to be tested. >> uh-huh, uh-huh. >> yeah. >> doctor, thank you so much for hanging with us. it was a little longer than we initially expected but it's a pleasure talking to you and a good learning experience. all right. take care. >> thank you. >> bye. coming up next -- do we take a break or go straight in? we're going to take a short break. with when we return oakland

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>> weather back. libby schaff joins us live this week she's making a special appearance on getting answers. joining us is mayor schaff. good to have you. >> be to see you. >> i'm glad you're coming as you're getting good news. almeida county is moving into the orange here and seems like you're going to be reopening a lot more activities starting friday. what's happening? talk to us about that. >> that's right. a lot of things we miss doing we are going to start to get to do but usually at about 25% capacity. things like weddings and tune ralgs, going to chump, going to our favorite gym, indoor shorngs indoor activities like climbing walls, bowling alleys. these are going to start to be allowed to be open at 25% capacity and all that because

you have done such a great job sacrificing your personal comfort, keeping social distance, wearing the masks, and we've got to keep doing that because if those test results don't stay where they are, if they don't get better, almeida coup could roll these privileges back. so let's keep it going, oakland. >> yeah. so how is testing going since you mentioned that? >> well, you know, we not only moved into that ormg tier and we've actually maintained those levels for a week now. in some categories we're even in the yellow category, but let's be honest. while we did pass california's sort of disparity test, i say the disparities are still very unacceptable. we had some sobering results from our two-day testing event in fruitvale. they tested positive for that

antibody. the number in the community was 27%. those will huge disparities. our focus on marley vulnerable populations are essential workers have got to continue. >> and speaking of vulnerable populations during the pandemic we've seen the homeless population rise and also the encampment. you just passed a new policy in oakland in regard to the encampments. talk to me an what that means. >> this is a great day for oaklanders. the status quo was completely unacceptable. the level of suffering, the dangerous and unhealthy conditions were not serving anyone, least of all, the unsheltered residents. oakland has some clear can guidelines that make it clear that our values, we will never criminalize the homeless. this is about providing care, services, support, and offers of

shelter, but also setting up in advance what parts of the city are most likely to cause health and safety conflicts. that starts with parks that are used by our children. these are the types of places where we know there is likely to be a health and safety con flick. so we are defining that out front as well as putting the steps in place that really respect the rights and dignity of our up sheltered neighbors. >> in those areas that you mentioned, what happens if someone is encamped there? would you ask them to move and go somewhere else? would you cite or arrest anybody under the policy? >> we will never cite or arrest any for being homeless and sleeping outdoors. that's not oakland values and it's not the law. we start with services and support, we start with offering shelter. now, if all else fails, as a

last resort we would assist someone moving into an area where there is less of a health and safety conflict, but we have unacceptab unacceptable, unhealthy, unsafe conditions on our streets and we have to do both. we have to take care of our people in all these ways and that is what this policy does. it's the most comprehensive policy that we have seen in any city. and let it be clear, our priority is getting everyone housed, everyone should go to bed at night with the comfort, the security of knowing that they can keep a roof over their head. but until we meet that goal, our first goal, we have to be sure that we are taking care of people who are unsheltered and balancing also health and safety impacts on others. >> all right. i have want to check in with you on sidewalks and potholes, streets. compared to all that's happening in 2020, those might seem like

small issues but they're such important quality of life issues, so tell me what the city has been doing. you set some record recently fixing potholes, right? >> we set two records and in the middle of a pandemic. huge hats off to our incredible street crews. they have worked throughout this pandemic and they broke two records. first, the most miles of roads repaved in a single year in oakland. 26 miles of brand-new -- this is not just filling potholes. this is replacing the whole street. then also, a new record in repairing sidewalks. nine times the square footage of sidewalks repaired last year and so please feel a little safer as you walk around town. we do not want people tripping and falling. i say infrastructure is sexy and it is something that has been

too long neglected in oakland particularly in certain neighborhoods. i'm proud that we have a new policy that prioritizes some of our neighborhoods where a broken axle or a broken ankle is going to be a lot more damaging. we saw a lot more new roads in east oakland, for example. part of the city that i think residents feel have been neglected in the past. >> social equity absolutely a part of that. ok. we have about two minutes. i want to get to both a viewer question and a fun round. we'll jam. how can schools remain closed when public health officials rules based on the tooegs say it's ok or safe to open? that's the case in oakland if you're moving into orange, technically you should be able open the k through 12 but that's not happening anytime soon, right? >> they can only open if they

meet certain testing and safety guidelines. everybody is working nonstop to try to meet the health and safety guidelines. they are complicated particularly for our large public school system. please know that we are all working. we cannot reopen until it is safe to do so. particularly for our kids, their families and our educators. >> all right. oh. just right on cue. we have one minute left. this is something i've wanted to do for a long time. you're a big cheerleader for oakland businesses. where are your favorite oakland spots? favorite restaurant? >> oh, god, there are so many. you know, i love the taco truck casino loa. i know it's not a restaurant but you sit outside. another one, oeste has a great roof deck. >> favorite outdoor spot?

>> lake meredith. who does not love lake meredith on a hot day. it's the living room of oakland. it's our soul. it's been rowdy lately but i love the juxtaposition of nature and urba

and welcome back. that's going to do it for now. thanks for joining us for this interactive show. we talked to dr. peter about human trials intentionally infecting people with covid 1 to speed up a vaccine. we talked with mayor libby schaff as almeida county moved into the orange tier and has a chance to increase capacities

very soon. world news tonight is coming up next. i'll see tonight, the race to the finish. election day 13 days away. president trump and joe biden on the eve of their final presidential debate. the president complaining about the new rule, muting the mics. and with joe biden prepping for the debate, it's former president obama on the trail tonight for his former vp in the key battleground of pennsylvania. less than 24 hours after president trump was in the state. and what he said about being in erie. before the president faces off with biden on that stage tomorrow night, tonight, the president and the white house appearing to take on veteran journalist leslie staal. what's this about? the troubling numbers mounting across this country, the coronavirus surging. hospitalizations on the rise now in 41 states. and tonight, important news now coming in from the cdc. new guidelines redefininglo