>> us communicating that to the doctor, she told us about the bob woodruff foundation. >> how can we ask people to fight for our country, on to sacrifi sacrifice, when they come home they can't have a family? >> reporter: through donations and support they got this gift. >> i don't know where we would be or i would be without my child, my roman, my little roror. >> hats off to all. that's "nightline." you can watch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you

abruptly close today -- an east bay da's office ready to investigate complaints on covid restrictions. schools in new york city

abruptly close day while local school districts adjust their reopening plans. why one district still wants to bring cases back. >> the annual christmas tree lighting was held in union square. i'll tell you why you probably didn't know about it. >> abc 7 news at 11:00 starts right now. >> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. tonight an east bay county is about to get tough when it comes to following new covid safety restrictions with cases spiking in contra costa county. >> yes, a task force is ready to investigate and fine businesses not following the rules. cornell barnard is getting the information tonight. >> reporter: burger loft, a surge in covid cases has put contra costa county in the purple tier.

employees know the rules. >> make sure they're wearing masks. wash their hands 200 times a day. >> reporter: not every business plays by the rules. the contra costa county's d.a.'s task force has already received 100 health complaints in the last two weeks. >> we're worried about-face masks and social distancing. >> reporter: scott alonzo says the task force is prepared to issue fines from $100 to $1,000. freddy sanchez likes the enforcement. >> it's important to have people who are making sure that we're doing what's right. >> reporter: anyone with a health complaint can email or call the d.a.'s hotline. >> please use a message detailing any suspect and/or company information. >> reporter: but some say that hotline is a bad idea. >> right now people are pretty angry about a lot of issues that may or may not have anything to do with that particular business. >> if you're not happy with something, you have the option to leave.

>> we know the businesses are really struggling right now so we're not trying to be punitive. we're trying to ensure the public is protected. >> reporter: the d.a. wants educate merchants about the health order. if that doesn't work, they'll take it to the next level. new alt 11:00, the u.s. coast guard cutter stratton was forced to return after 11 crew members tested positive for covid-19. the sick crew members have mild symptoms. stratton was on deployment. it had departed for the eastern pacific in october. crew members were required to pass two covid tests. the entire crew was tested and all are quarantined now. in the north bay all of wine country went into the most restrictive tier, that's purple, today. it's a big adjustment in napa county. the county plummeted two tiers. daily covid-19 cases per 100,000

people have more than tripled since last month. wine merchant adam housley says he's frustrated. >> i'm upset the way the whole thing has been handled. i've been told you have to do it this way and two days later it's this way. >> napa county is particularly vulnerable because it relies so heavily on tourism. restaurants can't offer indoor dining and wineries are allowed only outdoor operations. tier changes could happen one day of the week and change again later in the week. it's a fast-moving situation. keep track of where your county stands on reopening with our interactive tracker on abc7news.com. tonight the united states crossed another unthinkable milestone. >> yes, more than 250,000 people have died from coronavirus. and a record shattering 79,000 americans are hospitalized because of it. the spike in cases is forcing the nation's largest school system, new york city, to go back to remote learning.

>> and getting answers on how schools will reopen and stay open during the pandemic is a key part of our effort to build a better bay area. matt boone explains how local school districts are adjusting plans. >> reporter: new york city is taking major steps again to combat the virus, announcing today that all public schools would shut down. >> as much as we are unhappy today that this moment was reached, we are resolved to keep fighting. >> reporter: it come z as many counties reverted to the restrictive purple tier while some schools will be allowed to operate in person classes, piedmont unified has suspended their plans. >> this is 100% a county decision. so, we were slated to return. >> reporter: piedmont superintendent randall booker says distance learning has been wearing students down. >> we're having many students struggling socially and emotionally. >> reporter: he wishes they can

bring students back. >> testing for all staff, prescreening for all students and staff, lots of logistical information about entrance and egress. >> reporter: in sf public schools have remained closed. >> we want to send our kids back to school. we know that's the only way they're going to get the learning they need. but many of our kids are so immunocompromised but we just can't. >> we can't wait until science proves that covid is fully gone before these kids can get back to school. >> the commissioners did approve a reopening plan but not until january 25th. matt boone, abc 7 news. new details tonight the quest for a covid-19 vaccine. pfizer is expected to seek fda emergency approval for its vaccine by the end of the week. new data shows it is more than 95% effective. the vaccine made in conjunction with biontech.

between this vaccine and others, he hopes a majority of the united states will be vaccinated by next fall. president-elect joe biden met virtually with health care workers today to discuss the coronavirus response. abc news reporter reports it comes as president trump continues to fight the election results. >> reporter: today a warning from the president-elect to the outgoing president, that a refusal to transition can hamper efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic and distributing a vaccine. >> there's a whole lot of things that we just don't have available to us. unless it's made available soon, we're going to be behind by weeks or months. >> reporter: biden today holding a virtual round table, game planning how to gather critical support to frontline workers. >> i have not been tested yet, and i have been on the frontlines in the icu since february. >> you're kidding me. >> no. >> reporter: biden's now operating without many resources often given a president-elect. some republicans are calling for

president trump to at least grant him access to briefings. most are silent as trump's legal team launched hail mary lawsuits in battleground states. so far uncounted votes have been found in four counties, netting president trump more than 1,000 votes. but president-elect biden still has a roughly 13,000 vote margin lead there. the trump campaign's also requested a recount in two heavily democratic wisconsin counties, milwaukee and dane. biden leads in a state by roughly 20,000 votes. abc news, washington. and more than two weeks after the presidential election, bay area officials are close to having counted all of the votes. the numbers revealing how this election was different from those in the past. >> reporter: all nine bay area counties saw voter turnout above 80%. solano was just over that with 80.68%, marin reaching almost

90% turnout. that put on par with 2016 but a little less than 2018. santa clara county saw the highest turnout there since obama ran for his first term. san francisco saw historic numbers with 86.23 turnout. that's the same turnout percentage as 1956 when eisen hour won re-election. san mateo, 1968 when nixon won his first term. also making this election historic, the pandemic of course. the numbers show vote by mail was extremely popular. in alameda and contra costa counties, more than 75% of voters cast their ballots by mail. more to come here. the pandemic will not take a break for thanksgiving. experts share how you can still celebrate the holiday safely. plus still shining bright, the very different tree lighting ceremony tonight in san francisco's union square.

i'm meteorologist sandhya patel, tracking dense fog for the morning commute. i'll let you know about chaengs ahead for your weekend coming up. thank sandhya. all that's ahead. but first here's a look at what's coming up tonight on "jimmy kimmel live" right after abc 7 news at 11. jimmy. >> we did it again. what kind of sheets did elvis have in that? >> i don't remember the sheets because i was too busy looking up because there was a mirror on top of the bed. i was looking at that and thinking, well, this could be fun.

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gathers with family for thanksgiving. it's an american tradition. >> it is and a wonderful tradition. but this year health experts warn that even small get togetherers indoors can be risky. >> we're all in trouble. and in fact this is a potentially life threatening situation for our whole country. >> top health officials and experts are pleading with us to take measures to stay safe over the holiday. >> this thing looks look a mask. it's actually a medical device that can be life saving. think of it that way.

you wouldn't hold back on that if you thought you could help somebody. keep those distances where they need to be, six feet or more. >> other advice, have thanksgiving dinner outdoors, limit the amount of people and the amount of time you're together. san mateo county health officials say new evidence shows our increases the longer we'reoe together. >> cumulatively if you're in a room more than two hours and you're taking on and off that mask, there seems to be a large increase. >> what you should do is have people eat in various places in the house hold with their own family pod. >> as painful as it might be, experts say for many americans, it might be best not to come together for thanksgiving at all this year. >> my 100% medical opinion is that we need to sacrifice our holidays this year. we need to stay at home in our own personal bubble for

thanksgiving, hanukkah, christmas and new years. >> it's just a tough reality this year. do you know what the riskiest holiday tradition is this year. test your knowledge and weigh the risks with abc 7's exclusive holiday risk calculator. you can find it on abc7news.com and the abc 7 app as well. the pandemic has forced many changes to holiday traditions this year. >> yeah, just got to be safe, dan. take a look. on the left, last years crowds packed san francisco's union square for the annual tree lighting ceremony. tonight on the right, a much different scene. j.r. stone reports it was yet another sign that it's a year like no other. >> reporter: we've come down to union square where the tree lighting ceremony is about to happen, but much different look. check out behind me, less than 20 people down here for a private union square tree lighting ceremony. i guess 'tis the season in 2020. on the left is how crowded union

square usually is for the lighting. on the right is what it looked like wednesday night. >> it's not the same. >> it's certainly bittersweet, but we thought it was important to still move forward. >> if i was describing 2020 and i said 'tis the season, if you could finish that sentence, how would you finish it? >> to be over. >> reporter: 'tis the season to be over. but in the 2020 covid pandemic, anything can happen. there are signs of that in union square. boards on the windows at victoria's secret. the union strike continues outside of macy's. yes, very, very loud because of that. but the 83-foot tree with 33,000 lights and 1,100 ornaments sure is a sight to see. as for the holidays -- >> it would be nice if covid would be over. >> reporter: there you have it, 2020 christmas tree lighting here in union square, and really not many people to actually see the tree all lit up. but it sure does look spectacular with the sweet

sounds coming from the union strike. in san francisco, j.r. stone, abc 7 news. >> still makes you smile when you see it though. >> it does. well, a recent more than a foot of snow to some ski resorts. >> tonight road conditions are still dangerous if you plan to head up that way. chain controls are in effecttttt i-80. sandhya. >> yeah, dan and ama, well over a foot of snow for some of the resorts. just take a look here. 24 hour totals. sugar bowl, 12 inches. 16 inches squaw. alpine, 15 inches soda springs. definitely a good thing and hopefully this winter we see a lot more snow. right now the snow showers were taperingment there were chain controls just a few minutes ago bullet that is changing now. live doppler 7 very quiet.

earlier today we did have scattered light showers. once those showers parted ways, look at the beautiful view. this is a time lapse from our emeryville camera. 4:55 the sun went down and the colors were gorgeous along with the clouds. so, we had a nice mix of showers and sun. here's a look at visibility now with the low level moisture in the wake of the storm. we do have visibility that is down to a quarter mile. dense fog has already formed. definitely be careful tomorrow morning. temperatures right now, 40s, 50s, much cooler than yesterday at this time. and from our exploratorium camera, we have a good view of san francisco. areas of dense fog for the morning commute. cold mornings, mild days through the weekend. that fog first thing tomorrow will slow down your commute. 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. is where the thickest fog will be around in the valleys and the fog

starts to peel away as we head towards noontime. a little bit north wind will warm us up. a few degrees warmer than this afternoon. first thing tomorrow morning is going to be chilly so pack on the layers. upper 30s to low 50s and watch out for that fog. tomorrow afternoon, 57 in half moon bay. low 60s, san francisco, san rafael, 64, santa rosa, concord, 63 in oakland, 62 in san jose. the sun is going to get filtered by high level clouds. high pressure in command for the upcoming weekend. it'll divert the storm track even though a system tries to get into the northern portion of california monday morning. it's not going to quite make it. so, we get left high and dry right on through the middle of next week as that ridge is going to block any storm systems from coming in. stay tuned to accuweather 7-day forecast. chilly couple of mornings ahead. coldest mornings will be friday,

saturday and sunday and frost as well. afternoon highs in the 50s, 60s. pleasant weather. not a lot of change early next week, but we'll see the temperatures going into tuesday and the dry pattern continues on wednesday just before thanksgiving. ama and dan. >> thanks sandhya very much. coming up, see the

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an adorable owl caught a ride to new york city on a rockefeller center christmas tree. that face! it's believed this north north h whey oul survived for days. the owl named rockefeller is at a wild life center and will soon be released back into the wild. >> i love those eyes. >> that is so cool. >> those intense eyes are fascinating. >> larry beil is here with sports. >> excitement and despair on nba draft night for the warrior. thrilled to get a big man but

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good evening. the warriors have been planning their draft strategy for months. what they could not plan for was klay thompson getting hurt just hours before the draft. klay playing pick up ball with other nba players suffered an injury to his right leg. the fear is a torn achilles, which would be another season ending injury. klay suffered a torn acl in the finals, missed all of last season. he'll have an mri tomorrow. we'll know more. an emotional bob myers on the klay injury. >> i'm just glad our players reached out to him.

obviously we've seen a lot of players reach out to him and offer their thoughts. we're hoping we hear something good. until then i'm going to try to keep his spirits up and support him and hear what we hear tomorrow. >> klay's injury did not alter what the warriors did with the draft. they got their big man of the future. >> with the second pick in the 2020 nba draft, the golden state warriors select james weissman from the university of memphis. >> the 19-year-old weissman was overcome with emotions after hearing his name called. he's a raw talent, only played three games in college. he really wanted to go to the warriors. best comps. possibly david robison. >> me coming in, great fits, steph curry, klay tofhompson, a

lot of great players on that team. me just coming in, trying to stay humble, and be comfortable which i am. >> steph posting this on instagram. weissman was invited to steph's camp in 2018 featuring the best high school players in the country. they took point guard niko manning from the university of arizona. manning, an excellent passer. got hops to him as well. needs to work hn his shot. with the 51st first, the dubs took jess p, a 6'6" guard f state, a career 40% shooter from three point range who will likely play in

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plan for better days. put yourselves through all that pain. go on, humans, waltz around in those foot knives, watch your blue light lanterns, blast those eardrum bangers! look at this one: he's trying to pick up the mail! hah! silly... oh... silly humans. who do you think you are? pain will bring you to your senses. you cannot keep this up! pain says you can't. advil says you can.

as we all fight the coronavirus pandemic, california is mandating face masks to stop the spread. that's why abc 7 wants to remind you to wear a mask, for you, your loved ones and your community. please, wear because you care. and that is a wrap for tonight. we thank you so much for watching. i'm ama daetz. and i'm dan ashley. for sandhya patel, larry beil, all of us here, we appreciate your time. stay tuned for jimmy kimmel

♪ you are looking at the last you are lookg