hi there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." we're getting answers for you in realtime every day at 3:00. as it fights to stay in red and avoid moving into the purple tier possibly this week. the cdc and local health officials have been saying we should not travel this week but it seems many americans are choosing to travel and seeing family for thanksgiving. experto tw are with us, dr. elote patel and chris mcginnis.. if you have questions for either

guest post them on facebook live on the live stream. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> sure thing. >> chris, i'm starting with you as the travel expert here what do we know about the number of americans flying this week? higher or lower than expected? >> i think it's about what we expected. there are about a million people a day are passing through tsa security checkpoints. that started last friday which is typically one of the busiest day. a million people a day up from about seven or 800,000 that we had been averaging before that. this time last year we were looking at 2.3 million travellers per day passing through security. >> all right. that's still a lot. certainly not compared to normal years. in a pandemic, we're reaching our peak. do you expect packed lights or

do you think airlines have adjusted. >> i think they're -- people are going to pack the flights. you know, few planes that are flying are flying full. i flew back to atlanta about three weeks ago, expected somewhat unpacked flights and was surprised at just how busy it was. i flew united, not reserving a middle seat. i found denver airport to be just about as busy as i have seen it in prepandemic trips. it's busy out there. >> goodness. >> most people thankfully are taking precautions. >> seems like we're getting less. which airlines are still keeping the middle seats blocked? >> currently, delta, jetblue and alaska airlines are blocking middle seats. southwest is only selling enough

seats where if every seat on the plane is full, that seat will remain empty. but united and american who are the largest carriers haven't been blocking seats nor will. >> tell me from beginning to end what really concerns you in the whole journey? >> chris was mentioning, when you have a million people traffic in one day, think about the fact that there are so many points of potential exposure to one another ch whether it's getting to the airport, the gate, you have the flight, restaurants, bathrooms. think about this. over the summer when we were talking about travel and people staying home for fourth of july, labor day, columbus day, whatever it may be, people are going to outside picnics. now they're going for thanksgiving dinner. you have to add that into the

equation. just giving you a feeling of uneasiness. >> what are airlines doing to make people feel a little more at ease. talk about the cleaning procedures. that's one of them. mask enforcement. do we have any surveys to know which airline is doing a good job on this. >> it depends on which airline you talk to. every airline thinks they're doing the best job. we've seen the videos of the electrostatic sprayers. i have never seen cleaner planes in my life during the pandemic. they're skeeky good. it depends on how full the flight is and what the -- how much attention the flight attendants are paying to making sure everyone keeps their masks on and behave the way they should. >> if you have a flight -- go

ahead. >> i'm squeaky clean. i'm saying this is not that bad. i can get used to this. >> that's nice and reassuring. i want to ask you dr. patel, if you have a plane full of a hundred people. what are the odds, proebltds that somebody on that plane has covid? >> it's hard to say unless you gave me specifics about where all the people are coming from. that in its own is par of the issue. if you look at sort of the country, people are coming from different communities with different case rates. in some cases it might be 20 -- the test positive, sorry. elsewhere it could be one or 2%. for fun, one out of ever 2 ever

getting exposed. those people getting other people exposed. it's really high. even if you have 200. that could turn into thousands and thousands of cases from traveling. we can't miss the contact tracing. think about how much interception there is when you travel throughout the country. >> it's not just the people sitting next to you. that's for sure. quantityas airline in australian, announcing they might make it so that international travellers may have to get the vaccine before they're allowed to board. we're not there yet, obviously. chris, do you think that could become the norm where have a test or a vaccine? >> yes. i definitely think that that is the way of the future. quantityas has not floent to the united states for many months.

they don't plan on coming back to the united states until the end of the year. they're trying to keep the virus at bay. i think that the ceo of quantas came out and said graduations are going to be required and i think you're going to hear that from other airlines and we have a grip on what that's about. >> ellie has a question. are they, meaning the airlines, really checking the temperature on each individual flying? >> no. that is not a requirement. it's a suggestion. there's only one airline which is frontier that is testing the -- that is checking temperature before you get on the plane, but it's sort of scatter shot. my temperature has been taken but it's not by any means across the board, and i think dr. patel will agree with me that temperature take is not

necessarily the best test to see whether or not someone has covid. >> i'm waiting for his agreement right there. >> oh, yeah. i totally agree. the only people who have a false sense of security, therefore you're safe. that's just not true. >> yeah. hey, chris, what should people look up if they choose to fly in terms of what they need to know about that state, staying quarantine status. >> the rules vary all over the place. for a long time there are a lot of the states in the u.s. were prohibited from flying to new york unless they were willing to put up with a two-week quarantine. they say if you can show proof that you have had a test within 272 hours of your flight, you're welcome to come in, much like they did in hawaii. here we have a suggested quarantine. it's not really being enforced.

people coming in from out of state are being asked to quarantine for two weeks. i don't think people will quarantine for two weeks. >> do you think perhaps a car trip would be safer for those who feel like they do need to travel? >> oh, definitely. it just goes back to some of the main factors we've talked about. we've highlighted it in something we've done for abc. when you have an enclosed space to yourself, you're not in contact or potentially sharing spaces with the people around you. if people have the ability to drive, that is definitely favored over flying right now. >> i know you don't have a crystal ball but i'm going to ask you what do you think travel will look like for christmas? >> i think much like its does right now. if it pans out that a lot of people are not paying attention

to the recommendations right now, we'll probably see another surge around christmastime. a lot of people will be making reservation. a lot of people are canceling or postponing. the airlines are allowing us to do that. people may push that trip deemer into the winter until we get a vaccine. >> just because i want dr. patel to give you brownie points,ints, would adds that you ch ditched your thanksgiving day flanges. >> i was going to have family come in and of course a big celebration. we were all excited about it and when it came down last week, no, it's not the year to do it. >> you made a responsible decision. i'm raising a grass to you, sir. >> cheers.

>> chris, thank you so much. appreciate all that great insight into traveling right now. dr. patel will stick around because we have much more to cover including

we are back. we're keeping the code conversation going right now with dr. patel. we'll get to the vaccines but i'll start with thanksgiving. you might have heard l.a. county is closing restaurants and bars come wednesday. they announced this an hour ago. even outdoors. that smart or useful or effective as a strategy? >> if anything, it sends a clear message. in terms of being effective,

it's possible they'll avoid some infections. even if you shut everything down and restaurants close people still can operate in the privacy of their own home. so it goes hand in hand. there's only so much we can do with regard to restrictions. people have to exhibit model behavior. >> melissa wants to know is it common to get covid more than once? >> i can openly say we don't know yet. there might be cases out there we haven't identified. we've certainly found that it's possible to have it more than once. common sense would tell me if it was well documented, we would see a lot more of it. there might be a little immunity from getting it once and that might wear off. something like that or strains may mutate which would mean they could get the disease twice. that's something we're looking

out for. >> there's a new poll done by michigan health that came out today. one in three say family gatherings are worth the risk of spreading covid 1. are you surprised by that? and i want to know how real is the risk? >> in true scientific fashion when i look at this poll, i want to know where the people were and what age were surveyed. i can imagine in some parts of the country depending on state mandates and stuff like that, people saying thanksgiving's important to us, i don't care, we'll go there. we'll see what happens. which isn't an attitude to have. other risks will be lower -- less people would be put up with the risk. >> i can't imagine -- >> chronic illnesses or grandparents are ok with that. >> no. he's stay away. two truths and a lie thanksgiving dinner edition. i am ready.

>> game on. >> play along with us on facebook live. ok, if you know the answer go ahead and type it in. >> pay attention. round one, two truths, one lie. a wash hands often with soap and water for at least 15 seconds. now during the holidays and at all times. b, in order to sanitize your hands use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, and your own food, drinks, plates, cups, and utensils if you do decide to meet live. let me talk myself through my thinking here. wash hands often with soap and water. i think you should do that always. that's true. bring your own food, drinks, plates, cups and utensils. will donahue thinks that's a lie

but i think it's true. so i am going to go with b, like catherine says, use hand sanitizer with at least 60%. i think that's a lie. i think it has to be higher than 60. >> we can go ahead and say we've broken the rules in this game and there's one and a half lies. >> what! you, you, you. >> you should wash hands for 20 seconds. not 15. and hand sanitizer according to recommend las vegas should be 780%. we broke the rules in this game but 60% may or may not be fine. i'd go with 70. >> you're not sparing my feelings. >> people were paying attention. >> they were. can i give a shoutout to brian, who got the answer right. avery put a and b, so she was on to you. >> amy.

i can't fool our viewers anymore. >> this is great. we have a lot of great smart attentive fans on facebook. if you're asymptomatic with covid-19, how contagious are you? >> you're definitely contagious. now, in terms of how contagious are you, that's tough to say. that depends on your age, how much viral load of the virus you're carrying. i don't think you can quantify but i'm glad somebody asked you that question, because if you're asymptomatic and you don't have fever, you shouldn't have the false reassurance that you're safe to go travel and be around your family. >> got it. i want to talk about astrazeneca announcing good news. we heard it was 70% effective and then we heard 90% effective. can you explain? >> it sounds like paradox. what they were doing in their trials is two separate dosing

regimens. both were two doses. one was half a dose and a full dose. the other was two full doses. the half dose and the full dose the other was 62%. it should be the other way around. scientists and research es are looking at why that is. in the second dose, we'll wait and see. >> that's actually better because you use less of the van seen. the astrazeneca one seems to have another advantage. it can be refrigeratored at more normal-ish temperature, not like that minus 94. talk about why that might make it more distributable, if you will.

>> we talk about the efficacy, the 90% versus 80%. distribution is a big deal. pfizer, negative 94 degrees. the moderna say it can be in a refrigerator for several months but the new one for astrazeneca can stay in refrigerator for up to six months. that's a ground breaker. making sure everybody gets one. i think the important thing at the end of the day is having multiple vaccines available. we can get them to different areas with different needs at different times. one thing about astrazeneca they pledged to make sure it's distributed for free, which is a very big advantage when it comes to distribution. >> sure. i realize there are a lot of unknowns still and not that we necessarily have a choice. but many of you are sharing on facebook live, which vaccine is going to be best? i mean, do we know the answer to

that? >> i don't think we do. we've already given it a snap shot right there. dwre efficacy, moderna and pfizer are higher than as t astrazene astrazeneca. that could change once we get all the statistical analysis done. that can change when johnson & johnson or another company comes out with their work. anything above 60 to 70% is going to be a vick. pay attention to what we mentioned earlier. that's distribution. each vaccine has its own victories on its own. i think we should take a step back. getting this out in under a year. >> that's pretty incredible when you consider how long it usually takes to develop vaccines. dr. patel, great chatting with you. thank you so much for offering all that information and keeping it fun at the same time. best way to learn.

>> that's how we roll. >> all right. thanks so much. we'll take a short break. we'll look at san francisco's response to this latest surge wi it's made for this guy a veteran who honorably served and it's made for her she's serving now we made it for all branches and all ranks whether they served one tour or made a career of it. we also made usaa for military spouses and their kids usaa is easy to work with and can save you money on auto, home and renters insurance. become a member today. get an insurance quote at usaa.com/quote usaa. what you're made of we're made for

welcome back. san francisco announced that it expects to move into the purple tier soon as early as yesterday. now, that would trigger the state mandated curfew. didn't happen yesterday but it could layer this week. joining us to talk about san francisco's latest response is assessor carmen chu. thank you for being here. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> absolutely. what is the latest in terms of when you think san francisco might move into the purple tier and after that, how soon would the curfew start? >> we're watching and monitoring all the data with regards to case counts. folks should know we have a lag in the data. that being said, we're watching

it. to the extent that we start -- we continue to see increasings in the number of cases that come in, we could potentially fill this week. unfortunately we are not able to know until we see the data come through. hard to say, but we're preparing for in the case that we do get the purple tier. >> ok. and would the curfew start right away? would you give it a couple of days leeway? >> the state is pretty prescriptive when it comes to hitting a purple tier. just to know, some of the things that would happen right away if san francisco ended up being designated pu ed purple order. san francisco would have 48 hours to comply once the state designates that tier. so that would require that people would have to stay home except for essential activities from 10:00 p.m. at night until

5:00 a.m. the next morning. if we get designated to a purple tier we'll have 48 hours. there's a second component that what happens if we got put into the purple tier. that would mean we also create more restrictions around the types of business activities or other things that we could be doing in san francisco. >> that's what i want to follow up on. >> yeah. >> as head of the economic recovery task force, how would you support businesses and also the folks who lost their jobs. what efforts are you guys currently embarking on? >> it's incredibly difficult, because we've been trying to take cautious step forward. also to limit as much rollback as we can possibly do. we definitely hope that folks help us limit it and spread down that spread. what would happen be we got put

into the purple tier would be that we'd have to roll back a number of activities that we already have opened up. things like having to open up, shutting down indoor operations for museums, indoor gyms, movie theaters, houses of worship, those are some of the things we'd have to close down. we know that businesses have been struggling and we know a lot of workers just want to hope that we can all do our part to try to limit the spread of covid so that hopefully we don't have to end up

back with breaking news. the gsa has just informed the

biden catch that he has been determined to be the apparent tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air, the concern over millions traveling amid this pandemic. and breaking news as we come on the air tonight, the transition officially begins from president trump to president-elect joe biden, but first the virus. despite the cdc urging americans to stay home, millions are now flying home. and tonight the new and alarming numbers. governors from new york to north carolina sounding the alarm saying these are dangerous times. the demand for testing before the holiday. millions waiting for hours and tonight the news that new york city is planning a new field hospital. and the lines across this country, families in need this thanksgiving. and how you can help. the other major headline, news of a third vaccine, oxford's vaccine now being called highly effective. and tonight bob