this is truly a matter of life and death. >> next at 5:00, dire warnings from san francisco. the city says 500 vents could die of covid-19 by february if people don't stay home. and a xwrgrim situation in south bay. no place to go as three hospitals reach capacity in their icu departments. also ahead the plan to get teachers in marin county back in the classroom. why bay area playgrounds are suddenly back in business. and the warning from lake tahoe for visitors. >> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. this is abc 7 news. we'll begin with several major developments on covid-19. three hospitals in santa clara county now say they have reached icu capacity. that was the fear. san francisco's top health official says the city could run out of icu beds just after

christmas as the surge skyrockets. meanwhile, in marin county a new plan in marin to prioritize teachers for the covid vaccine. and across the state, meantime, the new move to reopen outdoor playgrounds. good evening. i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm ama daetz. thank you for joining us. let's begin in the south bay where three hospitals are at capacity with every icu bed taken by someone fighting covid-19. all 37 beds at regional medical center are full. icus at o'connor hospital in san jose and st. louise regional in gilroy are also at maximum capacity. at regional medical the plan is to get patients out of the hospital as soon as possible and to double up rooms when it's safe to do so. >> that means opening up beds and units that had not been ordered before, utilizing space in creative ways such as post-procedural areas. we can use those areas as icus.

>> at last count there were only 31 icu beds left in all of santa clara county. public health officials say the rush of parents -- or patients, excuse me, is the thanksgiving surge they were afraid of. meanwhile, projection shows san francisco could see a dramatic increase in covid-19 deaths if people don't follow the stay-at-home orders and cases continue to surge. abc 7 news reporter kate larsen has the dire warning from the city's public health director. >> to be blunt, we have one chance to turn this serious surge around. >> reporter: dr. grant colfax says san francisco is now seeing the impact of thanksgiving on its covid-19 cases. at least 167 san franciscans are now testing positive every day. the average case rate per 100,000 people has doubled from 15 to 30 since thanksgiving week. there are now 123 covid patients in san francisco hospitals. 30 are in the icu. >> it doesn't sound like a lot. but that number is ip creasing

dramatically every dap. >> reporter: current projections showing the city running out of intensive care beds by december 27th. dr. colfax showed other projections that he described as two very different futures. on the left a projection based on san francisco's current 1.5 viral reproductive rate shows as least 1,400 more hospitalizations and 500 deaths by february. on the right what could happen if people stay home and the reproductive right of the virus falls. it would mean 200 patients and about 70 deaths. >> we have the power to avoid these terrible outcomes. the power to prevent sickness and death. the power to keep businesses open and keep people in jobs and employed and healthy. >> reporter: kate larsen, abc 7 news. the first doses of covid-19 vaccine are on their way to the bay area and could be here within days. in the north bay public school teachers may be among the first essential workers to get the shots. abc 7 news reporter cornell barnard is in marin county where

teachers are getting ready. >> it's the only way i think we're going to get out of this mess that we're in. >> reporter: novato special ed teacher liz duffield is ready for her dose of the covid-19 vaccine. >> i would take it. yeah, i will take it. >> reporter: health officials say marin county public school teachers and personnel could be among the first essential workers to get the vaccine after health care workers and residents and staff of skilled nursing facilities. >> we're expecting about 2,000 doses for the entire county next week. >> reporter: public health officer dr. matt willis says with new covid cases surging it only makes sense to give teachers first dibs. >> we see schools as an essential function, teachers as essential workers, and as such they will be prioritized for vaccine. >> reporter: the timeline is still unclear but it could be late january, early february for teachers to get the shots. >> if my taking the vaccine makes parents feel more comfortable about sending their kids to school, then i'm all

about it. >> reporter: there's been a prioritization in the state of california as well as locally to do everything we can to get our students back to in-person opportunities. >> cash has been struggling, just missing friends -- >> reporter: parent holly leslie is anxious for her kids to get back into the classroom. she supports early vaccines for teachers. >> i think that they should. so they feel comfortable. they are putting themselves out there for the kids. >> reporter: teachers unions like getting priority but they want the vaccine rollout to be safe and not rushed. in a statement marin educators for safe schools said "we can't wait to be back in the classroom once we ensure the safety for everyone on campus." logistics of how teachers will get the vaccine are still being worked out. in marin county cornell barnard, abc 7 news. in a county meeting today santa clara health officials outlined their vaccine distribution plan. their main role is the allocation of doses to facilities. the state has determined health care workers are highest priority for the vaccine.

santa clara county is expected to get close to 17,000 doses at first. they stress this is really a small amount of doses, so other health prevention measures will have to stay in place for some time. the department of defense has released its covid-19 vaccine deployment plan. the initial allotment will be distributed to 16 military bases including one here in the bay area. the u.s. coast guard base in alameda is expected to receive a portion of the nearly 44,000 doses of pfizer's vaccine. each location was selected based on size and cold storage availability. health care workers, emergency service personnel, and residents of military retirement homes will get top priority. new details now. governor newsom tweeted that california is expecting 672,000 doses of the moderna vaccine in the next few weeks. he previously announced the state was also getting 327,000 doses of the pfizer version. both vaccine candidates still need fda approval. but that's expected anytime. and tomorrow an fda advisory committee will meet to discuss

whether pfizer's vaccine should be given emergency use authorization. right now an fda analysis shows it does cause temporary side effects similar to what happens after a typical flu shot. next week abc 7 news will have stories every day on all the major updates right now in vaccine development. our team of reporters and medical experts will look at their safety, their side effects, and the latest on the distribution plans. monterey county will join much of the bay area in a stay-at-home order shutting down outdoor dining and closing several businesses. it begins sunday at 10:00 p.m. and runs through at least january 11th. and if you have an upcoming trip planned to tahoe, you are highly encouraged to change plans. the city of south lake tahoe is urging visitors to stay away for three weeks. the plea comes after el dorado county dipped below the 15% threshold of available icu beds. the states say a home order will go into effect there late tomorrow night. a change of heart from state officials and good news for

parents. the statewide playground ban was actually lifted today all across the state. abc 7 news reporter ansar hassan spoke with lawmakers who say that opening playgrounds is important for the mental and physical well-being of young kids. rr79 9-year-old victor george is excited playgrounds are open again. his grandmother likes that it's a break from the commuter. >> sometimes i go up and down on the slide. >> reporter: some playgrounds may still be taped off but effective immediately california has reversed the outdoor playground ban that was part of the recent stay-at-home order. >> i think it's important because the kids need to get outside and get active and be around their friends they're in contact with. >> i have parents reaching out to me from all over my district begging for some accommodation here with playgrounds. >> reporter: state assemblywoman buff qi wicks whose district includes oakland was one of a dozen lawmakers who wrote to governor newsom urging him to reopen playgrounds. she says children need to be able to go outside for their

physical and mental well-being but adds this is also an issue of equity. >> this is really important for low-income communities. if you live in an apartment complex, you don't have a car, you can't get in your car and drive off to one of the state parks, you rely on that local playground. >> reporter: san francisco mayor london breed supports the decision but advises that families should limit visits to 30 minutes, not to eat or drink at the playground, and if it's busy come back later. breed warns this is not meant to be an excuse to hang out with others. >> the last thing we want is to see our numbers escalate out of control where we have to close playgrounds again. it impacts our children, hurts them even worse. >> reporter: she's making sure her kids follow the rules. >> they do need to social distance and wear a mask. >> reporter: anser hassan, abc 7 news. still ahead here, vallejo police are now investigating their own police union. the e-mail to a local reporter that some say is threatening and out of line. and the farm in the middle

of san leandro. blink and you might miss it. but its mission reaches far and wide. we're going to explain coming up. and the chinese-american veterans of world war ii. today they received one of the highest

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after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. new at 5:00, an investigation by the vallejo police department. the police chief says he is deeply disturbed by an e-mail the vallejo police officers association sent to a local journalist and is now looking into what's going on. abc 7 news reporter melanie woodrow has the story. >> reporter: "san francisco chronicle" east bay columnist otis taylor has been writing for the paper since 2016 and covering vallejo since 2017. >> i wouldn't say vallejo was my sole focus as a columnist, but it was something that i took great interest in. >> reporter: taylor characterizes his coverage as both critical of the vallejo police department and shining a light. he recently announced he was moving to georgia to work as an

investigative reporter for the "atlanta journal-constitution." monday afternoon taylor received this e-mail from the vallejo police officers association. "looks like 2021 will be a little bit better not having your biased and uniformed articles printed in the newspaper that only inflamed the public. you have never looked for truth in any of your writings. we will warn our georgia colleagues of your impending arrival." taylor believes whoever wrote the e-mail misspelled uninformed. >> the e-mail that they sent to me was a reply to an e-mail that they ignored in september. so while they're saying that hey, you never look for the truth, they're replying to an e-mail when i was asking for comment. this threat of i am going to call the cops on you, police know exactly what that means. >> reporter: a little more than 24 hours after taylor received the e-mail, vallejo police chief shawnie williams issued a response to media inquiries related to the matter.

chief williams said he was deeply disturbed by the statement and that the department intended to investigate the matter to the fullest extent allowed by law. "we do not condone any form of disrespect, discourteous behavior or active intimidation toward our media partners." the chief also said vpoa's views do not represent those of the police department. taylor would not speculate on who from the vpoa e-mailed him. as he leaves the bay area, he says he feels inspired. >> to do more research, to do more digging, to do more questioning of police narratives. >> reporter: the vpoa did not respond to my request for comment. melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. the biggest social media network in the world may have to downsize as part of a lawsuit that accuses facebook of abusing its market power. it was announced today that 48 states including california and the ftc filed antitrust lawsuits. the ftc, federal trade commission, accuses facebook of using a systemic and systematic strategy to eliminate its

competition. that includes buying smaller up-and-coming rivals. facebook could be forced to spin off those services including instagram and whatsapp. facebook has 2.7 billion users around the globe. now to a farm in san leandro that has ramped up during the pandemic to provide food to people in need as well as jobs to local residents. our east bay community journalist melissa pixcar introduces you to dig deep farms. >> dig deep farms started wanting to provide not only healthy food but healthy jobs to the community. >> it's a social enterprise that the sheriff's office and the deputy sheriff's activities league started with two small urban farms in san leandro. additionally, we support local emerging food entrepreneurs. >> ever since corona happened, making that pivot to where a lot of people did lose their brick and mortar, this has been a space where so many people have been able to continue to have their business and have a livelihood and make money and, you know, keep not only their

family fed but the community. >> the produce that's being grown at dig deep farms is going to patients who are being prescribed by their providers. dig deep farms produce as the medicine. and after 16 weeks of getting this food delivered they have really significant health impacts. >> covid has thrust us into this level of production and distribution that none of us were anticipating. there are about 6,000 meals going out per week on top of the produce to about 500 patients. the drive-thru once a week where about 400 cars come. economic development is such an important part of what we do, and one of the greatest ways to prevent recidivism, as in people going back to jail, is to create employment opportunities. >> definitely a second chance. it's a second chance to write my story over in the right direction. this job feels like giving back. before i was tearing down the community. so i'm helping to make sure they

eat. >> at this point so many people who are vulnerable and needing to shelter in place, by doing the doorstep delivery they can stay at home, get their food and that is a huge benefit. >> if we could create an enterprise that provided good healthy food into the areas that were suffering these health disparities and hire people into this enterprise who are coming through the system, we could change the world. >> it just all fell together perfectly in a way that really supported the community when we needed it most. >> so moving and powerful, ama, to see people really turning their lives around. it's such a great way. and really giving back and making a difference. >> absolutely. it is great to see not just this time of year but any day really. >> yeah. great stuff. well, after so much sun a chance of rain is now on the horizon. yes indeed. abc 7 news meteorologist sandhya patel is

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officers in santa rosa ticketed one driver going 131 miles an hour. what? chp says there is no excuse to ever go that fast. i think that's an obvious statement there. it's time for the accuweather forecast. and abc 7 news meteorologist sandhya patel. sandhya. >> yeah, ama, there is no excuse. absolutely. you're right about that. i will tell you what, we're not expecting any strong winds but it's going to get breezy tomorrow and even cooler than it was today and then we're bringing in some rain this weekend. let me show you a live look from our san jose camera. it is just a lovely postcard shot as we look toward the shark tank. low 60s san jose. oakland, san francisco, 59 in mountain view. 61 in half moon bay. a lot of clouds gathering as you will notice from our east bay hills camera. temperatures right now upper 50s from napa to fairfield. to livermore. 59 in santa rosa as well. compared to 24 hours ago down nine degrees in palo alto, six degrees cooler san jose and santa rosa.

this is going to carry over the next couple of days. so the clouds are stacked up as you see on live doppler 7 and this weekend there will be some rain showing up as well finally. a live look from our mount tam cam, just a nice view post-sunset sky. mix of clouds and coastal fog tonight. breezy and the cooling continues. tomorrow we're looking at the rain to return this weekend. temperatures first thing in the morning 30s, 40s. we'll have some fog around and some higher clouds around. so the coldest morning is expected to be on friday when there will be fewer clouds in the morning. tomorrow afternoon 56 degrees in half moon bay. that will feel more like december. 59 in san francisco. fremont 62 in san jose. san rafael. 64 in santa rosa. 66 fairfield. 64 degrees in concord. you'll see more sun in the inland areas than along the coast. then a level 1 system. yes, the storm impact scale is back. comes in for the weekend. scattered showers saturday. widespread rain on sunday. no burn scar flooding issues are

expected as the rain is expected to be gentle. 11:00 p.m. friday night could see a few showers in the north bay. that's going to be our best chance. saturday the shower line sinks southward and we start to see more widespread rain, as i mentioned, on sunday. rainfall with this system, this is just a rough idea. it's a long-term forecast here. for the upcoming weekend. friday night through sunday. you will notice about .05 of an inch in san jose and the rain shadow. and then you go up to the north, santa rosa could pick up over an inch of rain. you're looking at 39 hundredths in san francisco. .02 of an inch in concord. not a lot of rain but beneficial rain headed our way this weekend. the forecast breezy and even cool the next couple of days. by friday it's really going to cool off. chance some of showers in the north bay. level one storm for saturday going into sunday. we may have another opportunity for rain mid-week. dan and ama?

>> nice to see that opportunity. thanks, sandhya. well, coming up here, honoring the sacrifices of those who fought. make yoat ross!ays happen... surprise! ahhh! yes! i love it! you don't have to spend a lot to give a lot to the ones who mean the most. you've got the holidays, and we've got you, with the best bargains ever... ...at ross. yes for less! to your friends... your family... to your teachers. in that spirit of giving, chevy's proud to give our employee discount to everyone. the chevy price you pay, ...is what we pay. not a cent more. because giving, ...and giving back, is what the holidays are all about. use the chevy employee discount for everyone to get a total value of over eight thousand four hundred dollars on this silverado.

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investigation into ppp loans given to companies founded by governor gavin newsom. hundreds of small business owners saw our report and now they're sharing their experiences. tonight 7 on your side's michael finney joins us live with the rent assistance that's available right here in the bay area, and some of it has to be used by the end of the year. so time is of the essence. all coming up and more in half an hour on abc 7 news at 6:00. but finally, here tonight, a special moment for chinese-americans. congress today bestowed its highest honor to them for their participation in world war ii. >> it recognizes their patriot vmz and service and also acknowledges the discrimination they faced in the 1940s. abc 7 news reporter david louie puts the spotlight on three recipients. three of david's late unlz are also being recognized. >> reporter: the online ceremony rereplaced what was to be a signature event in washington to honor the 20,000

chinese-americans who served during world war ii. the congressional gold medal is the highest honor that congress can bestow. >> today with only 300 chinese-american veterans of the greatest generation remaining it's more important than ever to honor their service. >> reporter: speaker pelosi noted the chinese exclusion act was still in effect barring immigration, xenophobia and discrimination were widespread yet chinese-american women and men served including 8,000 who were not citizens. among the surviving bay area medal resip gents 95-year-old army staff sergeant david gan of berkeley who enlisted at age 18. he was part of the allied invasion of normandy defending french villages from the german incursion. like many of his generation he modestly just said he was one of many americans serving their country to fight against evil during the war. the gold medal has 94-year-old walnut creek veteran ming wong beaming as he shares it with his wife annie and daughter leanne he recalls spending his 19th birthday engaged in street bat new zealand nuremberg germany as part of the army 3rd difth 6th

regiment. a week later he was wounded and received the purple heart. >> it's very significant chinese-americans are being recognized with this gold medal, with their patriotism, service and sacrifice. >> reporter: the front of the medal depicts chinese-american veterans who served in every military branch while the back features a sherman tank a "uss missouri battle ship and a p-40 fighter plane that was used by the famed flying tigers pilots over what was then burma, india and china. 102-year-old army nurse elsie chen yun cito who was born in stockton was the designated recipient on behalf of all the veterans. david louie, abc 7 news. >> nice to get that recognition, dan. >> absolutely. all right. "world news tonight" can david muir is next. thank you for joining us. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. for sandtia patel, all of us here, we appreciate your time, hope to see you again in half an hour.

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during our holiday safely sales event. tonight, the crucial fda meeting tomorrow, a decision expected on emergency approval for the pfizer vaccine and what we've learned. emergency use authorization could come within hours. and if approved, how many doses go out immediately? and how soon could we see shots administered here in the u.s.? it all comes amid those headlines in the uk tonight, where vaccinations are well under way. two cases of allergic reactions in front line workers. what authorities are now saying for people who have had allergic reactions in the past. what you need to know. and here at home tonight, preparing for mass vaccinations. the dry run in denver from the airport straight to health care providers. tonight, the growing alarm inside hospitals across this country. more than 104,000 americans in the hospital right now, fighting the virus. the alarming images from