tv ABC7 News Getting Answers ABC December 15, 2020 3:00pm-3:31pm PST
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hi there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." we're asking experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in realtime. the first person in california to get the vaccine, a nurse at kaiser permanente. we start with the very first covid vaccinationings here in san francisco. they happened this morning at san francisco general, definitely a momentous day. let's begin with dr. george rutherford. good to see you. >> pleasure as always. how are you?
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>> i'm doing just fine. i got to ask you, what went through your mind seeing that video, seeing the people who had richgd their lives for the last nine months there personally getting their protection. >> it's the first half of their dose. it's a two-dose shot. it's an historic day. >> huge movement today on the moderna front. when will that be authorized, do you think, at this pace? >> they're supposed to hear the case on thursday. the fda put up all the briefing documents all of six minutes ago, so i didn't have a chance to read all of them before we got on the air, but i think it's -- i think it will be the same thing they'll see it on thursday and i expect they'll approve it on friday, if possible. >> if that is the case we may start getting it in the bay area when? monday, next week? >> next week, yeah, early next
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week. >> is that different from pfizer? >> well, the pfizer one didn't look at that as an end point. it did not examine that end point. it may. we just don't know. if moderna sewed that they probably had a substudy. this is one of the things i was looking for when we went on. if they said it i bet that they had a substudy that did that. this is totally possibly. >> it may be possible for the pfizer, too. >> they just didn't look at it. >> how does it compare too pfizer? is one pr than the other? i see that question a hot. >> not. the moderna's easier to handle. you don't need the arctic temperatures for it. get by with lake tahoe
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temperatures at minus 20 degrees centigra centigrade. >> yeah. >> i'd basically the same idea. >> i think it's cooler that tahoe temperatures. a very sweet ie leap had a question on facebook. is the vaccine safe for something with high blood pressure, weak heart. what do you think? >> you should absolutely be getting it. if you're up effected, you're at risk of disease. >> i saw the fda ok the first fully at-home covid test. i guess you buy it at a store without a prescription and use it at home. is this a game changer? >> there are other tests that are linked together. you want -- there's a lot of
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reporting and stuff. it helps. it's been a goal for a long time to have the pregnancy test for covid. i'd that kind of ease of use, but it will be -- i think we'll have to see how it applies and how many people can buy it. >> i think it's affordable at about $30. the ditches is you don't have to accepted it back to a lab, right? >> there's home collection and testing things that come out. but they really aren't in general use get. >> has it be show to be where people can take their own swabbing and they get an accurate result from those at-home test? >> depend on how old you are. four-year-old, it's not going to work. if they're 90, it might be tougher. if you're in the like -- fairly braupd banded age group it
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should work out pretty well. >> not accounting for individual ditches, someone totally klutzy like me. >> it comes back with blood on it, you did it wrong. >> that's did to know. the governor held a briefing today saying more doses are coming next week. he expects two million in december. that includes the moderna. how many vaccines will that cover? >> it will cover a big trunk. you have to died the doses by two. >> sure. >> because it's per person. i think we'll be able to get it into something like 2.1 million workers nationally and i can't remember the -- that's not right. 2.1 million people living in nursing homes nationally and there are a large chunk of hell care workers, so i get far down the line for people
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who are physically see rg patients, as opposed to in pathology. >> if you're allergic to penicillin, should you get the advantage is seen? >> sure. that's no pencil ich. don't worry about it. >> when do you think most people -- mainstream -- you mean normal? >> a lot of people would argue with that. when would you get vaccine most likely? >> april. >> april. >> march, april, may. >> i'm just going to have a little point there. the governor today said california and this is morbid, has ordered 5,000 body bags on stand bi. covid deaths are five times higher than a month ago. is this the most intense moment we've had since the beginning of the pandemic?
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>> yes, that's a good way to describe it. we're seeing extraordinarily high numbers of deaths relative to what we've seen before. california, to other states is way, way down the desk list in terms of per capita. it adds up quick. >> it sure does. ann angie asks about epilepsy. what i've seen on pfizer moderna, they were talking about 18 or older. >> depends on what you mean by child. pfizer is 16 and up. moderna will go for the same labeling, 16 and up. pediatric trials are starting now for younger children to make sure that it works, frankly, and there have been no safety
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concerns with epilepsy in older people. so i assume epilepsy is not a counterindication but we're still trying to figure out how this works in this. >> elaine says if i'm allergic to sulfa, back trim, is it safe? >> yes, it is, absolutely. they don't have preserve tifs in them. >> the state is tracking down on a lot of activities due to our latest surge. the state finally defined what constitutes outdoor dining. >> structure can be no more than 50% choed only with knapp adjacent walls. does that make sense to you and are you glad it's finally been defined? >> i think it's always helpful to keep these things live.
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you're wanting the cross ventilation. i thought it made sense. >> governor you innsome's dinner at the french laundry would classify as indoors. >> now, now it would. now it would. >> now it would. should we applied retroactively? >> take a little break, ok? >> ok. hey, there's debate over first lady melania trump removing her mask while reading. she walked in with it on. she took it off when she sat down. you can see right here. some people pointed out that she was more than six feet apart from the kids so it is ok for her to take off the mask and read to them. can you give us some clarity on the six-foot rule, is that sufficient, accounting for whether you're indoors or outdoors? >> it's a rule of thumb.
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you know, we're trying to get -- the idea is if you have strong respiratory outlets, that's -- you can certainly -- if you're going to aerosolize, have smaller particles, which happens all the time. outdoors they just go away so nobody cares about them. indoors, they can cause transmission. the better part of valor would be to keep your mask on in that situation, but you don't have to take your mask off to talk. let's good clear. i watch these football coaches doing it all weekend. you don't have to do that. just yell at them. they'll hear you loud and clear. >> a study out of south korea seemed to show an infection in a restaurant, is that right? can you explain how the guy was
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20 feet away but still caught it? >> it's unfortunately an indoor space in south korea with an air conditioner behind somebody so that it was blowing across and the other guy was sort of directly in the line of the air conditioner when they got it. this has happened before. we saw this in shanghai and we've seen it in a couple of nursing homes in the netherlands. this is not previously unknown, although did difference is surprising. they want you to be outdoors. >> regional icu capacity has fallen to 15.8%. if we get to 15%, we have to enter the stay at home. that affect the remaining three barrier counties. do you think we can avoid hitting that 15% or is it
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unacelluloidble at this point? >> it's santa cruz and monterey, too. >> yeah. >> i don't know. it will be a tough call. i think we're sort of at the edge of it. we're going to have to take patients from the central valley, if we're not doing it already. the san joaquin valley is right up against it. we may be using up our gas on other roimgs, which is the way it's supposed to work with these regional hurricanes. it may tip us over the edge. >> your actions affect not just you but right now, the whole state all right. thank you for so much. thank you for calling me normal. >> right up there with a capital n. take care. >> you, too.
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yesterday californians were excited to see the first vaccines being given out in the state. they went to health care workers on the front hines in los angeles. the very first person was a nurse at kaiser permanente in east hollywood, helen kor dova. helen joins us. oh. now we can see your whole face as you're not near to anybody right now. >> thank you, thank you. it's been a whirlwind event, hours. yeah. >> first in california to get the long-awaited shot.
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must feel good. can you show us where you got the injection? any side effects? >> it's a little hard. no browsing or anything. otherwise, it did help so far. >> here's a question. you're a hero, helen. how does the pain of the index compare to the pain and soreness of a flu shot. >> i found it equal. it wasn't too abnormal. so probably get another flu shot they're about the same. >> nothing weird today. no fever, no disneyness, no -- ok. great. did you go back to work after you got that shot? you're working today. you're wearing your uniform, i think. >> no. today's my day off.
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yesterday i did go to work but not at the hospital. as a nurse practitioner, juggling two roles at once right now. >> with all you do, do you go about your job now with a little more ease of mind, maybe, a little more confidence? did you think you'd get covid in the nine months of working without the shot and putting yourself in danger? >> as far as getting covid and that fear, it's definitely very real, especially the first week in march. it was definitely very real and i was always afraid of the you put it up and despite my regular lieu teens to get home. now that i have the first dose of the advantage seep, it's going to take a bit for my body to develop that immunity and keep me safe.
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but it's starting to be a little more of those fears and anxieties as i go about my day. so i'm just excited. i'm hopeful for what's to come. >> what have you seen in the icu the past nine months that makes this advantage seep so very, very important? >> you know, i think my experience senior similar to every health care worker. we've seen far too many deaths and far too many deaths of people alone, you know, without family members. that probably could have been prevented. evan goes into the profession with the mission to help people get health issy and go home. it's always been the case with this virus, with this vaccine. i hope thot a change for the better. i know we're in the midst of
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another surge, so the storm is thick, but there's hope. there's hope. >> that's one reason why you guys go first. you're on the front lines taking care of. if you got sick, there would be nobody left to take care of people. the new kaiser family survey shows 71% of americans say they'll get the vaccine. that's better than before. but the percentage is low among black americans and people who live in rural areas and republicans. what do you say to people who are scared or skeptical or unwilling about the vaccine? >> one of those, it was a no, don't get near me. i'm not doing it. let somebody else give the vaccine. and here we are. so there's a lot of mistrust and then it's knew. it's the same one that's got his
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virus. so new to it, we definite know what to do with it. like the stand on the vaccine, tazz the information started coming doubt about the trials, then it's speaking to other health care providers and co-workers and just seeing things from somebody like reputable sources on social media, they've come to me to start doing research. it's probably the best thing we can do, educate ourselves. as i started to dig in more, i felt -- i mean you kind of started changing my dance on it that i went from absolutely no to sure, it is. if you're able to speak to professionals and get as many opinions and formulate your own,
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do it, because an in fact decision is one of the best you'll make. yeah. >> ye that's a great message. thank you for all that do you on a daily basis? >> thank you so much for the opportunity. >> take good care. coming up next, we're going to turn our attention to the few of sports from high school to
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>> hi, good to see you. >> they've been on hold since mid march. based on these new guidelines when might competition resume? >> the first day that was put out was january 25th and we are hoping -- but there is a county that the state could make an adjustment on that date as in january 4th. >> that's for competitions. anything about practices? >> practices will be allowed assuming the state does not change the guidelines. there's language in the guidelines that does allow for practice. >> ok. so under the new guidance, teams can only compete against teams from the same county and they cannot compete outside the state. what could you think that targets? >> i think it targets the club
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teams going out of state playing tournaments and within our state, which i think was the impetus. the guidelined allow for teams to play against another team one county adjacent to it. >> i see. i told people you were my guru for high school sports. the state seems to be saying all sports not created equal. seems lining it depends on two things, level of contact and the lore. explain that to us. we have .500le, red, orange, yellow. explain what this is saying. >> they put out a calendar back in august that did not account really for the health tiers. this came out a little later. you pretty much hit it.
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the safer sports are the ones that take place outdoors and have a small amount of contact and one across country and the highest risk sports are going to be ones indoors and have a lot of contact. think baseball, wrestling. but the variables are still there. >> if your county's in the purple tear, which we all are right now. if your kids are doing tennis or track, they might be able to do it. but if they're doing basketball indoors, they can't do it until the county's back in yellow, which could take a long time. in between you have valuable, which you have to wait for. here's a question. will high school and fall sports have priority? >> it's the contact that dermgs
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thing but given you have three sports that would be in the same space. >> when it was originally put together the spring sports, who lost the entirety of their season last year were the main priority. now, you were still trying to maintain that but at the same time trying to align the seasons by health tier and it's a little bit like having kids line up alphabetically by height. it becomes chall we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. 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,
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interactive show "getting answers." the first person in california to get covid-19 advantage se tonight, several developing headlines as we come on the air. now a second major vaccine. news tonight from the fda on moderna. what they've learned. could we have two vaccines approved by the end of the week? and the emergency unfolding tonight. hospitalizations in the u.s. breaking a new record. and in california, the emergency. they are running out of hospital beds. the state preparing an additional 60 morgue trucks. los angeles county alone with only about 100 icu beds available. icu nurses have been told they are now in, quote, disaster mode. and tonight, new york city's mayor warning of a possible shutdown in new york. tonight, vaccinations now rolling out across the u.s. the pfizer vaccine arriving at 425 addition allocations. and tonight, one day after the u.s. began the pfizer shots, news coming in on
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