beginning of the end of the pandemic in a lot of ways. >> now at 5:00, the coronavirus vaccine. health care workers are deservedly getting theirs. the question now is when will you get yours? moderna next in line waiting for authorization from the fda. how soon that will happen. and we're keeping an eye on live doppler 7 with rain set to return later tonight. mike is tracking our hour-by-hour forecast. good morning. we made it to wednesday, december 16th. >> we'll start by taking a look at our forecast this morning. hey, mike. >> hey, reggie, kumasi, jobina. let's start with the storm impact scale. it starts tonight and goes through 1:00 tomorrow morning. we have a window of light to moderate and steady rain with downpours. so there will be standing water during tomorrow morning's morning commute. not for either of our commutes today. dangerous surf at the coast. we'll talk about that coming up.

here's a look at live doppler 7. increasing high clouds now. maybe a sprinkle or light shower in mendocino county this morning. the bulk of the wet weather is still to our north. with a little bit of a slight southerly breeze, temperatures in the south bay where we will see more cloud cover, thinner cloud cover, sunshine will break through and get you into the low to mid 60s. up in the north bay where showers are possible today and steadier rain along the coastal mountains you will be in the mid to upper 50s. hour-by-hour look coming up next. this morning a grim reminder of how bad the pandemic is right now. for the third time since the coronavirus started, the u.s. surpassed 3,000 deaths in just a single day yesterday. that's according to new data released by johns hopkins university. it comes as well well scaliforn another record. now 14,000 people are in the hospital. 3,000 are in the icu. this graph charts the number of

icu patients and it goes back to march. you can see the current trend. it's nothing but up. icu availability is monitored in five separate regions across the state. dropping under 15% means those extra restrictions, gyms and salons closing along with any on-site restaurant and dining closing. the bay area is on the brink of dropping under that threshold, like three other regions already have. but as you know, seven of the 11 counties making up our region chose to adopt those rules early. only san mateo, napa, solano and santa cruz have not. it may take a while but the vaccine is giving some hope of bringing those numbers down. health care workers have already received the bay area's first doses and a lot of you have been sending in questions to us and you want to know when you'll be able to get it. julian glover is live with the timeline. good morning, julian. >> the short answer is the general population will begin to get vaccinated in a matter of months.

exactly when and how many months is where things get more complicated. marin county's health officer, dr. matt willis saying phase will be complete by january. by february, people with pre-existing conditions will be up along with essential workers outside of the health care field like teachers will begin to get the shot. by march, the general population should be eligible for vaccines. >> if we're able to 70% of people vaccinated across the community, it will be a total game changer. our lives will be different by the end of this summer. >> dr. willis says people are likely to get vaccines from one of three places, medical providers, pharmacies or special events like a drive-through vaccine clinic. the pfizer and astrazeneca vaccines will require phone calls, texts and other messaging

to make sure people get the second shot for full protection. the general population could begin getting vaccinated as early as march. with 40 million people in california alone, it will likely take months for everyone who wants to get vaccinated to get a vaccine. reporting live this morning, julian glover, abc7 news. >> thank you. in the north bay, sonoma county is expected to receive its first pfizer shipment today. 4,800 doses will be delivered to kaiser permanente, sutter hospital and memorial hospital officials say that they hope to start vaccinating people no later than monday. in santa clara county the first doses will go to skilled nursing facilities. infectious disease experts say the vaccine is encouraging but the community should do its part

to reduce the spread by wearing masks and still social distancing. especially with christmas coming up. >> it's a small price to pay given that we do think we'll start to have real progress towards getting population herd immunity. >> as of tuesday morning, at least 558 people were in the hospital with covid-19 in santa clara rountitcounty. vaccinations begin today at the v.a. in palo alto. it was one of 3,700 sites nationwide to receive initial doses of the vaccine. they have received 2,900 doses. >> the first batch we received today is for the veterans that reside in our community living centers and the staff that work in those community living centers first. >> they don't know when the facility will get another batch of vaccine for the rest of employees and veterans. the v.a. and palo alto were selected for its ability to vaccinate large numbers of people and because it has the freezers capable of storing the

vaccine. as the third full day of vaccinations gets under way, a second potential covid-19 vaccine from moderna could be given emergency use authorization by the end of the week. jobina, we are learning this morning that there's a timeline kind of for when this could be authorized. >> absolutely. so 6 million doses of moderna's vaccine could go out as soon as this weekend if the fda gives the green light at a panel vote scheduled for tomorrow. new data released yesterday found the vaccine is highly protective and prevents severe cases of the coronavirus. we know that the vaccine is nearly 95% effective. a panel vote will decide whether it will be recommended for emergency use authorization. the fda would have to approve it before shipments could begin. >> we know we'll ship just a little bit short of 6 million doses out to the american people. we're shipping it to 3,285

locations across the country. >> the vaccine would only be for people older than 18. most common side effects reported were pain at the site of injection, fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain and fever. pfizer and moderna use similar technology for their vaccine. both require two doses but the brands cannot be used interchangeably. >> thank you. experts are saying that the similarities between the two vaccines are a huge benefit for americans. they're both created with messenger rna, the blueprint that allows the human body to create antibodies against the virus. both vaccines were found to be effective across genders and race, and they are at least 95% effective. experts say you won't get a choice of which one you get, but they're confident in both. >> every time i look at the data, every time i see new data i'm more and more impressed at both vaccines.

the efficacy as well as the safety profile. i'm excited about where the moderna vaccine is going to end up. >> both vaccines need to be studied in children, pregnant and breast feeding women and those who have compromised immune systems. >> all this week we'll bring you in-depth coverage on the vaccine with our team of reporters and medical experts. if you have any questions we'll try our best to answer them. just go to abc7news.com/vaccine to submit your question. an abc news exclusive on the presidential transition. robin roberts sits down with vice president-elect kamala harris and she's revealing an encouraging step that one top republican took to signal things are moving forward. robin has more in today's "gma first look." >> hi, i'm robin roberts in washington, d.c. on the campus of howard university. just wrapped up my interview with vice president-elect kamala harris. this is her beloved alma mater. hee's your "gma first look." i think people will be very encouraged to hear what you said

that mitch mcconnell and joe biden have spoken. he has acknowledged that he is the president-elect. >> yeah. how important do you think that is? >> i think it is critically important. i applaud mitch mcconnell for talking to joe biden today. it should have been earlier, but let's move forward. where we can find common purpose and common ground, let's do that. >> just a sneak peek of my interview with the vice president-elect and you can see much more of my interview coming up on "gma." let's talk more about what to expect when you step outside and later tonight when the ran rolls in. it's 5:09. temperature 40 in castro valley. 42 in union city. everyone else around 44 to 47. with a mostly cloudy sky. high clouds over the east bay. we have some 30s in the east bay

valleys. upper 30s there. low 40s down in the south bay. and low to mid 40s in the north bay. the warm spot, san francisco at about 48 degrees. here's a look from our roof camera, 47 near the embarcadero. a degree cooler. notice we're around 48 to 37 around 7:00. we'll hit 55 to 57 at noon. 55 to 58. so the thickening clouds, don't expect much warming during the afternoon hours. low to mid 50s at 7:00, with a few scout showers starting to develop. at 7:00 in the morning, mendocino county and the coastal mountains of sonoma county could get wet during the day. that would be the best chance for wet weather. look what's coming in tonight. look at the red. that means downpours. we'll have several hours of light to moderate, steady rain, downpours. it may wake you up in the overnight hours then it's gone for the most part during the morning commute with some leftover showers for the rest of tomorrow afternoon and those

will be highly scattered. we'll take a greater look at how much rain to expect coming up. here's jobina with the dry commute. hi, jobina. >> hi, mike. thank you very much. good morning. the main thing that's going on out there is roadwork. we'll start off here with a live picture showing off the san mateo bridge. if you're making your way westbound, you may run into roadwork on 101, traveling southbound entering at east popular avenue in san mateo. we have a ramp closed there until 6:00 a.m. moving over to walnut creek, check out what's going on there. it's been light this morning. no major crashes to report, which is good. things are flowing on 680. and as we bring in the map, just want to point out that it is mostly green, even out of tracy, hardly a big slowdon there. we have some roadwork in sausalito that is causing a slowdown if you're heading on to the golden gate bridge and making your way northbound. that's traffic. reggie and kumasi? >> thank you. coming up, relief for restaurants.

one east bay city's plan to hand out $10,000 to struggling businesses. travel is down because of the pandemic and that's actually a good thing when it comes to getting the vaccine distributed. a look at how united is making use of the empty space in its flight schedules. and celebrating our health care heroes. how the adopt a nurse facebook group inspired a movement that is now spreading joy this holiday season. before we get to those stories, let's take a live look outside as we star

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the fda authorized the first coronavirus test that people can buy at a local store without a prescription. this is video provided by the company that manufactures it. results will be immediate. the test costs about 30 bucks. it will be available by january. a commercial airline is joining u.p.s. and fedex in transporting the covid-19 vaccine to medical centers across the country. united airlines put a shipment on the vaccine on a regularly scheduled passenger yet.

david lui looks at how the airline geared up. >> reporter: the prospect of needing to move more vaccines across the country has commercial airlines prepared. united handled five charter flights to transport pfizer's vaccine from a european lab to chicago late last month prior to the fda's authorized use. because of the cold storage needs, the 6 airline was given faa permission to carry 15,000 pounds of dry ice. that's five times more than up the belly of the aircraft to remove the product. dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and it's giving off the gas so that's what we have to be careful of. >> reporter: the need for dry ice isn't as critical for other vaccines that don't require the extreme storage temperatures. with airline travel down and flight scheduled reduced,

regular plane can carry 1 million doses. regular passenger planes have space as needed to transport vaccines. united says it has 80 facilities to handle dangerous goods. the airline routinely carries other types of vaccines. >> there is the yearly flu vaccine campaigns that happen every year. we're involved in that. it not anything new. a higher profile. >> david louie, abc 7 news. now, all this week we're working to answer your questions about the vaccine. you'll find this form on most of our stories at abc7news.com/vaccine. fill it out and it sends your questions directly to us at abc7 news. of course the holidays are different this year because of the pandemic. but it appears the bay area is still the place to be. all three of our biggest cities made wallet hub's list of best cities for christmas. san jose ranked second behind durham, north carolina.

honolulu was third. oakland in fourth place. san francisco seventh. wallet hub based its list on 15 key indicators for a safe and affordable christmas as well as holiday traditions and the city's overall generosity. >> can you read a story with any more shade? >> it's not shade. it's me questions the methodology used here. >> right. especially when they said affordable. ding, ding, ding. >> i'm not trying to say that this is not a great place to live. i'm trying to say right now for the holidays -- >> yeah. >> what is there? what is there to do? >> you can go do that thing at golden state park that y'all -- that we can do with the rights. >> one. >> you can hug that tree in front of -- i don't know where it is. you can go to you can look at cool houses with lights on them. >> okay. >> i have an itinerary.

>> she's reaching this morning. sure is. >> i'm trying to get into that san jose -- the drive-through lights. >> there's that. >> see? >> two. >> so -- >> two things. >> un-huh. y'all are scrooging this morning. i can't take it. >> go out to tracy. we highlighted that house so many times. >> see? >> plus they're giving their shade retracted a little bit. just affordable, that was funny. especially compared to durham. i think we're 145% higher standard of living or wages or whatever compared to durham, north carolina. here's san jose. it's 42 degrees with partly cloudy conditions, becoming cloudy today. mainly dry during the day outside of the north bay where there will be a few scout showers. light to moderate, steady rain for several hours tonight with downpours. that means there will be ponding

on the roadway during tomorrow's morning commute. expect tule fog in the morning, dry conditions and warmer than average afternoons. today, 56 to about from the north bay to the south bay. rain tonight. mid 40s to low 50s. the warmer the air is, the more moisture it will hold. 7:00 this evening, outside the n north bay, the commute if you're heading out for dinner, dry. by tomorrow morning, a quarter to a half inch around the bay. twice that up in the north bay. so we've got to watch out for that heavy rain tomorrow morning. it's going to leave slick spots on the roadways. here's a look at my accuweather 7-day forecast. tule fog gives way to mostly sunny afternoons. temperatures in the 60s starting tomorrow and getting warmer through monday. the first day of winter. >> yeah. >> okay. thanks. in the east bay, walnut creek is looking to help out

struggling restaurants during the pandemic. the city plans to make a new cash grant program work. >> kind of makes it awkward to tell somebody, hey, happy holidays. i just had to lay off 21 more people, for the second time. right before christmas. >> kevin weinberg says this second shutdown has been harder to handle. >> this time they're not eating city might step up to offer grant money piqued his interest. the-we the walnut creek city councdir staff to move forward on a grant program that would offer $5,000 to $10,000 to eligible businesses. >> every day we are losing one of these businesses. and how fast can we get money in their hands by mid to late february if we put the process

in place? >> reporter: it is modeled after similar ones like dublin for small businesses with less than 50 employees. walnut creek's must still go through another round of clarification and approval with the money not likely to be distributed until february. >> this is just before christmas. i mean, we would be packed. >> reporter: in walnut creek, matt boone, abc7 news. in-person learning is on hold at public schools in san ramon. the school district voted last night against a hybrid teaching model. in november a few dozen students returned to classrooms. the district was planning to welcome back more in january, but that might not happen. instead they will be waiting until contra costa county is in the red tier before they restart the plan. coming up next, the 7 things to know this morning. and there won't be any crowds when the ball drops to ring in 2021 but there will be superstar power. we'll reveal who has been tapped to headline dick clark's new years rocking eve on abc7.

if you're just joining us, here's the 7 things to know this

morning. number one, nearly 2,000 doses of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine are expected to arrive in marin county today. three hospitals will begin vaccinating staff members tomorrow. this comes as the county health department reports icu capacity is at zero percent. sonoma county expected to receive its first pfizer shipment today. 4,800 doses will be delivered to kaiser permanente and sutter hospital. >> 6 million doses of moderna's covid-19 vaccine could go out this weekend if the fda gives the green light at the panel vote tomorrow. the vaccine is highly protective and prevents severe cases of coronavirus. number four, kamala harris spoke with robin roberts on "gma." they talks about history and the challenges the new administration will face day one, that includes the pandemic and uniting the country. our storm is almost here. not quite in our neighborhood yet, when it does get here tonight, it will bring several

hours of light to moderate rain with downpours which means ponding on the roadways. it's going to kick up dangerous surf also. number six, in reference to what mike was talking about, take it very slowly out there. but right now the traffic is looking great as we bring in a live picture showing off the bay bridge toll plaza. and number seven, a new study shows that kangaroos can communicate with people. researchers say they presented a group of kangaroos with food inside a box they couldn't open. rather than giving up, the kangaroo looked at the research and back to the box like will you please open this box? you see me struggling. i don't know if that's what it said. >> so they're smart. i like it. i think we knew that, right? they seem smart. >> not the way they were fighting last week. >> smart enough to fight. how does new year's eve with some a-list celebrities sound?

this year you can spend it with y j. lo. >> she will be headlines dick clark's new year's rocking eve with ryan seacrest on abc7. the other performers include cyndi lauper and gloria gaynor. billy porter will perform, sierra will be there and lucy hale and there will be no crowd at new york's sometimes square because we're in a pandemic. everyone on the stage will have to keep their mask on unless they are performing. you can watch dick clark's new year's rocking eve with ryan seacrest on abc7. the celebrations start at 8:00 p.m. on new year's eve. that's a good lineup. >> that is. you know, she's going to sing "i will survive" right? >> i'm ready. >> that's energy we need to bring into 2021 for sure. >> yes. coming back with another full 90 minutes of news inclu including doubts about the covid-19 vaccine. and a sneak peek at my

special report on why some black americans may not be so quick to get vaccinated as our week-long coverage continues. and the french laundry cashes in on loans from the paycheck protection program. the latest on an abc i-team investigation following the money to find out why the world renowned restaurant got so much more money than many other smaller businesses. first a look outside at the golden gate bridge. we'll be right back.

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. now at 5:30, vaccine delivery day in marin county. it comes not a moment too soon. we've just learned that icu capacity has bottomed out. not a single bed available there. one-on-one with vice president-elect kamala harris. what she's only telling robin roberts about making history and the challenges that still lie ahead. and from berkeley to the white house. the bay area professor heading to washington for a prominent role in the biden administration. and we're keeping an eye on live doppler 7 with rain set to return to the bay area tonight. mike is tracking the hour-by-hour forecast. good morning to you on this wednesday, december 16th. >> we want to check in with mike for a look at our forecast. >> good morning. hi, everybody. welcome to wednesday. it's going to be wet, but mainly tonight through tomorrow morning. right now we're looking at high temperatures today that will be coolest up in the north bay

where we have our best chance of any showers during the afternoon hours. mid to upper 50s there and along the coast. you can see a bit warmer as we head into the south bay. some low 60s there. let's look with live doppler 7, we have a canopy of high clouds out there. we also have a little slug of moisture off the mendocino county coast. that's what could bring the coastal mountains to sonoma county and mendocino county. showers out ahead of the deeper white that you see well to our north that is what will come in tonight. it's a one on the storm impact scale. it's going to bring us a pretty healthy rain. several hours of light to moderate rain with downpours. if those gutters don't have the leaves cleared out, there could be some ponding on the roadways. we have rough and dangerous surf. an hour-by-hour look at that coming up. kumasi? >> abc7 is on vaccine watch all this week as part of our effort to build a better bay area. the vaccine distribution comes as governor newsom is painting a

bleak picture of the coming days. he shared the state ordered 5,000 body bags. 60 refrigerated mobile units also being put on stand by. another indication of how dire things have become. california set another record for hospitalizations due to covid-19 as well as the number of people in icu. it topped 3,000 for the first time yesterday. but the governor did share that the state will be getting 672,000 doses of moderna's vaccine once it's authorized. the fda will meet tomorrow to vote on authorization for emergency use authorization for the vaccine. the fda released new data about the moderna vaccine showing its nearly 95% effective. 6 million doses could go out as soon as this weekend if the panel gives the green light. the vaccine comes as icu availability continues to drop across the state. the bay area is slightly over

15%. both southern california and the san joaquin valley are under 2%. those two regions along with greater sacramento have dropped below the state's 15% threshold, that means extra restrictions. the bay area is officially on the brink. seven counties have preemptively adopted rules early closing gyms, salons and any on-site restaurant dining. marin county is in real double when it comes to covid spread. there's zero icu capacity there. the only good news, they are getting their first shipment of vaccine today. abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield is live for us in san rafael. amy? >> talk about timing, reggie. with marin saying all their icu beds are full and saying 12 of the 29 beds are covid patients. the vaccine will arrive in marin today. it is late. they were expecting it on monday. they will start giving the shots out tomorrow. county officials were

disappointed by the delay, but they understood saying there are a lot of moving parts with the distribution of this sensitive vaccine. they say a couple of extra days won't make a huge difference in the long run. >> the main thing is that we have a vaccine that's safe and effective. seems like it's actually working. >> nearly 2,000 doses of the pfizer vaccine are set to arrive in marin county today. county officials plan to send half of the doses they get to the county's three hospitals. the other half will go to the 13 skilled nursing facilities in marin. they will be administering those shots into the weekend. they are estimating they will give the shots to the general public between march and june. reporting live in san rafael, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. >> thank you. health care workers in san francisco and contra costa county are among the first people in the bay area to get the coronavirus vaccinations.

in contra costa county, 9,750 doses arrived yesterday. the plan is to distribute them between the eight medical facilities in the county. in san francisco at zuckerberg general hospital, five medical workers were vaccinated yesterday. dr. antonio gomez was first in line. >> i trust the fda's evaluation process. i trust the experts that we have here at this hospital who have seen the data, looked at it and, you know, we all believe that this is a safe vaccine. i wouldn't have administered it on myself if i didn't think it was safe. >> san francisco is expecting over 12,500 doses of pfizer's covid-19 vaccine this week. for the very latest updates on the coronavirus vaccine, download the abc7 news app and enibl puable push alerts so you get developments as they happen. the french laundry received two loans from the paycheck

protection program totalling 4 $2.4 million. that's 17 times more than what the average bay area restaurant received. according to an abc7 i-team analysis, more than $1 billion went to full and limited service restaurants across the bay area. sba data indicates french laundry received two loans. the first for more than 2$2.2 million to retain 163 employees. the second loan was for more than $194,000 to retain five that is more than six times what the average full-service bay area restaurant retaining five employees received. french laundry is one of at least seven bay area restaurants with two or three michelin stars that also received ppp loans. california says one of them received a $214,000 loan to retain 14 people, mainly management. >> still trying to figure out how to spend it correctly, which

is cloudy. whether the ppp will be forgivable or not will be the final thing we'll see. i'm not sure if it will be or not. >> the abc7 i-team reached out to french laundry for comment and to confirm how many employees the company was able to keep on payroll for each loan. for the full story go to our website and click i-team. five weeks from today president-elect joe biden and vice president-elect kamala harris will take office. this morning harris spoke exclusively with robin roberts about making history and the challenges that the new administration will be facing on day one. jobina is at the live desk with that "gma" exclusive. >> thank you, kumasi. so vice president-elect kamala harris sat down with robin roberts at her alma mater, howard university, just a short distance away from the capital where she will be sworn in as the first female vice president of the united states. so we're learning this morning here that harris says when she

takes that oath on january 20th, she will be thinking about all the women that came before her including her mother. but she also addressed the multiple challenges lying ahead that includes uniting the country, the ongoing pandemic and financial crisis. >> in this democracy of ours, as americans, which is our democracy is stronger than any one man or woman, it is about the people. the people spoke. robin, i'll tell you, i -- i don't understand the hesitation. the people are suffering. >> harris and roberts went on to talk about her and biden's plan to control the pandemic including a 100-day mask mandate. watch that full and exclusive interview at 7:00 on "gma" right here after abc7 mornings. >> thanks. we're learning that a uc berkeley professor will be nominated by jid toe biden to h one of the highest positions in

the country. jennif jennif jennif jennifer granholm is a uc berkeley alum and adjunct professor at cal. she is also a cnn contributor. >> one of the reasons she's focused so much at berkeley on doing research on how you preserve jobs is because she's concerned about that. she saw what happened when people lost jobs. >> granholm worked closely with the auto industry as governor and is a supporter of zero emissions vehicles. coming up, the fda launches a landmark study on gay men donating blood. how it's laying the ground work to remove long-time restrictions. a rescue mission to save this adorable kitten. want to introduce you to fluff fluff who is hoping a family will take him in in time for christmas. first, mike mike.

>> thank you, reggie reggie. you know i can't wait to hear that story. i may go short this weather to get to it faster. nah. mid to upper 30s through the tri valley and out towards pittsburg. low 40s in brentwood and anti h antioch. those are some of our cooler temperatures until mountain view at 38. most of us in the mid to upper 40s around the bay shore. low to mid 40s up in the north bay. here's san jose. it is dry. it is going to be dry during the day. for our ferry rides, dry during all of those scheduled times. mass transit late in the evening it will get way. same thing in the north bay with the roads. at 7:00 this morning, you can see some of the green off the coast heading towards the northern part of sonoma and mendocino counties. that's where the scout showers will be best today. with a southwest wind, steadier light rain along those coastal mountains is possible. now as we head to 5:00, still up in the north bay, look at all

that yellow, orange and red. that's the moderate steady rain and the downpours. we'll get a couple hours of that. it may even wake you up it's so heavy. by 5:00, that steady rain is moving out. we'll be left with drizzle, light rain during the morning commute tomorrow. just a few light showers possible during the afternoon hours. they'll be very isolated. here's a look at the rainfall totals. you can see by the time we wake up tomorrow morning, a quarter to a half inch of rain for most of us. double that up in the north bay. we'll talk about what that means for the morning commute coming up. i know jobina is keeping an eye on this morning and tomorrow when it's wetter. how are we doing today, jobina? >> today is looking great. let's take it before all that rain comes through. good morning. thank you. so we will begin with a live look showing off emeryville. 80, not too bad. you can see those headlights making their way westbound. you know, look at the sensors from the toll plaza.

no meeting lights on. there it's been a clear morning. moving over to our 880 at the coliseum camera in oakland. you can see what is happening. it's really just been -- there we go. i can see it now. i'm on a delay here. headlights are making their way southbound. so that's what we have going on in the traffic front. as i head out here, i will leave you with an overall picture of the map. if you are leaving your home in the bay area, you can see that it is pretty much clear unless you're coming out of

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sfx: dog bark ♪ a little taste of home is worth sharing. the fda a funding a new effort that would lead to the removal of long-term restrictions around blood donations by gay or bisexual men. this is a collaboration between three of the nations largest body centers and eight lgbtq plus centers nationwide. the goal is to gather and

present data to the fda for review by late 2021. a change in policy would mean more gay and bisexual men would be able to give blood and end what critics have called discriminatory federal guidelines. on monday the uk announced it would relax restrictions on gay men giving blood. tiktok is hoping to stop the spread of misinformation surrounding the covid-19 vaccine. in an update rolling out this week, tiktok is adding vaccine facts to the information hub. it will provide links to verified information. the app will introduce a vaccine tag to detect related posts and display a banner to learn more about covid-19. animal lovers, if you have room for one more furry friend in your life right now, you'll want to hear about fluff fluff. fluff fluff is a tiny kitten rescued from the engine of a car in east palo alto the day before halloween. the spca shared this video. the poor thing had been stuck in

the engine compartment for two days. they could hear him but they couldn't see him. so they used a tiny camera to find where he was. it took almost two hours to get him out. he wasn't hurt. now fluff fluff is in a foster home. he's three months old and he is ready to be adopted. look at fluff fluff. look at fluff fluff's eyes. >> fluff fluff has been through so much. fluff fluff deserves a good home. >> agreed. let's make it happen. >> mike? >> deserves an older brother that went almost through a similar incident. >> not oreo. >> our neighbor's suv. that's where we found oreo. he was meowing on the rear tr s transaxle gear. we couldn't see him, we heard him. my dad reached up there, felt around and pulled him out. >> wow. >> fluff fluff needs some help processing that. >> it seems destined, doesn't it? >> yes. >> make the call.

>> i have to make a call. all right. good morning, everybody. let's get you back on the track and we'll take a look at the exploratorium. we'll use that back drop to talk about clouds increasing today. scattered showers a i crocross north bay. the rain could be heavy enough to wake you up. mostly sunny and above average highs for the weekend. today, mid to upper 50s in the north bay and along the coast. the rest of us in the low 60s as we'll see the rain and the thicker clouds in the north bay during the afternoon hours cooling you down. tonight a milder air mass, mid 40s to low 50s. extremely heavy downpours at times which will leave some ponding on the roadways. if you're one of our first commuters tomorrow morning, be extra vigilant, slow down, know the likelihood of hydroplaning will be good tomorrow. as we head throughout the day, we'll see increasing sunshine and temperatures about a degree or two cooler than today.

friday we start to rebound to near 60. look at those low to mid 60s heading through the weekend and right up to monday which is the winter solstice, the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year, about 9 hours and 32 minute ts of sunshine. in our commitment to building a better bay area through this coronavirus pandemic, perhaps the most immediate issue we're facing is making sure this vaccine is safe for the public. it's why abc7 is devoting all this week to our in-depth vaccine watch coverage. tonight my special report that looks at why one of the hardest hit by the virus, black americans, may not be so quick to be vaccinated and the history and reasons creating these lingering doubts. >> i'm on the fence about it. >> i don't know. i think i'll wait. >> the day they let us take t i'll take it. >> i had a lot of friends who died, i will risk and take it. >> i'm not sure. i think there needs to be more

research about it. >> so i went to lake merritt to see how some people in the bay area feel about it and my story i looking at how it compares with national numbers. i went out with a group that's going into communities, having conversations with people and sharing credible information with the goal of just building trust. my full report airs tonight on abc7 news at 6:00. first at 5:00, our vaccine week coverage takes a closer look at how we're helping developing countries get access to the covid-19 vaccine. then on friday we have a special hour-long town hall with a panel of leaders and medical experts. all this week you can see all of our coverage on your own time on our website. it's where you can also submit your vaccine questions to our team of reporters and medical experts standing by to answer them. it's all there at abc7news.com/vaccine. new at 6:00, oakland's david diggs has done the bay area and his hometown proud, but this

morning he's giving us an exclusive look at his role as paul in

the next time you use uber or order from uber eats it's going to cost more. uber started charging new fees on monday ranging from 30 cents to $2 depending on service and location. and starting today doordash is raising its service fee on deliveries and adjusting promotion plans such as the dash pass. the fee increase helps uber and doordash cover the cost of new benefits for its workers, that came with voters passing proposition 22 last month. the holidays will be brighter for families in san jose santee neighborhood thanks to the sharks foundation.

the foundation teamed up with s.a.p. to provide a $30,000 grant to support the holiday distribution event. the money was used to buy food, toys and gift cards for 200 families in need. the grant funds a biweekly mobile food pantry at the school for a year. all right. get ready for a good soaking tonight. you have all day today except for in the north bay where we will have a few scout showers to prepare whatever you need to do to handle this wet weather coming in tonight and for your commute tomorrow morning. it's a one on the storm impact scale. it's also going to kick up hazardous surf and even some thunderstorms. that's going to be away from us, the possibility of thundersnow in yosemite. that would be pretty cool to experience. let's look at our surf advisory. it started at 3:00 this morning. it goes until 3:00 this afternoon. so what you can expect, up to 25-foot breakers in the favored areas like mavericks. they will be coming in from the

northwest. so northwest facing beaches will be our most dangerous up until 3:00. we'll get about a quarter to a half inch of rain tonight for most of us. double that up in the north bay. another good soaking on the way. it will be squeezed into a much smaller window. kumasi? >> thank you. this morning a nebraska woman's small act of kindness is becoming a national movement. christine danderin wanted to give support to the health care workers doing so much to help all of us. she started a facebook page allowing people to adopt a nurse this holiday season. three weeks later adopt a nurse has more than 18,000 members and is lifting the spirits of health care workers across the country. >> every day i open my phone and i get messages every night from nurses that come home from work and it's not even so much about the gifting part, as it is they're getting messages of support.

we see you. we love you. we appreciate you. >> that's beautiful. this morning "gma" is honoring health care heros across the country. meet some incredible health care workers coming up at 7:00 on "gma." new at 6:00, amazon giving us an exclusive announcement this morning. what it's revealing about its shipping deadlines that you probably should know. and we're live with the latest on the vaccine watch. as the first covid-19 vaccines go out across california, we're getting a better idea of when the general population will begin to get vaccinated. i'm julian glover with what we're hearing from bay area health officers. and the countdown to the fda meeting on moderna's vaccine. we break down pfizer and moderna's versions and compare the unique similarities and differences. before that, we'll leave you with a live look outside at the embarcadero. it's 5:55. we'll be right back.

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the bay area's vaccine delivery dates. our health care heros finally getting their shots to put an end to this covid-19 virus. but when can the rest of the public get theirs? we're looking at how long you might have to wait as authorization for a second vaccine looms. good morning. it is wednesday, december 16th. but first we are tracking the return of the rain to the bay area. mike, what's up with that? >> it's a good, healthy rain. it's a 1 on the storm impact scale. the neat part about this one is it comes in as most of us are sleeping. we'll wake up this time tomorrow and we'll have issues on the roads with ponding, but for today, preparation. so, light to moderate, steady rain for several hours tonight. even brief downpours and dangerous to rough surf out at

our coast until 3:00 this afternoon. you can see a few showers heading towards mendocino county. the bulk of the moisture, the brighter, whither clouds still off shore. still a day away. let's break it down for you. waking up mostly cloudy with increasing high clouds this morning. 38 to 46. we'll hang out in the mid to upper 50s at noon to 4:00 with increasing clouds from north to south. by 7:00 starting to see some of those scout showers move in to the north bay before the heaviest and the steadiest of the rain moves in tonight. i'll have an hour-by-hour look at that coming up next. >> thanks. this morning a grim reminder of how bad the pandemic is right now. for the third time since the coronavirus started, the u.s. surpassed 3,000 deaths in just a single day yesterday. that's according to new data released by johns hopkins university. it comes as california sets another record. now 14,000 people are in the hospital. 3,000 are in the icu. this graph charts the number of