hi there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting aejss." we're getting answers for you in real time. come up we'll talk to san francisco mayor london breed and we have a rot to cover with hear. the vaccine, the restrictions, outdoor dining, housing, that's coming up at 3:10. we'll talk to a doctor about the covid-19 and the impact on pregnant bill. the bay area region icu availability stands at 12.7%. take a look there. that means a stay-at-home order will take effect tomorrow at

11:59 p.m. the majority of the bay area started this order. napa, san mateo, santa cruz andd solano county. here to talk with us is the county's health officer. how's it going, doctor? thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> what's been the county trend for new cases positivity? >> we have been seeing a very, very significant increase in new cases. today we've had over 300 reported which for us is a large number. the total number of cases daily has gone up significantly. the number of hospitalizations has gone up very significantly and not surprisingly we've seen a very significant impact on our icus today. the percentage is at 13%, which is the region as a whole. >> what happens when you run out of icus, it doesn't mean people

won't get the care. >> i think under normal circumstances, yes, we would increase the number of icu beds but that requires staff to be able to provide care for those additional beds. the hospitals, too, are having absenteeism from covid. their staff are members of our community and are themselves being impacted in a similar fashion. their usual solution of add more beds is hard to implement right now. there's patient movement between hospitals in order to decompress those that are full. le there is some reduction for nonemergent purposes, up necessary surgeries or postpone surgeries. thereby reduce some icu impact. there's not a limitless thing. >> more restrictions need to go

into place and that is happening. they'll adhere to the new stay at home starting at 11:59 p.m. tomorrow. you have all day tomorrow. which activities currently allowed will no longer >> there are a few things that will be available now that weren't then, for example, outdoor playgrounds can operate. there are two things. it will prohibit people from interacting with people outside your household. it will also shut down those business sectors that are considered nonessential. most of the businesses will stop beginning to operate and we will go back to a situation where you would be able to get those kinds of goods and services. restaurants can only do takeout. >> and hotels?

>> only those visits that are prescheduled for essential purposes. they may not take new reservations, especially from people outside the area. >> how about limits on outdoor religious gatherings or outdoor workouts, classes? >> well, this becomes difficult in the sense that outdoors is becoming a harder environment now with the weather having changed. outdoor limits -- outdoor conditioning only will be permitted for fitness, as well as outdoor exercise. religious gatherings are limited to outdoor and they're limited in number. as you know, there have been some court challenges to that, so it's unclear to what degree that's going to be implementable. but we go back to the stance we had before where essential services can continue to limited amounts and outdoors. >> don't mix with people who are not in your household, that is the goal. are you making an allowance like

san francisco has where you can see one person outside of your household in person? >> no. because san francisco made that exception because they issued a county specific order so they were allowed to do it any way they want. the governor's order doesn't permit that exception. san francisco even is going to have to stop that. >> before, it was voluntary on their part. how long will these measures be in effect? what does it take to get off the list? >> for a minimum of three weeks, the first week of january we'll be in this stay-at-home order. in order to get off that list at that point after three weeks, our capacity has to be above 15%. it's not week by week we remain at stay at home until hospital capacity, icu capacity, in particular, is good enough for us to reopen. >> ok. so you chose not to implement the stay at home early. what was your reasoning then and do you stand by that choice,

given that since then our region a.m. icu has come down and down and down? >> the icu numbers have gone down and down because of people already in the pipeline who were ill. nobody who made those decisions affected today. it takes a minimum of two to three weeks for that impact to make any difference. there's no evidence thought has. all the counties, those who closed and those who didn't have experienced the same pattern. as for the reason, it's been clear to us in the county that the businesses in question do not contribute to the outbreak. that is not where cases are occurring. cases are happening inspect people's homes. it made no sense to prematurely punish businesses. as for restricting people's behaviors, it's because people are not adhering to that that we're having the surge in the first place. whether it's a local or a state

order, it's probably not much different and is obvious to people,000 our order already essentially does the same thing and has for many months. people have already trade from that. those people adhere, adhere, those who don't, don't. the language of the order has made hardly a difference. >> individual responsibility is the main driver here in that businesses such as outdoor dining have not been shown to be the main drivers. nonetheless, it is one of the levers that the government can pull. but having said that, is there a way to try to get at the individual responsibility, or are they levers such as spienz that you might be considering for individuals that hold huge parties at home? >> i think that it is one thing to enforce the order for businesses. where you have a license that can be -- that we culled or that

can be threatened. where you can go to a limit 450,000 residents, how do you begin the concept of enforcement? why would it be appropriate for police departments, already operating incredibly short handed to focus on a person having a krimts party as opposed to chasing down a fugitive for murder. it's irrational to believe that that's a wise use of resources. all we can do is allow on people's sense of duty as a member of our community what we have to do is appeal to people's permanent responsibility. people have to do this because they realize it's the right thing to do. i will offer the observation that we have had a big bump in fatalities due to thanksgiving events where people basically contaminated or infected pamly members who were fragile.

people need to take that seriously. this is not just words. what we're seeing are not just a huge number of cases but we're seeing some very seriously ill people, including people who are dying as a result of people not taking permanent responsibility. and i think that's the message that probably resonates most with people, is you can do the right thing. you can take care of the people you love and at the same time be helping our community. the notion that if you don't, a police officer's going to knock on your door and arrest you, i don't think that makes any kind of sense. >> it's up to us at this point as individuals. all right, doctor, thank you so much. solano county's public health yaefr. take care. >> take care. >> coming up next, san

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and welcome back. as the stay-at-home order gets triggered in the bay area, san francisco is one place that preemptively started the lockdown. we're going to talk to london breed. thanks for joining us live. >> thank you so much. >> happy holidays to you. i can't help help but say that seeing the backdrop. that means san mateo, napa and solano counties, now, you get the daily updates. how critical is the situation for us right now in the bay area? >> well, it's very critical because we are seeing our icu beds disappear. and you got to be really really sick to go to the hospital and

then end up in the icu in the first place, especially as it relates to covid. what we don't wane to do is turn people away. we talk about that all the time because it's not just about the physical structure of the bed. it's about the hospital capacity and the staff to help provide people with the care they need. we are in a dire situation, unfortunately, and this is why we've had to move earlier than the state mandated to try and curb this spike that is getting completely out of control and the worst that we've seen since the beginning of this pandemic. >> that is worrisome. at the same time i want to bring up a little bit of optimism for folks, too. the vaccine is rolling out. yet yesterday the first day at san francisco general. now more at usc. how happy are you about it? >> i'm so excited. i went to san francisco general yesterday and visited with some nurses and doctors outside after they received the first round of

the vaccine, and they were so excited. they were so excited for not because they received the vaccine themselves, but what this means for what happens with covid in the future. there is light at the end of the item, but we are still deal with a surge and we won't be able to get to everyone right away. it is going to take some time and patience. finally, we are in a place where the vaccine is available. so we're going to get there. >> can you let us know what san franciscans can expect now that the stay at home is official? i know that you tried to make a few revisions, for example, you said it's ok to gather with one person outside your household, which made all the singles happy. dating is not that bad. this stay-at-home order due to our icu capacity, that changes, right? what are the changes now? >> as someone who's single and lives alone, i am the decider

for the sybil people living in a household by themselves to try to get the public health department understand that people who live alone need to interact with someone. so part of what we're trying to do is flesh that out so that we can do it in a responsible way. what we don't want to see is single people hanging out with this person, that person, and this person and that person, chin crease the chances. we're asking people to use common sense and understand that we're only putting these systems in place because we're seeing a significant spike and we're also seeing a significant spike as a result of what we saw happening with people in some cases when they were out socializings with one another and having drinks and other things. so we just want people to use common sense and be careful and know that this is real. we want to come up with some reasonable guidelines for singles but the fact is i don't think it's fair to expect people who live alone to not be able to

interact with some other human being as we deal this. >> you can zoom us anytime, mayor breed. i want to talk about the protests that we've seen in the city recently, including outside your home from people saying let our outdoor dining continue. i know you don't have a choice now. threat hair and nail salons open, that's not what's driving the infections. what do you say to people who say, hey, come on? >> i understand their frustration. in some cases people just got off unemployment and now they've got to get back on unemployment or painful this is the nail the coffin for their business. once they close down this time, they are not coming back. so i understand that people are frustrated. they're hurt, they're angry and the fact is i wish that there was another decision. i have to put the life of people who are impacted by covid ahead of everything else and i know

that people's lively hoods are at stake. these are not easy decisions to make and i understand people, you know, are upset and angry but i ask when you also protest that you do so responsibly, wear a mask, keep your distance, do what's necessary to make sure you're not spreading the virus. we as a city will roll out a number of different initiatives to try to help. we're pushing the federal government for more relief. this is not just ah nicht to san francisco it's happening all over the country. we empathize but we do not make these decisions lightly. >> what about the homeless? are you considering something like i think long beach is going to kick in an extra $4 an hour hazard pay to grocery workers and those in those situations. what do you think about that? anything on the table for san francisco? >> i'm glad you brought up

homelessness and ho homelessness. there's been a number of elected leaders and other advocates who have put that narrative out this and it is absolutely false. from the very begin we knew that taking on this responsibility of housing people in these hotels would mean that we cannot put them back on the streets. di a medium post today to explain the cost and everything soeshlgtded with our plan to make sure that that does not happen. as it relates to hazard pay, look, the city has just closed a $1.5 billion budget deficit. we're in the process of trying to fill a $116 million hole. we have a projected $653 million deficit. we have not laid off one single employee although we've seen almost 300,000 people in the

city since covid began we're not in a good place. we're going to have to make some hard decisions. the hard decisions mean budget cuts. where that goes, we don't know, and we're not certain that hazard pay could even be on the table. >> you're looking at 7.5% cuts possible or more. there is some optimism. i'm hearing good news about amazon possibly coming in near the station for a delivery station. i'd like to ask you about that. that was going to be a place that was offices and housing. which is going to add more to the city? >> well, i want housing. the fact is this property is not zoned as housing. it's zoenld for industrial. it went through a process and unfortunately there were a lot of people that were adamantly opposed in the neighborhood to rezoning it and increasing the height to allow for that housing. so if you can't change the zoning to allow for the housing,

you can't build i. here we are in a different place. they sold the building to amazon. the jobs are going to be created. hopely. we'll see. amazon has to go through processes, through the sitting county of san francisco. we don't know what's going to happen. but when we see businesses leaving san francisco in large numbers, it is important that we work with companies because of the jobs that it creates, the taxes it pays, especially in light of what we anticipate for the next couple of years with our economy in san francisco. we want to make sure that businesses that come to do business in san francisco are held accountable and work with us and i think that this could be a good thing. >> ok. hey, we only have a minute left. i don't want to beleaguer the point but you've expressed regret over the french laundry dinner. i wonder if you feel like the critique was unwarranted or if you've gained something new from it that helps you govern during

this time. >> just to be clear, san francisco was in yellow at the time. napa county was in ormg. so technically under the orders, we were all in this, me included, were supposed to follow -- i was following the orders. i have didn't violate any sords, but i understand that people had a hot of frustration from what they saw happen with the governor and that boisk spilled on to me and people exam me to, of course, be held to a higher standard, and so even if i may be able to allow something or something is happening under the health order, i also need to be very careful and follow spirit of what we all need to do in order to stay safe. i do that every day not just because i'm a leader and an elected official but because i don't want to get covid. i've been very careful this entire time. i know that asking people to do things that have been challenging for them to do is hard, especially when they think you might be doing something counter to that, so, you know,

it happened. i made it clear in my comments, you know, that i regret, you know, that it happened an how it made people feel. i'm hoping it doesn't continue to distract us from the worst surge we've experienced, which is where we all need to do our part. yes, it has been and will continue to be painful, but we have hope with this vaccine. and so i hope that this doesn't continue to be the distraction and we can focus on getting through this pandemic so we can get people back to work and get our economy going again. >> mayor breed, i have to say i appreciate your degree of self-reflection and your total transparency and the message you're sending to san franciscans and bay area residents. take good care. we appreciate the time. >> thank you so much. >> take care. coming up

all right. what makes this program unique is that you, the viewers, can ask our experts directly through facebook live. we've seen a lot of questions lately about who can and cannot take the vaccine. joining us to talk about the vaccine and pregnant women is dr. peter clotsky. thanks for joining us. >> hi, thanks for having us. >> whether it's pfizer or moderna once it's authorized, should pregnant women, can they get the vaccine? >> i think the most important thing is that the vaccine is offered to all pregnant women who want to take it. unfortunately, some women, as you know, are not included in this study. so we have very little data as to whether or not it's safe in pregnancy itself. >> so tsh. >> however, the underlying data does suggest that it would be a

threa threat. if they have diabetes, if they have respiratory disease, severe asthma should take the vaccine. >> covid could cause more severe illness in them. but what about to the baby? is there any evidence that there could be harm to the baby, taking the vaccine? >> we have no events like that. again, the scientific basis on the vaccine is based on mrna filled with nano particles, most of which enter cells in your shoulder and should not make it to the placenta. we're waiting on animal studies to see if there's any evidence of migration to the placenta. if you have that you're going to have studies in humans who are pregnant. >> what about for women who are breast-feeding? is it safe for them? >> absolutely safe.

absolutely safe. if you're trying to conceive. we're advising all people who are trying to conceive that they should get offered the vaccine and is prioritized for vaccine, they should be encouraged to keep it. >> doctor, if folks have more questions about this, is it ok if they contact your clinics? >> yes. >> thank you so much. appreciate your time.

and thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive show "getting answers." the bad news, stay at home will start tomorrow night at 11:59 p.m.

icu availability dropping to tonight, the major ng to nor'easter hitting at this hour. the storm bringing heavy snow, ice and rain. winds gusting up to miles per hour. more than a foot of snow possible in some places. the storm hitting from philadelphia up through new york and boston. dangerous driving on icy roads already. a truck crashing head on into an ems vehicle outside pittsburgh. 15 states from north carolina to maine under winter weather alerts tonight. new jersey declaring a state of emergency. new york city shutting down covid testing sites. hundreds of flights canceled or delayed. and now concerns over shipping the vaccine. ginger zee and rob marciano standing by live. also developing as we come on the air tonight, the vaccinations well under way in the u.s. and tonight, the first report of an allergic reaction. a health care worker developing a rash,