joining us. >> practices and games have been off the table for young athletes since the pandemic started. 46,000 young students and parents are now involved. >> abc 7 reporter leslie brinkly with more. >> allow these babies to get back outside and be kids again. >> reporter: coaches join forces with thousands of parents and students friday morning in a virtual plea to the california governor to open up youth sports as they showed off a new physicians letter to bolster their case. >> a three page document with 57 different positions from across the entire state of california that shows support for the return of safe play for our students. >> this is not a political issue. athletes are not democrats. they're not republicans. all they want to do is play. we want to work with both sides

of the legislature. >> they say the closure of sports during the pandemic is doing irreparable damage to kids. >> our churches are closed. our gyms are closed. our recreational parks are closed and gated up. the goals have taken down off the rims. what else do we want these kids to do? >> we're finding more suicides, kids are going back into gangs. >> these kids are born with the zoom check ins. they're bored with the motivational group chat texts. so now we're seeing more guns on social media. i'm losing my boys, and every school in oakland is dealing with it. >> i trust my teammates, i trust my coaches, i trust my community. i trust, you know, whoever it is to just make it safe for us so we can have at least one last opportunity. >> leslie brinkly reporting there.

onto the coronavirus vaccines. we know you have so many questions about them. there's a number of vaccines. when do you get one, how do you get one, why is it taking so long to get one? >> well, larry, you know we're getting a lot of questions, hundreds through our website. again, you know, thank you for trusting us with that. i think every family i know i'm one of them in the bay area is searching for answers, the right answers. yet there is a lot of confusion. so we're going to attempt to answer some of them. now, here's our first question. can i get a vaccine, a covid-19 vaccine now if i am 63 years old with previous colon cancer? here's the answer. they're still not vaccinating people with underlying conditions who are younger than 65. now here's why. they are still trying to vaccinate people who are older because they are at the absolute highest risk for dying. now, you're going to have to

wait a little longer. now, another question. why is it that minority seniors 70 plus with underlying health issues can't get a vaccine but anyone regardless health conditions can't get a vaccine. the doctor of long-term medicine says we have to advocate for those who don't have a voice. >> a lot of states and counties have been doing the best they can, and i'm hopeful that in the coming weeks the new administration which has been much more transparent will improve this system. >> reporter: okay, question number three. i haven't had the flu vaccine since the mid-1960s. two times i ended up with high temps, 103 and 104 degrees within hours of a shot. what do you suggest i do? would i do better with one

rather than the other? and the answer, a reaction to a vaccine is normal according to doctors because it means your body is responding to the vaccine. and that vaccine is working for you. now, health experts say there should be no reason for anyone not to get the vaccine especially older people because if you get the coronavirus there is a fairly high risk of dying. now, as i mentioned we have hundreds of questions. most people want to know how to get a vaccine. the answer is be persistent and register everywhere you can. the county, the state, your health provider. also it's usually better i was told to call, pick up the phone to get an appointment rather than just accepting whatever is available online. so we have information on vaccine registration for every bay area county and the major health systems at abc7news.com. and we have more questions coming up at 6:00. >> all right, lyanne, thank you.

check out this scene last night in seattle with hundreds rushing to the center in washington. this was around midnight because they learned the moderna vaccine was suddenly being made available to whoever wanted it no matter what their age. a freezer at a community hospital broke down around 9:00, so some 1600 doses of the vaccine were at risk of being wasted. >> so i put out the bat call, and we arrived like i said within an hour and a half. and we just have a lot of people who care a lot and very passionate about making sure the community gets vaccinated. the found it on twitter.n >> in minutes officials put a plan in place to distribute the vaccine. they organized two locations to administer the doses. that started around 11:00 p.m. and they got the word out appointments were available. and when you look at the lines, you can see their process certainly worked. by midnight lines stretched

around the buildings keeping the vaccine from being wasted. abc 7 news here we are monitoring the covid vaccine rollout in california with our vaccine tracker at abc7news.com. and as of yesterday the state had administered nearly 65% of the vaccine doses that were shipped here. >> storm impact now. developing news on the monterey county coast where a part of highway 1 is closed indefinitely after it washed into the ocean during this week's storm. check out the drone video of the area known as rat creek. it had been closed before the storm and a chp officer patrolling the area noticed yesterday afternoon that part of the roadway had just fallen off into the ocean. by early this morning the entire section was gone. >> would just encourage anybody who has heard about this incident prior to this to refrain from coming down here. we do have closures in place. that's for your safety and to give cal trans the ability to do their job.

>> engineers are assessing the situation. in 2017 a slide closed a stretch of the big sir coastline for more than a year. >> i remember it well. relief in california. money coming from the state to help those who are struggling to pay their rent in this pandemic. plus bay area businesses opening back up. we'll tell you h we are the thrivers. women with metastatic breast cancer,... ...standing in the struggle. hustling through the hurt. asking for science, not sorrys. our time... ...for more time... ...has come. living longer is possible- and proven in women taking kisqali plus fulvestrant or a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor. kisqali is the only treatment in its class

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proven to help women live longer in 2 clinical trials. california's key metrics with the coronavirus remain on the right path. there were more than 19,000 newly diagnosed cases today, which is below the daily average for the past week. the seven day positivity rate is at 7.4%. a week ago it was at 8.9%. this is good indicator of the transmission rate of the virus. right now 15,700 people are

hospitalized. due to covid-19 last friday it was nearly 19,000. in the south bay it's been averaging 6,600 doses a day and officials say they have all the infrastructure in place to do more, but there's one big problem. >> the bottom line is we have the ability to give the vaccines. what we don't have are enough vaccines provided to us. >> santa clara county says it has roughly 6,000 people with appointments to get their shots over the next week. it remains the epicenter in the bay area for the coronavirus surpassing 100,000 cases this week. this weekend park marks the anniversary of the first covid-19 case in santa clara county. >> good news, help on the way for california representers that have been hit really hard by the pandemic. this morning governor newsom signed legislation extending the state's eviction moratorium and setting aside more than $2.5 billion to pay back rent. one of the people who was a part of this morning's event was a

mother of three whose family has been hit so hard by covid-19, really struggling to make ends meet, and she got emotional expressing her gratitude. >> my kids are in university, and i wanted them to get better life. i wanted them to be better than me and my husband. and with this help we're going to get it. thank you so much. >> the current moratorium was set to expire this coming monday. it'll now run through the end of june. a gym in san ramon adjusting to the current pandemic regulations. they've setup an outdoor gym which they opened today. indoor gyms of course are closed. so 24 hour fitness moved their operation outdoors. they setup 8,200 square feet of work out space, 60 pieces of equipment in there. you've got a roof, was, ar ndim stay dry. members who tried out the new space today say they like it, thumbs up. >> the fact they put this up it

looked like in about 24 hours, it's great for the community. >> it took us all day yesterday. so we started about 8:00 a.m., we finished up about 6:00 p.m. we probably have around 60 to 70 pieces of equipment. >> 24 hour fitness says they'll keep this setup until june so members have the option to use if they want and assess the

driving into today i saw blue skies. >> i thought you were going to say i saw you driving too fast. >> that too but we don't need to share that with everyone, do we? >> it was a little faster because the roads are drying up finally, spencer. >> yes, they are. and we're so excited about those blue skies. i'm going to start with our regular friday feature of our travel forecast and shows the bay area airports who will have partly to mostly cloudy skies tomorrow, but there will be some breaks of sun, light drizzle,

temperatures ranging from 57 to 59 degree. if you're traveling to some of these popular destinations like honolulu you'll find some sun as well. chicago has snow with a high of 34 and los angeles sunny and 60, sunny and sexy at 60. here's a look at our live doppler 7, mainly clear skies right now and dry conditions for a change. that may not last very long, though. here a view from sutro tower. low 50s at mountain view, san jose, morgan hill and half moon bay. and the view from emreville, clouds are increasing slightly right now. temperatures in the low to mid-50s at santa rosa, novato and napa. go to the forecast features as mt. tam gives us a view down onto the bay. we can expect light rain and showers in the north bay this weekend. that's in the north bay now. more widespread rain and

steadier rin will develop monday and tuesday, and we can expect dry, mild and sunny weather by the middle of n week heur forecast 5:00 tomorrow theweekend. they'lbeather w ain the pio of wet weather during the weekend up in the north bay. rainfall totals will be rather light, only a few hundredths of an inch in most locations, and again that's confined to the north bay. on we go to overnight conditions. we could expect low temperatures to drop into the upper 30s in our inland valleys mainly low 40s right around the bay shoreline and coast. tomorrow's highs will be mid-50s around the coast and not much higher only mid to upper 50s around the bay and inland. and now we bring in the storm impact scale for that monday, tuesday storm which will bring us light to moderate rainfall, and monday is going to be quite

a wet and messy day, a little breezy at times as well. and that way we'll continue into tuesday before it tapers off. once it tapers off, we can expect quite a change in our weather pattern. here's the accuweather seven day forecast. periods of sun and clouds over the weekend again with showers limited to the north bay. monday and tuesday more widespread rainfall. it'll be heavier and steadier at times. then on wednesday the skies clear much like today, and then thursday and friday of next week we expect sunny skies and mild and dry conditions with high temperatures around 60 degrees in the bay, near the bay and inland on thursday and friday, and mid-50s on the coast. so we've got a little bit of everything in the accuweather seven day forecast there. >>

- i'm norm. - i'm szasz. [norm] and we live in columbia, missouri. we do consulting, but we also write. [szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it's important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

as we reported this week one of the 44 schools in san francisco slated to have a name change is diane feinstein elementary. it was a decision made by the school board because in finestein replaced a confederate flag at city hall after a protester took it down several times. that protester now lives in south carolina. abc 7 reporter lyanne melendez

asked him to weigh in on the controversial move by the school board. >> reporter: richard bradley never thought these black and white pictures would resurface 37 years later. it shows him cliebing the flagpole with the end result of taking down the confederate flag. full disclosure it was one of 18 flags in city hall used to signify the different stages of american history. after bradley took the flag down, then mayor diane feinstein ordered the confederate flag be flown again. she eventually changed her mind. one school board member is hinting perhaps a school be named after him. who is richard bradley i asked on tv. if mr. bradley is out there, please reach out to me. i'd love to talk to you about what you've done here in san francisco. he called us. hi, mr. bradley. thank you for joining us. you now live in south carolina. you're 70 years old, and you just told me that you would

climb any pole again at your age if it meant taking down the confederate flag. >> yes, i will. >> and tell mehat does it repre? >> the ugliness of the world that we live in. >> let me get to the point here. should the name diane feinstein be removed from that school because she ordered the flag to be replaced even after you took it down not once but three times? >> she certainly should have her name removed from that school. she does not represent what makes the people happy and what's good in this world we live in or in san francisco. >> reporter: yet the flag was there when george musconny was mayor of san francisco before feinstein. he did not take it down and yet there's a school named after him and the board is not removing his name. bradley says moscone's name

should be taken down. one of the board members suggested perhaps we name a school after you, mr. bradley. do you think you're worthy of having a school named after you? >> i certainly do. i believe in helping the kids and having the kids have something to look up to, that they can represent and the kids will be happy. >> and any words for the school board? >> we have to keep students in this country we live in looking forward and looking at what represents them and what's good for america. >> thank you, mr. bradley, for reaching out to me. >> and thank you very much. >> and that was the conversation with lyanne melendez. a lot of cable companies gave customers discounts last year because everyone was working from home. >> but now for these companies back to business as usual, the costs are going back up. details on what you can expect from consumer reports.

>> reporter: if you subscribe to at&t's direct tv or uverse, charter's spectrum internet or comcast internet and you're not in a promotional or introductory contract you may be seeing a higher cable or internet bill this new year. >> it's becoming a common thing for companies to raise prices. . at&t customer whose have direct tv and u-verse tv service saw the price hikes in january. an increase for some charter customers with spectrum internet already went into effect. in comcast internet and cable customers will also be paying more. >> comcast is boosting add on fees as well. broadcast tv fees are going up by as much as $4.50 $4.50 $4.500 reinstat were

suspended early daypand lock d many people were working and going to school from home. >> with data caps you get a certain amount of data with your monthly plan. if you exceed that amount, then you could get hit with overage charges, or you might find your download speeds are slowing down. >> reporter: but there's one bright spot for consumers, a new law in effect requires cable and satellite tv companies to disclose the total monthly price of your bill whu you sign-up. that includes all charges, fees and estimated taxes. the law also bans those companies for charging you represental fees for equipment like a router you prvide yourself. i'm mickle finny, 7 on your side. >> if your frustrated by price hikes you can always contact your internet or service provider, and usually they'll work with you to lower the bill a bit. and if you're considering cutting cable, maybe switching to streaming check out consumer

reports streaming service guide. an east bay non-profit has come up with a purr-fect purr-ft our abc 7 news east bay journalist melissa pixcar has the story from dublin. >> these are cats, they are robotics and come in a variety of colors. they purr and move their heads, open and close their eyes. they are very realistic. >> hope hospice is non-profit in dublin, and we serve the greater tri-valley area. so we provide service said for a variety of hospice appropriate patients. the majority happen to be dementia patients. unfortunately with the on set of covid back in march we've discovered that our living with dementia patients are feeling a bunch of different things. there's a lot of confusion.

there's a lot of agitation that's associated with that. aong with the loneliness and social isolation. >> we purchased our first 20 cats from joy for all companion pets. the decision behind purchasing the pets was kind of a pivotal program from the volunteer department, and they have proved extremely successful with the patients. >> our hope is that these little connections that our living with dementia patients can make with some of these pets are creating little moments of joy. we know we can't completely get rid of the social isolation but we can take little opportunities we find to create moments of joy for them in their lives. >> at first glance i thought the cat was real. >> absolutely. all right, you know what? we want to thank you for joining us today on abc 7 news at 5:00.

>> we'll see you for abc 7 news at 6:00 and always on our abc where can a healthier heart lead you? for people with heart failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. entresto helped people stay alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto.

or high blood potassium. do you have cheese? of course, more cheese for less chedder in our dairy. do you have kale? absolutely! more kale for less cabbage in our produce section. how about pizza? yep, more pizz... more pizza for less dough in the freezer section? now you're getting the hang of it. more milk? for less moolah.

tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. news on what very well could be the third covid vaccine soon available for americans. tonight, how does it compare to the pfizer and moderna vaccines? how effective is it? johnson & johnson releasing its results today. this time this is a single shot vaccine. faster to produce and easier to store. they say it is 66% effective at preventing moderate disease. that compares to about 95% effective for pfizer and moderna against moderate disease. still, authorities calling this a powerful new weapon, and johnson & johnson saying it is 100% effective against hospitalizations and deaths. so dr. jha is standing by to brk n. also news tonight on the mutations, the coronavirus variants in this country, and why the new head of the cdc is now saying every new case in the