>> announcer: building a better bay area, for a safe and secure future, this is abc 7 news. hi, there. i'm krinlts sze. well to our daily program called "getting answers." we're asking experts your questions at 3:00 every day to get answers for you in realtime. so, again, you know what to do, get on facebook live on the live stream if you want to put in questions for us. because today we begin with the cdc finding that double masking offers more protection against covid-19. this has been a hotly debated topic recently, with the more contagious variants taking hold in the u.s. so joining us now to talk about this and other latest news with regard to covid-19 is ucsf infectious disease specialist dr. peter chin-hong. dr. chin-hong thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on,

kristen. >> absolutely. before we get to masks, i want to ask you about the finding of the south african variant in the bay area now confirmed new news today in two separate counties, two cases. tell us about that. >> so i think it's a bit chilling, you know i was okay with the uk variant -- well relatively okay, meaning that it just had one superpower, which was increasing in transmissibility by as much as 50%. but the south african variant, which actually has two superpowers, which is not only to increase transmissibility but potentially to decrease vaccine efficacy. not so much pfizer and but others down the road, like astrazenica and nova vaks. johnsonance john. >> so far it's just the one in case in alameda and but i imagine the true case is higher

than that and growing quickly, too. >> yes, we only do less than 1% geno typing of all isolates. is. so to find these two it the tip of the ice rk. >> if you have questions with regard to masks for the doctor put them on facebook live. but i'm going on. because the new research seems the double masking can help in certain situations. tell us what it says beyond the headline that two masks may be better than one. >> there are several pare pearls about the study, it's done in the laboratory, it's not clinical research. it's not on humans. you have to take it with a grain of salt. but my take-home points are really that a well-fitted mask that does the trick is better than an ill fitting mask. that's the main thing. of course wearing a mask is better than not wearing a mask. sounds simple but not everyone is doing that.

and the more people that wear masks the better it is for transmissibility. but to tril down to the findings of the study, you know, you have two aspects of a mask you want, which is fit and function, the two fs. doing a double mask would do that trick. >> would you put it on for us, because i think what they are talking about is having the surgical first and then the cloth mask over it, right? is that because surgical, even though the material is good at filtering you get gaps on the side and around the nose. is that why? >> so, yeah, it depends on the shape of your head. my head is more rebust, actually there aren't many -- some accuse me of having custom made surgical masks which doesn't make sense. but for some people it may introduce a lot of barrier -- you know, holes where virus can sneak in theoretically, at least in the mannequins. this is for fit -- function,

sorry. filtration and this is for fit. >> got it. with the extra cloth mask you get the tighter fit. that way you breathe through the fabricd wto thech side with the gaps a unfilt reported. okay. they did find that if you didn't have that top layer, the cloth if you just had the surgical, if you did the loop around the ear, that achieve the same effect of a tighter fit rb, right. look at you. >> i just tied a little knot here. >> okay. >> but like i said my face is robust. it's like tightly fitting jeans. i'm putting one in here. >> um-hum. >> putting the the other here. and i'm tucking it in under the chin. so it's a really snug fit. >> um-hum. and this does the job. >> as the double masking is much more comfortable. >> now, interesting, in the report today, the cdc said if you do it the right way like you are showing, that filters out

95% of the particles. is that equal to an n 95 in effectiveness. >> this is like the tesla of masks. but with the tesla of masks it comes with disadvantages. first of all it smells weird. it's a little bit suffocating and uncomfortable to wear. >> yeah. >> but we use it a lot in the hospital. >> okay. what about the newer kf 94s and then the kn 95s, certainly both more available than the n-95s. what is that kn 95. >> this is kn-95. it's essentially like an n-95. the k means that it's not been -- all of them haven't been certified by the fda for eua. and it's made in china generally. and there are a lot of

counterfeit. if you are getting a kn-95 make sure it's reputable. you can tell because it's beak-like. >> i find the difference between that and n-95 is it doesn't have the total seal, the supertight fit around the face. is there something you can do to that mask to give you the tighter fit for the more protection. >> you can draw on what we learned from the cdc guidance and maybe tie a little knot here. >> okay. >> and make it more snugly fit. so that would be the -- the secret. the k f-94 is essentially the korean version of this. none of themville really been certified but they are around 94%. >> alex ka hewna has a question. some people say a mask doesn't affect your breathing. but i say it does. so, you know, he says i definitely cannot wear two. that is a problem with two, especially with regard to the cotton ones like doubling up on

cotton cloth ones. >> yeah, i have two cloth masks right now. i'm just putting it on and see how it feels. i mean, it definitely feels a little bit more suffocating. >> um-hum. >> so, you know, even for myself -- i remember somebody made one for me that was a double layer of cloth early in the pandemic and it was a little bit difficult for me to wear. actually i find the surgical masks super-comfortable. it doesn't smell. you can modify it and it's one stop shopping. france, germany, these countries have recommended these as alternatives in the general population, indoor and transit. >> okay. so where would be the situations that we might encounter daily where you might say, hey, put on the two masks and where would you say, hey, it's fine to wear the one. >> so, again, being a glass half full kind of person, i would say

the ones you wouldn't want to wear masks supertight fitting or double mask whatever, would be outdoors, you're in golden gate park, not a lot of people around, walking on the street, not a lot of people around and outdoors, it's a nice san francisco wind. air-conditioning naturally as we put it. but on the converse, risky situations would be you're indoors. it's an atmospheric sort of hole in the wall. you are kind of waiting for your, i don't know artisanal japanese food. and it's not superbusy but it's crowded. you want to be more protected. i think it's a good idea to make sure you have the right protection then. >> dr. chin-hong we'll take a break on the air and come back and address other questions vaccines variants and more. on facebook live right now we'll ask

water break. okay we have four minutes. and we are back with infectious disease special itist of ucsf dr. peter chin-hong. now we learned about double masking. i want to talk about the vaccine. johnson & johnson, which has a vaccine waiting approval in the u.s. right now says we may need to get yearly vaccinations. did i hear that right? they think after the pandemic is over? is that what we're talking about? >> well it all depends on whether or not we have a variant that becomes dominant. because the j.en j vaks. there are two issues with vaccines in general. how long do regular antibodies last and it there is a variant. if there is a variant you need to make a different formula.

and that is more likely what they're talking about. >> but we shouldn't panic, right, because i'm assuming even though now we have the shortage of vaccines now, when we get to that point, it's like we would make them and it would be fine, just like the flu shots, right? >> yes. >> okay. >> the other take-home point is that even though some of the other vaccines may not prevent infection in terms of vaerpts we all know they prevent serious disease. it may just be that you have a bad case of the flu. >> another headline i is a you that caught my eye is that there are some reports of people who have had lip or face fillers getting a bad reaction to the vaccine. what do we know about that? >> jae, so in the modern aivr vaccine trial, not pfizer, there were 3 out of 15,000 had inflammatory reaction of the lip fillers. so that's not specific to vaccines. actually we have seen people like that with other nrvegss like the flu or with other vaccines, not just the covid

vaccine. they all went away. nobody needed to be hospitalized and the lips became normal. >> got it. that's good. nothing big to worry about there. what about the headline on whether it's safe to take pain killers before or after getting the vaks. ? what does the data show there? >> the controversy comes from kid or pediatric data showing in one study there might have been lower antibody response after pain killers or fever reducing agents. but subsequent larger studies debunked that. you know, personally, it probably doesn't matter. but if you had to choose it, i wouldn't take it before. i would just take it after. >> good to know. look, we talked about how the variants are causing a lot of worry. certainly the south africa variant that being discovered in the bay area and probably more contagious. are vaccines being given out too slowly here in california to prevent the next wave from the

variants taking hold? >> i think it's a little bit slower than what my comfort level is. i would kind of -- i know they are getting faster. we're about close to 10% now californians vaccinated. but the -- we really need to be faster than that. not keeping second doses, just giving everyone that first shot as fast as possible. >> the other thing i want to ask you is right now there are a lot of schools debating how to reopen. and some school districts are pegging teacher vaccinations to the reopening criteria and others are not. others are saying what tier it's in. what does the science suggest? >> the science suggests that it doesn't really require vaccinations to create a safe environment. you know, i worked in a hospital for pretty much a year without a vaccination. but specifically around schools,

under 9, 2% of the transmissions in the u.s. under 20, you know, additional 4%. the main trend is transmissions between 20 appear 50 years old. so very little transmissions in kids. zero teachers in wisconsin, a cdc study got it from schools when people wore masks. >> all right. important numbers to look at as the school districts make decisions. dr. peter chin-hong, thank you so much as always. great information and good to see you. talk again soon. take care. >> thanks so much, kristen. we'll take a short break on the air.

shortly. and welcome back. we want to share with you that governor gavin newsom held a news conference earlier today in fresno where they opened up a mother vaccination site. starting with news with all the the variants in california, including here in the bay area. >> we have 30 state again onlyics labs do be isolate testing over 12,000 isolates have been sequenced in the state

of california. we currently as i speak to you, we have 159 identifiable cases of the uk variant in the state. we have 1203 identifiable west coast variants in the state. there are two types of west coast variants. i said yesterday that we had not identified any brazilian variants. and that's true. yesterday, i also said we hadn't identified any south african variants. that's no longer true. as of a few hours ago, we have the first reported cases of south african variants. two cases have been reported through stanford. one in alameda county and one in santa clara county. so two variants that we identify as south african variants now are in the state of california. so i say that to make the point, tremendous progress, 50,000 cases down to 8,000 cases.

14% positivecy now down blow 5% positivity. isolation issues related to ics and hospitalizations trending and moving in the right direction allowed to us lift that stay at home order in the state. and now we're continuing to progress people through these tiers. yesterday we announced more counties moving out of that purple tier. and we anticipate within a week or two even more counties moving as that will force a rather -- or rather allow for the reconstitution of opportunities for businesses to open with more capacity and as the mayor rightfully said, to get our kids back in school. a top priority for all of us, particularly parents like myself with four young kids. update briefly on schools, we are working with the legislator on a 6.6 billion-dollar early action package. progress is being made as i said yesterday. i maintain confidence that we will announce a deal as early as

friday with the legislature. that will allow our youngest cohoerts to return safely to school, starting with kindergarten to second grade and ultimately get cohoerts up to sixth grade at least in the first phase. we continue to make progress in terms of not only the negotiations but school reopening but also on more small business relief. i noted just yesterday that we closed the door on the second round of applications for state grants that were providing 5 to $25,000 for small businesses. that was part of a half billion-dollar appropriation we are looking to triple that and do more with the legislator. hoping as early as next week to move early action in that space. that will provide billions of dollars in direct grants and aid to not only our small businesses but also provide support for non-profits and cultural institutions here in the state. so a lot of activity working

with the legislature. a lot of energy and most of the progress will manifest with early votes as westerly we hope as next tuesday and later into the week, the end of next week. now let me come back to central valley. let's talk specifically about where we are. i had the privilege of meeting an 85-year-old former farm worker who just received her second pfizer shot. here with her husband as well. she represents now the fifth -- or rather 5 millionth person that's now been vaccinated in the state of california. we have kroshd the threshold of 5 million people vaccinated. i want to put that in perspective. on friday of last week we announced 225,000 vaccinations over 24-hour reporting period. that represented 4 million mark in less than a week we now reached 5 million. it took us about seven days to go from 3 million to 4 million.

you get a sense of the processing that is being made. this fly wheel in terms of the distribution, application, administration of the vaccine pl. real progress is being made. we announced new vaccination sites just this week, up and down the state of california. last week a partnership with fema and california office of emergency service and the biden administration, two sites, one cal state, l.a., one site in northern california. oakland coliseum, focused exclusively on the should have of equity. geofencing, the geographic areas in and around sites to make sure underserved and underrepresented communities get their fair access and distribution of these vaccines. our commitment to equity is not rhetorical. it's real. but let me make it crystal clear from all the reporting at county level and state will be putting out the aggregate of the county data later into this week as it

relates to demographics, we are falling short of our goals. of making sure that the we truly are being equitable in the distribution, administration of this vaccine. i am proud of fresno county. i'm proud of the mayor. i'm proud of the supervisors, proud of the assembly member senator, proud of your congressman for their commitment, not passing interest to the issue of equity. it was noted a moment ago, a pilot project, 3 plus thousand farm workers that have had vaccine administered in a pilot that's now just concluded. we are committed to working with the biden administration to land on a date. because i know you want a date for when we have a mass vaccination site here in the valley and a location. when we have that information i'll provide it. when you ask me, i'll repeat what i just said. when we have that information, we will provide it. our commitment, our resolve to provide you that support is

real. we've had had very advanced conversations with the administration. that's why we are confident in socializing that effort. and we are making sure that we do it in a timely manner. but we're not waiting. today we're also announcing an effort to take our opt up serve sites -- we have 20 throughout the state of california that have been doing a lot of testing on the basis of equity. and the first opt up serve site now for vaccinations will be at your city college in the next few days. and, again, focused on equity. so this is the beginning of an effort to streamline, to focused, to reenergize this equity lens, working the farm worker community, working with small which is, large business. thank you forest farms for their efforts to vaccinate over 1,000 of their staff. which they did quite efficiently in this last week. but we have to do more. one of the areas where we're

seeing progress is two. we're seeing now commitment from the biden administration not only on larger mass vaccination sites but a commitment to community clinics, which are the back bone of the health care delivery system here in the valley. the administration yesterday announced upwards of 1 million directly allocated vaccines to community clinics. that also help the valley in terms of access and distribution in a culturely competent way to those most in need. they're starting around half a million next week and they'll get up to a million of which california will receive roughly 10% of that allocation. accordingly, we are about to receive 10% of another 1 million dose allocation. and that's directly to pharmacies here in the state of california. this does not come out of our broader allocation and supply. the partnership, again, the biden administration with some of our largest pharmacy chains

here in the state of california, 100 pharmacies are part of that project as well. again, focused on equity, focused on census tracks, underserved communities. we also last week announced 110 community-based organizations receiving tens of millions of dollars in grants, in language, peer to peer, trusted messenger strategies to help deliver the message of the efficacy and safety of these vaccines. many of those community-based organizations located not only here in fwres know proper but in the entire region and in the valley. and so that commitment will continue. this is just the beginning. this is not the end. there is no having made it when it comes to vaccines. but i will make this note, because it's important. a week ago you had 8,000 vaccines into this county. this week you have over 19,000 vaccine into this county. >> all right.

that was governor gavin newsom this morning in

you want to join us tomorrow here at 3:00 for a special townhall on racism and alliship in the wake of a rash of violent attacks caught on camera against asian-americans here in the bay area. my colleague, jobina fortson will join me as we have a conversation with special guest actor daniel wu who put up a $25,000 reward along with actor daniel day kim and comedian camel bell host of united shades of america joining us for the special conversation. as you know, they've been supporting each other on social media in talking about how to inspire people to work together. so you'll definitely want to

join us tomorrow here at 3:00 on getting answers. in the meantime thank you for joining us today on this tonight, t chilling images revealed late today in the second impeachment trial of former president trump. never before seen video of the deadly riots at the capitol. house managers presenting graphic images of that day. much of it from security video from capitol police. showing the mob of trump supporters storming the capitol building at the very moment congress was working to certify the election. the secret service rushing former vice president mike pence and his family from the senate chamber to an undisclosed location. the mob yelling, "hang mike pence" and "fight for trump." the mob searching for house speaker nancy pelosi as she was being evacuated. the haunting moment they call her name in the hallways, with her staff hiding under a desk in a locked room, as rioters ransacked her office. officer eugene goodman seen rushing senator