>> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe appear secure future. this is abc 7 news. hi, there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." we're asking experts your questions everyday at 3:00 to get answers in realtime. today we talk to a ucsf doctor about reopening schools. and and we'll discuss rush limbaugh who died earlier today. but first the massive swarm crippling a large swath of the question, especially texas where millions have been without power or water door for day ps. spencer christian joins us to explain this and what other phenomenon may be headed our way in the future. but first let's explore this story with a woman who lived in the bay area, a chef and mother

of three joins us live from plano about 20 mills outside of dallas. do i have that right, kristina. >> got it all right. >> it's great to see you. i can see you have the big turtle neck switer there. i can only imagine you must be cold. you were worshipping at a chef instructor in san mateo before moving to texas, right? >> yes, that's correct. i moved in 2008. i was there a few months. and then family emergency, i had to move to texas. i've been here ever since. >> the weather in texas quite different from here but you didn't expect anything like this certainly. it's been three long freezing days. we're hearing of mass power outages, health emergencies, animals freezing to death. people not getting food or gas. but what is your situation? >> my situation as of now, we haven't left the house since sunday. we have -- we're completely i don't want to say snowed in

because compared to other states we're not snowed in. but everything is iced over. we had frozen pipes the first day. we were lucky enough to put some space heaters on the pipes between outside and inside the garage and we got water going. and my neighborhood, my street was one of the few streets that didn't have blackouts. i've been pretty lucky so far. but, you know, i'm lucky enough to have a gas stove and fireplace so we've been able to keep warm on that side. >> well, that is good. i mean, my cousin who is not far away in katie said he had to gather up the kids and sleep by the fireplace, because the fire, and gathering wood somewhere, is all he could do. did you have the experience as well, the campfire in the living room. >> the kids are having a ball because we don't turn on the fireplace that often. now it's on around the afternoon

hours it's definitely something they like to enjoy. we snuggle up to it around in the evening and watch tv. >> one good thing is we were talking -- you told me that neighbors are helping neighbors like we see in the bay area after emergencies. you're putting your chef skills to use. >> yes. i'm in this facebook group called mommies of hunter's glenn, my neighborhood. i put out i'm a executive chef by profession. i'm lucky enough to have power. and i have a gas stove. and i offered to cook meals if they had food that was going to spoil, let me know what they needed. but i've been -- we've all been taking care of each other over the last few days. >> it looks like you're in your kitchen. are you cooking right now? getting ready for delivery. >> i am, actual in my kitchen. but, no, i haven't gotten any -- i haven't gotten any emergency

911s to cook yet. still waiting. >> one last question. you probably experienced rolling blackouts and earthquakes in california. how does this compare? >> i'm sorry. i didn't see your question. could you repeat that. >> when you were in california you probably experienced rolling blackouts and also earthquakes. i'm wondering, how does this compare? >> i think this is -- you know, here in plano, north texas, we experience a lot of tornado warnings, so it's definitely -- it's definitely something that we learn from, because we don't experience blackouts that often here versus when i used in the bay area. it's just a matter of really getting used to it and adapting every day, every day that goes by. >> i'm very thankful that at least have access to clean water and you do have that natural gas stove and able to cook. that's better a lot of people, kristina norwood, thanks for

that. thanks for joining us today. >> thank you. >> now we want to bring in our weather anchor spencer christian to talk about this big weather picture. spencer, glad you were able to make the time today. i want to ask you, the polar vortex that's put the country in the deep freeze. is this a once in a decade event, once in a generation, longer than that. >> the sudden very southward plunge of the polar vortex is once in a decade or generation. but the polar vortex and movement down into the north central u.s. is not terribly unusual. let me start by explaining what the polar vortex is. i'm not a the climateologist. but i have to study to do my job. the polar vortex is a large area in the upper atmosphere of ultracold air and rotates over the north pole. and occasionally if something unusual happens up in the upper atmosphere, like an unusual warming or shift in the typical

movement, circulation, it can literally squeeze the polar vortex in such a way that that umbreit cold air plunges downward and pushes southward in the north central u.s., northeastern u.s., part of europe and asia. in in case, this once in a decade event, the supercold air plunged deep to the southern part of the u.s., texas and gulf coast, area that is rarely see this weather event. that's happening right now. typically when the polar vortex plunges southward in the north central and northeastern u.s. we get events that last two or three days. for an event like this with subzero temperatures and ice storms to hit southern texas and last for days at a time, that's a generational occurrence. >> right. i mean when you get a few events outside of the norm, you know, that is to be expected. >> right. >> but when you get a lot more

of them a lot more frequency, more intensity, then we're talking about what is the relationship to climate change, spencer, right? >> right and that's what the experts in climatology are studying right now they attribute this event we're talking about right now in part to just random natural occurrences in the atmosphere. but also in part to human caused climate change. as the atmosphere gets warmer we're likely to see climateologists more and more of these unusual events that used to be generational occurring perhaps every other year or maybe every winter, because that's the effect that a warming planet has on the development -- the movement of air masses, the warming of air playmasses and t development of extreme weather events. >> what other events do you think we might see in the future happen more frequently as a result of climate change? like, i was reading somewhere that we could see more

turbulence flying because of that as well. what are some of the things we may be aware of but that are very real. >> i'm glad you touched owner turbulence. as i did fly a lot prior to covid restrictions. i know a lot of pilots. they've been talking for a decade or longer about the frequent occurrence of turbulence in their typical flight patterns because of the warmer planet. as the atmosphere gets warmer it causes more sudden and more frequent shifts in what we call the typical pattern, the typical flow of air, causing more turbulence. but other things we might expect are things happening right now. pro longed periods of extreme weather, the duration of the extreme storms is greater now the planet is warmer. prolong droughts, prolonged wildfire seasons and even in

grab-growing regions. i love win wine so i have connections in grape-growing regions not only in california but italy and france. and areas that are growing grapes for years and years are experiencing for century longer summers, longer growing seasons, warmer growing seasons. the grapes are getting ripe sooner than they usually would, producing higher natural sugar, higher natural alcohol. wine makers, grape growers are looking for recentlies farther north where it's not so mot. >> spencer, we have about 30 seconds. i don't want this to be a no, duh because i think there is more layers than saying just be kinder to the environment. but what can we do individually and collectively given all the things that are coming and will come more intensely if we don't do something? >> yeah, well obviously we can stop doing things that leave a

large carbon footprint, stop burning fossil fuels and look for way foss -- alternative forms of energy to fossil fuels and to carbon-releasing fuels. >> all right. >> that's the big thing. >> and sooner rather than later. doesn't seem to be any time to waste. thank you for the insight. really appreciate it. >> yes. coming up next we'll take a closer look at covid-19, specifically reopening schools. you know the cdc just issued guidelines. what does that mean for us in the bay area? we'll ta

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and best practices with regard to kids and the impact on kids of all the closures. all right. the cdc last week announced the long awaited school reopening guidelines. offering a blueprint for risk mitigation, making the overall conclusion that there are ways

to reopen safely regardless of a vaccine. so we want to learn more about the details. ucsf emergency care physician dr. jean noble joins us live. thanks for making the time. >> thanks for having me. >> absolutely. so the cdc guidelines they seem to suggest kids and keecho teachers can go back safely following, you know, certain things, keeping certain things in mind and practice, masking, physical distancing, hand washing and respiratory etiquette. contact tracing and building cleaning ventilation. is that reasonable. >> it's completely reasonable. we've been in the pandemic over a years. we've had time to get the mitt galgs layers hammered out. the cdc has come forward with guidance for schools and time to get the schools open. >> i've heard criticism on both sides with some saying the guidelines make it too hard for schools to reopen while others say it's too easy to open prematurely and recklessly.

which argument has data on the side. >> the guidelines, the principal criticism is they peg reopening to community prevailens for seventh through 12th fwrader. they say k through 6th grade can open at any level of community prevailens as long as safety mitigation layers are in place, the ones you mentioned. seventh through 12th graders are advised to go to virtual or distance learning at the higher rates when the rates are poevr 14 a day per 100,000 population. and there is where i think the data does not support the guidelines. so the data is certainly there to operate schools regardless of community prevailens. we had the largest and highest quality data set released by duke university back in january. they followed 90,000, k through 12 students. 10,000 teachners north carolina when community prevailens. covid in the commune was quite high. over 29 daily cases per 100,000.

during thirteen weeks of study there were just 32 cases. so tiny amount of school-based transmission. that tells us that schools can be operated safely if those layers of risk mitigation are in place, namely, masking, distancing and hand washing. the cdc holding back middle schoolers and high schoolers can beo, keeping them in virtual distance learning at the highest rates is where they are sort of not following the data. the rest of it, delinking community prevailens and reopening is what the data tells us we should do. >> interesting. so that seems to suggest that you do not actually have to wait until we get into the red or orange or, you know, yellow tier to reopen. but at the same time, you have here in san francisco where the deal that was struck between the school board and teachers is not only are they tying it to the community spread level, the tiers, the colors, right? the teachers say red.

but only if they're all vaccinated and orange if they're not. so talk about that, that needing that vaccine piece to be there as well as what you already just said didn't need to be there. >> right. and on this point the cdc was very clear. teacher vaccination is not a prerequisite for returning to in-person learning. and that's simply because all of this grate data on schools being able to operate safely predates our vaccines. so the north carolina data, there is similar data from wisconsin and mississippi. none of these teachers were vaccinated and very, very low levels of school-based covid transmission. the problem, everybody wants teachers vaccinated as soon as possible. the problem in making it a prerequisite is that would close out the rest of the school year for many, many children. we don't have adequate vaccines supplies to get all of our teachers vaccinated before the end of the year. and that would mean schools couldn't operate. and the safety data is just not

there to say that that's necessary. >> okay. well let's talk about the reasons why we don't want to necessarily take the zero-risk approach. safest is of course no going to school. we're talking about making it safer or as safe as possible. because what is the downside to keeping things closed, not having school, right, from a physical, emotional and mental health aspect for the kids? >> right. that's a great question. so it's not as if this is, you know, schools are the only place that children are at risk. in fact covid is not primarily a childhood disease. it's really about teacher risk, not child risk when we talk about opening schools. the dangerous of keeping schools closed are deteriorating mental health for our add lessants we have alarming data from our emergency department in oakland as well as san francisco. we have seen a 66% increase in the number of kids coming with recent or active thoughts of suicide. we have seen a doubling in the

number of adolescents hospitalized for eating disorders. a 75% increase in the number of kids coming in for mental health services who require emergency immediate hospitalizations. the signs of crises are there in terms of the mental health of our children, particularly our middle schoolers and high schoolers. so keeping schools closed for the remainder of the year is just going to worsen that damage. >> let's say you see a child who is suffering, and the damage in terms of the mental health, depressed right now. are those effects reversible, once we get out of the pandemic. >> yeah, that's a great question. there is a lot of data to suggest that social isolation in childhood, particularly in adolescents can lead to lichlg harm. so social isolation -- tends to predict high blood pressure, obesity, depression, lifelong health problems. the longer that social isolation

continues, the more long-lasting those problems in what we call a dose/response relationship. so it's concerning. and we also know that any traumatic event in childhood can have repercussions for the rest of one's life. a child who is hospitalized after a suicide attempt is likely to have post traumatic stress disorder just from that hospitalization and that whole event for the rest of their lives. the sooner we put an end to the crisis, the better. >> i want to ask for your opinion on youth sports, right? are they safer or more dangerous in general than maybe going to a classroom and sitting in that classroom while learning for hours? because i've heard both side. people who say, look, most of the ports are outdoors, not together as long. maybe give them that if you can't give them the return to the classroom experience. but others say that's an extra, that's not core. why take that risk? what's your assessment? >> so being outdoors carries

about one 20th the rate of koivd infection. so outdoor sports can be done very, very safely just because the ventilation outdoors is great. so contact sports are more of a problem, where if -- if students or children are right up against each other in each other's faces, that's a higher risk. so long as the sports can be done with distancing and masks and done outside, there is no data to suggest that that is -- that that is risky. it just needs careful sprpgs as do the indoor classrooms. >> all right dr. jean noble of ucsf thank you for sharing your thoughts with regard to safely reopening schools. let's continue the conversation another time. appreciate it. >> all right. thank you. >> thank you. coming up next, everyone, the impact of rush limbaugh and talk radio. former local radio talk show

seconds. you probably heard the news today qb conservative talk show host rush limbaugh passed away at the age of 70 from lung cancer. regardless whether you agree with his views he made a hunl impact in america's social and political landscape. joining us to talk about is melanie morgan former conservative talk show host at kgo and ksfo thank you for joining us today. >> thank you for having me, kristen it's a delight. >> how did you hear about rush limbaugh's passing. he had been declining some time. when was the last time you talked? >> well rush didn't talk to many people because of the hearing loss. so we texted or we amalied to each other whenever we had conversations. it was two months ago as a matter of fact. we were talking about the fact that it's so difficult to talk about cancer and how you can feel about cancer. and i told him, you know,

however you feel about it is you feel about it. don't let others define that. and so instead, i just started sharing some memories of the times we spent together the last 40 years, because that's how long i've known him, since i was 16 years old and first started in radio broadcasting. and he sent me a ply back that he was feeling gray, quote unquote, because he knew his time was end gd. and it was getting harder for him to remember things. and he wanted to let me know that he would write me a longer letter in response to some of the many things that we said privately. but uvrmt and sadly we didn't get that chance. >> well, melanie, you know, as you know people either loved him or they hated him. they agree, he was controversial and incendiary. bup that was the public rush limbaugh. tell us about the private limbaugh that you knew and saw. >> well, kristen, i have to say that the least interesting thing about rush limbaughway was his politics to me. the most interesting thing about

him that i learned over years and years is that he had a cursety a fascination for life. a kindness for every person. he felt emotions very, very deeply, although he tried not to share that with too many people. he was unfailingly polite. he had impeccable manners. and his strength, i think was his appreciation of the ordinary person, the average american. i think that probably sprang from his roots in cape gerardo, memo. we are both from missouri. we both started in radio at 16. back in the '80s. although he was fired seven times before he started his career and in syndictated radio. he did syndictated radio for 30 years. kristen you know as a broadcaster, just to get up every single day and do this

five days a week, it takes quite a bit of a toll on you, physically and emotionally. but he never let that stop him. and he was always, every time he turned on the microphone he was joyful about his ability to speak with everybody and to convince people, persuade people, to argue with people about the way he saw the world. >> now, even if the friend and fellow talk show host you knew who was rush limbaugh was kind and generous to you. look, the things he said along the way in his career, about science, covid-19, climate change, president obama's birth place, president biden having won the presidency, just today former president trump said i won. politi fact. says his statements are false. how do you rectify that in a person. >> all of the things you described are the way liberals

see rush limb but. conserves never saw him that way. everything to conservatives to him and us makes sense. and he was often if not regularly quoted out of context. he would have spend a lot of time to explain what he was saying to others, and usually it was -- it was wrong. and he made a lot of enemies out of the left-wing media. there is no doubt about that. they delighted -- for instance on social media, the hateful things that people have said about this man, my friend i've known over 40 years, stunned me, the depth of hatred for him. and that -- >> we are out it's time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting.

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when the producer says got to go

take care. >> thank you. >> and thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show getting answers. we'll be here every weekday at tonight, the major winter storm hitting at this hour and into the morning, right up into the northeast. as the humanitarian crisis worsens in the south. at least 25 states on alert tonight. already slamming texas again, now heavy snow, ice and possible tornadoes from the south right up into the northeast. washington, d.c., philadelphia, new york and boston. more than a half a foot of snow possible here in new york city. and tonight, the devastating situation in texas. nearly 3 million without power, without heat and many without water. 7 million told to boil their water. families huddling to stay warm. the mayor of houston losing power during a live interview. and the texas power grid pushed to the brink tonight. and what the texas governor is now saying about what's to blame for that.