>> building a better bay area, finding solutions. welcome to our daily program, getting answers. we are asking experts your questions to get answers for you in real time. today we will talk with san francisco mayor londonderry, a lot to cover from moving into the chair. let's begin with covid-19 and vaccines. joining us now is infectious disease specialist dr. peterson hall. good to see you again. this time we have some good news to start with, more bay area counties entering the orange, san francisco, and santa clara. also the nation seems to be on the right track.

that's down 40%, but if you can help us get down, well we have that overall bigger picture, some states are seeing a surge. >> i'm worried about michigan in particular, if the percent above in terms of number of cases in the last two weeks. the northeast is starting to uptake in the wrong direction, we have seen although spring break pictures in florida. and europe is pretty much on fire, lockdown in italy and other countries. >> is that tied to the amount of reopening that those states and countries have done? >> in europe it is not really tied to anything except maybe the natural cadence and when immunity from previous natural affection weaned in the community. the vaccines have not kept in step with this surge. unlike the u.s.the u.s.the u.s..

paused, so they have vaccination programs on pause. now they are trying to ramp up that. in the meantime, covid is wrapping up out of control. >> i was going to ask you about astrazeneca later, but since you bring it up let's jump in. we heard a lot of things about astrazeneca, some of it not so good. it has not been approved yet in the u.s. we are questioning the data, whether they used outdated data to make it look like it is more effective. explain to us what the situation is. >> to catch everyone up to speed, on monday we got the good news that astrazeneca had 79% efficacy which was amazing, everyone was celebrating. but then a weird thing happened at midnight, which is that the

nih put out a statement saying that maybe the data isn't as encouraging as it sounds. in every clinical trial there is a data safety board, the main thing that astrazeneca might have included more severe cases rather than all covid infections. most experts still believe it is in the same efficacy percent. >> here's the thing, as you know, some people are vexing reluctant already as it is. i wonder if news like this will contribute to that, especially in communities of color. >> certainly i think a lot of people are worried about the trust, specifically in astrazeneca and vaccines in general and that people who are hesitant about vaccines might use this as an example of data that may not be right. i think the argument was around

precision rather than completely ineffective. >> we'll see, people also wonder if this a genuine mistake or were they withholding something? or if there's a corporate motive. we'll see. but i want to talk about vaccine rollout, it seems like one in four californians have now gotten at least one shot. new mexico and alaska being about one and three, georgia one in five. so it seems like we are catching up. >> we are in a groove, about the middle of the pack overall in u.s. states and territories. the way we are heading ahead of the pack is in older individuals and those in nursing homes. up to around 80% versus 60 to 70% depending on where you look at around the country.

and some things we are middle and some things we are better. >> things are getting a little better, some local counties have made anyone over 50 eligible. but some states have made all adults eligible, i am wondering if you think that is a good idea as a state . >> i think it would be huge in terms of people psychology and hopefulness but at the same time time, the reason california isn't doing that is because they learned from the early days. governor newsom went really early, he said everybody over 65 should be able to get the vaccine and that that wasn't the case. then everyone got really disappointed and even mad. so i think they are treading very carefully.

these more defined states with easier health systems. >> can you tell which areas, which pockets are getting vaccinated? >> you can get a sense of that just from where it is opening up to being more liberal in terms of dosing, early on in the rollout, i was always impressed that long beach was already vaccinating teachers and grocery workers long before we even got there. like a month or more before. that's because long beach is like a weird sort of violent -- island, so there are differences, they have announced over 50. i think if you stuck back, it is less about organization and more about how populous is that

county, how defined is it. >> i have some vaccine related questions, what do we know in terms of people who have been vaccinated? are we seeing if people are still catching covid after being vaccinated? >> people are catching covid but very few.very few.very few.. healthcare workers at ucla and uc san diego, they looked at 15,000 healthcare workers two weeks after the second dose and only seven got covid. got co in israel, we have a population level data where it actually looks better than the clinical trials, more than 95% benefit, less than 5% got covid after getting the vaccine.the vaccine.

it could be that people are being watched much more intensively in trials but the fact that it is looking so good as everyone hope. and nobody died. >> we have about 30 seconds left, i want to get this question. two flu shots protect against covid? does the covid shop protect against flu? >> it doesn't seem like it would, there was a study in michigan showing that people who got the flu shot had 25% lower chance of getting covid. it could be that people get flu shots are just more careful but there could also be similarities in the immune system to the flu shot having some cross-reactivity. they are still trying to study it. >> that second part not true, covid shot vaccine doesn't protect you from the flu? >> no. i wouldn't get a flu shot to protect from covid either. >> your vaccine when it is your turn, that's the message.

>> totally. >> thank you so much. take care. coming up next, san francisco mayor london breed joins

san francisco is moving into the orange tear, that means increased capacities at businesses and reopening. san francisco mayor london breed, great to see you. >> thank you, glad to be here. >> it's very exciting, as san francisco moves into the orange . that means more openings, more interactivity is, greater capacity at restaurants and movie theaters. what are you looking forward to most? >> i am looking forward to the fact that ours are open for

outdoor drinks, you know how exciting it is when you are hanging out outside at a beer garden and enjoying the sun in san francisco. i think it's going to bring a lot of life back to our city so i am looking forward to that. our museums are expanding capacity, office space is going to 25% capacity, so a lot of great things happening. bowling alleys. and at the movies, you can actually buy concessions. before, they weren't allowed. you can eat your popcorn and your drinks, no longer do you need to sneak in your snacks. >> i want those reese's peanut butter cups. but don't keep them down for long, you want to get your mask back up as soon as you aren't consuming food or drink. you mentioned downtown offices, i do want to ask you about that. my colleague phil matier is

looking at how to bring downtown back to life. one of the questions i wonder is if you think work from home will continue or enough office workers will come back so they can support all those small businesses serving lunch and all that depend on them. >> raise your hand if you are tired of working from home. it's time to open the city. there is only so much working at home that most people are going to be able to do. it's great to have the option and we want to still be careful, but people want to get back to work the mother want to get back to offices, get back to the ability to walk outside and going to a restaurant or go have drinks after work or go take in a play or some sort of live entertainment. i think gradually, office space is going to begin to repopulate and those businesses will start to reopen. it's just going to take time for us to get used to it. and the vaccine has been

playing an incredible role in our ability to reopen. almost 40% of san franciscans over the age of 16 have been vaccinated, we are seeing hospitalizations go down and numbers are going down in terms of new cases. we aren't out of the woods, we are still in this but in a great place. i think the city will be alive again. >> we certainly hope so. you mentioned that vaccinations going pretty smoothly, i want to say by all accounts, it has been run very efficiently so congratulations. san francisco joined several other counties counties countie vaccine distribution. will we get the same allotment, will people sign up the same way? >> here is the thing, what we want to make sure if people are not confused. just make sure when it's your turn, you make your appointment, and certain zip codes where we have had high

infection rates, we have walk insights where you don't need an appointment, you can just show up to san francisco general or mission or mission o and webster. we want to make it as easy as possible for people to get vaccinated and less complicated. everything we are doing now with our pop-up sites, including the one at city college, those will continue. if you have a healthcare provider and meet the qualifications, you can get vaccinated or show up at one of the sites that is available. >> when are you going to move into the next year of eligibility? if you area counties are opening up people 50 and over. when do you anticipate getting there? >> i'm hoping we will get there in the next couple weeks. i've been talking to the department of public health and state, trying to push toward that direction. but i will say that the

underlying health conditions, the flexibility we have, if you have diabetes, if you are overweight and a certain bmi over 30 or you have certain underlying health conditions, we have made it easy for people to get vaccinated. so we made it a lot easier than in the past. but i'm hoping we will get to that next level, with the number of people that we have vaccinated, especially over the age of 65, over 70% of those over the age of 65 have at least received their first dose and over 50% of those over 65 are fully vaccinated. it is time for us to move, put a lot of pressure on public health and the state to get us there. >> the state was behind on vaccine equity, ranked 44 out of 48.

but here in san francisco, you have been making process toward that. >> and we have a lot of that data online, because we can mostly provide the information that the department of public health has. some of the healthcare providers, we don't necessarily have their data but we do know that a number of our residents, we have been truly focused on equity and have done a really amazing job outreach to our african-american, latino and chinese communities as it relates to the vaccine. we've really been targeting those neighborhoods because the data has shown that those folks in those neighborhoods in the southeast sector of san francisco have been the most impacted. that's why we've been putting our efforts solely in neighborhoods. the areas where we have the highest rates of those getting vaccinated is bayview hunters

point, the mission, those where we knew we had some challenges. >> mayor, don't go away. when we come back, we want to talk about a new program the mayor just announced, a new street violence intervention program in the wake

>> we are back with san francisco mayor london breed. you've been vocal on attacks on asian americans in the city. you announced the new street violence intervention program today in collaboration with chinatown groups. >> the way it works is that some of us who grew up in san francisco, we might remember when the guardian angels used to control the history neighborhood, we had issues around crime and communities and they were the watchers of the neighborhood, they would want people to the store, they

would be the eyes and ears on the streets, similar to what we need today. we need guardian angels, we need people who are out and about paying very close attention. but also developing relationships with merchants and people who are out there shopping and running errands and picking up medication. the street violence intervention program was started many years ago to help address the issues around gun violence in our communities and to prevent retaliation. these are people who are from these communities, they have relationships and what we did is teamed them up with community youth center, a part of chinatown's effort to work with young people. groups come together with self help for the elderly, making sure there are eyes on the streets, and guardian angels but also the program that we set up, there is a program where people who need help and

need to be picked up or supported to run their errands because they are scared to go outside for a number of reasons we are sadly seeing play themselves out on the news, we have a program where we will start doing that for our seniors. really, this is about the community stepping up and doing our part to keep people safe. and we are launching it in neighborhoods like chinatown, tenderloin, san bruno avenue, where during the times when we know there are large numbers of seniors that are out and about running their errands. >> you don't want to take away their freedom to be out there but you want them to feel supported. i want to ask you about san francisco unified's will board, i know you have called on them for having priorities other than reopening of schools for students. but right now, there are demands by members of the asian american community for board

member allison collins to resign over her tweets that accused asians of whites are promised just thinking to ahead. you have joined some other leaders in asking her to resign. >> i think that i don't care what race you are, if you call anybody a house and word, that's offensive, disrespectful, it's hurtful, i have had people say that about me and it has no place with our public officials. as a public official who has a responsibility for not only children in general but specifically over 40% of the kids in our school system our api, it's important not put a whole race of people in one particular category, implying that that represents the race. we are better than this. it's become too much of a

distraction and it shouldn't be about one individual person. our kids are still not in school, they are still suffering from mental health issues and a number of other challenges. i think it's important that this no longer be a distraction. we have a lot of work to do. and one person should not get in the way of the success of our kids. it can't be about this person. these words are harmful, i find them offensive and i think it's time for her to step down and for us to move on. >> thank you so much for your time and your insights today. i really appreciate this

some good news today in the race to vaccinate. the white house is announcing it will be able to distribute aliens of additional doses of vaccine this week. this as nearly half the country sees a surge in cases.in cases. >> reporter: more vaccine for more americans. that's what the white house is promising, saying it will distribute over 27 million doses this week, 5 million more than last week. >> this means that in the 62 days since taking office, we have more than tripled output. 27 million doses per week. >> at least 16 states have seen case averages increase by 10% over the next seven days. >> i think we may see a a cases. we've been at 50,000, we are creeping up.

i'm worried we are going to see a surge. >> reporter: states beginning to reopen despite warnings that it is too soon, and as so many are still basing the virus had on, some so-callsome so-callsom- having symptoms for months. >> i was tired, but my body was extremely tired. >> reporter: this 32-year-old wins 66 days without a sense of smell or taste but says after first dose, within 24 to 48 hours i regained my sense of smell. i feel like my body is more energized. dr. still trying to understand if and how a vaccine might help. but they have some theories. >> the vaccine induces very good immune responses. that can clean up any residual or leftover virus. >> reporter: more than 83 million americans have had at

least one shot, over 32% of adults and that number is expected to keep going up with more than half states announcing plans to greenlight the vaccine for anyone 16 and up toward reno right, abc news. >> thank you for joining us on this interactive show getting answers. we talked with dr. peter chin- hong , very excited about the progress we have made in the bay area in terms of covid. cautiously optimistic as well as other states other states ots surge. we also talked with san francisco mayor london breed, covered the city moving into the orange and also the new street violence intervention program. another big headline today, governor newsom has nominated rob bonta as the states next attorney general. more on that tonight starting at 4:00. you will be -- he will be the w first filipino american to hold that office. don't forget to join us tomorrow, we have abc7 news special correspondent and host

tonight, chilling new reporting on the mass shooting in boulder, colorado. and this evening here, we pay tribute to the ten lives lost. the procession late today for the slain officer, eric talley, the father of seven. as we now learn more at this hour about the alleged gunman. friends describing his alleged troubles when back in school. describing alleged angeren i is. the suspect now set to appear in court. and the moments in that store. one of the women saved and the colleague she lost. what she witnessed as this all played out. matt gutman in boulder tonight. and we remember the lives lost. the store manager described as a shining light. the woman who acted in local theater, remembered as fearless and funny. the proud father about to become a grandfather. ten victims, loved by their families, their friends, their communities.