building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc7 news. >> hi there, i'm kristen sze pick welcome to our daily program, getting answers. we asked experts your questions every day 3:00 to get answers for you in real-time kick as you know, cases and deaths from the coronavirus are once again on certain parts of the country. not everywhere. today, the director of the cdc's often her comment yesterday about a possible fourth covid surge, saying that it is preventable, but she is worried we may not do what is necessary. here is dr. rochelle walensky's gloomy warning yesterday. >> when i said i have a feeling of impending doom, it's sort of the billing i've had surge

after surge serving the front- line of massachusetts general hospital, and recognizing that right now, it is preventable. we know that it's preventable. we have a science to prevent. we know what we need to do to stop the surge, and we would ask everybody to go ahead and do that. >> all right, but, bay area infectious disease expert dr. monica gandhi of ucsf said she is not concerned about a fourth covid surge, and you shouldn't be either. joining us to explain why and answer your questions, which you can post on our facebook lifestream, is dr. monica gandhi. dr. gandhi, thanks for making the time for us today. >> thank you. >> by the way, folks, this half- hour is for you. dr. gandhi is here to take your questions and i'm your middle woman. why aren't you concerned? let's start there, for a possible fourth surge, that got dr. wilensky so emotional yesterday? >> you know, i'm not concerned, at least in california, for actually three reasons. number one, we are actually

doing a pretty good job at rolling out our vaccines at 42% of those in san francisco has done one dose. second, we are peeling off restriction, but we are killing them off, not going hogwild, not going crazy. we are all sort of slowly going back to reduce capacity, still masking care it's a very prudent lifting of restrictions. and third, our numbers are looking great, as they have been. and we have a final solution, right? vaccines are not like oh, one more tool in the toolbox, like giving someone a mask or having them stay away from each other. this is the solution. we are laying down like the ultimate solution as we are lifting restrictions. and i can almost bet anything that we are not going to have a fourth surge like this in the state. >> all right, but hospital admissions are still up, right? more than 10% across 17 states in the last week. in michigan, hospitals seeing a surge of patients in their 30s and 40s.

in florida, they've averaged 5000 per day, up 8% from the average two weeks ago, two weeks earlier. i get it. all for naught, you know, we are keeping those numbers low. we are not going hogwild. we are not, you know, throwing all caution to the wind. we are not lifting our mask mandate, but having said that, we don't have a solid border. it is porous. there is travel, which is picking up. our young people are kind of like young people elsewhere, where they want to start to gather, so in totality, isn't that still somewhat alarming? >> it is, in general, but there's two things that softens my alarm. i agree with the cdc director. it is not the time for anyone to go crazy and what she said today was essentially very reasonable. let's keep our precautions on until we can get a better mask vaccinations. however, there's two things we have to keep in mind, who is going into the hospital with covid-19, young people. you to set it. actually, by protecting our vulnerable and our older

individuals first, we have what i call defending, we are sorting to defang the virus. younger people should be hospitalized at all, but they are less likely to die. what i needed our deaths are going down so fast, because we have vaccinated a large amount of our portable publishing. number two, this is exactly what happened, i want everyone to keep this in mind, we are not the only country to start a mass vaccination campaign. what happened is, this is exactly what was happening in israel, cases were going up, cases were going up, people were like oh no, these vaccines don't work, then you reach a certain percentage of the population that is vaccinated, and you keep certain restrictions on, which we need to do, and the cases are coming down, because vaccines do start off transmission. what is that magic number? 28.9% of us who have gone one dose in this country, bearing rates around the country. it has to be at least 40% before we get to that over the hump. we are not there yet.

>> okay, less than 30% in the country have on their first shot. so they have some immunity from that. what percentage would you say have immunity now from having gotten covid and recovered? >> that is a great question. and the estimates are kind of wildly ranged. they range from 20 to 30% of the population. we could say definitively in california, we know because there was a big study released in california and they gave our california publishing about a 30% natural immunity rate. it was higher in la county for 45%, lowest in san francisco at 29%, but an average of 30% across the state. but, the problem is, 30% being actually immune, and then the vaccines, they are not like strictly separated populations? it's not like 30% right, we are getting the vaccine to people who know they've had it or to

people who have never known they had it. >> regardless, do you think it's possible about half the u.s. population may have some antibodies or immunity to covid now? >> yes, but i do think it is possible, but then when i look at israel, i thought, where they got to what is looking like herd immunity, and i mean where they have 120 cases today across the whole country, and they are still testing, was at a vaccination rate of 56%. so we are half that rate now. we are half that rate that's what's important. we have a long way to go, but yes, i think we are going to get there. the other thing that made me feel good yesterday was president biden saying, let's open up, let's give you guys more vaccines, april 19th, we will have more availability. >> right, which i want to get you in a second, opening up more eligibility. we are also here to answer viewer questions, including dispel any myths people may have heard elsewhere. you know? so here is one from wendy, who wants to know, she says, there are deaths being reported and

children dying from breast- feeding after their mother got the vaccination. yes that's a thing or know that's not a thing, don't worry about it? >> no, yeah, please don't worry about that. there are always terrible things happening in the world, but when you are getting a lot of vaccine out it was coming up to see if it's related to the vaccine and that's not related to the vaccine. >> okay. here is a mom who wants to know, i have a child with breathing issues, but is only three years old, is it safe? i can't see the rest of that question, but i think she's asking if it is safe for the child to eventually get perhaps the vaccine. will it reached three-year- olds? >> well, we don't know that. basically pfizer open a study that's going from six months to 11 years, because the study that they have ongoing that's probably going to be done in a month or so goes down to the age of 12. but it will not test if it prevents covid, because we won't have enough to test it in that way. it's just great to look at the

if it safe, and if you get a miniature city, if you mount an immune response. and it would only be i mean, i would wait for the safety signal from that study, whenever covid, as you know, the vaccine is pretty strong. so i would wait for, i would certainly not give it to children until we have tested it at the cdc. >> one last question from viewers before i get back to mine. dr. gandhi, deb wants to know, have you seen the most recent study about human rhinovirus, i believe that is the cause of the common cold, right? curtailing covid-19 infection, and if so, what are your thoughts? >> thank you for asking that. i did not see that, but i will say one thing, there is something about stimulating your immune system against other viruses that help protect you against this virus. this has been shown for getting vaccines for example against influenza protecting you against covid, for having other cold viruses to protect you against covid, what does it do? it works up your immune system

and i can fight covid better. so i don't want to say in the future to not get colds, i'm going to say that, i'm an infectious disease office dr.. >> okay, real quickly, 13 california counties today shifted to more lenient tears, due to improving numbers. alameda and santa cruz are the latest adjoins the orange tear, which most of the counties are already in. so i wonder, with that, as you know, comes indoor dining and/or movie theaters, gyms, greater capacity. are you comfortable, if your county is allowing those things, and those things are in fact safe for you to engage in, even if you have not been vaccinated? >> you know, the way i think of california is, a lot of the complaints about california, they were too strict with us, especially over the winter, with outdoor closures, those restrictions are still in play. what i mean is, the tiered system did not get massively relaxed. these are rules and sort of restrictions and therefore reason. and, no, in the orange tearoran

one is, i'm sorry i keep using the word hogwild, but no one is going hogwild. these are continued restrictions of spacing, of masking, of distancing. so i feel comfortable with those three covid mitigation strategies that have always been profoundly effective, even in the orange tear. and then, if i were vaccinated, which i on, but this is true of anyone else who is vaccinated out there, i would feel even more safe. i would really want to get to some point telling you, these studies are showing the vaccines also present prevent transmission and the cdc director mentioned that today. you are very, very safe after you been vaccinated. >> to know. you guys want to go away. we will take a short break. when we come back, we will talk to dr. monica gandhi about what is safe for you to do, if you've been vaccinated, if you haven't been vaccinated, and what about if you are in a divided family, where one person is, but

johnson, but i'm not surprised. >> dr. gandhi, i will put you on hold as we come back here. welcome back. we are speaking with dr. monica gandhi of ucsf about all things covid-19. i want to ask you real quickly, before we move on to the vaccine, and also what vaccinated people can do or what about mixed households, that is, as you know, many school districts are opening this week here, because they're all trying to meet the governor and the states april 1st deadline, in order to get maximum incentive funding. but in some schools, it is very minimal, maybe just the youngest grades, and in oakland, for example, at one school, i think in the district, 38% of teachers have chosen to return. this presents a huge logistical challenge for the district to

fully staff, and they may have to get substitutes. for the teacher sitting there wondering, should i return? i'm still concerned, what you think? what would you ask them to take a look at? >> well, number one, vaccinations really make yo ironclad. so teachers were offered the vaccine. anyone who is willing to get it, i would absolutely get your vaccine, because it really makes your safety ironclad. even without vaccination, our school studies, these have been done in the united states and germany and multiple areas around the world, with the appropriate mitigation strategies, three feet distancing, and masking and keeping a window open, it doesn't have to be crazy ventilation. teachers have been very safe. so, that data is quite clear at this point. but, you know, i think it was extremely fair for people to want to feel like absolutely, you know, in an armor of steel when they are at work, and

that's what vaccinations do for you. 100% protection against severe disease. 100%. dr. fauci show this data yesterday at the white house task force meeting. it is pretty startling. >> that is an amazing number there. also, isn't there a new nursing home data, new study results out that also tell us more about the efficacy of the vaccines? >> yes, this just came out and it was actually day the that was from may 7th. it is pretty amazing. think about nursing homes, as one of the two places in our country that are mass vaccinated, right? healthcare workers settings are, we all got this vaccine in end of december, beginning of january, and so did long-term care facilities, like nursing homes? december 20, there's been a 96% decline in cases in nursing homes. and a 91% decline in deaths. that, if those aren't advertisement for the vaccines, i'm not sure what is. and, they are, i would love to

show you maybe you could show after this the figures, but it's just like >> we are looking at it. we are looking at it. >> great, great. >> that is dramatic. dr. monica, okay, so the vaccines seem to be very effective , in terms of preventing the person from getting fixed, but what about preventing the person from being a carrier? someone who can transmit it to other people? is there new date on that? >> there is new data on that. not just new, actually over the last couple of months, this data has been a cumulative, but i think it got so strong that finally the cdc director messaged today, you know vaccines stop transmission. it's hard to get them on covid- 19 after even vaccinated. that was based on the findings in the journal that the cdc publishes, the mmwr. yesterday, study showed even if you a symptomatically swab healthcare workers and first responders who have gone the vaccine, after you've been

vaccinated, you have a huge drop in getting covid. i will go over those numbers in a minute, but you also have a drop in a symptomatically infection by 90%. so it's veryvery hard for you t even have it in your nose, after you've been exposed. it's actually why we say, you don't have to quarantine if you've been exposed after vaccination. i'm vaccinated, if i can expose right now, you can cough on me and you have covid come i'm actually allowed to go to work the next day, because that's how hard it is for me to get and to give covid. >> wow. i still won't cough on you, but i get your point, dr. monica. but what you say does seem to have implications with regard to guiding people's behavior. i'm reading a lot of, there is a great new york times article today about how, you know, since only 16 million have been fully vaccinated, like actually 60 million maybe partially vaccinated. but the point is,point is,point, >> that is fully. 16% fully. >> okay, so what do they do

with their loved ones, right? who may not have been vaccinated in their household, what can they do, what can they do? they are really worried. they don't want to give it to their loved ones or take that risk. want you give us some good, you know, kind of rules to go by. like standard operating protocol, if you will, if you are in that mixed situation. >> yes, i think the cdc director said it today and all the circulating data, you can't give it to someone after you been vaccinated, really changes our feeling of concern. once you are vaccinated, you can be around on vaccinated people, and right now the cdc is even given that guideline, without the fear of passing it on to them? what about allow for? it allows for family gatherings, where some of you aren't vaccinated and some of you are vaccinated. this strengthening of this transition data that was just from data yesterday published by the cdc means they are likely to update their guidelines to say, it doesn't need to be you are around someone who is low risk for

getting covid. if you can't pass it after vaccination, you can be around grandma. if she has chosen not to be vaccinated. however, in public, and i actually called us, i literally called us polite, we don't know who is vaccinated, we don't know who is. there is nothing like that turns color, your ears don't turn green or something. you are in a store and the store rules are to mask, you should mask. you should mask and keep away from others. why? i think it's just polite. while we are in this intermediary twilight zone, not everyone who has had the vaccine has been able to get it. will masks go away? yes they will. will distancing go away? yes it will. they have gone away in countries, with the certain threshold of the vaccination. that happen in our country as well. >> yeah, just like you said, will masking go away? you said yes, it will. the thing is, you know, there's

a lot of experts who don't say that or don't want to say it out right. and i wonder, what is your take on that? when you weigh giving people an incentive to get the vaccine, how does that messaging affect that. >> i have been talking to people who message for a living. and i think it's actually really motivating, and optimistic to tell people that there is a future that they want to have, if enough of us can get vaccinated. and, i'm concerned that we have been in this country, especially thinking, if i give an inch, they will all take a mild. that has been a really standard way we have messaged. i don't want to seem too positive, that might make people too excited. i don't believe that. i think humans are really nuanced and really smart and we know a lot about covid. that is, i want vaccine uptake, really

interested in people getting vaccine. there's nothing that will get us out of this pandemic unless enough of us can get vaccinated. so i want to increase vaccine optimism, in my messaging, and i think that will increase uptake that's how i view messaging. that's how we work. >> i

them. >> okay, we have to come out on the air. remember that, 100% in preventing serious disease, okay. and we are back with dr. monica gandhi of ucsf talking about covid vaccines and answering your questions here grow quickly, here's a question from a viewer who want to know, did the vaccine shots affect cancer patients differently? such as possibly making worse? >> no, that is a great question, they didn't include a lot of cancer patients in the vaccine trials. but on the other hand, there's been a lot of cancer patients who have received the vaccine. critical trial data is almost old news. we have so much real-world effectiveness data, because we have given the shots to so many people. cancer patients have gone the shot and they have had very good responses, meaning, there hasn't been reports of people living with cancer who have

gotten covid-19, or severe effects for example, from the shots. i think they will work very well in cancer patients. the whole immune system is down in cancer, sometimes certain parts of the selective immune system mark, but this is across the immune system. another viewer want to know, citing some cases in idaho saying, what pre-existing conditions are considered? does that mean if you have pre- existing conditions, such as copd, they may get sick after taking the vaccines and also get covid? >> no, the reason that we used pre-existing to the conditions to get the vaccine, you know, was when there wawa system to say you are more likely, if you do get covid, to get you more sick, we want to give you the vaccine first. of course, as you know, in california, april 15th is when anyone above 16 can get it. conditions are out the window, as of april 1st for anyone above 50. that was the reason to kind of stratified, just because there

is limited supply. there is no evidence that someone with copd will not respond well to the vaccine and/or get sick. >> okay. the astrazeneca vaccine, which is not yet approved for use in this country for covid, you know, it's been in battle, canada became the latest country to put on hold for people under 55 years old. of course, some european countries had as well. concerns over blood clots, did they remain? has that been sorted out? >> you know, the w.h.o. and european medicines agency think it's been sorted out. so i'm not sure why we are still concerned. what i mean by that is, out of 17 million doses given of astrazeneca across the uk and initially in europe, there were 22+15, the 15 were in were in w were two in the legs. 37c717,000,000, that was higher and that is in fact

lower than what can happen in the general population. i kinda think of it like this, if you are a plying math intervention, it's like the sun is shining. things do happen. things do happen under a mass condition, but that doesn't mean it's correlated to the vaccine. europe, by delaying the astrazeneca, unfortunately, i think has gone into way more trouble than its neighbors, which is the uk and israel, who just push forth with vaccines, including extra zeneca in uk. they have done a great job. when they put out their data, they've given themselves a little shot in the foot by not being as clear about how they get the data, but i'm actually thinking it's a very good vaccine. >> okay, we were talking about how it's so, so unlikely for you to transmit or get very sick if you got the vaccine, but if you were in a store, public place, people don't know, still wear your mask. that brings me to the question of the vaccine passport, right? it certainly is an easy way to show, i've been vaccinated or not. do you think that's a good idea? i'm hearing some pushback saying hey, look, it's not

really, you know, private or maybe they are ethical concerns, not everybody can get a passport, what do you think? >> i think it's unfair to have a passport when people who want it desperately haven't even gotten a chance to get it. so this should only be even discussed after like there is full availability, which we are not quite there. and even then, i agree that there are people who are not going to want to get the vaccine. we clearly haven't done a good enough job in messaging it and i think there's only three places where vaccine

thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you pics back thank you. take care. >> thanks for having me. thanks so much for joining us today on this interactive show, getting answers. today we talked with don or monica gandhi and got your questions answered with

relation to the vaccine and all things covid tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. dramatic testimony in the derek chauvin trial. and the major new concern over the coronavirus here in the u.s. the chilling testimony in the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin, charged with killing george floyd. darnell la frazier, just 17 when she shot that video of floyd's death, telling jurors she stays up at night, apologizing to george floyd for not doing more. the 9-year-old who witnessed it all and the moment derek chauvin took off his mask in court today so she could identify him. and late today, this woman firefighter who told jurors she begged officers to take george floyd's pulse. cross examined by the defense just before we came on the air tonight. the alarming surge in covid cases in more than half the country tonight, sparking real fears of a potential fourth wave in the u.s.