building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. >> welcome to our daily program called getting answers where we get answers for you in realtime. we have record levels of travel during the pandemic and how we might solve the mental health crisis in kids in the age of isolation. top of mind first is the confirmation of the very first case of the covid-19 variant found right here in the bay area. a stanford team of researchers identified the strain originating out of india. joining us now is the

doctor who leads the laboratory who identified the variant. thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> first describe when and how your team came about this particular strain. >> absolutely. we screen all positives that come through the virology laboratory for mutations associated with variants of concern. so we initially identified these through that process which is similar to what we do for standard diagnosis of covid. and then we sequence, so far we've sequenced one case and confirmed that indeeds the one of these variants, these double mutant variants that was recently identified out of india. >> why is the variant being called a double mutant exactly? >> right. it has two somewhat well described mutations in the

spike protein of the virus. this includes the l 452 r mutation found in the california variant. and it has another mutation found in the south africa and the brazil variants. >> the headline question, is this one more dangerous or more transmissible? >> right. we don't quite know that yet although these mutations that i just talked about have been associated, particularly the california variant with increased transmissibility. and in fact in india, this variant, this new variant accounts for 15 to 20% of cases in one particular state. >> so then the next question i see is do you know if our current vaccines have been effective. i haven't been following the

vaccine rollout in india. it probably differs. >> i don't think we know whether the new variant will -- the vaccines will be less effective against this variant. we do have some information about experiments on the individual mutations suggesting that antibodies will be less able to neutralize this india variant. >> is there any difference? there are probably not studies done overall. there's one vaccine that might be better than another that might be effective? >> i don't think we know that yet. the one thing to note the vaccines are effective against preventing severe disease. so everyone should get vaccinated as quickly as possible. >> people will hear there's a new variant in the bay area.

how much concern does there need to be with the emergence of the new variants? are we reopening too quickly do you think? >> i think there should be moderate concern. it is kind of a race between the emergence of the variants and getting everyone vaccinated. the good thing is that we are prepared to identify these variants at stanford and other places in the bay area so we'll know when they arrive. and we report these to the public health authorities and they are able to make timely informed decisions about public health interventions. >> when we heard about the u.k. variability, just going back to the fact that we're calling this the india variant. that doesn't mean it originated there. >> we're not sure where it arose but that's who reported

it. >> when we found one incident in the bay area, does that make you think there's probably more? >> there's certainly additional cases. we've confirmed one. there's 7 additional presummative cases. and we should have that information in the next few days. >> what do you know about the patient or the one patient that's confirmed? is this somebody who traveled to india? do we know how they got the variant? >> we don't have that information at the moment. hopefully, the public health officials will be doing contact tracing and investigating and we'll find out more about these individuals soon. >> so i guess another thing as we start reopening. we hear about the new variants. what is the future going to

look like? are these going to continue popping up? are we getting booster shots? what do you foresee the next several years looking like? >> i suspected we'll see the emergence of different variants. this is what viruses do. and the vaccine manufacturers are in process of studying performing clinical trials with vaccines that include variants. >> so i'm looking at our facebook page. we get people writing in with questions or comments. the south african strain is more dangerous. can you speak to that? >> there's a lot more data on the south africa strange. it has been shown in a number of vaccine studies, including j&j, novavax and astrazeneca that those vaccines are less effective against preventing

infection with the south africa strain. the vaccines are excellent at preventing severe disease and are effective against severe disease from the south africa variant. >> we're getting a new report from the university of minnesota, epidemiologists are saying that children may be spreading the variants more than we first thought. >> i don't know that we have the data yet from our cases to make comments on that. our case rate, another good thing in the bay area, is relatively low. even though we are finding the variants, overall, we're not seeing a lot of cases. >> that makes sense. i'm just scrolling through our questions here. and i'm curious to get your thoughts on this. if there's going to be a fourth wave, a new virus, are we going

to have a fourth lockdown? i think governor newsom says we have the lowest positivity rate in the country now. so that's good news. >> that is good news. and at stanford our positivity rate was 2% so very low. i think it's possible if the vaccines, we don't continue to roll out the vaccines rapidly there could be another lockdown. but i'm optimistic that we'll not need that. >> what's next for the lab you start studying the variants? >> we'll continue to monitor the patient population for new variants. for this particular variant we're collaborating with a number of groups to work out the characteristics to isolate it and determine its ability to be neutralized by antibodies and so forth. >> we'll check in and see what

happens in the coming weeks. we appreciate you being here. when we get back to the united states, it's now back to normal in parts. a public health professor is coming on to tell us what we need to know before we fly.

welcome back. in case you haven't heard, people are diagnose to get out of the house. the tsa reported screening 1.5 million people for easter sunday, a record for the pandemic. when the shutdowns were in full swing, the number was less than 150,000. i think a lot of people are

ready to travel. joining us with answers on what to know about traveling associate professor of public health from uc irvine. >> the volume of people is up significantly from last year. down from 2019. do you feel there's a slowing down again? i mean, should people be traveling this much? >> well, i mean more and more people are fully vaccinated. so they are 14 days after the final dose. the johnson & johnson first dose or the second dose of pfizer or moderna. those people can safely travel. we have faith in the vaccines, it makes sense that travel is up compared to last year. >> on friday the cdc said anyone fully vaccinated can travel. does that mean you're fully safe to travel the way you

would pre-pandemic. >> there's no full safety. there are breakthrough cases among people who are fully vaccinated. typically, those are milder than the cases we see in the non-vaccinated population. but there's no water tight guarantee that you won't get covid if you do x, y, or z. the viewers should remember that during a normal flu season there's no water tight guarantee that you won't get influenza. we can take we're fully vaccinated. >> covid is more deadly than the flu and there's been so much talk about that in the 14 months. covid is worse than the flu except for in people below age 18. you're smart to be more wary.

at the same time, there's no absolute guarantee that you won't get covid if you do this or that. but there's definitely more liberty when we're fully vaccinated. >> for sure. >> l.a. county dropped the quarantine requirement for incoming passengers if they are fully vaccinated. >> that's in concert with the cdc recommendation. that travelers who are fully vaccinated don't need to quarantine and test. for those 14 days after the second dose and have proof of the vaccination, then i think it does make sense. >> what are some of the big things you recommend before jumping on a plane? >> for absolutely essential emergency travel, people could travel even if they're not

vaccinated. definitely for vacation travel or nonessential travel, i think waiting until vaccination is prudent. and complying with all airline instructions in terms of masking. there's still mask requirements on flights and buses and trains for some time to come. so that's going to be -- keep in mind that we're still going to need that mask? >> do you support the idea of a vaccine passport? do you think that is a good strategy? >> the concept of a vaccine passport has been used in two separate ways. one would be for crossing international boundaries and another would be a domestic i.d. card that says i'm vaccinated. i can go to this nightclub. both of them have their own nuances. i'm wary of imposing a national i.d. card to go to a restaurant or a

nightclub. i'm worried about medical privacy and leaving people out who don't have early access to the vaccines and so on. there's a lot of devils in those details. >> absolutely. a lot of people for different reasons are waiting to get the vaccine. some who are pregnant are hesitant to get it. there's a lot of different reasons someone might not get it away. what do we need to make sure that it is a useful tool? when could it be useful? >> some businesses clearly may require vaccination. and an airline may say you have to be vaccinated to get on our flights. and we have certain rights as members of society. but it's like no shirt, no shoes, no service. a private company can impose conditions on their customers. and so having a national

standardized record of vaccination that's probably more than just a piece of cardboard with your name written on it, it probably will help those businesses accomplish their goals. i'm concerned that no information be stored on the passport, so called passport beyond name and proof of vaccination for covid. we don't want people walking around with a chip card in their pocket which has their entire medical record. >> absolutely. >> that's ininvitation to identity theft among other things. >> that's not going to go over well in the u.s. >> thoughts on sports fans at games. texas rangers are allowing a 100% full stadium for the home opener today. >> baseball by and large has outdoor stadiums so it's a little bit more safe than at a basketball game to have people. i think 100% capacity is a bit

too bold. texas has thrown the doors open. they are not doing the purple, orange, red, yellow tiers that california is doing. and i think texas is acting too rashly. i'd love to see 50% capacity at the texas rangers game. but i think 100% is a bit too bold. at the same time, texas has numbers that are looking better than florida, massachusetts, michigan, new york. so there's a lot of things we don't fully understand about what's going on with the regional epidemiology of covid. >> final question for you. thoughts on indoor concerts being allowed april 15th. it seems a little soon to be going to an indoor concert. >> before this happened i was a big fan of going to general admission concerts. you know the concept of the big

black room with 2,000 people and a bar in the back and a band in the front. that's bold. i would advice, to stay away from events like that until they're fully vaccinated quite frankly. >> what is a concert in what is that? these foreign times. one day we'll get there. thank you for joining us. we really appreciate it. >> my pleasure. when we get back, how do we deal with the now massive issue of mental health with our children in this era of distanced learning and virtual relationships. we'll have one local expert with advice. >>

mom needs help but, she doesn't want to move. we're mostly concerned about her safety. she's already had a couple of falls. we had this joke, 'oh, that's a senior moment, right?' but it wasn't. home care with an entire support team.

she could live independently and do her own thing. and get really good, specialized care. and i could just be her daughter again. welcome back. this has been an issue for as long as kids have been kids. but feeling misunderstood or left alone hurts a little bit more in the age of a global

pandemic. students are suffering from being separated from classmates and teachers. there are falling grades and rising depression. suicide rates have skyrocketed. and we want to talk about this issue. joining us to get some answers is the director of crises services at the seneca family of agencies in san francisco. how can you best describe what you're seeing in your profession? >> yeah, we have seen a huge spike in mental health crises and more mental health needs as a result of the pandemic. what we've seen the an increase in anxiety and depression mostly resulting from isolation. the majority of the kids have not been in school and have been receiving education over zoom. and a lot of our youth although the education is on zoom.

they are not logging on to zoom. and they are disconnected from their social networks where they would normally be getting a lot more mental health support. >> is it a matter of getting kids in the classroom? or do the problems go beyond that? >> i think what i have seen for our team specifically is that our team has been able to serve kids through the pandemic while kids have been receiving remote learning and as we get closer to reintegrating them back to the classroom. we might be a little bit beyond that. and part of what's wonderful about the mobile response team is that we can continue to serve them in providing mental health support and as they ease back into the classroom. >> as we talk more about your program and what you're with the mobile mental health crisis team and what you guys

do. >> we provide 24/7 mental health crisis support. we begin by screening phone calls and trying to do our best to stabilize and provide safety planning over the phone. like i mentioned. our team is providing that in person response. we are meeting with kids and families whenever they need the help and the support in the communities. and we could be meeting kids in a park. maybe taking them out of the home to engage in outdoor activities. really helping to bring them back to the baseline or regulation. they're self-regulation so that they are much more able to access their education and much more able to reach more of a state of well being in their homes. >> beyond the pandemic, it seems like kids are more anxious. what are the root causes do you think? >> what we're seeing the most

is as i mentioned isolation. really being pulled away from the structure and the routine they were used to in a school setting. not having as much social interaction. outside of their homes. being cooped up indoors. some kids while they're meant to be focused on school over zoom. they are honing in on playing video games or it's really resulting in more contributing to depressive symptoms and more anxiety for them if they are not able to interact with other people in their community the way they normally would. >> when we talk about suicide among youth, i've seen some different studies. and i'm showing that suicide rates have skyrocketed. and are you aware of any kind of specific numbers you can speak to on that? >> i don't have specific numbers on suicide.

what we are seeing is the kids that we don't hear about we worry about the most. and a lot of teachers can resonate with that as well. what we have found is it's the kids that we connect with. we're able to get at the root of what is suicidal thought or ideation. >> what are the best tools for students, parents, and teacher that is they can use? >> absolutely. asking them how they're doing, starting with a check-in, how is it going? and leading to what is it? and can we get behind what might be leading to the suicidal thought or the behavior or the depression. and the third thing would be getting them connected to a social support. could that be somebody in the home or outside the home that could check in and routinely offer some sort of distraction

and coping strategy. maybe looking to see what is it that they enjoy doing. is there an activity that they may not have had easy access to at the pandemic. >> we'll keep your with the facebook live chat.

welcome back. thank you all for joining us on this interactive show getting answers. we'll be here every day at 3:00 answering you questions in realtime. the headlines are coming your way on abc 7 news at 4:00. world news tonight is next.

have a great night. tonight, several headlines on the coronavirus. what is this double mutant strain now being seen in the u.s.? and the cdc tonight, updated guidance. the covid threat from surfaces versus getting covid from particles in the air. the news comes amid a potential fourth wave brewing in the u.s. and the images late today. the texas rangers with nearly 40,000 fans with their home opener. 6 million traveling over the easter weekend. and where authorities are seeing cases and hospitalizations rise. and is there a direct correlation in this rise in cases to those who are not vaccinated? dr. jha is here tonight on all of this. also tonight, the derek chauvin trial in the death of george floyd. and the testimony from the minneapolis police chief