building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc7 news. >> i i i our daily program, getting answers. we asked experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in real time here today, we will talk about the mask mandate as the cdc is about to issue new guidelines as early as tomorrow. we will talk to an travel expert after the european union said it will let american travel there later this summer, if they are fully vaccinated. we will get the full details. first, the cobra crisis in india is escalating quickly and tragically. that is having an impact on u.s. citizens and u.s. foreign miion ses three

medical esare and equipment. reported yesterday. joinmoreout this isthey congressman, thank you for joining us. look, before we get

why is india's crisis also our crisis? >> first of all, also america needs to prioritize our citizens, which we are. we are vaccinating every american and california is probably prioritizing californians. we will never truly be safe if the vaccine is not in other countries and if the pandemic surges in other places, if a variant emerges that can defeat the vaccine, then we will be back to square one. so it is in our interest to make sure you don't have the outbreaks that we are seeing, whether it's in india or china or brazil. and then just on a humanitarian basis, america has always stood for assisting and saving lives, so that's been part of our ethos. if we vaccinated american, we can do our part to help others

in the world. >> okay, of course today the biden administration announced significant new efforts to help india. congressman khanna, you've been pushing for that, of course. what kind of aid will be given? i know astrazeneca vaccine as part of the equation , but just tell us what's coming. >> kristen, i really appreciate that the president spoke to the prime minster of india today. and it is quite bold and it's been quite swift. we will be sending oxygen. we will be sending ppe. we will be sending raw materials that are necessary for vaccine production. and the president has said he wants his medical team to look at astrazeneca, and as long as it's safe, send the vaccine, which we have, that will not be used for any american. it's not taking any vaccine or any equipment away from what we need in our country. >> why is there a safety concern, or at least needing to concern confirm the safety of the astrazeneca vaccines we

have? >> my understanding is, some people have raised an issue because it has been fda certified. i do know it's been approved in other countries. that means we should look at it quickly, but i understand why the president wouldn't want to send over vaccines that are stockpiled, without having someone review them, just to make sure that we are not sending something that is going to cause harmcause harmcause ham going to have side effects. >> okay, isn't india a huge maker of the astrazeneca vaccine itself? india was shipping doses, millions of them outside of their country to help other countries, until very recently, right? >> reporter: they were. they were engaged in vaccine diplomacy. they shipped almost 60 million vaccines applied when others needed them. i think that's why it's now time for the world to help india. in india's time of need, now that we can, and we have these extra vaccine, we should provide them. >> but how did india go from managing it pretty well for

quite a long time, right, especially given its density and how populous it is, to being able to send vaccines outside of the country, to where it is today? it is in such dire need. >> i think the challenge has been that we haven't been able to vaccinate a large part of the world. we have managed to contain the vaccine in the united states, because i think the biden administration and the newsom administration has done a great job in getting many californians vaccinated him a particularly older californians. that has not happened in places like india. one reason is, there has been. so pfizer and moderna and j&j vaccines are not being preached to reduce or develop in india. india didn't preorder them in the way that the united states or canada or other western democracies did. what i said is pfizer should've at least for a six month period, provide the vaccine recipe to india, so that india can manufacture it and increase

its vaccination output. that is really what's necessary. >> and you will be pushing that from a congressional standpoint? >> i have. there was a great op-ed today by joseph in the washington post saying, we need to do this not just for india, but for 100 countries around the world. we need 12 billion shots of vaccine in people's arms, and i think some of these poorer countries, we've only had about less than 40 million. i mean, we've got a long way to go. just think of any other disease. imagine of polio or malaria right spread in half the world. half the world, america wouldn't be safe. same is about covid. as long as it's raging other parts of the world, we won't be safe. it's in our interest come after we get our house in order, to help other countries to get theirs to safety. >> all right, congressman ro khanna, thank you so much for the conversation and insight today.

i appreciate it. >> thank you. thank you for covering this important topic. absolutely, our pleasure. from the cdc is about to issue new guidance on masking, specifically math mandates. two expert

you sure i can't just chat and stretch? all right, welcome back. covid cases are skyrocketing in india as we discovered with congressman ro khanna, who had intervened and asked the federal government to help , but in the meantime, another thing that's really coming up and dominating the news headlines is that the cdc will likely issue new guidance tomorrow, with regard to mask wearing. now a lot of people have been asking, how much longer do we have to wear masks outdoors,

right? especially with the higher vaccination rates, relatively speaking here, in california. so let's begin that conversation with ucsf infectious disease specialist. actually, dr. george rutherford, who is in charge of the public health group there, dr. rutherford and dr. monica gandhi, both of you, wonderful colleagues you are always here keep us informed, joining excellent. you resolved your zoom issues at the same time. i love it, thank you for your time. i want to start with this, the expectations are that the cdc will give separate recommendations for fully vaccinated people and those who have not received either one or both of the shots possibly as early as tomorrow. but i want to get your thoughts, what do you hope the cdc will say? dr. rutherford, i will start with you. >> i hope there is clarity. if the jumble of stuff. as you know, every state has its own rules. in california, we continue to have a mask mandate, that's the only point i need to make here. i think it would be nice to get some real clear guidance from the cdc about what they feel

most comfortable with. as we are in a transitional phase here, where a lot of people have been vaccinated, but a lot of people haven't, we are still having tens of thousands of cases diagnosed in the united states every day. and it, you know, we have to get to the finish line. we don't want to have continued outbreaks happening. we are just getting over it now in michigan. i'm looking for clarity. >> dr. rutherford, you want clarity. dr. gandhi, i'm sure you do too. what do you hope they will announce tomorrow? >> you know, i think the problem is that when you do tiered systems, if x then this, if y, then this, it can get super, gated. but we also know if we are outside or not. that is a common thing for humans to know if they are inside or outside. so i'm hoping what they are saying, what they will say is getting all the data that outdoor transmission is so low that no one needs to mask outside, unless you are

unvaccinated and in situations. i think that we can understand crowded situations, rallies, stadiums, places where people may be enclosed together for prolonged period of time. longer than 15 minutes. i would keep on those masks if you are unvaccinated. but i hope they don't make it very confusing, because if you say vaccinated people don't have to mask outside, but unvaccinated do, it is very hard to tell someone vaccination status. often the person who maybe haven't decided to get the vaccine yet may not that into masks. so it could get compensated if we make it too complicated. >> dr. gandhi, do you not think then since it's hard to tell who is vaccinated and who isn't in public places, that you should still have the mask mandate, even here

>> it's a question of sort of socialization and getting people to wear masks when they are supposed to. however, i think the risk is low now. that's not to say the risk is nonexistent outdoors. if someone walks up to you and coughs in your face, you know, that's no different than indoor or outdoor. crowded situations dr. gandhi

is talking about, those are absolutely on the list. but after that, i think it's all kind of open for interpretation. and as i said, looking for clarity in the simpler, the simpler it can be, the better. >> sound like you are both in agreement on that. i want to run a few scenarios by you, and if you can each quickly say yes or no, or accountable or not comfortable. our viewers are asking about that. first of all, no masks amongst fully vaccinated friends indoors. comfortable? >> yes. >> comfortable. >> i assume that means outdoors as well. how about jim's being allowed to do vaccination only attendance indoors? so people don't have to mask. >> i would be comfortable with that. >> you too? okay. >> private places. >> okay, what would it take for you to become double lifting mask mandate for indoor settings, when you are not certain everyone inside is vaccinated. what would it take? >> it would take herd immunity. which is what, 70%?

>> something like that. nobody really knows, but something of that order of magnitude. that is what we are trying to get to by june 15th. you take that and get that number of the proportion vaccinated, plus those naturally infected. we are going to get pretty close to it. at that point in time, i think we can really take a step back and ask, do we need mask mandate outdoors? >> where we are right now? i read that we are, what, 30% nearly fully vaccinated, maybe 40 something percent having gotten at least one shot then you have the people who have the antibodies from having it, you know having had it, where do you think we are at? how close are we to the 70% herd immunity? >> i think it actually depends on the region. so, you know, we had a 38%, so our prevalence rate in california after this terrible third surge, when the california dph today mass study, that is when we were just doing healthcare workers

and long-term care facilities in terms of vaccinations. so we have had a lot more exposure here than someplace in the country, who had lower surges. so that is not 38% natural immunity, then you have a very rapid vaccination rate in california. and i think that is why we are the lowest case rate in the nation. there are places in michigan, some counties that had more surges, and they did this did time. and then many counties in michigan, but they are flatter rates over time hover time surges. and now vaccinations are finally, thank god, bringing it down. so i think that it all depends on the region. right now, we are at 42.5% first dose administered to all adults in the united states. and 50.6% adults >> the very fact that we are having this conversation, the cdc is considering mask mandate, some of it comiof it c unless restrictions is because, you know, we are seeing more people vaccinated.

at the same time, seems to be disturbing that the pace is slowing down and a lot of people are missing their second shots. and significant numbers say, they are now hesitant, due to the pause that we had on the j&j vaccine. dr. rutherford, what would you tell people, for people who say they are hesitant or maybe they got there first but they are not going to get there second because they feel like they have enough protection, what do you say? >> they don't have enough protection. they have some protection, that is for sure. depending on which one they got, they probably have some reasonable protection for a period of time. as you know, the british went through and try to get everybody in the entire country one dose of the astrazeneca vaccine and now we are coming back around a couple of months later and giving every second doses. so it is a workable strategy. i think it is work, but, again, we don't really know for sure what we do know from the trials is that two doses protection.

we can guess what one dose means, but we are just guessing. so you've got to get the second dose in order to be fully protected. in order to be fully protected for the longer-term as well. >> okay, but to put a positive spin on that, 90% of people did come back for their second dose, which is kind of an amazing two dose strategy of the united states. that millions of people, but i'm amazed by how many people were able to come back. >> i think the other thing, kristen, to say is that in some countries, like france, if you've already been infected, the only give you one so some chunk of those people may have artie had infection and in other countries, they would've said that was good enough. that is something the cdc hasn't ruled on yet. >> got it. i do hope some of the 8% them is there for shots, people like me who had to miss but quickly schedule their second shot. you know, still fell within the five week window. we will see. >> okay, okay, okay. >> russell has a question for you guys. is it safe to take the second moderna vaccine? i will suspect you will say yes but the situation there is, my

daughter-in-law just found out that she is pregnant. there hasn't been too much study so we are concerned, because she is pregnant. actually, you have seen some studies on that, haven't you? you want to take this one? >> go ahead. >> the new england journal just reported about 35,000 pregnancies, with either the moderna or the pfizer vaccine . the safety, no severe or no adverse events that were above ordinary for pregnant women or fetuses. so the cdc came clearly that this is really something that seems very safe to pregnancy and i agree. >> good to know. >> and the actual reason this person should get the second dose, so the pregnant woman won't be exposed. >> by the way, russell, congratulations on your daughter-in-law's pregnancy. that is so exciting. last question, dr. rutherford, maybe you can take this one. given graduations are coming up, i want to know what type of setting would you consider safe, given the bay area situation right now? let's say you have 100 graduates and 300 to 400 family

members. >> this is a cal stanford story, right? cal graduates in early may and stanford graduates in june. that four weeks can make a big difference in terms of getting people vaccinated. i think that if you are going to go to graduation tomorrow, you are going to be talking about masks and i legally, ideally you would have smaller gatherings. and colleges, you might have them by meters or school or something. and have them outdoors. later on, you know, when we get a lot more people vaccinated, i think the calculus changes. >> you mean by like close to mid june the calculus changes? >> yeah, a lot. >> we won't get into another stanford and cal debate right now, because that always gets it. >> tried to get that in, tried to get that in.'s but i know, dr. rutherford, dr. gandhi, thank you so much. what do they say the bubblegum pleasure, double the pleasure, it's double the learning with you two.

>>

welcome back.welcome back.w. major news today for americans hoping to travel to europe this summer. the european commission expects to welcome americans back, after a year of nonessential travel ban. joining us to talk about that and answer your travel questions, scott, founder of scott's cheap flights, and author of take more vacations. scott, welcome back. >> thanks for having me. >> let's go into this. under what conditions will the you accept american visitors? what are they looking at? is it contingent on vaccinations? >> details are a little bit dvd. yesterday and and indicated only americans who have been fully vaccinated will be able to travel there. but the framework that the eu had established for their own citizens to travel internationally the summer says that you can travel if you have been either vaccinated, if you have a recent negative test, or if you show a recent positive

test, like a positive antibody test. anyone of those three would be sufficient. so it's still a little bit uncertain whether or not americans will be able to travel with any of those three, or only for folks who have been fully vaccinated. >> okay. number three would be interesting. you know, you have antibodies, you had covid before. which in this country, we are generally not accepting that meaning you couldn't get it or give it to someone else. we will see what they work out. but what i do want to know, are there european nations that would be part of this agreement? for example, written, which is not a you nation or eu member anymore. >> that's right, each of the european countries is free to do their own set up their own framework. you are already seeing a number of countries who have established new roles to welcome in american travelers. so iceland, last month, began welcoming vaccinated americans, without subjecting them to the normal lengthy quarantine. degrees just recently started allowing vaccinated americans to bypass any testing requirement. you could get on a flight to

greece this afternoon if you wanted to. ditto with croatia and another number of european countries. so you are seeing the dam start to break with regard to transatlantic travel. then the question is, when will the larger eu start to allow american travelers. seems like the answer is going to be, the summer. though the exact date, again, still to be determined. >> okay, what about asia? almost all still have quarantines, don't they? >> for the most part. there are a couple of handfuls. the maldives is open right now. but for the most part, asia seems to be on a longer timeline, you know, thailand has largely targeted october as a reopening. australia or at leastat leastatt recently seemed to indicate october as well. it seems like the asia-pacific region is looking more like the fourth quarter, as the earliest reopening. fell again, you know, throughout the pandemic, one of the things we have had to learn

is that all of these sort of reopening plans are written in pencil, nine penn. >> exactly. >> most have been pushed back but some actually have been pushed up. greece, iceland actually happened a lot sooner than initial plans were. so, you know, let's cross our fingers and hope for the best. the next 02 and one question, which places will be most in demand this summer, and were released to the highest and the lowest, you know, airfares? >> i think the laces in demand, i mean, the places in highest demand right now internationally, at least with regard to europe, iceland and greece. you saw once iceland announced that they were reopening, flight searches there search surged 201% compared to the month before. similar story with greece, flight searches went up 70% compared to the prior month. were else i think will be popular, paris, barcelona, rombm

. you know, the traditional tourist favorites, especially after the past 12 months, when somebody people weren't able to take those really kind of iconic vacation that they were looking forward to. in regard to airfare, some of the best deals we have seen out of san francisco recently, san francisco to dublin this summer, $352 round-trip. san francisco to barcelona for $293 nonstop round-trip. those are some of the deals we have sent to scott's members and we are hoping to find more for this

secretary of state office. how much time comicomicomicomi thanks for joining us on this interactive show getting answers but before we go, breaking news, just in the as ion against governor newsom, signatur. es.

that is more 1.5 will stories as we come on the air. the coronavirus and masks in . america. the cdc is expected to release new findlines when it comes to mask outdoors. what dr. anthony fauci is now saying about the risk outdoors if you've been fully vaccinated. also tonight, news on the johnson & johnson vaccine and could there now be a case of a man with a clot potentially connected to the one-shot vaccine? the horrific scene from india tonight. we continue our reporting here. more than353,000 new cases of the virus in 24 hours. a global record. overcrowded hospitals, patients dying outside. and you will hear from a doctor tonight pleading for oxygen. the white house vowing to send help. the other news this monday night, a state of emergency in

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