building a better bay area ng forward, finding solutions, this is abc7 news. >> hi there, i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program, getting answers. we are asking experts your questions every day 3:00 to get answers for you in real time kick today, we are talking about the drought come as the entire bay area is now in the extreme category. what that means and what happens now. giants legend willie mays turns 90 years old today. we will ask for the impact he has had on and off eld. fit, have the clinal ia fooster shjoining now to lkabout that anaithdepar of medicine at ucsf , dr. walker. thanks for making time for us today. >> my pleasure.

>> today's big headline, moderna ceo thing we would likely need boosters , 9 to 12 months later, people are kind of buzzing about that. but i wonder why. it's not a surprise to you at all, right? >> no, the pfizer ceo said the same thing about two weeks ago. i think the bottom line is, we don't know for sure. whether we are going to need boosters, but there is a reasonable chance that we will. it still a little bit up in the air whether we would need a booster of the same shot we got before, or a rejiggered booster, based on the variance. i think we will have to see. but it certainly is a possibility that we will need another shot. >> it's like you're anticipating my next question. i was going ask you, why? is it because the immunity wears off? right, which means we get the same shot again, or is it that the virus will be just very different 12 months from now. so we actually need, you know, it protection? >> not even i don't think very many people think that the immunity is going to wear off in 6 to 12 months. these vaccines work incredibly

well an early indication is that the immunity will last a number of years, two, three, five. so it's almost certainly because of the variance. it is because gone a little bit smarter, but it may turn out to be, even with the variance, all you need is to just boost your immunity. you may just need the same shot again, or you might benefit from a rejiggered shot it really is all about the variance. it's looking like the vaccine is going to be lasting. if we had the same virus we would be dealing with a couple years from now i'm i think the bedding would be the vaccine would be lasting just fine. it really is all about the variance. >>.you. so this is why it's a race against time, right? we can get vaccination rates up, let's say fewer people get it, and then the variant doesn't have much time to do its thing. then we have fewer strengths to worry about, is that what it is? >> it's true, what we are seeing in india, what we are seeing in south america is that there are going to be variance.

there are, you know, just no way there will be enough vaccination in those countries, or other parts of the world, to fully beat down this virus. so there will be variance that are going to be around us. it really is that there will be variance entering our environment, and so, even a slight weaning of our immunity that might be enough to fight the existing virus, might not be good enough for the variance. the point you're making is exactly right, the fewer replication, fewer cases of new infection that we have, the fewer variance there will be. i think we will be in a situation by the summer where there aren't that many variance being created in the u.s. but people are going to travel, people will be moving around the world, so there will be variance entering our world. >> okay, i just want to make sure, that doesn't mean the moderna news today about meeting boosters, this doesn't mean this vaccine is any less effective or not is good as the other ones out there, right? i mean, the same thing would be incentive for example, the pfizer one or johnson & johnson, any of them, like you could be boosters.

>> yes, exactly. principles will be the same for all of them. sepals are comedies are unbelievably effective vaccines coming currently safe vaccines, really miraculous, we should feel very lucky to have them in our world. but, that over time, over time, the immunity is likely to weigh in, but that might that might years. the issue is that the virus has mutating, there are going to be variance, and there may be a reason why there is a need for additional shots in the future. >> so we should get the mindset now when you say, like the flu shot, every year, you know? they make it a little different. you get a shot. >> yeah, my career, maybe every couple of years, it's hard to know. it is news because they said it because you are talking about a seal of the company making billions of dollars on these vaccines. they might have a little incentive to say that we are going to need another vaccine in our future. i don't think it's a slamdunk. it's not proof we will need it. >> i might say you need a booster every six months, so sorry, so sorry.

>> in my mind, i've got my two pfizer shots. i'm pretty sure i will have another shot in my future. it's not a big deal. >> there was other pfizer news today, i don't think this is a surprise either, but a lot of people were wondering about that, a study that shows that it is much more effective after the second shot. are the numbers a little different this time? >> they are about the same, as we anticipate. you know, we know that the first shot works reasonably well. what they thought the study was a little bit lower than we had anticipated. and the second shot gets you, you know, amazing amounts of immunity. the u.s. has now passed the time, we had a debate three or four months ago about whether we should delay the second shot to get people there for shots. that debate is over in the united states, they decided not to do it. the uk decided to do it. they done incredibly well. i think we could've gone either way, we are now at the place where there is enough vaccine around for everybody, and we don't really have to worry about it. everybody should get there second shot, no question about it.

>> other headlines, california will achieve herd immunity by june 15th, that is coming right up. so, what does that mean?that mem >> well, we are trying to get a little bit away from this notion of herd immunity. it's not like a magic number, the minute you hit it, you will never have a virus in your community again. what we know is that, the more people that are vaccinated, the more or the harder it is for the virus to get in a toehold of your community. and so, we are going to get, looks like california is doing well. i have to tell you, that they area is doing unbelievably well. san francisco is running about 30% to 40% higher vaccination rates than the rest of california, and the rest of the country. so certainly in the bay area, and probably all of california, we are reaching a level of immunity through vaccination and through some prior infections. that is going to be very hard to have another surgeon in california. doesn't mean we will never have a case, people will come here from other countries, other states that are not as well immunized. might have a sporadic outbreak of a few cases, but we will

have enough people immunized that the virus's ability to cause a big surge will be highly, highly limited. >> even of tourism resume, business travel, people start coming here from outside of the california area in large numbers again? >> yeah, i mean, the if you are a person who lives in the bay area or california, and around you, 70 or 80% of people are fully vaccinated, yes, someone comes in from a state where people aren't as vaccinated, they may be infected, and it's possible if you are not vaccinated, you could get infected. so it's not like we are completely immunized against covid. if you are on immunized, you could so that it, but the chances then that you are going to spread it to another person is very low, because it's just going to be very hard for that virus to find and on immunized person. bottom line is, everybody should get immunized as soon as they get a chance. we are going to get to a point where it's going to be very

hard for the virus to form a significant outbreak, even though a new virus may be entering our community, because of travel. >> on it, because we don't have any vulnerable hosts, what about 12 to 15-year-old? what's the latest timeline on when they might be allowed to get the pfizer shot? that i'm also asking about under 12 too. >> yeah, there's been some news and sort of premonitions that there will be approved by the fda, early next week, that seems like the bedding is on that. and so, you know, as early as the next week or two, we are going to have a vaccine being available for kids from 12 to 15. and it would be great if they got it. it would get us to herd immunity sooner. and also, although the kids are fairly unlikely to get very sick, we know that, but the 12 to 15-year-olds act more like young adults, in terms of their ability to get the virus and spread it. so it would be great if they were immunized. they might not get really sick

themselves, but they could catch it and give it to a relative or a friend, who for example, is on immunosuppressive therapy or is vulnerable, for the reasons. so should be starting next week or two, that they are eligible for, and in terms of younger ages, the studies are now ongoing, it's looking good that we are going to see the company's demonstrate that the vaccines continue to work in younger ages, so i think we will see in the next few months, the approval for even younger than age 12. >> really quickly, i've got address because today san francisco is now officially in the yellow tier, that means bars that don't serve food and indoor entertainment centers can reopen at limited capacity. do you feel good about that? what precautions would you suggest individuals take if they were to partake in those activities? >> i feel great about it. i think san francisco has been very careful all the way through. now they are opening things up appropriately, because the number of new cases a day in san francisco is about 25. this is a city of 900,000 people, so 25 new cases, it's

really a pretty extraordinary thing. what are the precautions? i would follow what the rules are. personally, i'm still not doing indoor dining. i'm fully vaccinated, but i don't know for sure that the person at the next table is vaccinated. everyone is taking their mask off. so when i'm inside, i want to be around other people that are either, i'm sure they are vaccinated, or they are wearing their masks, and keeping a distance. so restaurants are the things to me there is a little bit dicey. eating outside, i meeting outside tonight. that is fine. indoor dining is i think the one where i'm still not quite there. i probably will be there once the case rates and the test positivity rate goes down a little bit moi'eck back in a couple of weeks and see where you are at that

welcome back. the news came out today that the entire bay area is now categorized as extreme when it comes to drought conditions. let's give you a look at the map. last week, compared to today, we have a lot of questions about this, and you can ask questions too in the comments section of facebook live. so we were in, you know, seeing a lot of yellow, but the situation is now worse. joining us now, climatologist at the western regional center, also helped author the u.s. drought monitor, and this week's nap, good afternoon, david, thank you so much for your time. the difference between severe drought and extreme drought which is what we have now, talk about what that difference means. >> yeah, thank you. the categorization that we use

is based onbased onbased onbasen rankings. so when we are looking at various data indicators, such as precipitation, temperature, soil moisture, looking at the snow pack and andck andck andcka we are looking at percentile rankings of the data, and what that does is provide a historical context to the data indicators. looking at the indicators recently this week, as i was doing the analysis, much of the state fell into that extreme drought category. >> nothing changed in the last two weeks, right? was the production always going to be that we were going to get into this exceptional area, actually no, that is the next level, let's hope we don't get there, we are at extreme. what change, if anything? >> yeah, so we were on a path to moving toward extreme drought in areas with exceptional drought in the state, based upon what we knew of the poor

april 1st. we were about 60% of normal. in terms of snowpack. about, some of the things i was looking at was a combination of short-term and long-term indicators. in the short term, april was one of the, it was a very dry month. it ranked about the fourth driest april on record. looking at the water year, beginning october 1st, california also was about the third or fourth driest on record. looking back even further, because in our drought analysis, we are not only looking at the short-term, but we are looking at the long-term indicators as well. the 24 month, the past 24 month period, has been the third driest statewide on record. and for the bay area, it was the driest 24 month period on record. >> okay, so what is the impact?

i mean, some local water agencies are cutting back now or asking us to cut back on water use, obviously some crops, you know, may not grow as well or at all, but what are the things we can see as a result? >> yeah, so one of the major impacts is, due to the poor snowpack, but also temperatures are warmg . so the snowpack is melting faster than normal. at this point. this time of the year, normally stream flows are kind of peaking at this time of year. but what we see now across a lot of the state is, the streamflow levels are in this bottom, you know, 10 to 20th percentile ranking. so they are not in good shape. and that means less inflow into the reservoirs. so, obviously when you have low reservoirs, what we are looking at is cuts in water deliveries, to agriculture, across the central valley, which is going to have major impact for producers across california. ions for grazing of r ng

catt, ro thfoothi areaof nortrn california as well. ofthose th having or range conditions, producers are going to have to feed supplemental feed, which means hey, so they are having to purchase hey. basically what you are going to see is, those costs are going to carry over to consumers. >> how quickly could be reverse the picture? >> i don't see any way of reversing it until we start to get into the cool season, starting in october and november. that'll just depend on precipitation that we start receiving, going into the cool season. as you know, now we are moving into dry season in california. we occasionally get some kind of scattered thdesert areas and on the eade the sierras, but generally

speaking, we get such a small percentage of the annual precipitation that occurs during the summer months, that i don't see any opportunity for improvement in conditions. i think it's going to worsen during the summer months. >> yeah, we are in a pretty deep hole. it may not just be one season even, right? okay, david, thank you so much for your insight, climatologist at the western regional climate center. to keep us posted, we appreciate it. >> okay, thanks much. coming up next, we are sang happy 90th birthday giants and baseball legend willie mays, the co-author of his book joins us next. some rare photos and credible stories about

san francisco giant legend willie mays is 90 years old today, the oldest living baseball hall of famer and his impact on and off the field is nearly impossible to measure. but we are going to try,

joining us now is san francisco chronicle's national baseball writer and columnist and co- author with willie mays of 24 life stories and lessons from the say hey kid, john shea. you see spencer as well, spencer didn't co-author the book, but he knows everything there is to know about willie's career as well. there is the book. we are really happy to have john joining me and spencer for this conversation today. john, you've been a confident for willie mays, with him for so long, how is he doing? did you get a chance to talk with him today, wishing a happy birthday? >> i spoke with him the other day. i will see him tomorrow at the ballpark. they will honor him for the homestand opener at oracle park. he is doing well. you know? he's been sheltering for a year plus. you know, like most seniors. so he hasn't been able to do his thing, and his thing is going out to the park and hanging out with the players, manager, coaches, media, fans, hanging out in the clubhouse. that is his second home. hopefully that'll happen at some point this year, but for tomorrow, it'll be mostly on the field and probably up in

the suite. >> john, i was saying to kristen earlier, i've been watching baseball since i was five years old old old old old 1950s. i remember all of willie mays career. he is the greatest all-around player i have ever seen. i thought he brought excitement every facet of the game, whether he was, you know, swinging the bat, chasing the ball to center field or running the bases, how would you rate him among the all-time greats? >> oh, second to nobody, really. i mean, babe ruth they say, with you the greatest all- around ballplayer, because he pitch? i would say two things about that. one, when willie mays got signed by the giants, out of the birmingham black bears, there were two newspapers in the area that predicted him to be a major league pitcher, because his arm was so good. secondly, thdiplayring inten. willie mays dead. so babe ruth did not face satchel paige, who was in his prime. babe ruth did not hit a ball to adapt and watch oscar charleston chase it down. because those two gentlemen

were to play baseball. so they played from 1920 on. so there is a big difference, the competition level was a lot different when willie mays showed up and dave obviously couldn't run like willie, couldn't throw from the outfield like willie. he couldn't run the bases, you, so many things. defend, obviously, like willie. i would say, willie is by far the greatest overall player. we have seen many. we have seen erin, some, trout now, mookie that's. let's see them over a whole career. willie played for 22 seasons. >>want yocontin. is number e. anotr es hn, haveyou hearhimodern-day pl likes watching? i mean going all the way back, he would go back into his

career, but what other players has he enjoyed watching and admired? >> yeah, his famous line,famous, don't hit them, i just got them or i don't rake them, i just catch them i don't rake them, i just hit them. although he did say that in the book, the greatest catch ever was not the catch at the ground in the 54 game one. but another one in evansville and bobby morgan hit a line drive, that he died for in the gap in le center. you know, it's mostly respect for these kids, he doesn't like the comparisons. i mean he's heard about trout. he's hurt at about mookie. you know, barry obviously and his dad, bobby is a great player in his day. in the next willie mays, which was too much pressure for anybody at a young age, like bobby. but, i mean, you know, i think more than anything, he just kind of respects the game as it's played now. you wouldn't really compare them, but you and i can, right? >> you and i can, for sure. >> i certainly hope he has seen that g e plaza

ballpark today. it's really incredible, and just pays tribute. look at the hot too. i love it for the hat, has he seen this? >> that is so cool. >> i hope he has seen it. the giants are honoring willie mays in another way today, launching willie mays scholars program. john, tell us about this scholarship, you know, what is the mission and who is it for? >> yeah, you know, willie mays is all about kids. anytime i interview him or converse with him, every conversation seems to go back to helping kids, you know, the iconic pictures of him playing stickball in the streets of harlem, back in the early mid 50s. and it was all about just taking care of him, because, he remembers, you know, adults who his father has asked, with the birmingham, they took care of

him. so when he got to the age, he figured, it's time to pay back. he's been doing that his whole life. but kids need a whole lot to him. and this thing that he's joining with the giants and joining with a couple of local nonprofits is going to benefit 5/9 graders every year, five african-american kids, or black kids in san francisco. who need help, it is a need- based scholarship. these nonprofits are going to do the dirty, not the dirty work, probably fun work, getting these kids through high school, getting these kids through college, and the giants are going to fund most of it. willie mays, shoot, i would love, yeah, attach me to that. i'm all about it. millie willie mays already saying he looks forward to the first five recipients. they are going to get college scholarships, if they stay on the path. it's not just aboutjust aboutjut kids, it's about the community. and it's probably going to grow

year-to-year. every year, it's going to be a new five kids. you know, it's kind of cool thing. it's about improving the environment, the community, the neighborhood. the city, you know, everything about it. >> what a big heart, that is amazing. please tell the say hey kid we said happy birthday. me and spencer, everyone here at abc7, we wish in our best. don't go away, we want to don't go away, we want to continue this conversati when a truck hit my car, don'tthe insurance company continue twasn't fair.ti i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪

as the director is and we got to say goodbye. to be continued. thank you. thanks so much for joining us today on this interactive show, getting answers. answers. th infoyoincludg moderna's encouraging update on this clinical trial, regarding

boosters. we also talked about the drought entering the extreme category in tonight, as we come on the air, the school shooting. this time, authorities believe a middle school student with a gun. the shooter opening fire on a middle school in idaho. two students and a custodian shot. authorities just moments ago saying the suspect is a female student in the sixth grade. and tonight, reports a teacher stepped in to get the gun. the witnesses, a sixth grade girl, describing hiding in the corner of the classroom with her classmates, lights off, doors locked. describing the sounds of gunshots and screaming. authorities holding a news conference moments ago and we'll bring it to you. also on this thursday night, the coronavirus here in the u.s. and how they hope to reach americans not yet vaccinated. tonight, going door to door in some parts of the country. and another