building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc7 news. hi there, g , huluive and wherever you stream we asked experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in real-time. a little later in the show we will discuss a nonprofit on a mission to end all harassment in the world. it is teaming up with the creators of a fashion based campaign to support the aapi community during these challenging times . there are also so many new developments in the fight against covid-19. dr. peter will be here to answer your ques twge items. today's the very first day for 12 to 15-year-olds in the bay

eavaccines. also, the cdc just announced major new masking guidelines, saying fully vaccinated americans can safely ditch their mask in almost every situation. joining us now to discuss the changes is marin county's public health officer dr. matt willis. good to see you, thank you for being here. >> nice to be with you. >> the cdc just issued guidelines two weeks ago that set fully vaccinated people can go without masks unless they are indoors in a large crowd. today's guidelines loosened up things even more. explain what the cdc is saying now and what the differences from two weeks ago. >> the cdc is now saying that people who are fully vaccinated need not cover their face when they are indoors. in fact, social distancing would not be necessary for people who are fully vaccinated indoors. that is important to recognize that that is federal. that is

the cdc. we, in the look to the state of california to determine our local guidance and we have not yet heard from california department of public health. their reaction to that cdc announcement. nothing has changed for us yet in the state of california. >> i understand, the state gets to have it say and even on the local level as a county, you could enact different rules. what you say when you look at the big picture? do you think this announcement by the cdc is premature, or do you think looking at vaccination rates and case rates in the country, that seems warranted? >> i am divided, frankly on this. i think this is a sign of the progress we are making. this will happen. this is part of what we will begin to see more and more of as we emerge out of this pandemic and we will not be needing to cover our faces forever. the question is, when and not whether or not this would occur. i think this

is early. when it comes to the is earlier than i had expected, especially when you look across the nation and see places that have less than 50% vaccination coverage. frankly, the idea of people not covering their faces indoors when they are gathered together is concerning that there would be ongoing transmission. >> nationwide, only about 35% of adults have been fully vaccinated. what is the number in morgan county? >> we are at 86% of those eligible, that is age 16 and above have been vaccinated with windows, about 72% have been vaccinated fully with both doses. >> okay. >> so we are in a good position to reach that level of humanity immunity we've been seeking. >> given that is at, given sage on 15th and governor newsome has recently hinted at it, just a lot of

mask mandates and pretty much decides to align the state with what the cdc said, would you in marin county be comfortable doing that as well, or would you have perhaps a little more stringent mask requirements still? >> i think we need to learn more about the expectations around enforcements and we are looking for the california department of public health to tell us more about how we would determine vaccination status. there seems to be an assumption in both the cdc guidance that the government has announced so far that we would be able to ascertain vaccination status. if we step back and imagine they a movie theater or a bookstore where you might say people under the new guidance, people who are fully vaccinated maybe together without physical distancing. the problem is on a practical level, as people enter that establishment, you may not know what their vaccination status is. that is a concern that we actually would in real life be

experiencing groups of people who are a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people. i would want to know more about how we would approach that from the state to make a local determination. >> right. i su that ce would be i was just going to ask you how could an employer or business verify that? let's say somebody walks in without a mask, can you even say, hey, prove that you are vaccinated? can you? >> right, i think that is a dip important and debated legal topic right now from the lawyers that we have consulted, different answers to the same question, can we legally ask someone what their vaccination status is? we know that the vaccine cards that everyone gets what they are vaccinated are emerging as sort of the default method by which people would show their vaccine status, but when and where you can ask for that and how that would be applied practically has not yet been answered. >> right. but do you think a vaccine passport could work, if not a

national even just listening to dr. fauci today, it does not sound like they are close to getting there or going in that direction, but could california develop its own mark on your part of a conversation of public health officers advocating for that? that would take away some of the guesswork and potentially some of the battles. >> that has been discussed here there are some counties moving forward with their local version of a vaccine passport. orange county is moving toward a vaccine passport. it is theoretically possible and technically because there is an immunization registry in the state of california where people who are vaccinated are now being put into a single database. you actually do have instant information about the vaccine status, ideally, if that registry is complete with all california residents that have been vaccinated. we have not heard yet in terms of what the process would be for actually translating that into a verification in some way a

business owner could use practically in real time. >> look, despite what the cdc is saying, are there categories to people with whom you would still suggest keep your mask on, even if they don't need to? >> well, right now it is important. nothing has changed concern i have with the cdc announcement is that people might misunderstand this to me that we don't need to be covering our faces indoors anymore. that would be a dangerous misunderstanding. right now, again, the state has not changed their guidance. we in marin county changed our guidance. people who are unvaccinated really should for the sake of themselves, their own health and the health of everyone around them cover their faces when they are indoors and continue to practice ethical distancing the most important group to make sure people are continuing

their current standard, those who remain unvaccinated while that fraction of the population gets smaller and smaller. >> what about people who have been vaccinated, maybe they have certain health issues? suzanne says maybe they have organ recipients and suzanne says i will still keep it on, what about the immune compromised, what do you think? >> absolutely. a part of the future to be personal decision-making based on your own understanding of your own risks and the circumstances around you. our policies have determined so much of what we are able to do. less and less get less restrictive, it will be more and more up to personal choice. people need to understand their own risks. anyone at higher risk of a bad outcome, severe outcome, hospitalization rates and death and become infected should take that into account. older residents, people above 65 we know are much more likely to have severe outcomes if they become infected and people who have immune compromised conditions, people on chemotherapy, people with other

chronic medical conditions should recognize that even if they have been vaccinated, there is a risk for breakthrough infections. their immune systems might not react to the vaccine quite as well, so they may not have not quite as much of the protection of the vaccine. taking that into account, continuing to cover their faith and avoid crowds, especially now that we know there may be crowds of people indoors where they are not required to cover their faces anymore, even if they are not vaccinated. >> just to sum it up because i'm seeing some of the questions on facebook with so many confusion, despite what the cdc says today, the cdc is not an enforcement agency and within their guidelines they say follow whatever your state and local orders are. what is the rule to abide by if you are here in california and in marin county? >> that is right. so, if you are vaccinated, you can now remove your mask when you are outdoors and you are not in a crowd. that is the news. that was

weeks ago. we said that you can now not cover your face if you are outdoors and not in a crowd, if you have been vaccinated. if you're unvaccinated, you can continue to cover your face both outdoors and indoors and everyone, everyone , regardless of vaccination status, needs to be covering their faces indoors and in any public setting across the state publicly. if you're at home with others in your household, you don't need to be covering your face. >> dr. matt willis, marin county's public health officer. we thank you for your transparency here with us and your insight. good to talk to you, hope to do it again soon. coming up next, the other big development today. as you know, kids 12 to 15 can now get the vaccine, the

lce back. we told you >>i thinky about two big developments today with the cdc thing vaccinated people pretty much don't need a mask inside or outside and majority of situations now. the other is kids 12 to 15 are eligible to get the pfizer vaccine. it comes after the cdc gave a formal approval yesterday. some clinics and pharmacies are already getting shots into young arms. joining us now to talk about this is dr. peter chin-hong, an infectious disease specialist at ucsf. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on, kristin. always a pleasure. >> 12 to 15-year-olds are getting there shot throughout the bay area at county clinics, drugstores, hospital chains or they can only get pfizer for now, right? >> yes. on the pfizer has submitted and

had their data approved. moderna is close on the heels and the next step will be the under 12-year-old. >> okay, so for now, pfizer, as you know two shots, three weeks apart. dr. chin-hong, adults booking right now have quite options here in the bay area. supply is pretty good right now at lots of different sites. because it is only pfizer to the 12 to 15, they are more limited in their vacation locations, it might be start hard to look at times still, right? >> there have been overwhelming appointments because of that bottlenecking, as you put it, kristin. hopefully over time this will diminish again. it is the floodgates opening, a bunch of people, but then our supply is very, very robust. i suspect we will get better over time. >> so when parents sign up their kids, what do they need

to provide as far as paperwork, anything different from when we filled out the online forms ourselves? >> the only difference is the parent actually had to show up if it is going to walgreens or cvs. the other difference too, they will also be providing pediatrician offices. of course that needs to be a better range and organized for more intimate settings. there is also a new rule that you don't have to go space the vaccines apart from other vaccines. when kids go in for their regular shots before school, you can just add the covid shot as well. >> that is a big deal. you don't need to worry about spacing it out some other childhood vaccines. when the parent takes the child to the vaccination site, do they need to bring any ids for the kids? kids that age don't have driver's licenses, what should they bring? >> i think any sort of i.d.,

for example, i took my daughter in to get a vaccine at a cvs recently and she showed a school i.d. . i think that was good enough. i just showed my drivers license as some sort of other identification. different sites will have different strategies, but essentially the i.d. for the kid is not too bad. >> i'm just going to bring the passport, birth certificate, all of it just so i am not turned away. >> exactly. after you make that appointment, you don't want to have a reason not to get it. >> bring it all. bring a birth certificate if you have it. how about side effects? are you hearing for 12 to 15 it is the same likely side effects possibly for kids as we saw with adults? >> the same side effects. soreness of the arm, some headache, some fatigue, just a little bit more likely with fevers after the second shot.

essentially, it seems statistically at adults. nothing different. nothing unexpected. they all go away very quickly. >> good to hear it. when do you think under 12 will be able to get the vaccine? >> i expect the data will be formally submitted by the end of summer. we are looking at early september for a formal fda emergency use authorization amendment to pfizer and moderna. >> got it. what you think about the other big piece of news today, and that is the cdc pretty much saying, if you're fully vaccinated, you don't need to wear your mask or social distance, whether you are indoors or outdoors, except for a few specific situations, do you think that is premature? >> i think a lot of people were shocked, even the people that are very pro-this. i think it is the right time,

if any to do this. i think there are several things going on here. first of all, i think the cdc and other public health authorities are anticipating we may get another surge in the winter, influenza mixed and maybe with covid, who knows? to keep everything going full speed for the entire time is going to make people get a lot of fatigue and it is better to like relax and say, okay, everybody, the numbers look worse, let's go back to masks temporarily. i feel like that is one thing. the second thing is, of course there is a lot of pressure in general to look at the data, to go where the science shows and that is another factor as well. different parts of the country have different settings. there are still about 40,000 new cases a day. it is not like it has gone away anywhere. if you're unvaccinated, it is a particular cautious time, i would say. >> although, that number is a

lot better than where we were a couple of months ago. >> 50% than where we were at the full peak. >> always good to see you, thank you so much, take care. coming up, folks, how a t- shirt campaign is tackling hate and supporting the aapi community. we will tell yo in business, it's never just another day. it's the big sale, or the big presentation. the day where everything goes right. or the one where nothing does. theosnesses and advanc cerrity can deliver gig speeds to protectvery device ng does. l ck dedicated team, . in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities.

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welcome back abc7, we've been covering the heartbreaking stories on attacks on asian americans. now, a special campaign called generate love is launching to support the aapi community and benefits a nonprofit community that is on a mission to and harassment around the goal globe. joining us today are corinna shay and emily may , the cofounder and executive director . thank you both for being here. >> thanks so much for having us. >> thank you, it is really an honor. >> it is great to have you here

because you do something incredible. emily, you've been around since 2005, working to into harassment and violence in all forms. in what ways have you directed your efforts recently as stopping the recent attacks on asian americans marcus >> about a year ago, when the pandemic began, we saw a huge rise in anti-asian harassment and violence. partnering with asian americans advancing justice to iterate our bystander intervention trainings to really respond to the moment. in the past two months alone, since the events in atlanta, we have had 125,000 people sign up for this free training on our website. the response has been phenomenal. >> and when we refer to atlanta, you are talking about the shooting at the spa that took the lives of six asian american women. just so heartbreaking right, bystanders do have a role. and i think some people do go, what can i do?

what is the safe thing for me to do rather than shoot it on my iphone? give us the steps. you broke it down into five steps. >> we have the five of bystander intervention. quickly distract to de-escalate the situation. starting a conversation with the person being harassed. delegate, maybe to the person next to you. document, make sure to give that footage to the person who experienced the harassment, giving them the choice as to what they want to do next. delay, checking in on the person was harassed after it, even something as little as a knowing glance can reduce trauma. the last, direct, directly sitting down with the person harassing, then and not engaging with them back and forth, turning your attention to the person being harassed. >> i think we can remember that. karina, you went to harvard, worked in silicon valley and decided to pursue something closer to your heart, martial arts, blogging at female empowerment. now you want to do something to support hollaback! in the wake of all of this aapi

hate. tell us about your campaign. >> generate love is a t-shirt campaign where we donate 100% of our profits to hollaback! to help our aapi community. this idea came to me actually march 25th, after the devastating atlanta shootings. i really wanted to help bring our asian american community together. >> what do you think is the unique way with artists, for example, and creative, like how can they, through this creativity, contribute to such an important cause? >> great question. i think artists and designers can use their vision to launch a calls like with generate love, our vision is adding on to the stop asian eight conversation and focusing on the direction we want to go, which is to generate love.

>> in fact, that is what your t- shirt says, right? >> yes. and we have a few different things, one is one heart because we are one heart and one people, which is love, which is the everlasting love that connects all of us. really, what i would like people to remember is right now through these difficult times, we must remember that we are one and we are humankind. we are both human and kind. >> i love that message. clearly, a lot of people do too. you only launched a couple of weeks ago and how much have you raised already for hollaback!? >> we have raised almost $2000 just from word of mouth in about three or four weeks. >> that is just incredible emily , if people are interested in learning more about hollaback! and how they can be strong bystanders for people, what are the ways they can reach out and take part in your lessons or workshops?

>> absolutely. you can go to hollaback.org the work that karina is doing his work we encourage everyone to do. everyone has the responsibility to do something. no one has the response ability to do everything. whether you come to the workshop, by a t-shirt so that others can come to workshops for free, supporting the aapi community is an incredible important thing right now. we all need to stand up against this hate and harassment happening and we are so happy to be partnering with generate love to be doing this work. >> karina, in your personal life, have you been touched by any of the harassment lately you feel has really motivated you to take action? >> i think it is just everyday walking out the door. unfortunately, i have a sense of i'm a bit scared, honestly.

i have done several defense trainings and i know how to take care of myself, but i still feel on guard every time i walk out the door and to know that this violence is happening toward our community all across america and the globe is just devastating. that is why i had to take action. >> and indeed you have three generatelove .us and you can learn more about hollaback! on their website. ladies, thank

thank you so much for joining us on this interactive we talked with two bay area experts about the new cdc mask guidance and vaccinating kids ages 12 to 15, which is new for

today. we also discussed the generate aapi communi tonight, the cdc says no more masks for vaccinated americans indoors or outdoors, with just a few exceptions. president biden in the rose garden late today celebrating the new cdc guidance, allowing fully vaccinated people to go without their masks. cdc director dr. rochelle walensky saying the science is there. and tonight, your questions. if you're vaccinated, can you still transmit the virus to others? and if you're in a crowd or back at work, how do you know if someone near you has been vaccinated or not? and does that pose a risk? dr. jen ashton answering your questions tonight. also this evening, those gas lines and rising gas prices. news coming in just as we come on the air tonight. with the colonial pipeline restarting, a reality check. what