building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. >> this is abc seven news. >> you are watching getting answers. where asking experts every day to get answers for you in real time. we have a great show for you today. we do what you to take part in that conversation and participate in a quiz coming up in just a couple of minutes.

first, the ne 15 date despite the cdc's updated guidance. joining us now to talk about that and much more, ucsf infectious disease specialist. dr. peter hong. let's get right to it, what is your reaction to the state. they are staying with june 15 to emphasize the mask mandate. >> i think it is reasonable. i personally -- so many people have come up to me in the last few days and even the discussions in the hospital that people felt a little bit stressed with the sudden change. this will be able to give people time to acclimate and be in line with the and it all makes sense from an organizational perspective. the transition as well as the destination, i know it will be a disappointment for some

people. again, it just makes -- from the people who have talked to me, it makes them feel a little more comfortable. >> on a personal level, i hear my friends talking about this that we have been wearing masks over year. just a few more weeks, a few more months would not be that bad. on that note, why do you think they chose this timeline? >> they chose the timeline for several reasons. the first is to give people a mental transition time. the second is to figure out a way to determine who is vaccinated and who is not and whether that is some electronic system rolled out in the state different from the others, there will not be a federal plan for that. there was some talk earlier about los angeles thinking about that. it will be interesting to see

if they adopted some of that. the world will be different for those who are vaccinated and those that are not. the next reason is it hopes get gives people who know are not vaccinated sometime to reflect and hopefully get vaccinated so we are more on the same page. the next thing is psychological. there is probably less reason to think that this will happen, we have been going so hard, over the winter, i think gradual return to normalcy is what state health leaders want us to do. >> that does make sense. we did not get to this plaintiffs all at one time. that has been gradual. making this rollback into a mask with society only makes sense. i have to ask you. we need to follow the science. isn't this confusing?

these states as they are following but the centers for disease control and prevention is also, what science is the right science? >> the science is clear. if you ask me, right now we are at the safest time we have been in the state of california. in the bay area we are the safest we have been in terms of looking at the end game, record low hospitalizations nicu admissions due to coronavirus. we have high vaccination rates maybe the highest in the country in certain groups. about 80%. even san quentin is around 75%, if not higher vaccinated incarcerated individuals. santa clara is not far beyond that. so we have vaccination rates lot of natural immunity because we were hit so hard over the

winter. and low rates, it makes it a pretty safe time. i think the catch is to ad to the new normal rather than jumping straight to the science. there are different ways to get to that destination. at the end of the day, we are going to get there. it will be accompanied by opening up in other ways as well. it will be a dramatic change, i think, on , on >> it is psychological. i meet people in public that say yes they have been fully vaccinated but it has been comfortable to wear the mask, they have gotten accustomed to it and it protects us from anything else floating around. is that how you see it? >> totally. the other population that i think we are still figuring how to message is the large population of immunocompromised individuals. this is not just people who have received a transplant or

have advanced hiv, these are in biologics because they have lupus, these are people who have cancer. we know, this is relatively new. not everyone is fully protected. you know, i think we have to figure out the messaging for all of those people. to me, i -- even though i know the science, i still feel comfortable at least going indoors and in the supermarket with my masculine for the time being. when i am not walking in the cold san francisco foggy area, it leaves me a little more protected from the elements when i have the masculine. then the other thing that people talk about is, it has been interesting to just be a little bit anonymous when you walk down the street with your mask. i think that reentry anxiety is

making some people a little bit anxious, going back into society after being locked up for year. >> sometimes it is nice to go incognito when you are running errands and don't want to meet anybody in public. >> let's address something. we have been asking for people in our audience to weigh in with their questions. this one is a doozy. i cannot answer on my mount own. christine says the covid vaccine will not prevent you from getting covid-19. that is a lie. i know three positive cases that have both sets of the vaccine. she doubles down. obviously, you and other experts have said this is not a bulletproof vest. and you address these breakthrough cases and clarify what the vaccine does. we have this question time and

time again. >> that is a great question. i applaud the person for sending in that question. it is common. you have seen it reported that there are still people who get coronavirus after getting the vaccine. first of all, i have two responses. the first is that the vaccine is not bulletproof. if you have 95% effectiveness, that's amazing. 5% of people would not get as a robust response. what is amazing, my second point, 100% of people are not getting bad they don't die. they are not even going to the hospital. i think that is a huge victory. as doctors have taken care of a lot of sick patients over the last year, it is an amazing

victory. to me, not getting bad covid or getting serious disease, either myself or my loved ones, it is an amazing destination to aspire too. >> something else in the headlines recently is the california nurses association. they have rejected these cdcs relaxed mask guidelines. what is your take on this and why do they have that standpoint, do you think? >> i think it is because of protection. the nursing profession was the -- one of the professions that have been hit hard with exposure. they are sensitized to this exposure and being vulnerable. i think, again, the risk is not the same all over the country. in the bay area we are blessed. it is not so in every pocket. >> that gives us a little

of a sigh of relief. i do want to broadness out in the last couple minutes that we have together. looking at the rest of the country, many of us have loved ones and friends in other states, new york and massachusetts. they are following the centers for disease control and prevention guidelines. is this risky? >> it is risky. it's risky in terms of public health messaging and not necessarily jumping immediately to centers for disease control guidance or to the science. it is not a new phenomenal for california. sometimes they lack the centers for disease control guidance and so it is time for them to come together. mixed messaging is a worry. at the end of the day, hopefully that date will be sooner here rather than people think. it is -- i agree, it is going to be a little bit risky. >> we

and you share your viewpoints on children wearing masks with the news that those 12 to 15- year-olds can get vaccinated, and younger kids as well. >> first of all, under to never has to wear a mask. 12 to 16 can get vaccinated, under 12, less likely to obtain and transmit covid in general. it is your context and will depend on that. if you were in michigan it would be different than being here. it have that individual family have to decide. mike i think we have covered a lot of ground. i feel like we have just scratched the surface. lots of questions are coming in from our viewers. always a pleasure dr., thank you for being here. >> when we return on the air, how do you view asian americans ? an organization called launch

wants to know. it is stereotypes and discriminations.

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here is the question do you view asian americans then how do others see us as well. this study i mentioned earlier shed light on stereotypes of tour this community. it is eye-opening. for example, 42% of americans can't even name a prominent asian american. we asked you to think of the first one you could think of in the commercial break. leave your responses on facebook.com/abc seven. norman chen is the cofounder of the

group launch. he joins us live. thank you. tell me about the goal of launch. how does this study play into your mission? >> we set up as a up as a up friends to improve the future for asian americans. righ away, after the election, we wanted to do something impactful. we looked at what are the root causes of these attacks and hate crimes against asian americans. we started reaching the research goals for that. we studies that have been done in over 20 years. >> that is a one-of-a-kind study. what took so long? who is in the study? who exactly did you examine and survey? >> we worked with several leading scholars to construct this survey.

we engaged survey company. we interviewed online 2766 americans from every state, all adults. >> and some of these findings of your top takeaways, to me, they were discouraging but gives us a jumping off point of how much work still needs to be done. number one of asian americans say they do not feel respected and are discriminated against. this is a look at one of the graphs at the launch website. take me through some of the other groups. white americans and the latinos set? >> yes. so that is a key take away about the high level of discrimination for asian americans. we also know that this applies to other people of color. 90% of black americans do not

feel respected and 73% of hispanics. 31% of americans also don't feel respected. it is most pronounced of people of color. >> in the forefront of telling the stories of the hate against asian americans for the past 18 months and beyond that. to me, engrossed in understanding the hate. it appears, based off your study, a lot of americans don't even know this is happening. >> yes. this is one of the most shocking results from the study. that was that 37% of white americans and 40s 6% of republicans are not aware of the increased racism over the past year. this is despite all the publicity after the atlanta murders and all the other heinous acts that have occurred during the year. it is really shocking. within

our group we were saying i wish we had done this study before the atlantic killing so everyone know about it. still a great proportion, are not aware of the increase. >> it is disheartening. when i here of studies like this, you cannot deny the facts. in some ways the science of what you have brought to the forefront. something that i am really interested in talking about, i will continue in our next segment as well. the stereotypes. not many people understand what the model is. >> immigration policies to show that certain ethnic or racial

groups were successful and asian americans are smart and intelligent and contributors to society. compared to other groups, they felt they were not doing as much for america. this is used to divide from other people of color. masks the idea that they are not a monolith. many struggle economically and educationally. it also raises the envied group. if you study ecology and hate crimes theory, and regroups during difficult times, like covid can be scapegoated and viciously attacked. the cycle is repeating itself

it is troubling. >> detrimental. >> we will continue talking about this when we return. we are going to go to a commercial break and answer the question. we asked viewers to answer the qu

study and then we will talk about solutions in just about 10 seconds. here we go. >> welcome back. we are here with norman chen ceo in cal founder of the non- profit launch. we spent some time talking about the study's findings. i do want to address some of the goals of this data. for anybody who is not on facebook, i want to share that when we asked our audience about who prominent asians are in their minds the first people that came to mind were kristi yamaguchi. she is from here. and bruce lee. your study found that bruce lee and then there was someone else who made the topless? >> yes. 42%

know. they could not think of one. it was disappointing. the next one was jackie chan. we love him. he is a hollywood actor. the next was bruce lee who passed away 50 years ago. all men and one is not even american. >> we need to make more stereotypes for ourselves so we are not just the brainy ones. so, on that note, how do we move forward? how do we take this data and find a solution. where do we begin? >> yes. we asked people in the survey, how do they get there information. the first two were tv, movies, or music. so cultural influences are very strong. we believe it is important that

hollywood and producers start to show asian americans in a multidimensional light so they are seen as not just supporting characters or background characters but as lead characters. they will have some depth to their personality, not just the waitress or masseuse on kung fu expert or gangster. they need to show variety in terms of the roles. we are also trying to get education initiatives. i think you talked about in your previous segment, very few of us have the opportunity to learn about asian american history when we were kids. this is a challenge. we are working with some great organizations like the asian american education project to create innovative and interesting with kids in elementary school and middle school. i'm excited about that.

>> on thinking about this because you were viewer of this the a api white house discussion that disney had earlier today. in that discussion we talked about rush off the boat. that is a prime example of americans from asia being right off the boat. so, before we go, do you that we need to educate ourselves as well? that is something that has come up in some discussions on this topic. for me, admitting that an expert just because i am asian american. that is important, recognize that we don't have all the answers and the conversation is going to be a little uncomfortable. >> absolutely. one of the most or best parts of this process is to learn so much about asian american history. i did not learn about it before. it is empowered me to speak more intelligent and meet great community leaders to address

these issues. it has to be a process of learning for ourselves and for non-asians. that is the only way we will solve these problems. >> we have a minute. where can people go on the web or social media for your organization? >> we are called launch.org. it is with 2a's. so go to launch you can see our status index report and you can download it, it is about a 45 or 50 page report that came out last week to summarize all of the key findings we have from our research. we are on social media and we're trying to get our word out. we are totally volunteer, nonprofit set up at the end of last year. >> will there be more on this study going forward? >> yes. thank you. we plan to do the study yearly

so we can track over time. it is very important that we see progress. you need to have metrics to track that. we created that with our baseline report. we will track it over time annually. >> okay. hopefully we can chat again soon. thank you so much for being here.

okay. we appreciate you taking the time to join us for this interactive show called getting answer. we talked to norman chen, the ceo of the organization launch.

you can more about them at their website. we also talked with our infectious disease specialist. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. new york takes a major step forward, taking off masks. one of several states taking that major step this week after the new cdc guidance on masks for vaccinated americans. no longer needed indoors or outdoors. but many questions tonight in new york and across the country. how do you know if the person next to you at the grocery store or elsewhere has been vaccinated? and does that pose a risk to you? dr. jha will answer your questions tonight. there is news coming in tonight as the deadly conflict between israel and hamas escalates. just in, word that president biden has, for the first time, publicly expressed his support for a cease-fire. the white house now saying he expressed this on his call late

today with israeli prime minister ben