building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc7 news. hi, there, i'm kristen sze. you're watching "getting answers." we get answers for you in real time today we'll talk to lonnie chen, a regular particular analyst on our show on "getting answers" but he's targeting a new position in a state political office so big shift for him. first, the delta variant remains top of mind for pus and usanno

plus. doctor, what is the delta variant? >> so the delta plus what's a variant, really mutations in the spike protein. delta plus has one more along the spike protein and this is the one that's circulating more in india at the moment and there have been a few cases in the united states, specifically in utah. delta is the one that's becoming the predominant strain here, not delta plus. >> not sure in everyone is sure, the spike protein is that what allows the virus to attach stop and enter the human cell? >> yes. there's this sticking out piece

called the spike protein that will attach the virus to the human cell. the reason it's so important is our vaccines or at least the ones we have authorized in this country involve your body taking a little althat gets injected that helps you code for the spike protein, either mrna or dna in the case of johnson & johnson. you code it up, meaning you create a protein out of it and raise an immune response. your body is like what, this is weird. this looks foreign to me and i'm going to make an immune response against it. that's how our vaccines it's important because these mutations have pro teens.

>> where does the word plus come from as part of the name? is that standard naming this but a little more dangerous? what is it, really? >> i don't know why this becaus transmissible than the delta variant. >> but we do know the delta variant is more france missable. so giving that, talk about the three in vaccines that are available to us in the u.s. and how effective they are against the delta variant. >> you're right, it's transmissible. there's johnson & johnson, moderna and pfizer. all three put out evidence that

they make what are called neutralizingd would dis. johnson & johnson did just last week. that's one level. second, is that three all produce t cells and t cells you system and t cells all look like they work against the delta variant from all three vaccines. then what about real world data show me that this works in the real world. at least from canada and the public health foundation from england, the pfizer vaccine looks like it works against the delta vaccine. you need two doses. 96% effectiveness for hospitalizations. the johnson & johnson, we don't have full data on the delta variant. we're waiting for that but the cdc said we're not seeing more breakthrough infections >> all right.

so you've always said these vaccines work and continue to slay that with the delta variant. daniel wants to know how is this variant more con stay just. we hear. that do you not need as much quantity of the virus to get infected or is it further than six feet apart? >> no, actually it's a great question. it really means that usually these viruses bind more tightly to your cells in your nose. by binding more tightly they are the ones most able to bind your ace recenters called the ace 2 receptors. that's the virus that gets. that's the strain that gets in and is reproduced. you can have higher viral loads and then this goes to the next one. in terms of what are calledt ard

npi, nonfarm suit vehicle injections. they are, of course, masking, ventilation and distancing. >> can we get to a good level of heard immunity with people expected to be infected with the delta variant? >> i think we can. what does herd immunity it means you protect others. those hop can't take it like children are protected by high levels. the determine nance of herd of tvacce. the toutreally simply, you

have 100 places where t cells attach and kill that virus and if you have ten mutations along that spike proteins, you still have 90 of your t cells to kill it. it will be hard to avoid immunity. >> we'll take a short break. when we come back the w.h.o. said you should where your mask indoors and when me might need a boost are

we're back with

disease specialist, dr. monica gandhi. we have the delta variant but also looking at rising vaccination levels. look, what are the chances we're going to need a booster shot or third shot, however you want to call is it here? >> i think there's some data that has come out thats had convinced me we will not need a booster for a long time. there was a study in "nature" that showed that people who got the shot would norm war called memory b cells in their lymph nodes. your lymph nodes store these memory b cells. if they see them them them them they produce antibodies. they produce against whatever they saw because antibodies are

adaptable. so that, along with t cells make me think it will be a long time before we have to boost our memory b cells. they ten ye i'except for those who are immunorepressed. >> the antibodies are adaptable, too, yes. >> jeanette has a question. are there different levels of immunity for are fully vaccinated. i had a friend who did not develop antibodies after both doses of a pfizer. i heard of a nurses who got a pfizer and then a moderna. clear that up for us. >> there are two arms of the immune system that come up after you get a vaccine. there are b cells that produce

antibodies. then there are t cells. t cells will fight our virus long term. they're hard to measure. we do it at ucsf in our research lab but they're not done. so we don't know if someone isn't fully immune just by looking at the antibody which is why the cdc says don't look at antibodies to measure your immunity. you make the assumption that you're more immune than you think. but if you want to boost antibodies, getting a third shot will help. you can keep among boosting antibodies, antibodies, antibodies but they will eventually go down. that's what the human body does. can't keep them in your body or this would be too thick. >> so more antibodies doesn't

equate to better. >> t cells is part of the vaccine response. >> okay. the w.h.o. now recommending with the delta making a lot of news that people mask indoors even in they're vaccinated. l.a. county officials are recommending the same. do you agree with that? >> i think it has to be situational, context specific. the w.h.o. was providing a specific contact for the entire planet which is 10.7% vaccinated. not remotely to the levels we have here in california and they are talking about a lot of high level circulation of the virus. if my relative in india is fully vaccinated, i would want t them to wear a mask inside. that doesn't make sense in l.a. because our rates of immunity by the study is up to 84%.

los angeles between natural immunity and the vaccine just released by the l.a. times a week and half ago. there are such low rates of circulating virus that it doesn't quite make sense to wear a mask. i think we should always put vaccination status and community rates in the equation. i don't think this makes sense in l.a. or? san francisco. there are people or skeptical and sandy sounds to be one of them. she said stop it. your incentives did not work. i think she's talking about state incentives, now trying to scare people with a plus. we do see comments like that quite a bit. how do you respond to that? >> i think it's fair in the sense of what she's saying thestaics org lot of headlines if you're

unvaccinated you're hosed, which is one of my colleagues said. that isn't fair. that word is really scary. i think there are headlines pointing out that it's unvaccinated, who are the ones prone to getting sick from the delta variant. sometimes our tactics are very heavy handed. i think sandy's point is just say this like this is and that who help people get vaccinated. >> okay. look, i just want to mention to our viewers this fall in california kids are going back to school in personal i know you've been advocating for that for quite a long time. summer camps is what i want to ask you about right now. my own daughter is teaching one. there's some people who really wanted to social distance. others sad i want to sit by my friend and work on the project together. she was asking me to ask you is

it okay to allow kids under 12 to be near each other and share the same robotic equipment and things like that is that okay as long as there's a door leading to the outside side open. >> yes, there there there there masking, distancing, ventilation. as long last masks are in place indoors, doesn't need outdoors, there wasn't a strict distance need. with the ventilation in the bay area keep that door or windows open. of course they should sit next to each other. we are recommending that kids mask inside. that will likely be lifted only when the cdc gives guidance that it can be lifted by metrics. remember how low rates are, transmission rates in san

francisco. when i'm worried about my child who is 11, but the rates are low. put community transmission into it. >> all right. we'll cheap that in mind, dr. monica gandhi, always great learning from you. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> all right. folks when we come back we'll be talking to a familiar face, lonnie chen

you are used stanford hoover llnhee chen as a political comment tater. stood he is make headlines of his own. instead of commentator, he's becoming kidnapped for chief financial officer of the state. lanhee is here to talk about ab

why he's doing it. welcome. >> . you've been a frequent guest talking politics. so why are you giving up all of this, all of this lanhee to i g there e esour state has. it's a wonderful place, a place with great potential. as i see the problems we first, i want to do something to them. this is the best way top contribute to the public conversation. this is a technical office l.a. lot of people may be wondering what does a controller do. why does this matter to my life. i look forward top answering that question and explaining why that s a lot of the issues we're having can be

with come competent leadership. i think people want something new. they want a breath of fresh air and i hope i can provide >> it is a wonkie position. do you see yourself going higher if that works out. >> i'm focused on this race. we have had essentially one- party rule in sacramento for the past 15 years. for someone with my background who comes from a different perspective, i think this will be a big enough change alone. someone said to meet our day, maybe you were dropped on your head as a kid. you really seem to get excited about audits, examination of the books and figure out how we're spending our money. it's true. these are one of the things

that excite me but it has tremendous impact and influence in our lives as californians. if i can make things better by going and doing this job, i will consider it a very fulfilling experience and more than happy to do it. >> you sound like a candidate already. that didn't take too long. obviously, you are a republican. you have advised prompt then the republicans like mitt romney, marco rubio. do you not see it as a liability. this is a very blue state, so i ask you this when we talk about other candidates. what is your path to victory here? >> well, i think the most important theines need to be able to share with people across the state what it is i who like to do, what my ideas are, some of the ways we can improve these public programs in my statement of the first

part in terms of the pathway, if you will, is just to share my vision and ideas. i will say more broadly, i think the republican party has a lot of work to do what we have to figure out how do we make the party in california and focusing on california now. how do we make this more appealing to californiaians. how do we have a vision that's more inclusive that's broader, that brings together people who are concerned about where our state is headed. the only way we do it is through transparency and independence. i think it's important to share that vision over and over again, for people to hear it and for them to understand, look, here is somebody who might do something different than the people we typically send up there. i think it will be a message that will resonate with republicans, with democrats, with those with nopotiparterce. >> l dening the republican party

in california, whatever that means in the pastcy will ask you rear, right? i know you have not made statements notely in the past tying yourself to former president trump but which is the republican wing that you identify with that you put yourself into right now? >> i want to forge a new way forward for the party, kristen. i know there there's a temptation to say, look, is he a trump person a romney person, some other part of the party. this campaign will be defined by me and my vision for this office, the republican party, whatever you want to call it and i've worked for a lot of different poll they tigs in my life. tigpoliticians in my life. the republican party is better when it's a

move m i want to see see movement. look, republicans are 24% of the registration in california. 24% is really low. it suggests to me? this party will be successful in the future, it has to have a vision, something broad are. that's what i'm about. we'll see if it works. >> i want to ask you, look, i don't know if this falls under the purview of the controller's office. part of that is looking for fraud and making sure the money is spent the way it's supposed to. as you note edd has been a disaster, the backlog and fraud. is that anything you who have control over. >> yes. >> how would you deal with it?

>> one of the things not just only identify it but come up with solution. it's up to the controller to hold others accountable. if we say we will system by april of 2023, this was the most preventible fraud in the history of our state. a lot of what happened this time around happened when we had the great recession 13 years ago. we should not have a problem that occurs over and over again. the controller has to play an active role not just in identifying problems but helping people solve them hand holding people accountable for the jobs they say they're going to do. >> the looks is november of next year, 2022. that is when betty yee's term

will be termed out. two democrats announced they are running as well including malia cohen who we have invited week all right. lanhee chen, candidate for state controller. thank you so much for joining us and the conversation. >> thank you. >> all

>> and we are back i want to thank you for joining us today on this interactive show getting answers. today we talked to dr. monica gandhi and we broke down the

delta plus and the effectiveness against. it and tonight, hurricane warnings now up in florida at this hour, tropical storm elsa gaining strength. it could become a hurricane this evening before slamming ashore. expected to make landfall north of tampa as a category 1 hurricane. already deadly in the caribbean, then battering the keys and south florida today with heavy rain, dangerous winds and flooding. tornado watches in effect from miami to tampa. this system then hits georgia, the carolinas, straight up into the northeast. ginger zee standing by with the latest track tonight. she's live from florida. the storm making the situation even worse at the scene of the building collapse in florida. rescue crews working through blinding rain. the death toll rising tonight. and now what we've learned about