building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. th he u're wg getting answers live on abc7, hulu live, and wherever you stream. the experts every day at 3:00. weirs speaking with the health officer. napa did not join the other counties and having the mask encouragement for everyone indoors. but today, they are changing their minds and they are doing it. we will talk to them about what is happening on the ground there. we are also meeting the blue origin crew, including a teenager, taking the autonomous flight into space. but first, covid hits home in the abc family.

a meteorologist at our philadelphia sister station shared a deeply personal story. he recently hosted an unvaccinated relative at their home. relative developed a severe case of covid and then every parent's nightmare, his two young children caught it as well. he has been through a hellish week and a half, but he is making time to share with us today because he feels strongly that his experience is a cautionary tale to all. he is doing a newscast right now, so we taped this conversation an hour ago. this is the story of adam joseph. >> it is great to see you. at this point, i'm trying to make what i call sour lemons out of really good lemonade and trying to spread the word here of wt my agenda espelyfor ose that are kids of 12 or younger. >> just so that everyone here abc7 is sending you positive thoughts, love, healing thoughts, and that.

we are glad to see the your kids are getting better today. but we are talking because right now, cases are on the rise but at the same time, a lot of people are doubting things and questioning if the vaccines really work. is covid really dangerous? kids can't really get it. that they should really hear your story. walk us through what happened and how did covid come into your household. >> we did everything that was asked of us from the cdc, from the very beginning. and we got vaccinated. my husband and i, when we were eligible to get vaccinated, which was in the spring, and we , our kids, wherever we went, they were masks. they were in school the entire year with masks. they went to a small catholic school. not one case hit the entire school year because of the measures that they put into place to keep our kids safe and keep our teachers safe. wherever we went, we obeyed

everything. we protected our family to the highest level that we could. then you fast-forward and i work from home. i do the weather from my home for eight months. my husband is still working from home from the beginning of the pandemic. he has not gone back to the office. so we had really limited exposure to the outside world. when we did go out, we were the masks into the right thing and socially distanced. but, about a week and a half ago, we had a family member come visit us who was not vaccinated. and, we said to the family member, if you come into our house, and staying in our house, you need to take a test. and show that the test is negative. so they got the test on a monday. the test was negative. they came up on a train from florida. and, they were the mask,

wherever they went. because you still have to on public transportation. they got here on a wednesday and fell ill on thursday. they started to have those typical symptoms that you would see with covid patients of delayed breathing and headache and aches and pains and so, when that happened on friday, they went to the urgent care center, they did a rapid test and it came back positive for covid. at that moment in time, as a parent who protects the children and our number one job as a parent is to protect our children, something that we did, we immediately felt like we had failed as parents in that moment in time. despite everything we did. and it is still taking a lot of time to process that momentarily breakdown in our bubble, in our protection that we had in play. and this goes to show you that just because someone tests negative, you have to give it a window of time, even after that

and they have to quarantine. because a negative test one day does not mean that you're going to get that. you could get the symptoms the day after. or two days after. and so, with that being said, my son, our son, this was on a friday that they tested positive. we were pushed downstairs into our basement where we have a room for them. i came home from work friday night at midnight and i check my kids like i always do. hannah was fine. i went in to kiss my son on the forehead and he was burning up. just burning. i freaked out. i thought oh my gosh, it is a fever. we woke him up and had a 102.5 fever. so, i thought, okay. i gave him medication. we do not have any medications in the house, suite to go to the store and then come back and put them back to sleep. long story short, and sunday we took him to chop for tests and he tes thr itun li u rey

bad ab taking care of him and your daughter and whirring that it could get worse. >> as a parent, your number one job is to take care of them and we were up almost every hour could not sleep, checking on them, making sure their breathing okay. jacob had a 102 two 103 fever for three or four days straight, coughing. sales. saying, daddy, what is wrong with me? can you hold me? i'm so cold. we are holding him and our daughter did not start to show signs until a few days after jacob, so she did test positive two days after he tested positive. she was a little more asymptomatic. it was only a mild grade fever and cough but not as bad as jacob was. >> i'm just glad that you are vaccinated. otherwise, you would not be able to take care of them. >> yes because we could've been positive. >> but unfortunate, this is

where the story gets worse. there were people who came into contact with your family that also got it as well. right? >> yes. they are sick. very sick. and the patient who is here, the relative the came to visit, 12 days in, is still very sick. yes, thankfully not on a ventilator, but struggling. 's or the other people who came in contact. i want to say this. the vaccine obviously is doing its job, because carl and i are still negative at this point in time, but it is hitting and it has hit others that are vaccinated. you can have these breakthrough cases. and that is occurring, but they are not getting as severely ill or not being hospitalized. so, the number one job right now is obviously to be vaccinated, to protect the younger generation that cannot best buy that has no choice. have no choice in the matter. whether there vaccinated or not or protected or not. so, our job is to protect our

children, whether it is ours or not, and if you decide not to get vaccinated, then wear a mask wherever you go and stay away from, especially the young kids, because you know they cannot be vaccinated. >> i just want to ask you. i notice that you do have pink eye. you mentioned on social. about 1 to 3% of the people i hear the come down with covid to get pinkeye. i hope that you are still negative and i is in the are trying to figure out frequently regally. >> i have tested twice. i have tested twice over the last week. attested the day i was diagnosed with pinkeye and it was negative. i am awaiting the more accurate test to come back in a few days. but yes, it is a symptom and am i a little worried? obviously. are we still worried about the long-term effects for our children? yes. we don't know. nobody knows. >> csthave some returning to sc

fa a whether to mask up, which i understand is still being debated. >> i think just today, the cdc still does not have a recommendation, but i believe the society of pediatrics that just today came out with saying that kids need to wear masks in the fall. that they cannot be vaccinated. under the age of 12. my kids will be wearing a mask. even though they will have antibodies at that point, you do not know if you could get it again. they will be in kindergarten,. jacob will be going into first grade. they will wear masks whether it is mandatory or not. that is very important to us. i continue to wear a mask as a vaccinated person. i have yet to not wear a mask in a public place, even before this happened. >> you have said on social media that vaccination is a personal choice, but given what has happened, what you hope is the choice the people will make? >> i hope the choice of people

make is that they think about others and not just about themselves. a person who snowballed this affect said, crying, i was so selfish to think that i was only thinking about anyone else around me. i made a personal choice for myself. i need to fix that and they are going to get vaccinated. that they need to think about everyone else i come in contact with. that is my message here. i just want everyone, you walk out that door, your front door, you're coming in contact with so many people every single day. you need to think outside of your house and you need to respect the people around you as much as you would like respect for yourself. if you decide not to, that is your choice. but there are safety measures in place by wearing a mask. staying away from those were unvaccinated, especially under 12 at this moment in time. >> adam, as a scientist, as a father, your story and message

are very powerful and no doubt will hit home. thank you for taking the time to share. we are so glad that you're on the mend and know that c7 sen >> you guys my family out there as well. i love you just as much and i feel it. please, you guys in the bay area, stay safe during this whole thing and do the right thing for yourself as well as others. >> thank you. take care. adam, a great guy and so courageous to show that personal story with us. hopefully everybody will think hard about it and share it with someone they know. coming up next. napa county's health officer did not join other local counties last friday to encourage masking indoors for all, that changed today. we will talk about why and why it is important to you.

all right. as covid cases continue to rise in the bay area driven by the now dominant highly transmissible delta more bay area counties are asking even vaccinated people to mask up and doors. today, napa and santa cruz counties joined the bay area counties that announce the new emendation on friday, leaving only solano county as the outlier not yet taking that step. joining us to talk about to the new recommendation that feels old, because we've been there before, is the health officer for napa county. take you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> in issuing the recommendation today, why did you do it today? and not the friday, with most of the other bay area counties? >> whenever we implement recommendations, the health

officers do try to make sure that our leaders are prepared before we go forward with a recommendation. this was a recommendation that was supposed to come out today, but there were some jurisdictions that needed to go earlier on friday and we had the overall impression that we would have a regional statement areawide today. but a few of us went today. >> you are heading in the same direction anyway. what is the situation on the ground in your county, in napa, in terms of cases and hospitalization? are they increasing? >> at this point, our case rate has doubled what it was a month ago,. that being said, if we compare our case rate to what we had over the winter, it is not at that level, but it is definitely going in a direction that is concerning. in terms of hospitalizations, or hospitalizations have slightly increased, but it is not at the point where we are concerned about hospital

capacity at this time. >> in terms of the cases you're seeing now, is it mostly the unvaccinated? are you seeing mini-break many breakthroughs in napa? >> most of the cases that we are seeing are in unvaccinated people. in addition, the majority of our hospitalizations are also in unvaccinated people. that being said, we have seen some breakthrough cases. although, the majority of our cases are in unvaccinated people. >> and the delta variant, right? >> yes. it has tied with the alpha variant and in the number of cases that we are seeing in our county. it is going up and it is definitely taking a concerning direction. >> some practical advice for people. if you're saying to consider masking up, even when you're indoors, what types of settings are we talking about? grocery stores, movie theaters? give us examples. >> indoors it is higher risk than outdoors. and as you know, we are not

asking for people to get to wear a mask in outdoor settings, but if you're going in an indoor setting where there is more likely to be crowds or a mixtures of people that are unvaccinated, and it is a good idea to wear a mask. >> okay. can you imagine this recommendation becoming a mandate? what would it take for that to become that? >> i think we are keeping an eye on cases to see if this is going to have to lead to a mandate. we are hoping that it does not. it is not only local health jurisdictions are keeping an eye on this, the state is also keeping an eye on this as well. we are continuing to monitor our cases and our hospitalizations on a day-to- day basis. >> but you have not set a number yet, if we had this percentage, or this number of new cases a week, that we go there? >> we have not set that threshold. >> map is in the midst of high

tourist season right now. i wonder if that worries you much. >> i think that any time that there is travel, especially coming from areas where there is higher transmission of covid- 19, could be other states or other countries, yes, that definitely increases the risk of transmission. that being said, over 70% of our napa county residents are fully vaccinated and i think that the important part, aside from masking indoors, as much as possible, is making sure that you get vaccinated. >> speaking of that. how many people a week are you vaccinating now? are you still picking up new people? >> we are still seeing new people getting vaccinated and just to make it clear, there are healthcare systems, pharmacies, multiple entities are vaccinating that are sitting on a lot of inventory of vaccines.

there is more vaccine than people who wanted at this time. >> that it is really slow now, right. i have to ask you, part of the press release he put out today is that it seems like you're urging businesses to adopt universal masking requirements. why? >> so, there is a percentage of people within businesses or employers that are in an employment setting, mostly younger people that are unvaccinated and back and contribute to the spread of covid-19 in the work voice. not only does it benefit businesses by decreasing transmission of covid-19, but it also makes sure that your employees can stay at work and continue to keep things running. >> that seems pretty essential, were important, why not just make it a requirement for businesses, instead of just urging them to adopt the rules? >> i think part of the issue that makes it a complicated

message is that the people who are vaccinated, they are vaccinated because they are hoping that they do not have to wear a mask. and, i think it is a matter of striking a balance and just recommending wearing masks even if you are vaccinated and of course, for people who are unvaccinated, strongly encourage vaccination. >> okay. do not go away. we will take a short break on the air but continue our

>> we will have to leave it there. we are out of time. thank you so much for all your insight and information. we appreciate it. >> iq. we are counting down to blue origin as it attempts the first human launch with the amazon founder jeff bezos on board. he will be a comedy by his brother mark bezos as was 82- year-old wally fu d 18-yea wi become the oldest d youngest people to chl n spwith the crew. >> this has been something

you've been dreaming of since you were five years old, when he saw the moon landing. so, what is it like now to know that this dream is finally coming true? >> it is so exciting. tomorrow morning, this crew is going to go don't know what it is going to mean for me. everyone has been to space says that it has changes them in some way and i'm really excited to figure out how it is going to change me. people see that you can see the thin limb of the earth atmosphere and it shows how fragile and precious the atmosphere and world is. >> this is the first human flight for blue origin. it is entirely automated. note test pilots. does make a little nervous? >> i'm not nervous. we've had 15 successful flights and i am excited, but i'm not nervous. >> we say that you do not have an automated pilot, but you do have a trained

board. wally come you trained to go on space but the women's program was canceled. what does it mean for you to be given this opportunity 60 years later? >> well, i had a lot of training in those weeks before in 1960. not only in america, but i went to russia and i trained with the cosmonauts. and not until about two or three weeks after my training did i end up getting told that i did better than the men. >> we've been training with her. we've been training with wally here in west texas and she is still better than the men. she can outrun all of us. she is 82 years old and she can outrun all of us. >> i would go with wally any day of the week. i am excited. oliver, you are blue origin's first paying customer, but more than that, you are 18 years old. what is it like knowing that

you will become the youngest person ever in space. what are you looking forward to the most? >> i don't think i realized at how special this to be the youngest person ever and it is such an opportunity for me to do that. also, to be an example for other kids that it is possible now for more and more people to go. it is so amazing for me to go. i still cannot believe it. >> at 18, and try to figure out how to tie my shoes at 18. so you are going to space, my friend. and mark, big question for you. what was it like when your brother came to you and said, i want you to go to space with me? did you think it was a wild idea or was this a dream that you both shared? >> jeff and i have gone on a lot of adventures together and he is my best friend and when he came to me and said let's go on this one, i was over the moon, so to speak. it was remarkable.

we're so excited to be there to support him and represented my mom and dad and our sister christina in supporting him and watching this lifelong dream come true. it is just an absolute thrill. >> mark has been part of the blue origin program from the very beginning. he has been a huge contributor all along. he has been a huge contributor my whole life. he is my best friend. >> could you put a context for us what this signals for the future of space exploration and travel >> want to build the road to space that future generations, maybe all of her, he is an 18- year-old, a young guy, and maybe oliver and people of his generation will be able to do amazing things in space. if we practice and get good at reusable vehicles, so the big thing that blue origin is doing is making the vehicles reusable in an operable ways that they can be used over and over like commercial airliners. if we get to that stage, then the things that the next generations will figure out

what to do in space, how to benefit earth with all those things they can do in space, that will be amazing to see. that is the real goal. >> all right. we are going to watch this because tomorrow is going to be the launch. it will be from texas tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. our time here. so, i was injured in a car crash. i had no idea how much my case was worth. i called the barnes firm. when a truck hit my son, i had so many questions about his case. i called the barnes firm.

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practical things that we need to do. thank you for joining us today. as you know, today we heard from adam joseph, a meteorologist in our family in philadelphia where i worked a long time ago. he invited and unvaccinated family member into his home who actually tested negative for covid-19 before they came by the family member was positive

and got sick. the infected the kids who are now recovering, thankfully. adam and his husband are tonight, the growing alarm. new covid cases on the rise in 48 states. the state department travel warning for anyone traveling to the uk, given what they're seeing there. and two more american olympic athletes testing positive. the delta variant fueling the surge in cases. health officials warn nearly every hospitalization, every covid death involves an unvaccinated patient. cases in florida doubling in a week. hospitalizations in arkansas soaring 240% in a month. the american academy of pediatrics today contradicting the cdc, now recommending everyone wear a mask in school because so many children are still unvaccinated. tonight, one of our colleagues, a parent, who had a family