building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. i am kristen sze, you're watching getting answers. we ask experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in real time. today, something we have seen more and more of this summer, there encounters. we have incredible video and we spoke to the experts in lake tahoe definable how to keep yourself and bears save. california has recorded the highest 7 day average since march and the highest daily case number since february. vaccines, questions about vaccines, esly the johnson & johnson.

joining us not to talk about this is the ucsf epidemiologist dr. george rutherford. it is great to see you again. >> i'm grant glad that i have to talk about the bears. >> you could if you want to. i am sure that there is a health angle as well. is talk about the covid to start. health officers are asking people to ask up again. bars are requiring patrons to show proof of vaccination. we might be having the colored tears. you are not a alarmist, give it to a straight, how bad is it? >> it is not good. the delta variant is much more transmissible than the earlier variants that we dealt with last spring. and as we get more and more and people infected, the chances of people who are fully vaccinated actually getting it goes up as well. that is just because there is

an inherent rate of vaccine failure and now we have massively increased the chances of being exposed. so, i think you have to be, what i've been telling people is to be careful. if if you are fully vaccinated people, you do not yet have a complete carte blanche to do whatever you would like to do. you still need to be careful, especially if you have -- if you're older or have underlying risk factors. >> i want to confirm. california hospitalizations are the highest since april but we solve local hospital and icu bed capacity to spare at this point here, right? >> we have lots of capacity. we have a big margin. it has gone up but it has gone up from very low numbers and the numbers are reported as percentage growth. that is not what is happening, but these are relatively small numbers. there are some people who

say, look at that hospitalization capacity, and then look at the percentages and like you said, the smaller the number you begin with, then you add just a few and it shoots up exponentially. they are people who look at the and to say, come on, we still have time. we do not need to worry yet. why do you think that is not the case? >> i think it is time to take correct if measures will be some margins to work with. not when we fill up all the icu beds with unvaccinated people who have gotten covid and progressed to the more severe forms of the disease. the time to act is now and what we are trying to take off the table, with the health officers are trying to take off the table is to add an additional level of mitigation beyond vaccination. it's about protecting people who are vaccinated and cutting down on transmission. >> at the unvaccinated, a lot of the children, anyone under 12 . what are you seeing in terms of people who are hospitalized

locally horn who are unvaccinated versus vaccinated? >> there are a lot more of them. they are somewhat younger than people who have been having vaccine breakthroughs. i cannot give you the exact numbers bay area why do. but my impression is that people who have been unvaccinated in the 20s and those were in the 30s on average, and so, both of them, both groups probably have underlying conditions, which is what moved them from home into the hospital. >> this is really disturbing to a lot of people but put into context. a single shot johnson & johnson vaccine may be less effective against the delta variant compared to the other vaccines, moderna and pfizer. tell us about that. >> it is a very small study and it has not been peer-reviewed yet. i think it only had 17 patients

and it was looking at antibody titers rather than weather net people got sick and went to the hospital, which is what really matters. looking at the intermediate laboratory variables is one way to look at the studies, in epidemiology, we like to look at what happened humans as opposed to pieces of the immunologic systems, but there are other studies that are on the other side of this that says that the j&j vaccine is equally effective. maybe it is, maybe it isn't. maybe at some point in the future, the cdc may recommend that people with j&j vaccine get an mrna booster, but that's not happening yet. >> meaning the fars they are or moderna, right? one-shot and not two shots? >> who knows what they will imagine. in europe, that where they have used another vaccine that is similar to the johnson & johnson vaccine in that it uses the adenovirus to get the genetic code into the cells,

there is frequently, because they ran really low on the astrazeneca vaccine, they frequently, the people get the second dose with an mrna vaccine, including last week, merkel got her second vaccine. so, it is really common usage there. >> so, we do not you know yet if the cdc will make that recommendation, but your question here from bath. she said, i received the one dose johnson & johnson with the delta variant, she was wondering if she should get one shot of pfizer or moderna. is that even possible right now? could she just go and do it? >> not if she gives that history, i don't think. people can do what people can do. what i would do is hang tight and see what cdc recommends, unless you have some sort of underlying immunosuppression or taking drugs, cdc will have an advisory committee that meets tomorrow to review whether people in the 2% to 4% of

adults that either have the solid organ transplants or under immunosuppressive therapy for any right of things, should receive a additional dose. a third dose of either pfizer or moderna or an additional dose of the j&j vaccine. so the question between switching may well come up. >> some countries, i think israel, i don't know if there are others, started giving the booster, right? >> to the people who are immunosuppressed. >> one of our viewers has a question. she wants to know if it is safe to get the vaccine if you have not fully fact recovered from the cold or flu. >> absolutely. please. get the vaccine. >> is the worst for you whatever have a few were symptomatic. please go get the vaccine. winter people get vaccinated after they get covid? should they wait a certain period of time? >> that was something that was

an earlier recommendation made around four months but that was really to try to preserve vaccine supply. give a few months and then get it. okay. i want to talk about to the transmissibility of the delta variant. according to the author variant which was first seen in the uk, put it in numbers for s. >> the original variants, the ones from wuhan, china, if you are in the household was some who had that infection, your chance of getting infected was 20%. the alpha variant kicked it up to about 40%. these are very round numbers, and the delta variant kicks up probably to around 60% to 70%. so it -- that just gives you an idea of the magnitude. it is much more easily transmitted because as the virus is just better adapted to finding a cellular receptor in the human respiratory tract and

attaching to it. think of it as stickier. >> okay. we will see if we get and even stickier, digger, batter variant in the future.

if there were a button that would help you use less energy, breathe cleaner air, and even take on climate change... would you press it?

okay. we are coming back on air in 5 seconds. were back with dr. george rutherford. i want to ask nt to about masks, because in the bay area, most of the public health officers are asking people, even the vaccinated, to mask up again indoors. where are you choosing to wear when now? >> grocery store. if i went to the movie theater, i would wear it. it is hard to where masks in restaurants because you have to

eat but in stores, basically. movie theaters, if i went to an indoor performance of something, i would probably wear a mask. outdoor performances are more variable. depends on how packed it is or how very packed it is. >> they say weippe punish the people got the shot just because others do not want to get it? how to answer that? >> that is a good question. the masks are about protecting you, not about protecting society. you, being a vaccinated person, don't want to have one of these breakthrough cases. this is something that we can add to the vaccines that will give you personally, you, personally, additional protection, so, that is the bottom line. we are trying to protect you. >> what is all of this meeting right now with the cases going up and the delta variant, just three weeks before most kids start to go back to school.

those under 12 have not been vaccinated and schools as we know, can be fertile grounds for transmission due to the close proximity of kids. >> schools have not been a big amplifiers of infection virus. they clearly are for influenza, but our experience before the lockdowns and even last year with the marin county schools in session was at the school transmission was a very rare event. part of that is because the teachers are all vaccinated and part of is because the kids do not seem to transmit to each other as readily as adults do. saying this, i think everybody has in their mind, if they are a third grade teacher in elementary school, remember, we are talk about junior high schools and, i'm sorry, middle schools and senior high schools and in those situations, it is -- vaccines are authorized down to 12 years of age and i would be very careful about getting my children vaccinated before they went back to school if

there over 12. masks will continue to be required and probably almost all school districts will require that. but there are some local option on that, but i think we are going to continue to see masking. >> the state first said that they want all kids to wear a mask. but the in the back off and said that local districts can decide. now it seems like the governor was asked about it this week and he was a little noncommittal. what you think it should be? if it were up to you. >> it up to me, i would think there would be some local option for it. in a city like piedmont, just to pick one out of a hat, 100% of adults are vaccinated. i have given away where i am. >> 100%? >> yes. so like that, what are you going to do in that situation? 100% of middle school and high school students are vaccinated,

which they don't, nobody is claiming that but if you were to get to that level, you probably ask back off on masks. >> what about the fact that children do better than adults did in the earlier strains. >> they still get sick because are so much more around. the american a county academy of pediatrics of the 23,000 cases in children in the last month. that is a lot and it is against a background of a lots of infection. >> this is alarming to me. that today we heard that life expectancy in the u.s. dropped by 1.5 years in 2020. give us the historical look at this. this is a big deal. >> this is a big deal. the last time life expect and see dropped i think was in 1918 during the pandemic.

we made steady progress on life expectancy among both sexes and all races among a number of years. even world war ii did not bump down the life expectancy because we were starting to get better drugs and stuff, but it is that really, that helps train this, that people this time last year and even earlier last year, saying this is incidental. this is not a big deal. nothing bad is going to happen. buts, we have 600,000 additional deaths in the united states. >> that is going to bring down the average in terms of years lived. but even if you do not catch covid, could your lifespan still be shortened as a result of the pandemic that we are all facing? >> there are a number of studies that have looked at other kinds of preventable disease, that are hospital sensitive. based on things like strokes and myocardial infractions.

and if there is an increased mortality because people didn't want to go to the hospital. so, i think that we may see some additional increase in mortality. the cdc has estimated in the past that there is no the 20% of deaths that could be indirectly impacting. >> i want to bring it back to the masks again which is the big sticking point that a lot of people are focused on. she asks, i thought masks protect other people, and not you. >> protect both. if you are vaccinated, we are trying to give you the extra bump, so you do not get one of these vaccine breakthrough cases. when everyone wears masks, it cuts down transmission for people who are infectious but the reason you want to wear a mask is that you want to

protect you. >> it is always great talking with you. thank you so much, including sherry where you live and that you have 100% vaccination. >> thank you so take good care. >> thanks. there is something else that we are noticing. an increase in viral videos. human/bear interact

you have seen a lot of video of bear encounters recently. love times are swimming in people's pools. the interactions are on the rise. why and what can we do to keep ourselves and the bears safe? joining us to talk about this is the executive director for bear league . and the san mateo author living in south lake tahoe, wendy. thank you both for joining us

>> my pleasure. >> wendy, last time we talked, you had come out with your novel about the courageous frontier women and lately, you have had to be one of them with your dearly bear encounters. >> three times a week. >> a couple of days ago you shared this video shot outside of your home. i want to show this to our viewers. all right. tell us what was going on there. i heard the air horn that you are using to scare >> i think that hazing is the best way to go because we do not want them to become comfortable around us. when they come into the yards, we need the pots and pans. he would not go away so we had to use the air horn. he was sleeping under our desks. we have bears on our yard all

the time. >> look at that. it is so comfortable. we see them and all sorts of situations. there are a couple of others that you shared with us. they are climbing into trash bins and they are punching holes their garages. do we have these videos? >> nearby, we have the have th bin that is constantly collecting around the trash bins, because there is quite irresponsible trash management in this particular area where i am in. they are really attracted to that. people leave the trash in their garage. and the punch to the garage. in the fall, it is an everyday occurrence all over the neighborhood. >> anne kuhm i want to bring you into the conversation. why does it happen? are they not getting the food they need closer to the normal living environment and farther away from humans?

>> that is not what is happening. people are leaving food in the garage is with wooden doors and they know they can open them. people are putting out birdfeeders and they are leaving garbage out. there are many ways and they know that so the bears are coming from the outer wilderness into the tahoe area where the people are, because they have learned that wh there is people, there is going to be a lot of food and they are never disappointed. so, wendy is down with trying to scare them away, is a good start, but they are used to the pots and pans and used to the bullhorns. you have to yell at them like you mean it. get out of here! be the toughest, meanest bear the you can possibly be. not all these noises, to say i heard this 1000 times and nothing happens.

you need to pick up a rock and thrown at them. we are being way too nice of them. we're killing them with love or tenderness. we have to use tough love and tell them that allowed here and we will not feed you anymore. we need to lock up the trash and take the birdfeeders down. get the food out of our cars and lock our cars. close our doors and windows when we are not in the room. we are not doing any of that. they are totally taking advantage of that and they are dying for it. >> let's talk about the dying part. when does that happen? i do not know, wendy, if you have seen it. i think in yosemite, this week, a ranger captured a pick video of a mama bear mourning the loss. >> it happens all the time. conrad was biking

past a huge dead bear in the street. it happens often with the cubs, too. people drive way too fast and there is a lot of congestion around the highway. people should slow down for sure, because there are bears all the time at all hours of the day. they are constantly going into the street. they do not know any better. >> what about, and this is important, because people have to drive slowly where there could be bears. but our viewer here has a question. in addition to the food, what about them swimming? why are they swimming near humans? is there a climate change angle here? >> they have always been going in the lake to swim. they get hot and they have a heavy fur coat on and it is really warme ertime. they go into the lake and have been doing that for thousands of years. we think just because we are there that they should not be allowed or that this is our lake and they cannot come there, but they do not understand that.

they did not read the rulebook so they are going to go swimming and they pretty much ignore us, but many times, on their way out, if they're in a picnic area, they grab a picnic basket or some cookies on the way back to the forest. this is natural. this is not abnormal at all. it is just that there are more people here to witness it. >> there is a lot more people appear in tahoe than i have seen previously and i think people just do not know how to interact with think it is like disneyland, like i'm going to go up and take pictures of the bear or whatever. i think the bears are getting used to people and that is scary for the bears, because they end up having bad behavior getting used to people breaking into the houses and then they can be destroyed, so it is very sad. >> you mentioned bringing out the biggest baddest voice and trying to scare them away. the policy was, what can be done to really keep bears away from people? what do you think can be enacted? >> the only

to try and educates, but when you're talking about tourists, my experience with taurus over the last 50 years has been that they pack a suitcase, they bring the sunscreen, they bring water skis, they bring snacks, but they leave their brains at home. when they get here, they do not know anything about bears. they are completely freaked out when they see one. it they do all the wrong things, the other feed them to get a picture or they run screaming in the house and hide under the bed, which tells the bears that you're welcome here and we are submissive. so it is not locals so

>> we will have to talk about this because the problem is not going away anytime soon. we appreciate the tips that you offered.

we appreciate it. take good care. thank you so much for joining us on this interact live show. we have answered your questions on covid-19 and talked about bearing counters. i will see you tonight several developing the growing concern, the delta variant, the hospital er filling with patients and the doctor who says she has had to tell young covid patients in the hospital begging for a vaccine, i'm sorry but it's too late. the delta variant now making up 83% of new cases in the u.s. now averaging more than 35,000 new cases a day and the concern over breakthrough cases in the u.s., infected children. those under 12 not eligible for the vaccine. 23,000 pediatric cases reported in the last week. hospitalizations now on the rise in at least 36 states and tonight the renewed debate here just as parents send their children back to school. should there be masks in school to protect everyone? parents divided and in one