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tonight the delta variant makes up 83% of new covid-19 cases nationwide. a ucsf doctor explains the possibility of a vaccine mandate. the path to full service, how long it will take to get shuttered bus stops like this back up and running in san francisco. reimagined and ready to serve, tonight diners dish on what brings them to the gilroy garlic festival. monsoon moisture and a threat of thunder. your forecast is coming up. abc7 news at 11:00 starts right now. >> building a better bay area moving forward finding solutions, this is abc7 news. this is really a new beast, the delta variant, and the best thing we can do is getting everyone vaccinated. i >> tonight the race against a fourth wave of covid cases against the country with an ominous projection we won't reach the peak of this until october. good evening. thank you for joining us. i'm dan ashley. i'm ama daetz. the cdc confirms the original

strain of covid is no longer found circulating in variants across the country. we spoke to a ucsf vaccine specialist who says a vaccine mandate may be in our future. >> reporter: as covid-19 cases surge across the country, the cdc reports mu concerning trends, outbreaks in low vaccination states, high levels of community transmission and the unvaccinated making up 99% of deaths, all this pointing to the delta variant. is it safe to say that you're trying to keep up with these variants? >> yes, absolutely. it seems like the virus is always a couple steps ahead of us and we're trying to get at least one step ahead of it. >> reporter: in april the delta variants represented only 0.5% of u.s. cases. now fast forward to three months later. it's more than 83% 19 cases. dr. nevin krogan and his team are actively studying the molecular accents of all these

variants and says we need to act fast before a new variant emerges. >> they mutate and try to evade the defense mechanisms we have in our cells. so almost certainly there's going to be new variants. >> reporter: the latest national model projects a peak in mid-october with deaths possibly more than tripling what they are now. >> this is really a new beast. so when i see this model that is extremely disturbing, that there's this projection of up to 850 deaths a day because actually prior to this rise of the delta variant we had actually been down to less than 200 deaths a day. >> reporter: according to the cdc, the current seven-day average of new covid-19 cases increased nearly 47% compared to the previous seven-day average. do you believe that at some point the cdc will mandate covid-19 vaccines? on yes and there is precedent for that. so in 1905 actually in the

middle of a smallpox pandemic the supreme court actually upheld a law that you can mandate vaccines for a very dangerous illness. >> reporter: in san francisco, luz pena, abc7 news. a newly released poll of unvaccinated americans found 80% will either definitely not or probably not get the shot. just 3% of those polled say they definitely will get vaccinated. in the north bay marin county reported its first covid- 19 death since mid-may. health officials say the person who died wednesday had been admitted to the hospital with respiratory symptoms. 186 marin county residents all unvaccinated have died of covid. the county says it's seeing a surge in cases fueled by the delta variant. >> despite the surge in cases state superintendent of public instruction, tony thurman, says schools are still on course to reopen for in-person learning. >> the cdc and the california department of public health have already provided guidance that even as case rates increase if everyone's wearing

a mask and everyone who can get a vaccine gets one, we can keep our schools open safely. >> thurman says the state will continue to monitor case rates daily. keep driving, baby. you're doing very, very good. >> now to developing news, a couple from oregon sait was like driving through armageddon as they raced through the flames of the bootleg fire. it's the largest fire burning in the nation right now at more than 400,000 acres. crews have made progress. it is 40% contained. governor newsom has declared a state of emergency in a number of california counties impacted by wildfires. those emergency orders are in plumas, butte, lassen and alpine counties. the dixie fire is burning towards the incy in plumas county. a new fire the fly fire sparked nearby. residents were getting ready to evacuate this afternoon. >> when i see smoke on two sides of me, pack up and go. >> reporter: what is your hope in the days moving forward? >> well, i want to come home as

soon as possible and i want there to be a home. >> cal fire says the dixie fire is only 18% contained. the tamarac fire south of lake tahoe continues to burn a path into nevada reaching nearly 60,000 acres and just 4% containment. the governor of nevada announced a state of emergency in douglas county. alpine county building surveyors were able to enter the communities in markeleyville today reporting 15 structures destroyed and one damaged and then there's this to consider. early next week there is a small chance of some dry lightning, which of course, raises more concern about new wildfires. >> certainly does.. let's check in with abc7 news meteorologist sandhya patel. >> the reason for this is the record dry fuels combining with the risk of dry lightning. that is concerning. let me show you where it's coming from. right now monsoon moisture on live doppler 7 over the desert southwest will start to move in our direction as we head towards the second half of the weekend. when it does, we'll start to

see moisture increasing and eventually the potential is there for some dry lightning early next week. now best chance of rain and thunderstorms will be in the sierra and southern california, but the humidity will be increasingand ca out wards tuesday. fire weather watch already posted for lake and mendocino counties 5 a.m. till 11 p.m. monday. isolated to scattered dry thunderstorms with the possibility of new fires especially with those gusty erratic winds coming our way. now i'll be back to show you an hour by hour look at the smoke forecast to let you know how a shift in the wind could change the smoke direction as well. >> you can see live updates on all the fires burning in california with our wildfire tracker. find it on our website, www.abc7news.com. muroing agatw at 11:00 gettin typrleaders say it's a priority, but what will that look like post pandemic? abc7 news matt boone

explains the transit agency is considering which lines to cut, which ones to keep. that's not sitting well with riders. >> reporter: route 21 on hayes is one of about a dozen lines on the city that's been suspended for 16 months. >> we can't just passively sit by while muni lines that have been around for a century that are really integral to our neighborhoods just get suspended year after year to the point when they never come back. >> reporter: that's why supervisor dean preston called a special hearing that lasted more than four hours. public comment filled with desperate riders. >> they're oblivious to what passengers need as opposed to just passenger counts. >> right now at bare minimum we need what we had. so please bring it back. >> reporter: preston wants the agency to reopen 100% of the lines by the end of the year. >> i want a clear commitment from the mta that these suspensions are temporary and these bus lines people rely on

are coming back. >> reporter: but the director of the sfmta says that's unlikely without more funding. >> in our current case of hiring if we had unlimited resources, we can't get to 100% service until the end of 2022. >> reporter: while the agency is getting $1 billion from the federal government, tumlin says they've spent half to stay afloat already and wants to use the rest to help out over the next few years. >> we could spend all that money in one year, but that then would put us in the position of likely having to do massive service cuts and layoffs in 2023. >> reporter: but supervisor connie chan says there's an urgency to restore service. >> what we're saying is that that is what the funding was for. that was for them to restore muni service back to pandemic level during this time. >> reporter: transit advocate cat carter agreed saying cuts should not be part of the conversation. >> i think we need more service, not less. we want to grow ridership which

we need to do. you don't take away service. >> reporter: in san francisco, matt boone, abc7 news. fire up that grill, after two difficult years the beloved gilroy garlic festival is back. abc7 news reporter amanda del castillo is in gilroy to show ha changed. >> reporter: this sight signaling the gilroy garlic festival is back, well, the fan favorite food at least. the famous gourmet alley like we've never seen before rearranged and reimagined because of covid-19. >> we don't have to get in the hot sun. we still get the food. we're in the air conditioned car, cool enough. >> reporter: a detour, a drive- thru, instead of pulling up to christmas hill park ilroy presb church for the two weekend festival. this los gatos resident said she dropped the top on her vw eager for the return of the big event. >> i brought my 98-year-old mommaly with me and we're getting our dinners so we can

have that feeling of gilroy again. >> reporter: planning during the pandemic wasn't easy, but with a sold out first day well worth it. >> as you come around, you've got the barbecue guys doing the goour flame throwers, our pyrochefs doing the scampi. >> we're here for garlic bread and sausage sandwiches. >> reporter: covid-19 canceled last year's festival and the year before that, of course, the tragic deadly shooting. so each car a reflection of the city's resilience. >> we had a hard couple years, so we're here to support them. >> this is tradition with our family. we come every year. we missed it last year and we said we're not going to miss it this year. >> reporter: drivers must purchase garlic festival favorites in advance. no walkup orders are accepted. there will be a farm to table dinner and a golf tournament as well. while this year's festival brings a number of changes organizers say the event cannot be challenged. >> you can't touch us with what we do out at gourmet alley.

there's no one else like us. >> reporter: the festival opens back up to drivers 11 a.m. saturday. in gilroy i'm amanda del castillo, abc7 news. it happened within three days. nine businesses got all their windows broken out. >> fear and frustration, a series of crimes in the tenderloin has one restaurant owner looking to leave. plus targeted by thieves again, what was swiped from this san francisco ice cream shop. drying up, dramatic new images of the state's worsening drought. first a look at what's coming up tonight on jimmy kimmel live with guest host wanda sykes. >> watch this because i said so. when was the last time you got a speeding ticket? >> being ludacris has its privileges. they pull me over and i ask them if they want a signed cd or something for

[hippo groans melodically] [iguana belts major 3rd] [gator reverb] [splash] [singing indri sings] [elephant trumpets] [buffalo punish timpani] [cassowary crescendo] ♪ [goat does a sick vibrato] ♪

a san francisco thai restaurant rocked by an explosion weeks after being broken into and burglarized, the owner says this most recent attack feels like terrorism. abc7 news anchor dion lim has the story of why they aren't the only business feeling targeted in the tenderloin. it's a story you'll see only on 7. >> it feels like a terrorist, some explosive. it's not acceptable. >> reporter: what you're watching is the explosion that rocked lapats thai noodle bar early monday morning. wood and glass burst into the

thankfully empty restaurant at the corner of larkin and eddy street, the blast so intense it activated shotspotter technology, a sensor that detects gunshots. while police don't know what or who caused the explosion, they say this is uncommon. it may be the final straw for this small family-owned business that was also broken into months earlier. >> cracking window, okay. maybe some small stuff, but this one is so big. >> reporter: the vandalism along this corridor of the tenderloin has been rampant in recent weeks according to rene colorado, executive director of the tenderloin lower polk merchants association who has been keeping track of it all. independent asian-owned businesses that have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic already make up the targets according to colorado. >> everything happened on larkin street between o'farrell and eddy, nine businesses got

windows broken out. >> reporter: he says despite major improvements like the ambassador program there is still room for more. >> this is a two-block street closure it. has basically made larkin very safe, but only thursday through sunday. all the issues that have been happening have been happening out of those time frame windows. >> reporter: for now chef pinyo and his family will try and sell enough of their street food specialties to pay for the thousands of dollars in damage and move on one step at a time. is your restaurant going to make it? >> i'm not sure. i do my best. >> reporter: in san francisco, dion lim, abc7 news. new at 11:00 more vintage toys were stolen from the san francisco ice cream shop toy boat by jane. the owner posted this picture of broken windows yesterday on instagram. it's the second team in under a year the shop off clement street has been burglarized. both times thieves targeted the vintage toy collection, a legacy to the nearly four decades old store. in the east bay volunteers are asking for help in the effort to find a berkeley man who heg

mler nc for a run. philip kreycik was last seen two weeks ago and after an nsch no sign of him. there are a couple people who may have seen the 37-year-old and investigators haven't been able to talk with them. >> we haven't been able to talk to that woman or man yet who said she saw him. we'd like to get in touch with her. if you are that person or know who she is, please have her get in touch with us. >> sergeant kelly with alameda county sheriff's department still has hope kreycik will be found. a major hydroelectric power plant could go off line as as next month. lake oroville is at 655 feet right now. the power plant can't generate electricity to the state's

power grid once water levels drop below 630 feet, maybe 640 at most. >> we come for a week every summer. so it's lower than we've ever seen it for sure. we'll take advantage of it while we can. i don't know that they'll be able to in another week or two. >> the plant generates power for 800,000 homes. when it shuts down, power will be pulled from other facilities across the state which, of course, will add more strain to the system, one more example of just what a dire predicament we are in. >> certainly. of course, we're in summer now. so it's not like we're going to get any significant rain, sandhya. >> that's right. lake oroville stands at 27% of capacity. so it's really, really bad. hopefully this winter things turn around. i 2 to the show you something on a lighter note, the buck moon. this is a time lapse from earlier tonight from our exploritorium camera, absolutely stunning, the full moon in july known as the buck moon as new antlers start to

emerge on the bucks' heads. pretty cool view and you can see the bay bridge and traffic moving by. want to show you live doppler 7. we have some fog but not a lot right near the coast this hour, 50s to the 70s across the region. it heated up today, inland areas in the upper 90s, but along the coast this is what we were dealing with, the fog from our exploritorium camera and as a result it stayed on the mild side. hot inland tomorrow, increasing clouds and humidity sunday through tuesday and we are looking at a slight chance of dry thunderstorms early next week. let's look at the visible satellite picture. yoticeall the smoke from the dixie fire, also the smoke from the tamarac fire. you notice the wind direction pushing it to the northeast, but regardless because there is such large fires air quality impacted even now, red by redding unhealthy, oranges, so for sensitive groups poor

heading into the sierra nevada. the heaviest concentration of smoke and even sunday is expected near those wildfires, but as we look at the upper parts of the atmosphere, the pinks indicate more smoke. so sunday still in that vicinity. watch what happens on monday. it looks like in the upper layers of the atmosphere we'll see some haze and smoke. it could translate down to the surface. if it does, it will change the air quality forecast that you're looking at now, but for the most part for the next four days it's expected to be good to moderate here in the bay area. morning temperatures will be in the 50s, 60s with that fog around near the coast and bay. afternoon highs 82 in the south bay in san jose, 90 in morgan hill, 71 in santa cruz, should be a nice day on the peninsula, 82 redwood city, 62 in pacifica, downtown san francisco 66 degrees, 62 in daly city, north bay temperatan rafael, 80 in napa, 85 in santa rosa. in the east bay low 70s to low

80s, 72 in oakland, 80 in fremont. inland areas will be on the hot side, 96 degrees in antioch, 93 in livermore, 92 in concord. those temperatures begin to come down on the accuweather seven-day forecast as clouds increase, higher humidity sunday, monday, tuesday, slight possibility of thunder early next week and we do have sizzling summer weather in the forecast through most of the workweek. so it is going to be feeling like summer around here, if

oh, look at these sweet little babies, newest members of team usa. nurses at a hospital in kansas city crocheted little outfits and even gold medals in hon honor of the tokyo games. who knows? they may grow up to be

olympians. chris alvarez is here with sports. >> coming up in sports we'll reveal the sharks first round pick from tonight's nhl draft. and the giants are back home and chaos in

a year ago the giants began a 60 game pandemic shortened season. now one year later the giants have a major lead by 61 wins entering friday night's game against pittsburgh. giants fans rocking the hotdog hats. giants down 3-0, steven duggar deep to right, a splash homer into the cove and they'll fight for the baseball. look at this chaos in the cove. hope everything was waterproof out there, guys. johnny cueto five innings gave up three runs, got his first career stolen base. that will make the guy who shimmies smile. bottom of the sixtsi

alex dickerson, home run tied up at 3, but the wheels fall off in the seventh. ground ball to lamonte wade jr., bobbles it, two runs scoring on the play, part of a three-run inning and pittsburgh wins it, 6-4. let's go to seattle, a's, mariners and this a's fan also knows how to rock a good hat. top three, 3-0, matt chapman has not had a home run all of july until now, solo shot to right center. this home run brought to you by your local toyota dealers, 3-1 game. matt olson hits a home run, his 26th of the year. the a's had five wild pitches tying a franchise record and also struck out 18 times. mariners win, 4-3. the san jose sharks are proud to select from sweden william ecklund.

>> the san jose sharks took swedish forward william ecklund with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the nhl drive, the 17-year-old 5' 10, 176 pounds known for speed and acceleration, last year scored 11 goals with 12 assists earning the swedish league rookie of the year. the the cleveland indians are changing their names to the guardians which is inspired by cleveland architectural landmarks on both ends of the hope memorial bridge. cleveland's major league baseball team has been named the indians since 1915 [hippo groans melodically] [iguana belts major 3rd] [gator reverb]

[splash] [singing indri sings] [elephant trumpets] [buffalo punish timpani] [cassowary crescendo] ♪ [goat does a sick vibrato] ♪ that is going to do it for tonight and for the week. thank you so much for watching!

i'm ama daetz. >> i'm dan ashley. we appreciate your time. ♪ >> hey, bay area. it's time to share some amazing stories and feel good. we could all use some inspiration right now, and you've come to the right place. this show is all about good food, good people, and good living. ♪ on today's show, pups with

purpose, empowering kids throug, celebrating women with art, but first, an interactive museum for the whole family. ♪ >> the exploratorium is so excited to welcome visitors back into the doors. it's been a long time coming. we're ready to play. everybody's really joyful. it's great to see people interact with people again and see kids running around the floor, playing and exploring science. ♪ one of our new exhibits at the exploratorium is right here. it's called stories of change, and it's a reflection of our time during the pandemic and how we've grown and what we've taken away as people. greeting you at the entrance is this beautiful mural that's done by a local san francisco artist. as you enter the exhibit, we have a gallery of photos that was compiled and put together by our director of photography,

amy snyder. and it's chronicling her time during the pandemic. once you arrive in the heart of the exhibit here, we have an area where you can interact and leave your thoughts and impressions from the pandemic time. this is the aperture lucida, and we're inside of the black box theater in gallery 1 right now. it's an illusion, a visual and auditory illusion. so, as you approach this floating ball behind me, it grows and envelops you in sound and light. and it's really a one-of-a-kind experience. this was put together by our artist-in-resident, tristan duke, and it opened in february of 2020, mere weeks before the shelter-in-place orders went through. so, we're really excited that we get to open with it again, and visitors will get to experience this through the fall. now we're in gallery 3, and this is all about light and color, and our newest exhibit here is a collaboration with waymo, one of our new partners. and they create autonomous driving technology. and this exhibit explains how they work.

it's called sensor fusion. our goal in collaborating with waymo is creating learning experience surrounding emerging technologies. in today's society, technology is growing so quickly and advancing so quickly that what is emerging technology yesterday is going to be part of our everyday lives tomorrow. ♪ >> the exploratorium is so much more than a science museum. not only are we dedicated to art and human perception, but we're a learning laboratory, where we not only support teachers and educators, but also we have collaborators across the united states and in international areas, as well. prior to the pandemic, we used to work with educators by bringing them here to the museum, and with the shift to online learning, we shifted with teachers and students. so, we've been doing online workshops, multi-day online institutes. >> the exploratorium began in 1969, over in the palace of fine arts here in the city. and the idea was really to create an environment for people to learn about science, explore the world on their own, and give

them the confidence and tools to do that. so, after we opened in '69, about -- really, in a couple years, some science teachers came by and said, "well, can you help us teach science this way to our kids in school?" and at first they wanted us to teach their kids, and we said, "no, we have a better idea. we're gonna help you teach your kids this way in your classroom." and so our teaching program started, really, a couple years after we opened. >> we think learning should be joyful. we think that motivation and engagement are so important to learning. you can't actually be a learning if you don't feel like you're part of a community, that your insights and observations matter. and so it's so important right now for the field to look at social-emotional learning. and for us, that means not only creating a sense of belonging and community in the classroom, but it's also about understanding and appreciating students' social and cultural identities and really giving them a voice and a sense of agency. >> this place has taught me so much about science. i learn more science here at that exploratorium than i learned through all of my courses in grad school. and part of it's because of the