>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. >> you are watching abc seven. we ask esther -- experts yo -- - questions everyday at 3:00 to get answers for you. today, we will talk to the mayor about covid-19, testing, schools, and the covid crisis. who also talked about vaccine boosters and the latest covid-19 headlines. but first, the state department says the u.s. remains cautious not prepared after the taliban says it will allow for safe passage of afghans who aided the

u.s. to leave the country. joining us is the executive director for afghan coalition, a fremont based nonprofit focused on helping afghan families. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> afghan organizations in the u.s.. what are some of the ways you have served african-american in the last 25 years? >> we are providing cultural services to all afghan and other refugees in this bay area. we are providing trainings, workshops, and case management. whatever they come in and see us and we provide all the resources that are available in this area. >> you help with a lot of needs but right now the need is to get

people out. people who have families there and are worried about them. talk to us about what you are trying to do. you are helping people file for special immigrant visas? >> right now, we are all in the dark. we don't know what will happen. we get a lot of calls, hundreds of calls asking to know how we will bring them. so we still don't know how to go. we will talk with a congressman in our area to find out which office can help our community members bring their family members to the united states. >> i know congressman eric swalwell. 's office is checking on the status of immigrations. -- his office is checking on the status of immigrations. can they expedite this and handle applications? i know that in normal times, it has taken years.

>> i really don't know how they are going to do it. the embassy in afghanistan is closed, so these how are they going to go and file the forms? they say online does not work that is really something we need to find out. >> are you getting any concrete answers right now or nothing? >> not yet. only because there are few links they can go and fill out. there was one family that was supposed to arrive today that they couldn't. there was no transportation, n t plane coming and going.

on the link to see what will happen and when they will be able to come to the united states, it's something that is question kristen: are you getting the sense the situation is deteriorating and panic is rising? >> people over there are really panicked. really in disbelief of what happened to them because they saw the taliban the far -- before and know what they can do. they are afraid, especially families with children and girls, what will happen to them and their schools. these are a lot of questions people have. kristen: in the last 20 years, you have seen girls extending their education, going to the workplace, they can walk the streets about a male relative. and i know you have been a

champion of afghan women's rights and worked on that mission. how worried are you that the taliban won't uphold their promise? that they won't uphold women's rights? >> i cross my fingers, the only thing i can do. i cannot do anything right now. there are a lot of women who work on men's rights issues women's rights issues, who work in offices, who are texting is asking how to leave. i am working with a woman right now is across, or she was, and now she does not know how to get out. i really don't know. we need to work hard and find out how to help and take them out of afghanistan. kristen: you were born in kabul.

you still have family there? -- do you still have family there? >> yes. my uncle was there and his family moved because kabul is a little safer than other provinces. but they are waiting and there is no transportation, nothing coming so they can get out. that is something me and a lot of community members worry about. a lot of family members went to work in afghanistan, wanted to do something and afghanistan, and now they are stuck. what happened in afghanistan was sudden. it was not a plan that people knew. unfortunately, this is what happened. knew what the plan is. kristen: i would like for you to

tell me what you think the u.s. government can do and what we as individuals can do to support the afghans who help it -- helped us. >> i would really like to ask the biden administration to change their strategy about afghanistan. they really need to work with taliban, to teach them how to run a government. to go like that it's very dangerous not only for afghanistan but the whole world. as individuals here, we are all preparing to set up funding for the new around or something. how they can -- how we can prepare to help new arrivals. kristen: thank you so much. coming up next, san francisco

mayor london breed will be joining us live. we will talk about schools, vaccine mandates, a new test

kristen: welcome back. with the delta variant continuing to make its way through the u.s., restrictions remain firmly in place but there are lessons about what is next. joining us now is san francisco mayor london breed. think you for joining us. we want to ask how san francisco is doing in the big picture. the city is averaging 230 coronavirus cases per day. put that in context. london: the good news is 78% of

san franciscans are vaccinated, the bad news is we have hundred 10 people still in the hospital and we are seeing despite in the number of cases that have occurred. just yesterday, i had a discussion with dr. colfax and we are seeing that spike is starting to trend downward's just a little bit and i think some of the new masking guidelines and some of the we have been doing recently are playing an important role like helping to really curb this virus. kristen: are reopening a mass testing site tomorrow, right? london: keep in mind those who have health insurance, we are strongly recommending you go to your provider to get tested and you need a test -- when you need a test. ultimately, this new testing

site is really to address some of the challenges of those who may not have health care, other essential workers. we don't want everyone to think this is a free-for-all, even though we won't turn anyone away. we see there is an uptick in cases so we want to provide sufficient testing. kristen: and this is located at seventh and brandon. -- brannon. you announced new mask mandates going farther than any other city starting in three days. is the city ready? london: the city is ready and we are hoping others are ready. what we are hearing from restaurants and other locations is they appreciate it. they thanked us for implement thing it and a couple of weeks ago, bar owners took the first step to say they will require

customers to be fully vaccinated if they want to come indoors. so restaurants are already doing it. a lot of places are ready, gyms and places requiring it because with we don't want that what we don't want to do is shut the city down again. i appreciate businesses that have already stepped up. kristen: fake vaccine cards are becoming a real concern. you seen rates that sometimes produce stashes of fake cards and i think san francisco is just asking for a photo of her. -- of a card. london: right now, we want to make it as easy as possible to provide a photo or the card but eventually getting more people to log into the state system to verify they have been vaccinated through those means will be important so we will probably get there but right now based on what we are seeing with the numbers, things are looking ok.

they are not great and we think some of the new requirements we've imposed will have a significant impact on the data and we are starting to see the number of cases trend down. kristen: l.a. county announced a new requirement for masks at major outdoor events, but only if you are getting concessions. are you having those discussions here? london: we are, but we have already made it clear that for large-scale events that are indoors that may not sincerely involve concessions, we expect everyone to be vaccinated. of promoters and planners and everyone just to make sure t many of the things they are hiring are already being

implemented and most importantly most people are already doing it whether they are required to were not. even outdoors they are still requiring masks and starting to take pictures again with their masks on so it has become part of the new normal. whether they are required to do it or not, people understand the importance of everyone playing their part so we don't continue to see the virus spread. kristen: there is that culture in san francisco and you see that automatically. san francisco students returned to the classroom and so far the district dashboard shows just two students. that is good for the district but what if there is a cluster? london: here is the thing, i am so happy for these kids, i don't know what to do. sadly, those are probably not going to be the last two cases.

we've seen cases in what we do is immediately go into action depending on the severity of the case. they are shutting the school down, the cleaning, and just regrouping and making sure that the people safe. they are going to have it's what they do to keep an outbreak from occurring will be -- that will be important. we have testing capacity in place for the district. so we could immediately get away , that is something we are providing to the school district as well. we want to keep not just the kids safe but the educators and everyone who is part of the school system safe but ultimately it is important that these kids are back in school. it has been a long 15 months and

we want to protect them and this is why it is also important that those who get vaccinated get vaccinated because kids under the age of 12 cannot get vaccinated so let's do it to protect them as well. -- looking to buy hotels for the homeless and create new units. is that shelter or permanent housing? london: permanent housing. what we have used some of these places for during shelter in place is as places where people live and in almost every case, these units have bathrooms attached to them so part of what we want to do is increase our housing inventory to support people who are homeless but we want something permanent and also geographic equity. we should not just concentrate all of the housing needs of the

homeless in the tenderloin. geographic equity is important to provide places to live as well so this is really about providing a permanent solution. i am excited and hopeful we will be able to purchase these four buildings and provide a permanent safe place for people to call home. kristen: mayor london breed, thank you so much for your time today. talk to you soon. coming up, much more october 19, so do get your questions in. we will be covering boost

kristen: big covid news, multiple reports saying the u.s. will advise vaccine boost for most americans eight months after their vaccination. here to talk about that and much more the ucf department of medicine chair thank you for your time. what is your reaction to this? >> i think it was inevitable

once we learned vaccine efficacy was waning over time and in the face of delta, this nasty virus, it was inevitable there would be boosters. i'm glad they have made clear there would be a plan for them because we have got to figure out how to roll it out. you cannot flip a switch and say 200 people are eligible to go to seed tomorrow so it looks like the plans people who got their vaccine more than eight months ago and then similar to what we saw in january health care workers, then nursing homes, and then working their way down risk groups. kristen: that probably coincides with the time for folks like you in the medical profession. you are coming up on that eight months so you should go first, right? >> we are

eight months so there is a natural symmetry there. the groups they got in first are the groups that gotta -- that dotted the longest and they also got their first because they have a lot of exposure and we don't want them to get sick not be able to take care of us. so that makes a lot of sense. kristen: rachel says she is at eight months now, so does that mean she should shelter-in-place until the booster? >> no, it'ss recognize that starting at about six months you begin to lose a little efficacy but the vaccines were never 100% effective. the early figures were 95% that -- and that number has gone down some. but it is not like night and day if you said i am fully vaccinated and good to go

indoors in a big crowd with my mascot, that was a mistake and it becomes even riskier in the face of delta and the longer you wait. so i would not shelter-in-place but i think you need to be a little more careful. it is not a bulletproof vest anymore. you have to be thoughtful about where you are going the committee prevalences. kristen: even armor is not 100%. millie has a question, she says regarding the booster, do you think the shots will give me the same side effects as the original? >> it seems to be that people are getting side effects in similar proportion as they got to the original. moderna is looking like you get half dose. x has their best guess with what the dose may be that nature not to be hired and needed so there were some side effects and they are experimenting the slightly

smaller dose that should have fewer side effects with the third dose. kristen: covid after their first vaccination thoughts, is it still recommended? that is not clear. getting covid on top of your shots is essentially like adding a booster so it will be interesting to see the guidance. the evidence is clear that if you got covid and were vaccinated were were vaccinated and had a breakthrough infection, that pumps up your immunity bit and it may be that if you have documented coven, no question you had, you may not be the booster and we will have to see what they say. kristen: jessica wants to know how long someone should wait to get their vaccine after having code. >> -- covid. >> the recommendation is a few

months mainly to see that they are feeling ok. i don't think there is any great harm in getting it sooner but the general recommendation is to wait a little bit and the immunity you get from your infection is pretty good. so it's not that you need to go get vaccinated next week. kristen: is it inevitable that a stronger, more dangerous variant could happen or will the virus reach a peak and not cause damage after that? >> it is not inevitable but it is concerning with the spread we are seeing. the last six months have seen four or five different variants with different characteristics so i think if you were a betting person, you might think delta is not the last variant your going to see so we might look at different boosters in the future

. let's hope this is the last and words that we see others have emerged but so far delta seems to be out competing them so this may be the one we have to live with for a long time. kristen: when the booster is approved, will it be a suggestion for an initial recommendation? >> i think it will be something between those two things i just posted on twitter today this question i had not heard anybody ask which is what happens to vaccine mandate? -- mandates? if there are mandates that say you can't get in, is going to say you need all three? probably won't right away, it will probably be like the original vaccine rollout. after everyone has had a chance to get vaccine boosters, then i imagine the mandates will say you need your full vaccination

which is now three shots. kristen: finally, ially, ially, address this because there are folks who say there are so many breakthrough that the vaccine is ineffective. >> well it is clearly not ineffective the research and literature is crystal clear that it is very affect -- effective. your chances of getting hospitalized and dying are massively lower, no question. but the efficacy has gone down some and we are going to see more through

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kristen: thanks for joining us.

today we cover the latest with the taliban, talk to mayor london freed, and boosters with dr. bob. tonight, two major stories as we come on the air. tonight, new guidance now expected shortly on a third shot, a booster now, potentially for millions of americans. what you need to know. dr. richard besser is here. and the emergency air lifts out of afghanistan. tonight, what the state department just revealed. all u.s. embassy personnel trying to get out now out. a core group remaining to help with the efforts to get other americans and the afghans who helped the u.s. out of the country. the u.s. now says it will evacuate up to 9,000 people a day. tonight, more u.s. troops arriving, one day after the deadly chaos on the tarmac. and the new images tonight showing desperate afghans clinging to that c-17 as it took off.