moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. liz: good afternoon. you're watching getting answers. we are asking get answers in real-time. today we are talking about traveling, and holiday travel, as this would be the time to start booking. the question is, where can you go and do you feel safe to do so? first, we begin with talks of a possible vaccine mandate at at risk indoor places. let's bring our gust in. dr. patel: i am your favorite. i am honored by this. liz: before we get started, i am

told we have a game. it is around of two truths and alive. if you're watching this on facebook, you can play along and help me out. let's do it. let's get to it. dr. patel: i have faith in you and in all of our viewers. round one, which one of one of not true. classroom outbreak. classroom outbreak. the biden administration announced millions of dollars in new funding to support mental health awareness, training, and treatment. or only 60% of adolescents received a first dose of the covid-19 shot actually got the second. which one is not true? liz: i was just told by our producer that we just went up on

facebook, so if you're just joining us, we are playing two truths and ally lie with dr. patel. you can see them on your screen. two of them are true, one of them is a lie. i will say that be is true. the biden administration is sending millions. is that right? dr. patel: i will not give you half the answers. what kind of game show is this? liz: i will go with a, this one is the lie. b and c are the truths. moment of truth. dr. patel: c is actually the lie in this case. the actual number fortunately is a little bit higher. about 86% of adolescents got their second shot. that is good news. that means they are listening to recommendations. that number should be 100. we are only 30% to 40% of adolescents who are eligible

have gotten the full dose of vaccines. but the reason why a is true, and i just read a report on this, and this is a cautionary tale for everyone out there. this particular individual was symptomatic and was still teaching in this classroom full of children. the teacher had his mask off reading and talking to some of these kids, then got tested two days later. it is really important for anyone who is symptomatic that they immediately get tested if they are concerned, and you isolate. do not put other people at risk. i am so thrilled that b is true. the white house announced it this morning, making sure that mental health, we are not only aware of it, but children have access to intervention and they are getting treated. these points of contact are made a priority. liz: i am very happy b is true . i just didn't want a to be true.

i feel better seeing a lot of you put a as well. i am disappointed to hear they were asymptomatic for two days. we have another one coming up later in the show, so we will get back to the game. hopefully i do better in round two. dr. patel: i appreciate your reasoning. liz: i just didn't want it to be true. let's talk about state lawmakers. they are drafting a proposal for a statewide vaccine mandate. how important do you think that is to have a statewide vaccine mandate, and will it matter given that certain counties have foregone all guidelines anyway? dr. patel: i think because of what you just said at the end of that sentence is why a mandate could, should, and will matter. vaccine mandates, there are few exceptions in every state about mandated vaccines and whether a parent will need to get one. not only do i need to go bac

preaching the power of vaccines, what the data shows in preventing hospitalizations and deaths, but hopefully these mandates will force people to empower themselves and get good information because they will have a reason to go out and get the vaccine. i have heard from a lot of people who have said, i am in my own community, i am good. not everyone who has not gotten the shot is labeled anti-vaccine. will it work? i hope so. i think there will be pushback in places that are not as -- i am tempted to say progressive as san francisco county. but there are certain communities where there will be pushback and we need to be prepared for that. liz: at the backdrop of all of this is the recall election. do you think politics in the recall is coming into play? we are seeing oregon and washington who have gone further than california with a lot of these measures. dr. patel: i think it is impossible for politics to not

be intertwined right now with the response of the pandemic and what we are doing. we have seen this across the country. we have seen this from day one, so i don't think this is a coincidence that two different politicians right now who are considered to be neck and neck in some holes for the -- in some polls for the reelection. there are some who do not want mask mandates at all. we have seen that support track go toward larry elder. i think the timing does play into this. we have to do our best to separate it when it comes to politics and science. liz: we are getting liz: we are from a viewer saying if you just do not feel well, do you recommend getting a take-home test? dr. patel: i think a to come test is a great option if you have access to one. i am glad the individual brought up that you don't feel well, because i can tell you that i

have been tested a dozen times. they are very safe, outdoors, isolated. if you are not in a situation like that, a take-home test is a safe and great option. liz: what about outdoor mask mandates? oregon, th an outdoor mask mandate is going into effect. do you think we should have those too? dr. patel: i have not seen the day yet to actually support an outdoor mask mandate. that is pretty stringent. i think there should be some attention paid to the science about ventilation and how safe we truly are outdoors. more than 10 times less likely to catch covid. but there is an asterisk about these packed events, whether it is a sporting event, sports rally, or concert where people may be close together, with some type of awning above you but it is still considered outdoors. people are close together, drinking, embracing one another. it does come down to your own

level of exposure. maybe in those settings there need to be rules about whether there is vaccination roles. i do not think there needs to be a universal outdoor mask mandate. liz: let's talk about what we were talking about in the tut a. some kids wound up getting infected with covid by an unvaccinated teacher, and the kids who were infected were seated in the first rows of the classroom. what does that tell you? do we need to have kids sitting further away? what does that tell you about what we should be doing in the classroom to keep kids safe? dr. patel: there are a few things to look at in this situation. first of all, from what i read, the school did have a mask mandate in place. i hope people are not seeing this now and saying, mask stonework. they tested 22 kids and 12 tested positive. to some degree, yes, the masks

did work because half the kids did not test positive and the teacher was not wearing a mask. it is important both people are wearing a mask to protect themselves and other people from any airborne viral particles or droplets you may be shutting. -- you may be shedding. ventilation is important. it is possible those closest to the teacher were the ones who have the highest impact. we need to pay more attention to spacing, windows, air purifiers. maybe this is something to think about in terms of how we space offs -- space out schools. not everyone has the same infrastructures. it is another variable that needs to take into account. the school had a vaccine mandate, but i believe the teacher is one of two who was not vaccinated. liz: some might say to make sayo the teachers are vaccinated, but that is not preventing spread. dr. patel: it may not. it will likely reduce spread if

someone is vaccinated, but this is all part of this phrase, layered levels of protection. we have been saying this for months. the vaccines plus the masks plus ventilation, it sounds like a lot and a lot of people are rolling their eyes and a saying they don't want to deal with this anymore. neither do we. nobody wants to deal with this anymore. it is because we were not following these strategies early enough that we are in this. now we have a more contagious variant that is begging for us to screw up. liz: we are getting an alert that it is time for a break.

we are back with dr. alok patel. we are also back with two truths and a lie.

hopefully i do better this time. dr. patel: i have faith in you. which one of these is not true. we are looking at general covid headlines. a, early studies show pfizer and jj booster raise anti-body levels by nine and three times pe respectively? b, a florida judge ruled against governor desantis's ban on mask mandates. c, an arkansas doctor is being investigated for inappropriately prescribing iveivermectin hundreds of times. liz: i want some of you guys to weigh in because i want to see if you have thoughts on this. a, b, or c. which one is not true? let's see. i am going to say -- i am between b and c. you are all saying c. i will go with c, -- that b is

not true. you have to help us out. dr. patel: we are throwing hail marys now. i wish it was not true. c is true. thousands of times, according to the doctor himself. absolutely ridiculous. ivermectin, as we have seen throughout headlines, has not been fda approved or is even safe to be using as a covid prophylactic medicine. it is commonly used in livestock and horses and cows. for some reason, people out there who are opposed to preventative measures like masks and vaccines are ok with trying to get ivermectin. a, i flipped those numbers around. the pfizer vaccine was boosting antibody levels by approximately three times, and j&j by about nine. we can circle back to brewster's. and a florida judge did say governor desantis's ban on mask mandates wasn't not

constitutional, which is a major victory for public health and the majority of educators in florida. it is causing some backlash from the governor and reintroducing talking about what will happen with mask mandates in certain parts of the country. liz: a lot of people are split on this. we had a lot of people saying c. i think we were hoping they had not done it house and sometimes. hopefully those people are safe. we learn a lot with you. thank you. i want to move on to talking about travel because we were talking about this during the commercial break and we will be talking to a travel expert later. what is your advice to someone making travel plans right now? do you think it is safe for travel? dr. patel: it is hard to blanket say it is safe because it is the same conversation we had last year before we had a vaccine. you have to think about where you are traveling from, your own individual risk, your

vaccination status, any underlying medical conditions. think about where you're traveling to, what transmission looks like. who you are staying with. remember, i have not seen a lot of cases of people actually contracting covid on the flight itself. airlines have mask mandates. airlines have the ability for you to wipe down your services, stay masked up, air filtration, but there are many points of contact and points of infection. you have to treat flying and treat every step of your travel, including where you are leaving from and where you will stay as a place where you could potentially run into covid. i think if you follow all those things, it is relatively safe. liz: i have flown a few times and been fine, but there are a lot of places that could be points of contact. let's talk about boosters. we are hearing a booster after five months. why does this keep changing, and

why are they looking at five months now? dr. patel: some of the studies were looking at the range of antibodies after five to eight months. the pfizer one was looking at it. the current recommendation is eight months. it does seem to be changing a lot. i don't know what the final word will be. we are all waiting for the fda a and the advisory committee on immunization practices to weigh in and look at the data. and not only look at the data and say we want to get in front of the delta variant and boost people, but to know that boosting is the right strategy, and universal boosting as well. there are more vulnerable populations who may really need booster shots, such as those who are immunocompromised, but also vaccine equity has to be in this conversation. liz: is it bad to get the shot too soon? if you get it four months out? do we have studies on that yet?

dr. patel: i cannot tell you in an evidence-based fashion that it is bad to get it, but generally we go against people doing things that are not recommended or that the studies are not showing to be beneficial. right now, there is no need for someone to run out and get a booster shot after four months. if you are concerned, you are immunocompromised, you are taking certain medications, i urge you to talk with your doctor before you run out to cvs and walgreens. liz: i saw this being brought up online by some people who were wondering, does it make a difference if you get the flu shot and the booster shot around the same time? dr. patel: this was a very common question last year. i'm sorry, not last year, but earlier this year. the recommendation actually changed this summer. the cdc is saying it is completely safe to get your shots at the same time, to co-administer them. this might be beneficial to some people as a reminder that we need to get a flu shot this year.

flu could come back and ravage our health care system in the way we were worried about and dodged last fall. it is safe to get your covid-19 booster, if you need to get one, alongside a seasonal flu shot. liz: i am getting a question from sue. i work in a space that is next to a break area where people eat. any additional precautions i should take? dr. patel: depending on where you were, thinking about things like vaccination status are important, but ventilation is one of our best friends. people are pushing to see if schools can have lunch outside, next to windows, staggered lunch periods. if you are concerned, think about the space around you. if you can sit a little further apart from somebody, and that should reduce your risks. liz: we have 20 seconds. someone is saying, if we wear a mask, why do we need a vaccine? you said masks work. a reminder of why both are good for us to have.

dr. patel: the masks are a level of protection. it is like saying why do i need a safe car if i am wearing a seatbelt? your mask will provide some protection, but they are not 100% effective. the vaccines are above 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. we saw enough cases of people wearing masks. people are not perfect when they are wearing them. and there are points when you have to eat when you could get infected. they both should be in tandem, but if you are not wearing one and you are vaccinated, you have a much less likelihood of being hospitalized or dying. if you are undock us unaided and wearing a mask -- if you are unvaccinated in wearing a mask, your chance of possible is a show in times greater. liz: thank you, dr. patel. i cannot wait to have you back. i will be studying up. i will get you on these two truths and ally. -- and a lie. dr. patel: i will amp up the

difficulty. liz: next, we will talk more about the impact the delta variant has had on traveling and holiday travel plans.

liz: welcome back. in a normal year, now would be the time we start looking at holiday travel. this is obviously not a normal year, so there are a lot of questions surrounding flying. to answer your travel related questions is the founder of scott's cheap flights. thank you for being here. why do you say travelers should be booking their holiday travel right now? scott: it is for the same reason that swimsuits will be cheapest if you buy them in the winter and coats will be cheapest if you buy them in the summer. it is the same with airfare. if you wait to book your winter holiday flights until october or november, chances are you will not get a good deal. but if you try to book those flights in the summer when few people are thinking about them,

that is how you get cheap flights and get a great deal for that winter holiday travel. liz: many people might be hesitant to book because of covid. what are the airline cancellation policies like right now? are they still being flexible? scott: that is one of the great things that a lot of people may not be aware of. airlines during the pandemic have announced that they have relaxed their normally stringent policies about changing flights. now you can have flexibility when you book your flights. it used have t to be you would e to pay $200, $300 to change your booking. but they have gotten rid of those change fees. when you book when you boo can later change it without having to pay any penalty. if the dates are more expensive, you will have to pay the difference. if it is cheaper, you will get it back in a travel credit. liz: the delta variant is

affecting travel plans. what did you learn? scott: we found a lot of folks who are somewhat or pretty worried about the delta variant and how it could impact their upcoming travel plans. three quarters of respondents said they were somewhat or very worried. what is interesting is a lot of people were still booking travel just a little bit further out. for folks who are booking international trips, they were booking it for 2022. for folks who were booking travel, they said they were more likely to want to visit a place that had in place the types of covid precautions,, like a mask mandate or like a vaccine requirement, they on places that did not have those. i think you can see folks taking a bit of caution, but still not stopping travel or stopping their travel booking plans altogether. liz: what are you seeing with international travel? someone on our facebook live was asking about canada and its people can cross the border right now. scott: one of the good news is

for folks who have been vaccinated you can now travel to canada as a tourist. you have to get a recent negative test before your travel, and you have to be vaccinated in order to visit. but that border is now open for vaccinated americans when it had not been for a long time leading up to then. it is true that international travel is much lower than it had been pre-pandemic, down about 40% or 50%. as a result, you see far cheaper flights then we had seen. just the other day, we saw a flight from san francisco to denmark for $320 round-trip. the second thing is international destinations are seeing a fraction of the normal tourist crowds. i was in spain in june and being able to be there with 1/10 of the normal number of tourists made for a fun trip. liz: we only have 30 seconds left. for people who don't know, you help people find cheap flights.

how can they utilize that service? scott: we don't sell flights ourselves and we do not take commissions on the flights. anytime a great cheap flight pops up, weee know about it. whatever your home airport is, whether it is recent deals like san francisco to hawaii for $198, or to the u.s. virgin islands for $212. we are running a sale, 50% off the premium product. we are honored to be able to send folks alerts when cheap flights pop up from their home airports. liz: scott keyes, thank you so much for being here. much for being here. when a truck hit my car, much for being here. the insurance company wasn't fair. i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible.

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today, we covered all the covid-19 headlines and answer your questions when it comes to traveling. we will see you back at 4:00. world news is tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. tracking what could become a category 4 hurricane. now set to hit the u.s. and tonight, the news also coming in from afghanistan at this hour, more on the u.s. service members lost, and what we did not know about the attack. the white house now warning a new terror attack is likely. 24 hours after the deadly suicide bombing at the airport in kabul tonight the new images of chaos in the wake of that attack, killing 13 american service members and at least 170 afghans. the military trying to disperse the crowd of people amid this continuing threat. forward.uations will tonight, the state department saying it is now working with 500 americans who still need to leave. and the pentagon now revealing more about what happened at