announcer: building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. julian: good afternoon. i am julian hunter -- i am julian glover. we are getting answers wherever you stream. today we will break down the latest covid-19 headlines, including more vaccination -- hospitalizations and talk about vaccine boosters, but we start with the changing situation is the caldor fire continues to burn. overnight come evacuation warnings shifted to orders as more residents are forced to flee the flames. we have some images of what

crews are doing with, now burning upwards of 177,000 acres . it interest toward lake tahoe on the california, nevada border. here is part of a news conference that happened a short time ago. >> there is fire in the basin. we have not had fires burn from one side of the crs to the other. we did with the dixie, now we have with the caldor. two times in our history, and they are both happening this month. we need to be really cognizant that there is fire activity happening in california than we have never seen before. julian: during this live to discuss all of this, jason hunter, the public information officer for calfire. we will talk about how to evacuation is going on highway

50, but can you explain the evacuation order -- was covered, who was affected by this? jason: the evacuation order goes from emerald bay on the north -- on the south shore come all the way to stateline committed warnings go beyond that. people have been doing a fantastic job this morning getting themselves packed and out in safe and quick manner. julian: so important for people to leave us and as they get the evacuation order. can you break down what is happening on highway 50? you said that is directly behind you. we have heard from images of people trying to evacuate. it is just at a standstill. what are you saying? jason: traffic is beginning to clear. i think we are seeing the tail end of the backlog. i think everyone is mick and their way east and out of the danger zone. julian: any updates on how many people have evacuated now that the warnings have shifted to orders? jason: i enforce we don't have hard numbers on total people yet. julian: ok. let's talk about injuries -- we

obviously know you all try so hard to make sure people are out of harm's way and not in place where they might be injured by these fires, but are there any reports of injury so far? jason: we had two civilians injured very early on the fire -- day one or day two. none since then that i am aware of. julian: can you tell us how make total homes or structures have been destroyed -- we know conditions have been shifting. we will touch on the red flag warning come but what are we talking about as far as damage to structures? structures, 11 commercial, and that could change as we get data again from the field. julian: we know you are always trying to do those surveys when it is safe to do so. we are getting fewer questions right now and a reminder for folks watching from home -- search for the abc 7 bay area facebook page, drop us a

comment, and get us those comments on air. steve asking i have homes near highway 50 and twin bridges. have you heard of any homes burning? jason: i know some cabins were impacted by the sierra tahoe entrance, but i cannot speak directly about twin bridges -- nothing i have been briefed on your we will look for information -- briefed on. julian: we will look for information. we want to talk about the red flag warning extended until 11:00 p.m. wednesday night or talk about the conditions on the ground that could make the next 48 hours tougheror fe out there? jason: increase in up canyon wind and that drove the fire growth. pushed 8.5 miles to the east and burned over 20,000 acres. with the increasing in wind, that increases the chance of the

spotting distance, burning embers coming down in front of the fire, potentially up to a mile ahead. we are paying close attention to that. we have resources allocated throughout the fire, but the flee in this northeast corner as well. julian: let's talk about what we can expect as far as growth with the red flag warning now extended. it is minor standing containment also dropped as the growth of the fire extended. what can we be expecting as far as the fire continuing to grow in size? it is already massive. jason: you are correct, containment did drop with the explosive growth. it depends on how the wind materializes. higher winds toward eco summit where the fire is currently actively burning, bf it dependsn the bonfires take p if they take hold and where they are, as to which direction it could go and how much it could spread. i want to reiterate we have a lot of resources down here to

take care of those spot fires and get them out before they get a chance to take a hold on us. julian: i want to point out to viewers we have some live pictures of those evacuations happening right now. i believe this is highway 50, and jason hunter, has beenenen telling us, things are beginning to pick up on 50 p we are getting reports of traffic at a standstill, but it is flowing quickly. i hate to put you on the spot asking you questions about specific areas that may or may not be in danger, but that is always top of mind about their home and their property -- jason: understand. julian: robert dropping us a question, is heavenly village in danger right now? jason: i could not about that. i do not know if it is in imminent danger. anything in the vicinity is of concern -- that is why these orders were pushed out like they were. we have a lot of resources on

the ground, keeping a close eye on the entire perimeter of the fire but i cannot speak specifically to heavenly right now. julian: thank you for fleshing that out. we should live pictures with the traffic beginning to move near ski run. what can you tell assess far as folks that might be in their cars -- what they should be thinking about? i know the message is always keyed to the evacuation orders when they are given, but also pack your patient because this can be a difficult process, so what message do you want to extend to folks who are evacuating right now? jason: stay calm, follo stay speed limit, the directions as they are set up along the evacuation route. we do have time to get you out. that is why the notices come in advance. be patient with us. the biggest key today is life safety. we need to get civilians out of the way so we can get in and fight the fire, and what i have

seen, folks are doing an amazing job packing patients with them, and to get them to safety so we can go to work. julian: it is so important because you want people left in the evacuated areas or areas that should be evacuated and you have to devote resources to save those folks. let's talk about evacuation orders and preparedness -- what should people be thinking about -- earlier we heard don't wait to evacuate, that residence should be ready to evacuate even if they begin to hear the warning, or at least a should begin preparing. what should people be keeping top of mind -- making to the car's field -- what else would you recommend? jason: i break it down to the peas and cues. it makes it easy p i live in the foothills. the fire was couple of miles from my house. in priority, we do people first, make sure they are accounted for. that we work on prescriptions. keep yourself healthy when you

are evacuated -- take what medication you can with you. next, the pets. we love our critters. make sure you have everything you need. last, the personal effects and belongings -- her cell phone, wallet, keepsakes, memories -- those types of things that are important. lastly, the q -- quickly and calmly leave. head out to safety. as time allows and as the fire moves we will work as hard as we can to get you back in as quickly as possible. i know some of the folks on the west side of the fire have been out on their home over two weeks and we are working diligently once it is safe. julian: excellent advice could i want to get a quick update on the percentage of containment of the fire so far. i know those numbers are always ship, but where are we sitting right now? jason: the last i was briefed, we were at 13%. with the significant growth we

had, our containment levels dropped a bit. julian: what you say to people who are reluctant to leave their homes? i mentioned a short time ago you do want people stuck in the areas that should be evacuated and then you don't have to divert resources from attacking the fire to saving lives but there are always people that want to stick behind, try to protect and save their property -- what is your message to them? jason: heed the warning spirit we don't take them lightly. they are not done for no necessary reason. they are a significant risk to life safety. you get the nail on the head -- if they are in there and something happens, we have to divert resources back to life safety. we prioritize life, property, and environment in that order. if life is not taken care of, we have to stop protecting property in people's homes to go back to that life. please follow the orders in a timely manner, and trust us that as soon as it is safe we will

get you back home. julian: and when you all have to go back and you are putting yourselves, the firefighters, rescue crews and dangerous situations. 27,005 firefighters deployed, more than half, more than 15,000 right here in california. 1.7 million acres burned to date. how are firefighters holding up? this is stiff -- been a difficult fire season already. jason: strong. it is still a battle. they are tired, but they are working hard. they are not quitting. they are not giving up. they are protecting every home as if it was their own. i could not be more proud of the men and women i have seen on the field. julian: such bravery on display -- one team, one fight -- a message we heard repeated the. jason hunter, we thank you so much for your time, and also sharing this life-saving nation.

thank you so much, jason. jason: you are welcome. julian: we are turning our attention to covid-19's hospitals run out of beds and

julian: welcome back. it is no surprise there are more headlines regarding covid-19 including the use of iver bakhtin and the cdc meeting about boosters. we are joined by ucsf epidemiologist dr. george rutherford join us now. thanks for being here. dr. rutherford: my pleasure. how are you? julian: doing great. great to have you back. it looks like covid cases around the u.s. beginning to level out,

but there is always a but -- hospitalizations are still a major concern. how much more can hospitals take at this point? dr. rutherford: it depends on where you are -- we are in good shape in the bay area, but in other places like florida, texas, it is very tight pair hospitalizations will always lag behind case counts by a couple of weeks. it is concerning and driven by where you are. julian: we have said repeatedly throughout the pandemic location, location, location -- let's talk about the leveling out of cases -- does it mean a leveling out of hospitalizations? you give us a time when it what can we expect trying to look into the future? dr. rutherford: for the bay area think we will have the cost positions in the next week or so and for the rest of the country will probably be two or three more weeks before the garden you will have to save -- send

patients to other places. last year we had patients from as far away is imperial county. moving patients around is not an easy thing to do, especially if they are unstable, but it is doable and you can move them pretty far. julian: sure, and obviously an option of last resort and we hope hospitals are not put in a situation where they have to send critically ill agents -- patients to other hospitals. let's talk about the cdc meeting to recommend booster spirit what would you like to see -- boosters. what would you like to see happen? dr. rutherford: i will look to see the data that is not publicly available yet and i know the cdc has concerns about waning immunity, and i know the concerns are based on real data -- they are based on cases of people getting hospitalized rather than antibody levels or

some other proxy measure, so i think they are looking at it the right way. how much more the vaccine -- the booster doses will add, it is probably a small amount, but we will have to see. what is really important for people that have had transplants, malignancies, or are immunosuppressed, is to get a third dose which i will distinguish from booster doses to get your first level of protection, and that should be happening right now -- the extra doses people we think are coming down the pike probably will not be until next month, something like that. julian: let's talk about waning immunity -- we are learning israel began offering a covid-19 booster two children as young as 12 and are suggesting booster should come six months after the first doses. what you make of the strategy as opposed to holding off until

eight months, which appears to be a move in the u.s.? dr. rutherford: i think it is six in one hand, half a dozen in another. six months versus eight months will not make a lot of inference. it is more of a logistics issue, about how we could get x number of people vaccinated within some period of time. i think the fda is looking at six months for the approvals, so while everyone has been saying eight months all along and i have it circled on my calendar for november, it may take a little bit longer -- you may actually be able to get a dose before then. julian: logistics such a big part of all of this. san francisco mayor tweeter -- tweeted 80% of san francisco residents are vaccinated and this was a major milestone for the city -- what do you make of the milestone as we double down of these vexing -- on these

vaccination efforts? dr. rutherford:. rutherford:. r: we need to look at what proportion of everybody is vaccinated in san francisco. we can cut out the under six-month old's, but everyone else is biologically susceptible, so we have to look at that carefully. you have to pay attention to what the denominators are here. if it is 80% of everybody in san francisco, that is great -- we are inching toward herd, witchel probably be -- which will probably be 84% or so. if it is 80% of eligible, we have to add in those ineligible. in san francisco it is a small number because i think everybody work rises san francisco is -- everybody recognizes you don't have millions of kids in san francisco. julian: certainly. again, we are live with dr.

george williford. the conversation continues on

still with ucsf epidemiologist dr. george rutherford. we have been hearing a lot about ivermectin. how is it used? we have been hearing about people going to feed to stores to get versions of the drug meant for horses --what is it? ivermectin it is -- dr. rutherford: ivermectin it is a drug designed to kill worms and cattle and large animals like horses. it is used very, very selectively in humans, specifically in west africa to control certain kinds of parasitic diseases, for which it is the only real alternative. it is a neurotoxic drug. it is toxic to your neurologic system, and when you couple it

with the fact it does not work for covid, nor are there is any reason to suspect white woodwork because it is for worms, i think people need to take a big step back, take a deep rough and say this is not going to do anything for me and could make things worse, especially five start giving it to little kids where you cannot get the dosing right. julian: let's be very clear -- you are essentially saying it should not be used to treat covid-19 full stop because we have heard poison control units have had an uptick in calls. dr. rutherford: full stop. full stop. clear? julian: clear to me, but we have to get your thought on this -- the drug is trending on social media and much of it has to do with a judge ruling that doctors have to treat the patient with

ivermectin? what is your judgment? dr. rutherford: did the judge go to medical school? it is meddling nonsense. i cannot believe we are having the conversation after hydroxychloroquine. this is not a happening thing. i am -- since i work a lot on parasitic diseases in africa, i am, sort of, distressed to see this happening. don't do it. crazy. julian: clearly, you know the effects of the drug very well and what it should and should not be used, and clearly here saying it should not be used for covid-19. dr. rutherford: no how, no way. julian: i want to get your take on this -- the european union recommended that americans should be banned from non-essential travel to member states after a rise in covid-19 cases in the u.s.. we recently spoke about hawaii's governor asking tourists to stop

coming to the island. you think we will continue to see additional travel advisories at the delta variant remains a problem not just in the lou -- u.s., but globally? dr. rutherford: i thought thougt willing was just for unvaccinated americans, which i may be mistaken. they might be trying to put the clamp on things in general. i suspect we will see more. the solution is getting people vaccinated. it has been the solution since last december and it continues to be the solution. julian: we obviously have been speaking a lot about the delta variant for more than a month now. are there any other variants that are concerning to you right now? ? i know it is a question you keep getting thrown, but i feel like we have to check in on this one to see if there's an thing on the horizon here. dr. rutherford: the other one is the lambda variant which is in easton peru, and in the far western brazilian amazon. it does not seem to be breaking

out, so my read on that is it is not out-competing the delta variant and will remain a localized problem, but i think we will see what happens. you know, if you want to, kind of, take the next step, after i just trashed ivermectin, let's talk about how to think like a virus. a virus must have a happy host that will reproduce lots of little viruses --that is what you want. you don't want to kill the host because that kills you and all your progeny. so, from an evolutionary standpoint, we are going to see -- and this is over the longer run, i suspect we will see evolution toward things that look like the lambda variant that are very efficient in reproduction, but are not more virulent. we maybe relatively close to the end of seen lots of variants emerge. having said all of that, that is

rose-colored glasses stuff. you have to stay on top of it. julian: we will take that at this point. really quickly here if we cannot perhaps we might to take this answer on facebook, but i know there is so much to be concerned about -- you just threw us the lambda variant -- it feels like this is endless -- you want to know what you are most concerned about, and i believe we will have to take that response 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,

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joining us for the big story today, mandatory evacuations for all of south lake tahoe because of the caldor fire. we have a live look at a live look at evaluate -- evacuations happening. we talk to the public information officer. utility evacuations are going

very well as we can see the traffic flowing here along highway 50, and the red flag warning remains in place for the next two days. the fire is just 13% contained. much more on abc 7 news that :00 p.m. tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. america's longest war coming to an end. what the american general just revealed a short time ago and the heartbreak, he said, leaving some americans and afghans behind. and here at home tonight, the urgent search and rescue for victims of hurricane ida. the new images coming in tonight. the devastation. hurricane ida, wind gusts reaching a reported 172 miles per hour. the category 4 hurricane slamming into louisiana. the new images emerging tonight, the homes, buildings and roads washed away. more than a million customers without power. new orleans tonight, no electricity. when will it come back on? authorities saying some could be without power for many weeks.

concern tonight a