building a better bay area moving forward finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. alright. hi everybody. i'm dion lim and you are watching getting answers and we're live on abc 7 hulu live and wherever you stream basically what we do. is we ask experts your questions every day at 3 o'clock to get you answers in real time. we have a jam-packed show for you today. we are starting with dr. lok patel, but we also have david bond with blue shield of california to talk about mental health during the holidays dr. patel is part of our abc 7 news vaccine team, and he's joining us now to talk about coronavirus and more specifically the omicron variant before we dive into the very latest developments. we are starting with the game of two truths and bought a bing bada boom, and i should point out that you are actually traveling for the holidays. that's why you're not like in your car or in your regular digs

today. that is that is dion. i am traveling right now, which we can get later how i made sure that i and everyone around me was safe during travel, but that's also why i haven't janky phone or earpod cord coming out of my ear right now and not looking like my usual audio text swagger. so i apologize for that. wow. i wish i had audio tech swagger that's like next level stuff. i mean just a pro tip dr. patel. make sure you have an extra one of these when you travel in your suitcase, that's that's swagger. that is swagger. all right, let's get to our game right now. basically for anybody who has not played what you do is you try and figure out which are the truths which are the lies so take it away. dion you're in the hot seat. so everyone out there tell me which one of these headlines is not true looking from the top. is it a early studies suggests pax levid pfizer's antiviral pill is likely to work against the omicron variant with an eua expected soon, or is it b while

omicron can evade antibodies lab data suggests t cells still recognize and respond to the variant or is it c a showing of chicago on broadway was canceled after the audience was already. in their seats. oh boy, which one of these is not true. okay. this is a lot to unload. so i want everybody to take a moment. look at your screen if you are joining us on facebook, please let us know your response your answer to which are the truths which is the lie full disclosure. i was talking with our executive producer heather and as we were going through these questions dr. patel, she thinks this is a little bit too truths and a typo because it's so specific what the lie is whoa, two truth isn't a typo. all right, but we are not but i might get i make it school then i may have missed type something. i might find out later. but anyway, do you have a final answer we can go from there? okay, i want to say i heard about what happened on broadway so that to me makes a lot of sense.

i'm going to go with b and c while omicron can evade antibodies lab data suggest t-cells still recognize and respond to the variance. so bnc, and c. i think are the truths. you're doing it backwards. i like that. so you think a is the lie? you so because i much about pack slovid. is that how? how i pronounce it. well, if you say it's okay, then i'm gonna go with what dr. patel says so but is that is that right? so a and b are actually true and i will say to everyone out there that this is a good thing that these are true. it is important to know that we have therapeutics such as antiviral pills coming to market and pfizer did put out a statement saying like hey, not only does this pill reduce hospitalizations and debts by a large degree over 80% of people. it's expected to respond the omicron variant because it's targeting a different part of the virus. i won't get into the microbiology there b is also important we've been saying this deon for a while that antibodies are just one arm the immune system.

t cells are still able to recognize part of that variant. this was done in a lab. so we need to confirm this with real-world data, but this should be reassuring everyone everyone out there. now. the reason why i see is false is because it was a showing of mulan rouge and not chicago. this is not a typo. this is called me being very mean and making sure that we were tricky and entertaining wow talk about the holiday spirit. you're gonna get coal in your stocking dr. patel with that of question hey, if it's if it's cold at the expense of invigorating and adding some edutainment to the program and call me all day edutainment. i like that and by the way want to give a shout out to randy who guest b erica who guessed c so ding ding ding the prize goes to you erica stafford. thank you so much for joining in on facebook.com slash abc 7 news. and by the way, the reason why i picked a is because i remember early in the pandemic there were talks of all of these different drugs and how they're really allow data proving that they helped fight the virus. there wasn't and you know, it's

important to know that there are a whole host of drugs out there and some of them have been touted as miracle cures if you will because people on twitter might be supporting the use of them and we saw all the drama regarding hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and you know dion one thing that not only irritates me personally, but just goes against science is people pushing a narrative that we are against therapeutics for covid-19, and we don't want to find a way to treat patients that couldn't be farther from the truth. we just want to see clear-cut. that these two therapeutics and these treatments actually work and this is not just related to you know, antiviral pills or monoclonal antibodies, but also with vaccines and you know, we can talk about what we saw today with the pfizer data regarding two to five year olds, but we are not going to push anything on our patients that we are selves would not take or we wouldn't give to our own family members. yeah, we will get to the two to five year olds and the pfizer a little bit later on in the show. but yeah, just give the man some data. i know you've been tweeting about it and if you haven't followed him. ready, give everybody a shout out what your twitter what your twitter handle is because it is

quite entertaining and educational. it's at a look patel mb. pretty easy to remember. okay, let's get to some of the questions because we want to take it back to something local with. marin and sonoma counties, they're reporting omicron cases today, and that means it's been detected in count of five bay area counties now, i mean, it feels like it was only a matter of time. did you foresee this happening? i mean, i'm not alone in for seeing it happening. we definitely force it. we thought this was going to happen. you know when we first reported on that first case in california. we were not really at the level of genomic surveillance's other places. and so the six is back to previous variants started the pandemic when you see one case you say it likely there's likely ten times that you're likely is community transmission and dion a lot of the data now has out really showing us that this variant is more transmissible. it is more contagious than the delta variant. it's likely widespread. it's also has that ability to evade some of those previous antibodies and reinfect people, but i think the most important

thing that we are not really hammering down is we don't have evidence to say that it is more serious deadly or virulent which if that holds out is a very good thing. it makes it i don't want to say safer, but it makes it less dangerous than the delta variant and so people out there. i have to understand that. now the united states a lot of the debts a lot of the hospitalizations are still due to the delta variant. yeah, and you actually took some of the words out of my mouth because that was my next question because i read this study coming out of london and it sounded alarming at least the headline. was alarming so keep in mind. these are early findings. you said and it basically says that omicron could spread two to three times faster than the delta variant not to mention the risk of being reinfected is more than five times higher than the risk of being reinfected with delta. i was under the assumption early on when we first heard about omicron in africa that it was actually not as severe and that people who were infected were not going to have to be hospitalized like we saw with delta well, those those both

could be true dion, you know, you can have a virus that is doubling every two to three days. that is rapidly spreading that is able to reinfect people, but then also have it be less severe and that would be that would actually be the ideal scenario if we're going to have a variant that is going to outcompete delta. we would obviously want it to be a less serious version of the virus now if we just look at south and we look at some of the data that's come out from there. we see that hospitalization rates overall are actually down in comparison to the peak during the delta wave hospitalizations with kids are actually up unfortunately, but a lot of those kids have mild to moderate symptoms. there's even some reports of these kids have tested positive and that isn't their primary reason for being in the hospital. so we have based a lot of our data on these populations who have gotten omicron. healthy some of them have previous vaccinations and that means that they may have fought off the overcome variance a little bit better and i say all this because i would caution people from just making a broad assumption and say hey omicron is no big deal because we don't really know how it's going to

how people who are not yet vaccinated people who are high risk or young children are going to fare against it, but i have my fingers crossed that it's going to be less severe while we get on top of our vaccination and kind of treatment efforts. yeah, i like your optimism as it has always been during this pandemic. i want to take a moment right now to recognize scott schelp who is writing to us on facebook and says what if the solution to the covid-19 pandemic is covid-19. if a coronavirus variant emerges that doesn't cause much more than a head cold but gives the infected person antibodies against all covid strains like quran then could that be a natural vaccine that spreads interesting question? it is interesting question and the hard. realities. we don't know actually if that would be the reality. we don't know for a fact if hey omar khan is going to spread all that's gonna happen is you're gonna get a head cold. you will have no long covid. you will not cause any problems if you transmit people who are elderly or we systems without no issue at all and you will have

long durable natural immunity. there's a lot of what ifs there dion there's a lot of asterisks and so it's very hard to kind of say that now i will say that natural immunity is absolutely a real thing. it's just very difficult to quantify it from person to person. we have studies showing that people who previously recovered from covid-19. not only should they still go and get it vaccine, but after that when they had this hybrid immunity if you want to call it that they're even more protected against covid-19 then people who were not exposed in the past and when vaccinated and so i don't think it's a reason out there to not get vaccinated in. you should absolutely should because remember delta is still what's causing wreaking all the havoc, but sure if omerkron were to spread and be less real to give people natural immunity. there would be a little bit of a silver lining there. okay. well, i think that's a good way to address that. thank you for asking that question vivian sam before we get on with the next one wants to know omicron being more transmissible. does that also relate to it hanging longer in the air curious about it dissipating outside. i think that's a great question,

especially as people continue to have we're gatherings and do outdoor dining. from everything i've read it has more to do with its ability to kind of latch onto cells in the body and how quickly can replicate. in fact there was one study showing that it's able to replicate about 70 times faster than the delta variant in a certain part of your lung tissue and you know that just goes to show about the virus itself. the virus is machinery versus what it's able to do in the environment, but that's a really good question because we may learn later about something this virus is to do in the air on services and that takes us back to the beginning of 2020 when we weren't sure how long stars kobe tool was able to survive in the air if it really was airborne how ventilation affected it and all that. i remember that the rush to get your air purifiers among other protective measures. all right, we do have to take a quick break on the air right now. but abc 7 news continues getting answers at three o'clock on facebook and also on our youtube. so make sure to check it out and we'll

moment. all right. thanks everybody for sticking around for abc 7 news's getting answers at three o'clock joining us right now. once again, dr. alok patel are vaccine and all things coronavirus expert. let's get right into the questions once again. and because this came out from the government today that when it comes to case rates of people in their 30s, they have the highest infection rate of any group. so what exactly is going on here at first i thought maybe 30-somethings mingle more, but that would also put people in their 20s in that same category. so why do you think these results are like this. you know, this is an educated guess but i think it's a combination of factors including what you mentioned. it's possible that 20 30 somethings are out more not

necessarily just mingling more. they're traveling more. they're going back to in-person work anything like that where there is a potential for them to catch this, but also we have to look at who was eligible for the vaccine first and how it rolled out in this country. so who is most likely to be at that point where those antibodies are waning to a degree the six-month mark and it's possible people who are a little bit older people who are working in. of essential services are the ones who are eligible for the vaccine faster and unfortunately not everyone out there who is eligible for a booster or a third shot has gone out and gotten it. so i think it's a multitude of factors and part of it is the fact that we are dealing with a much more transmissible variant than before. yeah speaking of heather morley writes into ask can omicron mutate into a deadlier variant. i think theoretically and again i'm going to just be open about this and say i am not a microbiology expert in terms of studying how the viruses themselves mutate, but from what all my colleagues who are have said is that if we give the if we give the virus more chances to replicate and mutate it is

possible. we could see a more deadly strain. that is exactly what happened with delta, which was extremely delta deadly. so people say going back to what we said earlier. would someone say why don't we just let omar khan spread well because guess what if you let the spread it will continue to mutate and the last thing we want to see is another deadlier variant. i'm not a doctor and certainly makes a lot of sense to me. that would have been my guess as well speaking of boosters. i know bay area health officials today. they sent out a message urging everyone to get their booster shot. i mean, we've been hearing this for months now boosters boosters boosters, but when it comes to omicron how big of a difference do you think that third shot makes? and this isn't even think this is based on data that is out there in terms of how much that third shot is gonna ramp up those antibody levels and how it's estimated to really boost up the efficacy against symptomatic covid-19 even with the omicron variant to a high level almost close to what it was before with delta and that's important to know for people is that hey, it's possible that in

due time. we're gonna find out that the optimal way to create that long lasting protection is three shots, so there is no doubt right now. i don't see any about the fact that people are out there who may be running into coronavirus, especially those who are higher risk those who live with someone who's higher risk those who may be exposed should absolutely go out and get a third shot. yeah, lots of questions coming in about boosters and being safe during those holiday gatherings. i mean for you. i'm just curious. did you get all of your family members on board with getting fully vacced? absolutely, and fortunately i didn't have to really do a lot of persuasion everyone always has you know one that vaccine hesitant uncle or one anti-vax cousin and that's okay. it's so far to have the conversations be respectful be compassionate and if you can find a safe plan for everyone and that may mean different things for different families different situations different parts of the country. i was very out. we all were very open about vaccine status testing status exposure what we're gonna do what is ventilation look like this is changed throughout the

course of the pandemic. we have other friends who might be meeting up with us as well. you have to have the same dialogue with these people. also, it's very important. people are doing almost it their own version of potential contact tracing which is what we should have been doing since day one. yeah having those really tough sometimes conversations my mom, by the way, this is how she handled it true story had my dad take the vaccine first to see how he would react and then she realized he didn't die. he didn't get sick. it was totally safe. so now we're on two and three for error so goes to show sometimes it you know, whatever it takes for family members, you know those family, you know, thanks for sharing that because i think that's important people understand out there that everyone has their own journey. everyone has their own mechanism to building trust and it's important that we don't block out those conversations and if you have to have a difficult conversation with someone take some time to listen and just hear them out first and find that common ground. yeah a lot of it's psychology during this time. all right, we only have one minute left, but i do have to get to this because you mentioned it earlier. are already looking at a third

shot for kids five years old and older because of immunity concerns, you know, you're a pediatrician. what is your take on this? is it a setback? i heard that, you know, we were hoping for some more vaccines for kids by the end of the year, but that's not going to happen. it is a setback. it's a setback because there's a lot of people out there not only pediatricians public health officials, but parents of these two to five year olds. we're looking forward to getting their kids protected and now not only do we need to wait for more data to confirm that it's going to be it's gonna give a good adequate immune response, but it could potentially be until the second quarter in 2022 before we see that data come forward because if anyone out there hasn't seen you know, fiser basically said, hey the immune response didn't mount up to what we wanted to be. we only gave one tenth the dose and at age population compared to what they gave an adult so they're gonna try a third dose to look to see if it kind of ramps it up and you know in a different way younger kids than that. that's six month and two years showed a good response. i think the public is going to want to see a lot more data. we're gonna have to work on that conversation with parents and everyone out. there should understand and see this as an example that we will

not push a vaccine or advocate for any treatment out there if the data isn't crystal clear so even though this is a setback. i stand by it because we want a vaccine to not only be safe but actually to make sure it works. i appreciate your honesty. i appreciate your bold messaging that. yes about that data, and the data does not lie dr. alok patel always as thank you for joining us no matter where you happen to be in the country. deon thank you. okay, we will be right back with an expert on monitoring your health during the holidays stay with us the show

everybody. okay, we are in the home stretch before christmas and like every year along with celebrating the season there is holiday stress. i know you know what i'm talking about according to the american psychological association get this almost 40% of us experience some kind of exhaustion stress. anxiety the national alliance on mental illness also found almost two-thirds of people with a

mental illness. say the holidays make their conditions worse, so to help us get through what should be a merry time of year is our next guest david bond. he is a licensed clinical social worker and director of behavioral health at blue shield of california, david. welcome to the program. all right. thank you so much for having me. i appreciate being here. think for me that's where that overwhelming feeling comes from. is that why we have these feelings of anxiety and stress. well, there's so much. i mean it's an overwhelm around the holidays because we set ourselves up with so many expectations for all of the things that we're going to experience and i wouldn't be a therapist if i didn't say that a lot of this comes from our childhood experience, so when you think about it, of course, we're going to have a heightened emotionality around the holidays and we think about the change in weather kids getting out of

school the movies that we're watching all those things really add into to our expectations and then of course the frustrations that come along with that when we expect things to be even more peaceful than they really are. that's true. i think we have high expectations for a very merry christmas, you know, we're influenced by we see movies of these very perfect looking families and not everyone's family is perfect. so i get that before we get to our next question james allen writes in on facebook and asks, how do you handle obsessive christmas disorder with christmas day having to be a majority of good is their massive disappointment or devastation as is if you have lost a loved one, i think what he's asking is how do you make christmas day feel better and not so sad like you are with loved ones at a funeral a little bit of dark question, but i think he's trying to ask is how do you stay upbeat during a time when you're expected to be upbeat and jolly? well, you know, there's a real

blend there so many of us have lost someone over the last year and it's it that what happens is. i would say don't try so hard to not be sad being sad or being scared is a part of the full spectrum of human, you know being being human are emotional experience and our emotional. being the concept is to i would say remember two things. first of all, you don't have to feel this way all the time. so when you experience taking it you're in your experiencing when you exper. it know that you will you will move through things and there will be another side and the other piece of it is there there is joy to remember as well. so when you're remembering someone in your sad and you're thinking about that loss. somehow incorporate i would say the memories of the parts where you do have gratitude and feelings of love and there's always that time where you're like, i really miss her but remember that time when she did that thing and then that was really funny and and then

there's the laughter through tears as well. so let yourself have that that full experience and and find the gratitude enjoy where you can yeah remembering those really good moments, and i think it was said to me many times during the pandemic is that it's okay to be not okay and not have that pressure of needing to be happy smiley person on television at all times. we only have about a minute, but this is important question is how do you approach someone who you think may be struggling you? see your loved ones acting a little bit down. what do you do? yeah, i get this question a lot. especially get it from parents who are concerned about their kids and my my advice is usually think about the three steps first. i would make an observation and then ask a simple question and then stop talking and when you stop talking you have to allow that space for the person to genuinely come with what they're feeling and thinking try to keep from try to keep yourself from

giving that person prompts or options with how they might respond. so are you still mad at me about what happened last week? are you still mad at grandma? are you upset about something that happened at school? don't do that. just listen, ask the question because if you give those prompts you're suggesting what might be the correct answer and what's going to acceptable answer to you, but it might not be what's really going on. so make sure that you're actually the space for the other person. are there real experience? i'm so glad you mentioned that because i personally have had many people ask me something like that. and then i feel very pressured to answer a certain way david bond many. thanks to you. hope we talk to you again soon. take care, thank you. all right. stay with us everybody. we're taking a short break on the air, but david will continue to be with us for the next couple minutes on abc

for this interactive show getting answers. tonight, the alarming covid across the u.s. what they're seeing in new york city. as millions across the nation travel for christmas. and dr. fauci on the new study, and why he says you need to get the booster to protect against omicron. the fast-spreading omicron variant now reported in at least 41 states. new york state reporting a pandemic record more than 21,000 new cases in 24 hours. tonight, the rockettes' season now canceled. dr. fauci on the studies showing five months out after the two vaccine shots, there's