announcer: this is abc 7 news. kristen: you are watching getting answers live on abc seven. we ask experts your questions everyday at 3:00 to get answers in real time. today, we talk with the csu chair for the department of public health. csu east bay. the whole system announced they are requiring covid-19 boosters for all students, staff and faculty. an incredible story out of uc berkeley. a coach's son deals with epilepsy, but he is giving back by starting his own nonprofit. he is 10 years old. we will talk with them live. first, dr. hong.

always great to have you here. >> thanks for having me on. chris tim: -- kristen: we will start with the pfizer pill to treat covid, not to prevent covid. what is it and how well does it work? >> it is three pills twice a day. it is going to be a game changer, but there are challenges. the challenges are that you have to get it early and have a positive diagnosis and have a prescription all at the same time. if you do get it in time, it is amazing. 89% protection against going to the hospital if caught within three days. 88% within five days. kristen: when will it be broadly available? how much supply do we have on hand? >> we do not have as much that is going to be trickling in. the state is still trying to

figure out how to distribute it, probably through community pharmacies. the biden administration has bought 10 million doses, but it probably won't be ready for a few months getting all of that. tens of thousands, and more subsequently after. kristen: the white house covid-19 response team held a news conference in the last couple of hours. they talked about new data in terms of omicron. vaccines don't seem to work as well. tell us what you know, what you heard today. >> what we know is that yes, it is more infectious. it is two to four times more infectious than the delta, which is two times more than the wuhan variant. it is not as vaccine susceptible with two doses.

two doses probably gives you with a booster, you can bring that up to 70%. the other information, which is exciting, studies from scotland and south africa show that you are less likely to go to the hospital if you have omicron. in all comers. probably two thirds less likely. -- or one third could still add up to numbers. kristen: what percentage is omicron now in the u.s.? >> 71% at least. more than 90% in the new york area. 71% in a stanford lab. gavin newsom says more than 50% in california. kristen: it has taken over quickly. what about in terms of local growth in the bay area in terms of cases or test positivity? >> we have not seen the full

brunt of the storm yet. it is like the rain is starting to fall. new york, u.k. -- -- -- -- -- -- two get in the bay area, doubling every five days. kristen: with that as backdrop, it is coming at a terrible time. we have the holidays and people are traveling. today, dr. fauci and dr. walensky talked about a multi-layered approach with regard to gatherings. can you tell us what the breast -- best approaches? >> remember even with a booster you are still not 100% protected against infection. even with all vaccines you have a serious it protection, but smaller is better. vaccinate and boost everyone.

it is also safer for kids whoors can be vaccinated as well. testing is the strategy that many people are using. if you're going to a family reunion and it is a little bigger and you do not know who is who, that is going to be key. >> testing sounds great, but tests are kind of hard to get right now. since we may have to ration test kits, who would you prioritize? >> i would prioritize people with symptoms. it would not be a good idea in scarcity to just swab everyone. the test performs better if you have symptoms. i would prioritize people public facing jobs because they are probably going to infect as many people as possible. if you are staying at home anyway, not going anywhere, you

probably can do well with just hunkering down and doing the test when you can. kristen: let's say you have an at-home test kit and you have a kid coming home from college, or relatives flying in -- how many do you have? i'm getting jealous. >> i just have one left here. i can't get any from walgreens. kristen: what is the best time to test? someone is coming in, do you test them the second they come in? do you wait until you have the big party? how much before? what do you think? >> it depends. a big party, i would prioritize it for that. if the college kid is coming home and your college kid has recently tested, you probably don't have to test again until the party. if your kid has had a lot of potential exposures, which many students do, and you have immune compromised or elderly folks at home, you may want to test

earlier so you feel more comfortable. kristen: i wonder if omicron -- does it mean 72 hours before is no longer a good gauge? that was the threshold before, but now because it spreads more quickly, does that change? >> we do not know the answer. so far, the evidence suggests that it is a shorter incubation period. in delta days, five woulde would probably catch everyone. omicron might be shorter. three days might be enough. most people within one to two days. kristen: i have tons of viewer questions. do i need to wait six months since my last shot to qualify for a booster? it has been four for me. >> it depends on your pharmacy if they will give it to you, but there is no magic about the number six. anywhere after four to six months is fine, biologically

speaking. in the u.k. they are trying to give everyone a booster even if you got it less than six month ago. >> randy wants to know if infections are declining or still increasing with omicron? >> most of the new infections is omicron. delta is being -- by omicron, crowding it out. we think it is mainly driven by omicron. kristen: if someone is contagious right away -- is someone contagious right away, or does it take a day or two? >> we know before omicron, you were infectious one to two days before. if you are going to have symptoms. it probably is at least that. maybe even shorter for omicron because it is more aggressive. kristen: a lot of people are at home right now doing the home test. if somebody took a home test and

it was positive and they later took a pcr tests that was negative, what should they do? >> i would believe the pcr tests , if both were collected properly. there is false positivity with at-home tests. but, you will have fewer false positives if the transmission rate is higher. kristen: new data out today shows covid as one of the leading causes of death in the u.s. this year. also contributing to a record rise in deaths. our life expectancy rates dropping. this is a lot to process. >> basically when you take care of covid, you can't take care of other medical illnesses. people with heart disease and lung disease are deferring cancer screenings. all of that is documented. kids are deferring vaccinations. that is leading to the excess mortality, above and beyond

covid. it is sad that last year at this time we were 300,000 deaths. we have vaccines, and now we have 5000 -- 500,000 more deaths. kristen: be careful. take whatever cautions you can. always great talking with you. happy holidays. >> thank you. kristen: cal state university just announced they will require covid boosters for all students, staff and faculty.

kristen: the california state university system has announced today it is requiring covid 19 booster shots for all faculty, staff and students. csu is the nation's largest four

year public university with 23 campuses and nearly half a million students. in the bay area, that includes san francisco state, sonoma state and cal maritime. joining us to talk about this major development is csu east bay's chair of the department of public health. >> glad to be with you. kristen: today, csu joins uc and stanford in mandating the booster. do you agree? >> i do. right now we are dealing with a variant for which we do not have a lot of information. it is suggested the transmissibility is rather high. with the booster has been shown to do is reduce the chance of transmission, and most importantly severe disease and death, quite significantly. i think while we are on this winter recess i think it is a good move for our students,

faculty and staff to be able to avail of the booster for maximum protection. kristen: students, faculty and staff need to have them them by february 28, or six months after their original series. if they do not comply, do they lose their spot? or rj -- are they just having to take their courses off-campus? >> i do not know. i was not part of the policymaking decision. what i can understand is that if folks do not comply with the deadline, i can presume there will be good faith efforts to get them up to compliance and then they will have to go through the process either through student conduct code, or for faculty and staff, what has been negotiated with unions. kristen: i assume with the booster it is the same, medical exemptions? >> correct. kristen: you are at cal state east bay. if there were students who dropped out after the october 20

deadline --? >> my understanding, and i can only speak on behalf of my department, we did not see a significant drop off after the deadline for the original full regimen. i did not see any noticeable drop-off at that point. kristen: what has been the -- protocol? do you see anything changing next month? >> what happens is generally when a student, as a public health department, if some buddy has any symptoms we ask them to stay home. the protocol then becomes that the university becomes notified and they are asked to contact the student and ask them to take a test, procure a negative results, or quarantine for 10 days, then secure clearance to return to campus. kristen: csu seems to have done a good job in the bay area.

some of the lowest cases in the nation. for those planning to travel for christmas or new year's, what is the number one thing you want them to know before they return to campus? >> i think we have a great arsenal of tools. this is not march, 2020. we have a great arsenal of tools to combat our ability to deal with this virus. the first thing i would do is get vaccinated if you are not. and if you are not boosted, get boosted. i would avail of trying to get a rapid test. as the parent of two children, i have a host of them at home because i do not know what will come my way. especially with congregating -- congregating with people whose vaccination status is unclear or a large number of people, i encourage people to engage in rapid testing prior to that and upon returning home.

i would ask that students prior to returning to campus either take a rapid test or avail of the testing resources we have on campus. if they need to isolate, the one thing we know about omicron is the trajectory of disease seems to be milder, which is good, but we want to make sure they do not infect others. kristen: omicron more infectious. what do you say to college aged kids if they are saying, why should i forgo my fun activities with my friends, if even if i get infected i am fully boosted and i won't get sick? >> i tell them that your behavior does not affect just yourself. it affects those around you. our students at cal state east bay live in multigenerational households and work in community settings.

any our parents, many are caregivers. be conscious of who in your social circle or family circle or professional network may not have the same luxury you have of not getting severely ill. act prudently to do that. one of the things we emphasize at our university is making sure we care not only but ourselves, but our fellow human. this is one small way we can do that. nobody says stop having fun. but, act prudently and think about if it was your parent or grandparent and you put them in a compromised position, how you would feel about that. kristen: csu east bay chair of public health. thank you for your time and inside. >> thank you for having me. kristen: up next, a football coach son deals with daily seizures but it has inspired him to give back.

kristen: though cal's football team encountered challenges, it finished the season on a high note, having won back the acts from stanford and beaten usc at home. there is no rest in the off-season for their running backs coach because he is busy supporting his young sons who run a foundation to support kids with epilepsy. helmets for helmets. >> thank you mr. wilson. >> mr. o b.j.. >> mr. brady. >> rob gronkowski. >> j.j. watt. >> aaron rodgers. >> we can't tell you how much we appreciate it. kristen: joining us is the cofounder of the foundation, bryson thompson -- and his parents. co-chair a subtle thompson and sarah thompson. hello. happy holidays. >> happy holidays. >> i love what you are wearing. go bears.

bryson, you are the cofounder of helmets for helmets. that means you are the boss. >> yes. [laughter] >> you and your brother asked professional and college athletes to donate autographed helmets and jerseys. what do you do with those donations? >> we auction them off either online, or we have done some live auctions we take the money we raise and we buy helmets, like the one bryson is wearing, for other kids who have epilepsy so they can play sports and do the things that -- i don't like to use the word regular, but that any other kid wants to do. kristen: that is amazing. there is a personal story here. bryson has epilepsy. how old was he when he was diagnosed? >> he was four years old.

he started having seizures completely out of the blue. kristen: coach, how did helmets for helmets begin? kristen: it began when the boys wanted to find a way to give back to another charity that has stepped up to help us with resources. it was their way of wanting to give back. we reached out to a couple of other coaches and professional players. i grabbed my phone, started sending texts and instagram videos. a way it went. kristen: did i read insurance company would not pay for a protective helmet for bryson? >> correct. they denied it to my said it was not an essential need. they shut down that request, which led to another nonprofit

organization helping out in getting an initial helmet. kristen: that helmet is very much needed during a seizure. talk about what happens during that process and how the helmet he has protects him. >> so, when bryson has a seizure, he can be standing or sitting at a table like we are now and people just drop. headfirst. he has hit his head on tables, floors, it is very dangerous. he could have anywhere from one to a hundred today. not a day goes by where he does not have a seizure. it is extremely necessary to keep his head protected and to keep him safe. you never know when one is coming. he could be riding a bike, laying down and sleeping. you never know. to keep his head protected so that he can to wall of the things he wants to do is so

important. kristen: i love that name, helmets for helmets. you're getting donated helmets, the new get protective helmets. coach, you mentioned using your network, your foot all networks to get him started. but, you make the boys do the legwork, don't you? >> you have to. this is something they wanted to do, and you have to do the legwork and you have to be willing to open yourself up and talk and communicate to people. you don't ask, you don't get. it is important for us for getting a foundation -- giving them a foundation to be able to articulate what they want. kristen: i heard in the video them thanking some of the biggest names in football. brady, gronkowski. how many jerseys and helmets

have you gotten? >> over 60. it is amazing because these athletes are reaching out to us now. and asking us if they can send us helmets. adrian peterson reached out and asked, is that ok? it is so heartwarming to see these athletes who are regular people wanting to help so much. they have such big hearts to help. kristen: etiquette is because of your pitch man, bryson. -- i think it is because of your pitch man, bryson. when you grew up, what do you want to be? >> a baseball player. kristen: not football? >> he likes football, but he loves playing baseball. he will watch football and he knows everything about the

saints and all of the players, but he loves playing baseball. >> all of them. spencer: can i tell you a secret? baseball is my favorite as well. sorry, coach. i was at the usc-cal game. that was fun. congratulations on a great season and congratulations to the whole family. happy holidays. >> happy holidays. hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. -what, you mean-- -mhm. -just like that. -wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am.

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booster requirements and new expanding -- testing -- we will be here every week answering tonight, breaking news from washington. the abc news exclusive. with america bracing for omicron, now the dominant variant here in the u.s., my one-on-one with president biden at the white house. tonight, so many of you asking, where are the test kits? we ask the president about the long lines across this country. americans waiting for hours. and those empty shelves at pharmacies. how soon will there be help? also, the major announcement from the fda tonight, authorizing the first covid pill in the u.s., the pfizer pill. we asked the president, how much has the government purchased? how soon before it's available for americans who need it? we also ask tonight about family gatherings this christmas. we also ask about boarding planes. should vaccines be required? the president tonight on senator joe manchin and the