degrees, my boss would say, when are you getting your old hair back? >> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ >> hope you've had a great we can. you are watching "getting answers." we asked experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in real time. today, our media partners at the san francisco standard will be joining us ahead of election day tomorrow to look at where the three races stand and what election night parties reveal about the candidates. first, cobit cases continue to drop. -- voc-- first, continued to drop you would but when will the school mask mandate be lifted? dr. mark galli address the hot button issue this afternoon. >> based on our data, it is

reasonable -- there's a lot of data coming down fast, that we are getting to a place where we masking requirement in schools. we will today not make a change. there will be no change in the masking requirement. but i'm february 28th, a full two weeks -- on february 28th, we will reassess the data. kristen: joining us to unpack the presentation are two bay area disease specialists. thank you so much for joining us, both of you. >> our pleasure. kristen: kids must still wear masks and schools, but it seems like he is hinting that into weeks, if things are not worse, he might be able to say when the school masking rule will be

lifted. is that your take? >> it is definitely my take as well, february 28th, it will reassess the data. -- they will reassess the data and determine what the strategy for the exit from the mask mandate will be. kristen: does it make sense to you in two weeks? what do we expect will happen between now and then? >> i think the state got it right. given the trajectory of the number of cases, the decrease in the number of hospitalizations, we are in a terrific position right now. if that trajectory continues, in a couple of weeks, the numbers are going to be so low, that you can really start entertaining the idea of making substantial changes with masking in schools. kristen: if you're watching out -- watching us on facebook live, please go ahead and put the questions there and we will get them covered. some people are asking, does this make sense to you?

to revisit, when we saw at the super bowl yesterday and i parties that most adults were not wearing their masks. and that the general mandate is gone as of once he. what do you think -- as of wednesday. what do you think? >> i think the schools is one of the last places we want to tackle. february 28th does not mean that we are all of us that i'm going to rip off all the masks. but rather look at where we are at the time. so if the super bowl results in a slowwer descent back to sea level, we may see a delay in masking in schools. kristen: if people ask you, what we are seeing is adults not having to wear their masks, why continue that in schools when we know that children tend to do better, if you will, if they do catch covid? >> we have a responsibility to make sure our students are safe, that our kids are safe.

and we are spending a lot of -- they are spending a lot of their days in schools. we want that environment to be as safe as possible for them. so we want to proceed very carefully in making decisions that would reduce their level of protection. so i think the decision is very prudent, to wait and see where we are in a couple of weeks. what people do what the super bowl is not necessarily -- should not be the bellwether necessarily for how we behave. kristen: in many ways, i do ask you, looking at the super bowl, do either one of you expect an outbreak associated with that, whether it's the game or the parties people are having? >> i really don't think that we will see a surge from it, but what you may see as individual transmissions that might be small, because it's not really the super bowl itself necessarily, although a lot of people were shouting and screaming. and i did see a lot of videos. kristen: bars, parties.

>> but yeah, it is the pre and post. if you are not going to wear then, you are not going to wear one before and after. if you look at san francisco for example, we are only where we were around the new year, or the end of the year, not where we were on thanksgiving. so there is going to be a lot of ping-ponging of the virus. i don't expect the whole community will see a surge, but there will be transmissions after the super bowl. kristen: getting back to schools, i wonder if -- because dr. ghaley suggested we get the vaccination rate up in two weeks -- is a not high enough in the school-aged population? where do we stand? >> it's not nearly high enough. in kids between the ages of five and 11, we are talking around 30% of the kids are vaccinated.

way below where they should be. we don't have most of the kids protected in schools right now with vaccines. so how do we protect them? we protect them by driving the cases in the community so low, that there's very little likelihood that they are going to get exposed. and we keep our masks on until those numbers are so low. but i think that's why the state got it right. kristen: do either one of you think we are already at saturation point in terms of the kids' population? we have the under fives, that is an untapped population because they don't have a vaccine -- but i'm talking about five to 17. thoughts? >> well, i hope that it goes higher. i don't think it may go much higher immediately, unless there's a tugging, as governor newsom hinted, with some schools and vaccination rates and lowering restrictions. but if it becomes a requirement for schools at some point after

the fda approval, then you would for sure see an uptick in vaccinations. i think a lot of parents are just watching and waiting as well. there's a large group of parents who might gotten vaccinated themselves. who feels still a little bit shy about vaccinating their kids. kristen: right. we sometimes see different behaviors when it comes to themselves versus their kids and different decision-making processes. i want to get to our viewer questions. simone asks, dr. galli cited cases are dropping in california -- we know that to be the case. but someone wants to know, our cases dropping or is it that there are people testing at home and not reporting their positive test results? therefore skewing our sense of belief that we are coming out of this. >> i think she makes a very good point. that home testing -- people are supposed to report their positive tests, but the vast majority of people are not. several studies have now been done to show that still the case

comes that we have correlate pretty well with how the virus is doing in the community. so although they don't reflect exactly how many people are infected, they do give us a good sense of the trajectory. and the trajectory is right now straight down. kristen: the big question of whether it is too soon or the right time to lift the mask mandate, as you know, the general one is gone as early as wednesday -- reasonable experts have different takes. yours are a little bit different. i don't think are quite opposite. do you think now is the right time to lift the mandate and life? -- and why? >> i think it is a may be reset. you still have to wear masks many situations. if you look at dr. ghaley's presentation, there's one checkbox, you will have to wear the mask, as a vaccinated person in an indoor setting, but i personally would still be

wearing my mask. . if you look at the other boxes, they are all places where people are still wearing masks. in the health care setting, congregate settings, like nursing homes, in schools. i don't think actually much will change, except symbolically in the bay area. kristen: hear what you're saying about you might still make the same choice in many situations and you expect many people in the bay area to make the same choice as well. but what are the reasons you can point to specifically that makes you say, ok, i can see where this is optional now? and i'm ok with it because we have this now and we didn't have it a few months ago or lasting. -- for last june. >> the last strategies we have our -- are multimodal. although i am for vaccines, we have increasing supplies of pax lovid, monoclonal antibodies, we have testing as a strategy -- so not everything is hinged on

the masks. although i think there are very -- they are a very easy thing to use and very portable and acceptable, in many situations. that is kind of where we are. the other thing that's different is that we have better guidance around the type of masks we wear. and the old days, when someone was wearing a cloth mess, i probably wouldn't feel as confident for protection. but if you are wearing a surgical at least or a kn95 or n95, you probably would have more protection as a person versus everyone having to do the same thing. kristen: so having more protection tools as part of it for you. i know having all these things make you a little bit more comfortable as well. nonetheless and correct me if i am wrong -- you think maybe we are moving a couple weeks too early. maybe it's just a little bit too soon. why do you say so? >> well, as peter just mentioned, the numbers are

coming down. but they are still high compared to where we were for example a year ago, when we had other restrictions. i think that -- what are we talking about? we are talking about a couple of weeks' difference here. i would like us to drive the numbers way down. so when we do loosen up restrictions, that we are starting at a very low base. so two weeks' difference in terms of what the base would be. it makes no difference. i think part of my feeling relates to my sense of -- actually the reality of what we've done throughout this pandemic. almost not every time -- almost every time we have a surge, when the numbers come down, we loosen up too soon and we have a new baseline that is higher. so when we have another surge, it starts on that new baseline and builds on that. so i would like us to see drive it way down to where we were

in june of 2021. if we have to deal with another surge or fallout from the super bowl events, etc., that we won't see much of a perturbation in the system. kristen: you do make a point, that last june, after the state mandate was lifted, a few weeks later, there was an increase in cases. don't go away. we will be back after the break. we will be answering your covid questions during the make on facebook live. use other -- you -- abc7 news is streaming on the abc7 app. it is free, easy to download on

today with two infectious disease specialists. they are reacting are health and human services secretary dr. mark g.'s announcement today that the school mask mandate stays for now, but he will revisit the question in two weeks. when a lifting date may be announced. >> to remind students' families that this is a great chance to get vaccinated. that vaccines are free, safe, and effective. they do a lot to help protect not just individuals, but the community at large. we are going to look at all these different factors as well as trends around the globe in the nation and sharing that we are not seeing upticks and increases down the road. kristen: so, doctors, if mask

wearing in schools is no longer a state mandate, can individual counties or a school district require their students to wear masks still? >> yes, definitely. i think despite whatever guidance comes from the state, individual school jurisdictions can still make their own rules depending on the situation. kristen: when it becomes optional, do you think kids should wear masks in schools? maybe you can offer parents some advice. may be looking at the situation in their environment or their own personal situation. >> sure. if the parents are vaccinated, and they have created a safe environment for the child, a not of it is going to depend upon the parents' comfort. as while as a child's comfort --

the child's comfort. many children where more comfortable to -- many children are more comfortable wearing the mass retina. -- wearing the mask right now. kristen: thank you so much for that. they also emphasized the state prioritizes kids staying in school and getting in person learning. some people say that is the goal. the state should not mandate the vaccine because that would bar many kids from attending in person. when you look at the vaccination rates, black and brown students are more likely to be unvaccinated. i would like to get your takes on how we deal with. -- was that. >> if you really want to think about equity, one way to start off is with a mask. again, you want to try to keep kids in their seats as much as possible. and by keeping a safe

environment, you make sure the school is open and the classes are open. and that is what the mask can do for that. to get to that destination. in terms of the vaccines, we require so many other vaccines. the same can be said with it. we know vaccine mandates historically have worked in schools. eventually, this will encourage more people to get vaccines, so they remain in school. the goal is not to use vaccines as a rod to hit people if they don't do it, it is encouraged protection of the community to keep it safe. over time, we will definitely expect that might be in place. kristen: i would love to hear your thoughts, as well as your thoughts on whether you think

religious or personal belief exemptions should be given to students. >> well, that is a legal question in part. it is a tough question to answer. from a legal standpoint, there have to be religious exemptions. from the standpoint of how many people are going to apply for that, and are they genuinely religious objections? that really has to be adjudicated by whoever is enforcing the mandate at that time. kristen: alright. we will have to have you back on to talk more about that. i think i would like to end the segment asking you, because you are both in an article in the chronicle today and wished we talked about comparing where we are at now with hospitalizations in cases. and really the numbers are higher now. the protection tools or therapeutics -- we are not really in a better place. i would like to ask you if you

think we are changing our feelings about restrictions because things have improved for the better, or is it the patient numbers have changed, our comfort level has changed, we are accustomed to it? >> all of the above. lots has changed. the argument peter made about more therapeutics and diagnostics, more people vaccinated, more people immune -- i think those are all valid. we are in a safer position than we were certainly a year ago. we are in a better position. and i think we are going to be even in a much better position in 2-3 weeks from now. kristen: i'm sorry, 30 seconds. >> i think the only thing i am worried about is a number of deaths. we are still expected to get 4500 deaths my march 16th. from the -- by march 16th.

from the state productions. so i am hoping those deaths go down. kristen: i realize you both have so much to offer, we can easily go 30 minutes. we are out of time today, but i appreciate both of you participating in this discussion. thank you. >> thank you. kristen:

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ come be a part of it. plan your next vacation at iloveny.com kristen: san francisco is holding a special election tomorrow. there are three races on the ballot, the recall of the three school board members, filling a state assembly seat, and confirming the city assessor recorder. looking closely at how elections impact us all as part of building a better bay area. a mission we share with our media partner, the san francisco standard. the standard examines the races, the impact of a new group, and the differing election night parties. joining us now to talk about this is the san francisco standard reporter sarah wright. good to see you. reporter: thank you. kristen: the big day is almost here. for voters who haven't been paying attention until now, let's quickly break down the

races starting with the four people vying to win the assembly district 17 seat -- one left open in a game of musical chairs. who are they and what did they spend today doing in the last minutes? reporter: we've got for really competitive candidates, matt haney, david c. they've been joining the sunny weather, hosting election drives, trying to call voters, really getting out the vote for tomorrow's election. some of those candidates have held political office in the past but others are relative newcomers, who have never held office in san francisco before. kristen: shared with us of them hitting the san francisco chinatown neighborhood hard. that was a community thought as

being less politically engaged. >> definitely permit our report has been focusing extensively on this. sort of the efforts to get chinese-americans to vote in this election. he told me today that it's been an organic movement of chinese-americans just feeling a little bit more engaged in the selection. one of the big issues on the ballot as the school board recall. a lot of chinese-american parents feel like this is their chance to get their voice heard for the future voice of their kids. who may be concerned about the future of san francisco schools. with enclosures due to covid, lower admissions -- some of the other issues the school board has taken on these days. kristen: also, let's not forget there's the city assessor. the appointed city assessor is running unopposed. not really much drama in terms of the outcome. but how he got there speaks to

the drama in city hall and the corruption scandals. >> that seat is really important in the city. he is kind of in charge of the city's property taxes. which make up a big part of the city budget. so while there's not a lot of drama in this election with him, he's on the seat today because of last year's's city hall corruption scandals. so it's really important that he is able to get votes to confirm that he should be the one in charge of managing this money and the siding -- deciding our local property taxes. kristen: the standard has a roundabout election night parties on your website, some revealing interesting things about them. hold onto that thought. i'm going to check in with my producer. are we out of time? do we need to take that out to facebook live? we have 30 seconds. we have pulled up your website. tell us about the parties. >> we've got parties all over the city tomorrow night.

matt haney is going to be in his home district. district six. selby is going to be in normal mode. others in chinatown. the school board and growth suffers hosting the party right here. kristen: we will talk more about gro sf when we go to facebook live right now. we have links to the san francisco standard's other original reporting on our website, abc news.com --

i invite others to check on her work. kristen: thank you so much for joining us today on this interactive show, "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at 3:00 on air and on livestream, answering your questions.

hopefully you got a lot of your questions answered that in two weeks the state will revisit the mask mandate in schools and tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the u.s. now closing the u.s. embassy in kyiv. here at home tonight, the american airlines flight dive diverted when authorities say a passenger tried to get into the cockpit. first, ukraine's president zell len ski addressing the nation about reports russia plans to attack in days. what zelensky is now telling the ukrainian people. terry moran in ukraine. james longman in russia tonight. here at home, the american airlines flight forced to divert because of that unruly passenger. authorities say in addition to trying to get into the cockpit. he tried to open the door midnight. the scene onboard that plane. also tonight, the missing plane. the urgent search under way off the coast of north carolina. the plane vanishing off radar with eight people onboard.

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