>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7news. >> of the new cases, more of them rba. two now than there were two weeks ago. >> the latest on the coronavirus as overall cases decline but researchers are still closely monitoring data from wastewater plants to track one variant that appears to be increasing. thank you for joining us. >> you are watching abc seven news at 5:00 and we began with the latest headlines. pfizer had submitted an application to the fda for an additional vaccine booster dose for seniors. this omission comes two days after the pfizer ceo announced a fourth dose would be necessary for everyone. >> the total number of hospitalizations and of the u.s. is down by 85%.

the rate of decline has slowed over the last week or so. >> new analysis from the cdc finds infants and children under five were hospitalized at a rate five times higher during the omicron surge than with delta. infants had the highest rate of hospitalization during omicron. >> as cases across california decrease and more restrictions are used, your keeping a close eye on europe where cases have been increasing. should we be concerned here? our vaccine team spoke with scientists who are looking at wastewater to determine what her upcoming weeks could look like. she is joining us live with the latest. >> we are in much better place today than we were 12 weeks ago. according to experts, the covid trends in europe tend to hit the u.s. four to six weeks later. in the last two weeks, the u.k. and other parts of europe

reported a spike in kobe cases. omicron's sub variant leave to be 30% more transmissible than the first strain of omicron is the culprit. >> it will slowly but surely overtake omicron. it is moving at a slower pace but it will likely become the globally dominant variant. >> what happens in europe with covid-19 tends to happen in the u.s.. dr. wintergreen is a senior investigator for the gladstone institute. his work in virology for over 30 years is leading him to keep a close eye on this data. >> there hotspots forming in the and it states. i would not be surprised if ba.2 makes a much more significant entry into the unit states and we see an uptick in cases. >> california, scientists are monitoring wastewater. alexandria boehm is a professor

of environmental engineering at stanford. she is tracking 12 water plants in redding california. >> we see the ba.2 mutations are going up in all of them and in some of them, they're going up more quickly than others. in oceanside in san francisco, they have gone up quite a bit. >> the increase is very small. >> until last week when we have this bump, ba.2 also increased. if you look at the big scheme of things, we have gone down quite a bit. >> even if ba.2 becomes the dominant strain, dr. green says we are still in a much better place now. do think the increase of ba.2 could lead to lockdowns? >> i doubt it. we have too many tools now that are much better. >> dr. green says our vaccination rate is keep your over 70% of californians have received at least one dose. he says if you are vaccinated

and boosted and you get infected with ba.2, you are unlikely to end up hospitalized. >> thank you so much. nurses at 15 sutter health locations picketed over health and safety concerns. rallies were held across northern california including in the bay area. registered nurses have been in contract negotiations since last june should they cannot come to an agreement over staffing, workplace violence or pandemic preparations. >> i am hopeful for the future. we all love our jobs. we all love our patients. ultimately this is to help our patients. >> a sutter spokesperson told abc 7 sutter remains focused on reaching a shared resolution and patients will continue to receive uninterrupted quality care. nurses say if there is no progress, they will consider going on strike.

>> california will remain under a covid-19 state of emergency after democrats rejected a gop effort to end it. governor newsom made the declaration two years ago. it allows him to access federal funding and override state laws. republicans believe it gives him too much power. public and state senator melissa melendez introduced a proposal to end the state emergency. she says 29 other states have already done so. >> do you think they have not contemplated what might happen if they have another surge and they don't have a state of emergency in place? >> 29 other states. are they all putting their constituents at risk? residents called into today's hearing to support the bill but a majority supported keeping the declaration in place for now. >> on a national level, americans will feel the impact of funding cuts to the u.s. covert response as early as next week. that word today from white house officials trying to persuade congress the u.s. desperately

needs another $22 billion in covid relief money. officials say starting next week uninsured americans won the longer be able to submit claims for tests or covid treatments. congress and the biden administration are pointing fingers at one another. >> today is equal pay day. that is the date women must work to reach the amount of money made in -- men made in united states the previous year. matt have to work two and half months more to equal what men made last year. house speaker nancy pelosi and congresswoman jackie spear marked this day on capitol hill with members of the congressional women's congress and labor secretary marty walsh. four in 10 women serve as their family primary breadwinner but they only take home $.83 for every dollar made by their male colleagues. which she says totals over $400,000 over a career. >> imagine what that means in money for rent, bills, food, groceries, lower credit scores.

and costs of loans. it has a big impact on women's retirement. >> pelosi vows to continue to fight for fairness, promising to continue to push for the paycheck fairness act, which would update the 1963 equal pay act. >> is making abled statement saying it is on its way to ending homelessness. sac fly and tess spoke with officials on the solution day found. >> this half moon bay building used to be a local hotel. now this site along with two others like it makes up 500 homes for people who used to be homeless. >> we have two hotels coming online. one shortly in san mateo. >> san mateo county executive mike kelly key says when all is said and done they will have up to 740 homes. the last homeless sense is done in 2019 showed more than 1500

people in san mateo were homeless. other hundreds were in shelters, hundreds were without any place to go. he is confident they will bring that number down to what he calls functional zero. i'll soon you will -- how soon do you think you will get to functional zero? >> we are calling this the year to end homelessness in san mateo county. >> although some of the hotels or permanent housing, others provide transitional housing that will get people into their own permanent homes, freeing up the transitional rooms for more on housed people. >> transitional housing is key. we know good things happen when you get a roof over someone's head. you can provide them with the wraparound services to deal with mental health issues, addiction unless you have that roof over their head. >> how was the county able to buy up these hotels? a big portion was from the cares act. pandemic money give to the county along with funds the states trip it appeared one of the challenges still faced will be maintaining the funding to keep the housing going.

? hopefully the federal government and state will see the success we are going to have and have experience understands is a way cheaper way to proceed. >> now governor newsom has signed a bill preventing an enrollment cap at uc berkeley. leslie brinkley talked with neighbors in university officials about what that means. >> campus enrollment at uc berkeley has accelerated more than was projected in 2005. neighbors filed a lawsuit last year and california courts imposed an enrollment cap on the class admitted for the fall of 2022 based on the impact the population increase and was having on traffic and housing should the state legislature passed a bill that was quickly signed by the governor that lifts the enrollment cap. the bill is essentially offset a court order requiring towel to

reduce in person enrollment this fall potentially denying thousands of students a chance to enroll in on-campus courses. >> it reopens the doors to an admissions and enrollment process that existed before the litigation. we will be back to normal. we will be enrolling all the students we plan to enroll. >> we begin offering extension -- they will begin next ending offers of admission to 40 500s transfer students. >> with the students are the ones who are going to get hurt by all of this because there is not enough housing for the incoming class. and all the other students who are here for next year. darker the enrollment cap debatc has centered on the california environmental quality act. >> we had an unprecedented lower court ruling that required the university to treat students as if they were a form of pollution. >>' i'm so tired of hearing the argument. it is not students. as population growth.

>> the enrollment freeze was lifted by the legislature. >> the court finds in university or college did not adequately complete their development plan, the root of 18 months to correct it and the judge would be able to apply a solution. >> for an outcome of the admission letters go out -- for now, the mission letters go out. father's day celebration that claimed the lives of three people and sent five others to the hospital. nearly nine months later, investigators say it made two arrests. >> calls for an audit of the contra costa county sheriff following comments he made after one of his former deputies was committed of

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>> a battle is brewing between the contra costa sheriff and state prosecutors. sheriff david livingston sandy

melchert's sizing and the district attorney. livingston said the the never have filed charges. the prosecutors alliance of california says the tone of livingston's response is grounds for an audit of his disciplinary practices and training. the sheriff issued a response saying in part instead of playing politics here, they should do their job and prosecute offenders and start caring about crime victims. >> two people are under arrest and a connection with a father's day shooting in richmond. it happened outside a house party in june of last year june investigators announced the arrest of 27-year-old henrique of oakland and a teenage suspect. the contra county district attorneys office has charged both suspects with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder. >> one of san jose's first homicides of 2021 still remains

unsolved a year later. dustin dorsey talked to the victims family and how they tried to stay strong despite no leads in the case. >> all is calm on the street in east san jose but one year ago, what happened here changed a family's life together. matthew was shot and killed before 6:00 p.m. his family still haunted by the events. >> it breaks my heart every time i think of him and seeing his children without their father. >> it seems so fresh still even though it has been a year. like an open wound. it reopened the wind. >> he was leading a fundraiser while his family was shot by a passing car. san jose police continue to investigate and no arrests have been made. the family has no idea why or how this happened but they still hope for answers. >> i'm trying to move forward and i'm trying to be there for his children.

i have to be strong for them. i do pray that there is justice and we get closure. >> his best friend says she still looks at pictures of him every day and his memory lives on in unexpected ways. >> as we were doing the balloon release for his one year when we met together at the cemetery, a hummingbird appeared and circled around us and would not leave. we all got the chills. we believe it was him. i still get the chills thinking about it. >> she hopes another sign that will appear that leads to an arrest should the only evidence that remains is the surveillance video of a blue ford explorer. >> somebody has seen that blue explorer. if anybody has any information, please come forward because if it was your family member, that is what you would want. >> the family has raised $10,000

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>> it is day 20 of the russian invasion of ukraine and russian forces are escalating their attacks on kyiv. several residences were hit by russian airstrikes. kyiv's mayor has imposed a curfew. two i call to every civilian, please, spend the time if it is possible in bunkers. >> fox news confirms a veteran photographer was killed on the ground while fox correspondent benjamin hall remains hospitalized. the white house as president biden will travel to europe next week for a summit with all 30 nato members. ukraine's president address to

the canadian parliament today and tomorrow he will speak virtually to congress. you can watch that live on abc 7 at 6:00 a.m. russia has ordered sanctions against a americans including the president. >> earlier today, governor newsom was in solano county to pack emergency relief supplies for ukraine. the governor loaded medical supplies to a truck that will be lifted to a field hospital in poland. this applies amount to a 50 bed hospital in box. >> it comes with all the supplies you need from iv tubes, aed for heart attack and cardiac arrest, oxygen concentrators and all the consumable supplies you would need to treat wounds and different things like that. >> the supplies are being sent to a nonprofit humanitarian group called direct relief, which has worked in ukraine for decades. for more loads are standing by to ship if the request comes. let's turn our attention to the

weather. we do get some rain overnight. >> and more may be coming . >> we do have more on the way. that is this weekend. before we get to the next storm, let's talk about the one that came through here as we look i can time. the cr got some snow. -- the sierra got some snow. some showers made for a wet morning commute. you do see an isolated thunderstorm to the northeast of the bay area. rainfall totals. 19 hundredths in san francisco. a trace amount in san jose. santa rosa picking up over a quarter of an inch and four hundredths in concord. this wells have been generated by the incoming system. beach hazard statement through 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. long west northwest swell bringing the high risk of sneaker waves and rip currents. all the cloud coverage is lingering on live doppler 7. we have a moist environment so

dew points are a little bit higher than what we are use to. if it feels muggy, you are not imagining things. it is muggy outside and maybe you notice it with your hair. it is a cooler day. the -- no doubt about it. it may not have felt cooler to you. a folky view from our golden gate bridge camera. san jose, some left over clouds and cam showing you some left over clouds as well. cooler with areas of fog overnight. best chance in the north bay thursday and our next storm arrives on saturday. we have a frost advisory for lake and mendocino counties should temperatures will drop to the low to mid 30's. frost will kill sensitive plants. temperatures ranging in the mid to upper 30's. grab the extra layer in the morning. for the afternoon, it is milder. you will see some sun to

it is a storm we are watching. for saturday, this one looks to bring widespread rain and more snow over the cr nevada. the system is pulling out of here late saturday and early sunday. rainfall totals will look like this. about a quarter of an inch to 6/10 of an inch for most areas. could see higher totals in isolated spots. morning fog giving way to a milder day. possible sprinkles thursday and the temperatures rebound with the level 1 storm in cooler weather on saturday. an early-morning chance sunday as spring begins and look at the warmth. upper 70's to low 80's next week. well above average. talk about a major swing in the weather. >> despite a historically dry start to the year and the

governor's call for conservation, californians are using more water. the latest numbers from the state water resources control board shows a two and half percent increase in january compared to january of 2020. last july, governor newsom called for voluntary reductions. since then, cities and towns have saved half as much water as requested. >> march madness is here. we will show you the sendoff

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co. san francisco mayor london breed introduced legislation to make a section car free. the measure comes days after the park commission and the board of directors voted to recommend the proposal to the board of supervisors. the city closed the section at the outset of the pandemic to give residents more space to exercise. the final vote is expected next month. >> two bay area college basketball teams hit the road today in their quest for a national championship should >> the u.s. has boarded a plane for indianapolis where they will play murray state on thursday night. >> the saint mary's scales received a warm sendoff from their supporters.

coach randy bennett's team will play on thursday in portland against the winner of tonight's play in game of portland -- of wyoming and indiana. >> this is another chance to read another chapter. we will see if we can do some damage. i think week will be ready -- we will be ready for whatever. >> it is getting real. the gales rc did fifth and neither east's -- in their east region >> to the usf >> dons are meeting their first tournament experience since 1998. it is really exciting for them to >> the stanford women will begin the defense of the national title on friday against montana state. we wish everybody luck. >> exciting and congratulations to this is a big step. >> world news tonight with david muir is coming up next. thank you for joining us tonight. >> from all of us here, we

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tonight, several developing headlines as we come on the air. the capital of ukraine now under a 35-hour curfew. what they're now bracing for in kyiv. and tonight, verified surveillance video showing a powerful blast rocking the second-largest city of kharkiv. the russian military unleashing a barrage of attacks on civilians. deadly air strikes hitting residential areas in kyiv. apartment buildings destroyed. consumed by smoke and flames. more than 3 million refugees now fleeing the country. and the mass exodus under way in mariupol. an estimated 20,000 people escaping through a humanitarian corridor. tonight, 24 hours after learning a fox news correspondent was injured in an attack, the network reporting that one of their photographers and a 24