>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. kristin: you're watching getting answers live on abc seven. we ask experts your questions everyday at 3:00 to get answers for you in real time. today, san francisco district attorney is facing a recall this summer. now, humble county officials are taking aim pending a letter to the da about the implications of times fentanyl cases to san francisco. we are checking with our media partners at the san francisco standard for their in-depth report. but first, the department of medicine chair made headlines earlier this week when he tweeted that he's going back to masking indoors. it comes as nearly every mask

mandate has been dropped and covid cases are taking back up. dr. walker joins us now to give us his insight on all that and the latest covid news. dr. walker, thinks for being here. dr. walker: i never completely dropped the mask indoors but i started to get a little bit sloppy unless sloppy. kristen: you said you slipped, right? we will discuss what that means and what the thinking is now. but lots of headlines including the u.s. hitting one million covid week and an alarming new cdc forecast. i want to start with those tweets because i think they offer thoughtful considerations about how much risk to take right now. you tweeted, i will now do 100% and 95 and indoor credit spaces. i will strongly favor outdoor to indoor dining. i will eat indoors in small groups. walk us through your decision process. >> there's a lot more covid around in the community then there was a month ago.

it's probably a combination of people letting their guard down and this new subvariant that is even more infectious than the prior subvariant which was more infectious than the original omicron which is more infectious than delta. the virus gets better and better at getting through to us. so i had gotten a little bit less careful. i was eating indoors without really much reservation. no pun intended. if i went into an indoor space and it wasn't all that crowded, i was often taking my mask off. and now i will wear my mask in crowded indoor spaces. i will try to eat outdoors over indoors because the number of cases have gone up tremendously. the reported number of cases is an underestimate because the majority of cases are home tested. people that come in, those are

people that feel well with no symptoms of covid. that number was 1% positive a month or so ago and is about 4.5% positive. that is a reasonable guess so what are the chances somebody to you in line at the safeway in san francisco would test positive for covid? that is one in 20. a lot more covid in the environment then there was a few weeks ago. dr. walker: one and 20 -- kristen: one and 20 would have covid? dr. walker: they would have had covid recently and are still potentially infectious. one and 20 people that feel well coming in to ucsf for gallbladder surgery are testing positive. kristen: if it is out there in these numbers, many people are saying we are all going to get it so just live our lives.

for a lot of people, that means we are done with things like masking. but you tweeted, i don't think it's inevitable that we will all get covid and 2022 and 2023. why do you think it is still avoidable? dr. walker: i think because 40% have avoided it so far, and, you know, that is four or five months into omicron which is extraordinarily infectious. it hasn't gotten to everybody so far. i have never tested positive. i think for people who still want to try to avoid it, that is the right call. i think there's a good chance over the next year or so if they are fully vaccinated and boosted into being reasonably careful, they can avoid it. some of it at this point is luck. if i am acting quite carefully

and i came down with covid tomorrow, it would not shock me. there is a fair amount of covid around. i think if covid lasts for years and years which i think is likely now, i think it probably is close to inevitable that i will get it but i would like to continue to try to avoid it largely because of the risk of long covid. i think the antiviral treatments will get better. i do understand people who say i'm tired of it and i will start living my life. they are putting themselves at reasonably high-risk getting covid but because of omicron mildness and vaccines and antiviral treatment, the chances they are going to get super sick and end up in the hospital and i are very low. dr. walker: sally kristen: -- kristen: sally wants to know should we wear a mask in outdoor crowds? dr. walker: i don't think so. the only reason to if it is super crowded and a windowless day -- wind-less day.

i have never seen a windless day in the bay area. if i went to a ballgame i would not wear a mask but if i went into the bathroom or if it was super crowded, i would go. kristen: if i were the giants, i would not. if it were the warriors, i probably would. dr. walker: that's a smart way to think about it. kristen: yeah, you called me smart. a lot of people take home test and there's not really a good way to report. some counties say tell us, but what do you think the true numbers are? >> you can assume three out of four positives we don't know about and they are not reported in the statistics you see on cases. and when you look at the number of cases, assume that is a substantial underestimate. the situation with home testing

hasn't changed in the last few months. you can look at the trends and i think the trends are reliable. and we see a significant uptick in the number of cases. it is underreported but the trend is reliable. we test everybody, so that's a reliable number. it's the same kind of population that people came in for surgery three months ago. i think we have enough evidence that the trends are all heading north even if the absolute number is not as reliable as it used to be. kristen: i want to ask you about paxlovid, one of the antivirals we have to treat covid. and it's given to people high-risk. you need a prescription. but i wonder if you think it has been under prescribed dorothy eligibility requirement is too high given that it seems like we are hearing there is not as much of a supply issue.

i will point to a bay area woman who was on the show with us. she had a cardiac abrasion five years ago that was resolved. she is over 50. what do you think? dr. walker: i think the drug works quite well. i think it is under prescribed because it is new and a lot of physicians don't fully understand it. it's tricky because there are a lot of drug interactions because you have to check which drugs the patient is on. sometimes you need to adjust the dose. if you are on cholesterol medicine, probably stop for a week. it's a little bit tricky to use, but for someone who is at reasonably high risk of a bad outcome, over 50 or with significant comorbidities, the benefit of the drug far outweighs the downside. the drug works very well in clinical trials. certainly if i got covid today, i would get myself on it as soon

as i could. kristen: i have heard in some cases that the virus can make a comeback after someone has finished their paxlovid treatment course. is that a big issue? dr. walker: it is a small issue, but it is an issue. we have seen some cases because it is new and different, it gets blown up in regular and social media. it is a real phenomenon. people take the paxlovid, a five day course. they feel well and turned negative. they are no longer infectious. in several days or a week later, they can turn positive again and get symptoms again. they are probably infectious again. we don't know what's going on. not exactly. the probability of that is one and 50. -- one in 50.

some people had that phenomenon even without the medicine. they get better, they get worse. i don't think it's a huge deal, but something to watch out for. if you've had a covid and you are feeling better and testing negative, i think it's time to go out and expose yourself to other people. if you start feeling bad, test yourself again because it can happen. >> please don't go away. we will take a short break and continue thi

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kristen: we are back with ucsf department of medicine dr. bob walker talking about the latest headlines. cdc modeling shows daily hospital admission levels and covid-19 related deaths in the u.s. will increase over the next four weeks.

this hasn't happened in months, so clearly, this is concerning. but how concerning ako -- but how concerning? dr. walker: any increase in death rate is concerning. what we have seen is a significant increase in cases as the new variants get better at infecting people and not much increase of hospitalization. we're starting to see an increase in hospitalization because there is so much covid around. it seems to me unlikely that we will see overwhelmed hospitals again like we have seen in the past, but i do think it is likely that we are going to see hospitals have more covid patients in them and an uptick in death. probably not in people fully vaccinated. certainly not young people fully vaccinated. but if you have an 80-year-old who is fully vaccinated, enough of them who have covid, a few of them will get very sick and a few of them will die. kristen: the who said a lot more

people died during the pandemic than normal times. can you tell us what those figures mean? dr. walker: we have very reliable data on the number of people who die a year, and it is pretty stable. you can look at the curve and say, wait a second. we have millions of more people that died in 2020 or 2021 or 2022 from the average year. less than half of it is from direct effects from covid. but it is from the combination of covid and people not seeking medical care because of covid. or people who died of suicide or drug use or other kinds of things. and i worry, not only is that number staggering, but it may not be the last of it. even if covid went away tomorrow , we are going to see the impact

of people who didn't get their mammograms. did not get their colonoscopy. did not come in because of a significant problem that will play out over time. we have to get people back to get the medical care that they need because some of the excess death is coming from org gone medical care. kristen: i want to talk about vaccines and boosters. i just got my second booster. i can no longer pretend. i'm in my 40's. dr. walker: you can pretend you cheated. kristen: this time, it was a pfizer booster, no side effects. when i got my original sought -- shot, no side effects. but my booster, side effects. i felt terrible. what could be causing that? is it the vaccine? is it random?

>> i think each one can sometimes cause side effects and sometimes not. i got three pfizer and a moderna for my last one. i had no problems with any of them. in general, the modernity does is proportionately a little bit higher than the pfizer docent it might be why the protection is a little bit better than pfizer and probably why the rate of side effects is a little bit higher but i think mostly you just had bad luck. kristen: a month ago i think you said healthy folks under 65 could wait on the second booster may be until closer to fall or a reworked vaccine. do you still think that? dr. walker: the second was to is a tricky call. i got it because the evidence is clear that it lowers the risk of a severe case and lowers the risk of even a mild case. the problem with the mild cases it doesn't look like it works for a couple months.

if you have had three shots and are being reasonably careful, your risk of getting very sick is very low but if you're 70 or 75, maybe even over 60, the problem is, it will only protect you against a symptomatically infection for a few months. if you know you will have much higher exposure over the summer, or you're waiting until there is a big surge, it is not an irrational thing to wait a little while so you get the maximum coverage. in my 60's, i thought it was a reasonable decision to get it now. it's reasonable to wait a little bit until there's more of a surge than there is now. >> in new information today with regard to whether your blood type seems to be associated with more likely or less likely to get covid.

dr. walker: i don't know if it's new information. but these people, how have they not gotten covid? the answer is some combination of vaccinations, wearing a mask, being careful, living in a city with relatively low rates of covid like the bay area. luck. and it has been an interest on if there is something about their genes that protects them. there are people that look pretty hard for that. the only thing that correlates is type o blood type being protected. if you have type zero, you should still be careful. the difference is a few percentage points, not really very impressive. kristen: this is our last question. should a high school district -- i know most have dropped the mask mandate after the state dropped its, but if the highs will district that has kept it up until now, should they drop

it now, three weeks before finals and graduation? or do we keep it up to the rest of the school year? dr. walker: if you have kept it up, it is a little irrational to drop it now. i think the argument to drop it a few weeks ago is reasonably good as long as you don't stigmatize the kids with the parents who continue to wear masks. my kid, they would continue to wear a mask as the case rates go up. but, you know, it is more dangerous now in terms of the risk of getting covid than it was a month ago. a little bit of a bizarre decision to drop it now. kristen: next time you come back, bring even more puns. thank you so much.

coming up next, we will switch gears. county officials have penned a letter. letter. more on why that when a truck hit my car, letter. more on why that the insurance company wasn't fair. i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪

da is now being criticized by political leaders up north and humble county. our media partner, the san francisco standard, is reporting on a letter penned by county officials addressed to him, accusing him of presiding over open air drug dealings overflowing they say into their towns. joining us like to talk more about this in the possible recall is david, a reporter for the san francisco standard. thank you for being here. david: thank you for having me. kristen: tell us about the letter. wrote it? was it sent? david: it was the humble board of supervisors that decided to write this letter. they voted on it on tuesday after deliberating on the

approach that they were suggesting, if it's effective and not -- or not criminalizing drug use. they ultimately decided to send the letter because most if not all of the drug dealing related sentinel -- sentinel -- fentanyl arrests came from tenderloin but they said they never received the letter and have not heard from the board of supervisors. not sure when that will be sent. kristen: it's one thing to say we are seeing more fentanyl sales and another to say a lot of that is going on in the tenderloin, but it's another to draw a straight line from what is happening here to their town. is there evidence laid out of that? david: they have not presented evidence beyond the anecdotal reports following dealers,

buying the drugs, reportedly not being intercepted by police of any sort and then going all the way back to humble to sell those drugs at a higher price, and they said virtually all of the arrests they have made this year have been of that nature. kristen: have you heard from his office? have they responded to the claim? david: they pointed us to the narcotics fact sheet that mainly points to a decrease in arrests in recent years around drug dealing related crimes. one of the big points throughout this recall process has been the diversion of drug dealing related crimes, largely due to a state audit passed in early january of 2021. they said that they haven't heard from them and pointed to a

couple inconsistencies within the letter, things that did not quite add up. kristen: i wonder if there is any insight into the county officials motive writing this letter, the supervisors discussing this. was there call to action that they wanted from the city? is this something that may also work for them politically? >> there were discussions about how this could be perceived to be political. they push that away. but they are threatening litigation of some sort. it's not clear what that could mean. they are just hoping to stop seeing the fence related overdoses happening in their county the way that it is. and i think that's the main source. a very small rural communities up there.

they are feeling the impact of the opioid crisis nationwide. because fentanyl is so cheap on the streets. they are drawing that connection to san francisco. david: how successful kristen: -- kristen: kristen: how successful has it been like wine county blaming another county and going after them financially or through other means? is this unusual or proven to be successful? david: i think we have seen some examples in the past. i don't think it necessarily has a track record of rectifying the problems in a certain county. it's more of a whack a mole game. one of the supervisors acknowledged that, questioning what the purpose of the letter was, generally when you push down on dealers in one area, they pop up in another. so that has been a question on whether criminalizing drug use

in sales is actually effective or is it just pushing people to other areas? kristen: i want to ask if you think this might have an impact on the recall election in june. >> it may be impacting voters that sees a spillover effect of drug use and sales in san francisco. but in terms of how he is approaching things, i don't think so. kristen: don't go away. you can check out more on abc7news.com. check out our abc

after my car accident, i wondered what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, our r inry a attneysys wk hahard i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, to get you the best result possible. call us now and find out what your case could be worth. you u mit bebe sprisised ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ kristen: thank you for joining

us on this interactive show. we will be here every afternoon on air and livestream answering your questions. tonight, breaking news on several fronts tonight. the reports of bloody battles inside that steel plant in ukraine. what about the civilians still inside? also, the breaking headline involving one of the covid vaccines here in the u.s. and bracing for severe storms right now. first tonight, video from a group of ukrainian fighters showing what could be their last stand against russian forces at that steel factory in mariupol. video posted by pro-russian separatists showing brutal bombings from the air. up to 200 civilians including children trapped in the tunnels and bunkers. also tonight, the pentagon now responding to reports that u.s. intelligence may have helped ukrainians kill top russian commanders. what the u.s. is now saying tonight. ian pannell in ukraine. the