>> building a better bay area, moving forward and finding solutions. this is a be set -- this is abc. >> we are asking experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers for you in real time. today, we are looking ahead to election day tomorrow as voters decide whether chess about dean will keep his job. a political data expert will join us to address the recall election and other key races to watch this fall. also, we are fresh off another weekend of gun violence across america with at least a dozen mass shootings. big california-based pediatrician has penned an

impassioned op-ed saying there is nothing more brutal than gun violence. but first, covid-19 continues to make headlines. the fda vaccine advisors are set to meet tomorrow to consider novavax's covid vaccine. how is the bay area handling this? first, let's talk about the latest numbers. how is the bay area doing in terms of cases and hospitalizations? i feel like we keep hearing stories of friends and coworkers getting covid right now. >> it seems everyone on their grandmother has covid which is the feeling that has been going on for the last two weeks. it is still red hot out there and you are probably likely to count one out of every 18 people that have no symptoms that might be infected walking around being at trader joe's, costco, etc.

we have seen some school districts in the area respond to that including alameda, sacramento school districts responding and bringing back asks as a mandate. i think however, knocking on wood that we are kind of pressing -- the state and general -- we don't know if it [indiscernible] looking at the east coast, it seems it is at least at the country and state level starting to go down in terms of cases. hospitalizations are still a little bit up but nothing compared to january. host: let's talk about holiday and summer travel. has the surge peaked and will we see another one? >> i think we may have a good july and august. i say that with a maybe because

we have two other variants waiting in the wings. there is so much covid infection happening now though, it is building community immunity so we may have a break because of that and that is what i am hoping for. it might be a decent travel period at least for a little while. we may pick back up in the fall. host: speaking of summer travel, do you have advice for people on staying safe? and maybe for people that have had covid in the last month or so and for those that have not had it yet? >> in general, people have had covid have all been recently vaccinated in the last month or so are going to be the most protected for july and august. and for people who have not been exposed or they have been vaccinated a while ago, they will be at risk for getting a

breakthrough infection. did anyone vaccinated and boosted, it is likely they will be keeping themselves away from the hospital regardless. how do? you protect yourself? you think about the abcs, a is where the air around you. if you think of yourself in a risky place, put on a mask. i carry it around in my pocket or in my bag like an umbrella and i bring it out when i feel wheeler -- weird about a situation. b is for boosted. we know vaccinated folks are increasing in their risk for dying but mainly because they have not gotten the first rooster and that is for people 65. the vast majority of deaths are still in unvaccinated folks. c is for children. immunize your kids because the

more you build the wall of immunity, the better it is for all of us. d is for diagnostic tests. going to the family reunion or class reunion or office event, you can increase the safety by doing a rapid test. and finally, have a covid plan if you are at risk of getting seriously ill. who will write you a prescription? and where will you find it? do a little homework. if you get infected, you know all of the basics so you can get the pax lovid. host: what is the recommendation for people getting a second booster? has that changed at all? >> originally, when the second booster conversation came up, the fda and cdc said you could get it rather than should get it

given the increase in cases they have gone on and said, if you are eligible, over 50, get it because you will top off your antibodies and lower your risk of getting breakthrough infections. personally speaking, i think the older you are, the better the data is for protection and for protecting against going to the hospital and dying. in europe, they are recommending it for those over 80 and that is like 70's and 80's, you will definitely get it not just for a pesky infection prevention but from getting seriously ill. host: we are on facebook live right now and we have a viewer question. brenda says i received a booster in december, should i get one now or wait until the fall? >> we may have a new generation

of boosters in the fall which will be a cocktail of something that is omicron like it. the vaccines used were based on the old variant. brenda, if she is over 50, she might as well get second boosted now. there is no harm in getting the additional shot and time it with something like traveling somewhere or a big event she will go to to top off those antibodies giving you a few weeks of better protection. host: good advice, brenda, there you go. you asked and watched and we got the answer for you. let's change gears. people are worried about monkeypox. the cdc has raised monkeypox to alert level 2. what does that mean exactly? who is most at risk? we have about three minutes left. >> monkeypox -- almost 800 cases

around the world. increasing but not at a shockingly alarming rate. increasing gradually. we expected that. some of the new things about monkeypox is that some of the lesions or spots or rash do not look like the pictures and the textbooks. they kind of look more subtle. they start in the genital area, skin to skin contact. they moved to the face and the arms and the palms. i have seen some of these rashes before. early on, they may be fluid-filled. they may look like an all start. first of all, don't worry. if you are with someone intimately and they are ill, do not be with them. it sounds obvious but it also goes for covid, influence or anything like that. and number three, if you spot a

rash or have one, alert authorities because we want to do contact tracing and assess you and the contacts for vaccination. i think with pride and other events coming up, people are worried it may also lead to an increase in cases but we are not seeing anything in the air like covid. although it is possible, respiratory spread is not the only way it is spread. host: it is not increasing and how is it treated? >> no one necessarily needs medications but we do have an antiviral, immunoglobulin for monkeypox. and there is a vaccine for contacts. most people get better on their own without any additional treatment. we are worried about him you know compromised and pregnant people.

that is as a precaution. we don't expect there to be a big outbreak. that is huge because this is an animal virus trying to find a rat or a small mammal and not a human. humans are not efficient transmitters. host: a lot of useful information every time we talk to you. thank you so much for joining us and we will talk to you soon. >> thank you so much. host: up next, a political data expert joins us as we look ahead to election day

karina: welcome back. we are now focusing on your voice, your vote.

tomorrow is election day as jason abu dean's job is on the line. we are watching the race closely along with paul mitchell, hugh is -- who is joining us now to discuss the election. thank you for joining us. >> happy to be here. karina: let's talk about the low turnout for the primary election. you tracked the numbers. can you explain how you get the data? how do the numbers this election compared to years past? >> over 30 years ago, we started to builaeoterw tt ke all voters in a big database, we can get data from each county in the days leading up to the election to identify who is returning their ballots. we can further break it down. how many of those voters are latinos, democrats, white,

homeowners? and all of this other insight we have into the election. the most important question you had was -- what does the turnout mean? we see record low turnout for this election so far. and when we have lower turnout, the turnout is much less representative of california as a whole. as an example, the state is 40% latino it in terms of folks that returned a ballot, it is only 15%. the state is only 13% senior citizens but more than half of the ballots returned have been returned by senior citizens. karina: i saw that on your twitter page. most returning boats are those 65 and older. >> 51% of the votes coming in so far are seniors. the group 18-30 four is more people. 27% of the registered voters. they are only 10% of the people

returning a ballot. if you think about it, for every 18-34-year-old that has voted, there are five seniors that have voted. karina: it big difference. let's get into the races. we know the das race is a big one to watch in san francisco. what is your take on the race? is that when bringing people to the polls? >> it definitely is one people are paying attention to. early polling made it look a lot more support on the yes side for the recall. it might have been narrowing but that might be an outlier. a comes down to who turns out and votes. turnout is not through the roof. as of this weekend, 21% of the residents of the voters in san francisco returned a ballot compared to los angeles county which was at 13% this weekend.

more voters in other parts of the state but still pretty low turnout. karina: what do people care about? what brings them to the polls? crime and safety, gas prices? social issues? >> i think there are two questions. one, when people vote, one thing that helps them decide whether to vote republican or democrat. the other is what gets them to the polls in the first place. in california, we have me it easy to vote. we mailed everyone a ballot. you don't even need a stamp. there turnout is low. eventually 25%-30% people returning boats. whereas in georgia, they have a record turnout because they have races where voters felt like the future of the country was in their hands. that might be the biggest challenge with this election.

on this tuesday in june, there are a lot of other things going on in our lives. we just had a big presidential race. we had a recall election. this election by comparison seems boring. a big part of the low turnout has to be the fact that as a culture in california, we have not caught on to -- my gosh, tuesday is election day as we did in 2020 where there was wall-to-wall coverage on tiktok, twitter, cnn or anything you were watching. everyone was paying attention to the election. there is not that kind of enthusiasm about the top of the ticket in california and in a lot of the elections. karina: despite not having that enthusiasm for many of our voters, let's talk about the statewide races. the governor. there are more than 20 other races in california. what are some of the other big ones you are watching closely? >> statewide we have the

governor's race. race for attorney general. what is interesting is whether an independent can make it to the second spot. there are two republicans -- democrats likely to get a lot of the republican support. there are a handful of democratically elected officials running and the challenge is which one or any of those will make it into the runoff for november? there is an insurance commissioner's race where the incumbent is running for reelection and who will be there challenger? throughout the state, there are also about 30 open legislative districts. there are new congressional districts because of the redistricting we had to. and we have a big mayors race in los angeles with rick caruso running against a field of democrats. i think the one that the

berkeley poll came out and said was in the lead was karen bass. karina: you just gave us plenty of reasons to go out and vote so friends, go and vote. you don't even have to go anywhere as you mentioned, paul. we will check in with you tomorrow or the day after as we continue to cover the election. thank you so much for your time. up next, a pediatrician will join us to talk about an op-ed she wrote about gun violence and its impact on children and parents. stay with us. "getting ans

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i was hit by a car and needed help. to the world, now you know. 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 let our injury attorneys know he how much their accident cget the best result possible. karina: welcome back. we are coming off another weekend of gun violence across america with at least a dozen mass shootings. that comes less than two weeks after 19 students and two teachers were gunned down in uvalde, texas. now, an advocate has penned a sobering op-ed writing that

parents often write her, dr. is my child going to die? joining us to talk about this is dr. nicole webb. thank you for being with us, doctor. you wrote this very passionate op-ed. i read it multiple times. obviously, the uvalde, texas shooting sparks these kinds of conversations. what drove you? >> thank you for asking and thank you for having me. i have been doing this work for a long time as a pediatrician and in my personal life as a mom. i am very acquainted with the statistics. the sobering data on the facts that gun violence is a leading cause of death, now the leading cause of death for children in the united states. in the wake of you all the, all of us collectively and by "us" i

mean us as pediatricians and parents. there was anger and frustration that there was a stronger imperative to act. i noticed a lot more conversations on social media, among my colleagues and other physicians who historically have not been as comfortable being vocal about this good we have seen the sentiment growing in the last few years but a comes back to the idea that it is a political hot potato. i really think it is our ethical and moral imperative as pediatricians to remind everyone this is not a political talking point. this is about safety and children's lives. karina: you mentioned that in 2021, guns surpassed motor vehicle collisions as the leading cause of death for children. that is alarming to hear. can you go into more detail on that? >> really, depending on how --

the inflection point was in 2019 but what we know for certain as at the pandemic has seen escalating rates of gun violence in all age groups including children. there is no question at this point that it is the number one cause of death of children overall. we have known since the early to thousands that it was the number one cause of death of black youth in this country. there are huge disparities in which children die of gun violence. what we have seen from the onset of the pandemic is rapid escalation in firearm purchasing. we have all seen the fear and the uncertainty that folks have been living in the last few years and that has driven as collating gun sales. we have seen escalating rates of violence including unintentional deaths and suicide. last month was mental health

awareness month and so we are particularly focused on that category. it is one folks often don't think about. there is no question at this point. when you look at all of the other causes of death, we have had success as a society and as a health profession talking about it from the lens of safety. and looking at whether there are preventable causes of injury and death to children and adults in coming up with reasonable solutions and yet we keep coming to the same blocks when it comes to guns. karina: you mentioned in your op-ed, you go on to talk about laws passed to impact the numbers. can you go into more detail about that and is there something that we can agree on as a nation that might fix this? >> that is a great question. the short answer is a problem with gun violence in this country is simple and complex.

we know that the main driver is the access to guns by folks that should not have them including those that would not pass a background check or children who are impulsive by their nature. when you thinkone great exuld br eight. it was passed in 2019 and reintroduced in the 2021 congress. it had some bipartisan support and the house of representatives to address closing the gun sale whole which is that there are many sales of firearms in this country that do not go through the background check process. that was stalled in 2019 and it was stalled again in 2021. the senate has never brought it to a vote. that is one that would save many lives and it has broad partisan public support including among gun owners. karina: dr. webb, we have 30

seconds. a message to parents. what do you tell your patients when they bring up this conversation to you? >> it is usually me bringing it up but i would say, remember that we are your partners and we want to keep your children safe and that means talking about all the things that might keep them unsafe. for parents, the best thing you can do is make sure your guns are stored securely. locked up, unloaded and separate from the ammunition which should also be locked out. if that is not feasible, things like a safe, a biometric lock ox or a gun box rather than be easily accessible to a child. karina: dr. webb, thank you so much and we look forward to hearing from you very soon. we a

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karina: t tonight, the abc news exclusive. for the first time, the teacher in that uvalde elementary school who survived. revealing what happened in that classroom. the teacher shot in the arm and back, describing the gunman. the interview with our amy robach. the teacher hearing the gunshots first in the hallway, telling the children to pretend they were asleep under their desks. the teacher saying the students could hear officers in the hallway. a child pleading with the officers to help them. there were 11 children in his classroom -- none survived. the amy robach interview and matt gutman in texas. tonight, a suspect in custody at this hour after a mass shooting in philadelphia. another mass shooting in chattanooga. the deadliest weekend from shootings this year in this country. and tonight, the news coming in from capitol hill