moving forward finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. hi there. i'm kristen z. you're watching getting answers live on abc 7. we ask experts your questions every day at three to get answers for you in real time today. we are counting down to game four of the nba finals as the years try to steal a win on the road tonight and even up the series the team's height man. franco finn will be here in about minutes to get dub nation all fired up, but first major news today on the covid front. the biden administration says the cdc is dropping the negative coba test requirement for travelers flying into the us this change is effective sunday morning joining us now to talk about that and rest of the latest covid-19 developments abc 7 news special correspondent dr.

alok patel, dr. patel. good to see you. good to see you. happy friday, and finally is my reaction to that headline. you just announced crystal. yeah, finally, it's right because this is something the travel industry has actually been lobbing for for months now right saying it deters tourism and business travel to the us and recently even democratic lawmakers and mayors have joined the lobbying a bunch of mayors actually sent a letter this week to doctor. she's john. so there is that sense of finally, but what do doctors and public health officials think is the sensible i'm glad you framed it in terms of what two public health officials and doctors think and no public health official. i know no infectious disease specialists. no one. i know who's even been working in covid research actually thinks that this ban made any sense, especially now it was enacted in january 2021. there may have been an argument back then but kristen the mere fact that now we're at a point where we're gonna put so much resources time and inconvenience and trying to identify one case coming in from somebody from

europe or asia, but not going to do any testing or any mass requirements for people traveling within the united states when according to maps from the cdc, we still have a high level of community transmission across all 50 states. so somebody coming from florida who may be covid positive can waltz right onto an airplane cough all over everyone then land in the bay area. there's no requirements. this didn't actually make any sense and you know, you mentioned the travel industry wanting to lobby. we don't necessarily agree with their lobbying either because remember delta put out that statement saying now that sars kobe 2 addition into an ordinary seasonal virus. we're no longer concerned. that's not the case either. this just comes down to what's actually making sense. what is what do we actually trying to target moving forward? is it identifying single cases or is it trying to live with this as a background virus and mitigate outbreaks and severe illness. it's the latter. yeah. all right. i do wonder though, you know what has been the impact on americans traveling abroad and trying to come back home during this period when you know, like you said the transmission was

happening here. it will it really was and so it was an impacting any americans traveling within the united states, but you know, chris and i heard stories i got phone calls from friends in college trying to figure out what to do when they were overseas and there is nothing to do if you're coming to the united states and people were inevitably getting stuck in other countries paying out of pocket or people. yeah the tail end of their vacations weren't going out anymore and they were just trying to stay put in almost do kind of like a protective level level of quarantine and this is not confirmed i do not endorse this at all what i'm about to say, but i did hear reports of people flying into canada and then driving to the united states to avoid the testing requirement that just shows you how good because then yet another move. that didn't seem to be consistent. you can drive into the us. to negative covid test, but you couldn't fly into the us. so, yes people would fly to mexico or canada which didn't have the entry test requirement and then just drive across the border. yeah, and i wonder was part of

it though just to play devil's advocate right? are there those who say hey, but it could catch new variants that may already be abroad that are not here yet. and that is even though the rest of the cdc messaging has not been to strongly discourage domestic transmission. perhaps they're more focused on being new variants out you know kristen if that was truly the priority and you go to the source and we then work on global vaccine equity and preventing circulation of the virus and other countries to prevent the spread of variance because it's here. we're not going to inevitably able to keep covid out of the united states, you know indefinitely just with these travel negative requirements. it's going to happen if we continue with the virus circulate so we have to go to the source it pay attention to that now, i'll tell you i was online and try and looking at the state department. looking through random countries, and i could not find outside of asia. i could not find other countries that still had the requirement a lot of countries dropped it in late fall or this spring. yeah.

yeah. no, we were one of the last ones. i want to hit a couple questions right now. brenda asked. so now one can travel to hawaii without a negative covid test. yes, but that's been a while for going on for a few months now that is separate from today's cdc announcement which by the way dr. hello patel. they said that they'll revisit in 90 days by then. we'll be out of the summer travel. season and hopefully things will be coming down. in fact, are they coming down now this latest surge any indication of that? you know, we have an indication that it's plateauing but kristen it's plateauing still at a very high level over a hundred thousand documented positive cases a day. remember that's documented. a lot of people are testing at home and that's not actually recorded. but if we look at wastewater surveillance in the bay area actually had pulled up right here and i'm looking right now at palo alto san jose sunnyvale. they're either plateauing in the bay area over the past two. i'm sorry in like the the areas that the wastewater surveillance is looking at over the past week or slightly higher, but again, realizations and deaths have not risen with the same level as the

cases, but remember deaths is not the only metric we're trying to protect against we also want people to not be sick. we don't want to overwhelm hospitals. we don't want to disrupt lives put people who are vulnerable at risk. also. we're trying to prevent long covid that i want to get into in a second before we do so though and before we look at those numbers, i know you have a round of two truths and a lie for us and this is where i ask our facebook viewers to help me answer the question because you know, i need the our health so let's do this. i was so captivated by your headline. i almost forgot to get into this. so everyone out there tells which one of these is not true. is it a officials say they will have millions of monkeypox vaccines ready if we need them or is it beep modernist bible vaccine is composed of both spike facts. that's the original maxine and a vaccine targeting omicron v82121, or is it c novavax approval is currently delayed due to new data about the manufacturing process which one of these is not true. all right fol. you got to help me out because i just came back from vacation as

you all know, so i i did read that the us government today was making more monkeypox vaccines available. they're buying a lot more. so i'll just rule out a b. be seems like it could be the answer because i think you got a little tricky there. it's one of those technical things even though i do know moderna is working on different one. so we've got a variety samson says b daniel says c. jackie says a and these are all smart viewers, but i'm going to go with b. that's the b is the lie. it's actually composed of spike facts and omicron. so not necessarily the most recent variance which kristen is part of the discussion the fj's kind of gonna have to go through and saying is this bivalent vaccine going to be the most effective omicron specific vaccine. we're gonna need in fall. what i do think is important when we talk about this bivalent vaccine we compare to the flu shot, which is actually composed every single year to match circulating strains. the flu shot could be tr.

are quadrivalent meaning three to four strains? and this may be kind of the path moving forward if we need a seasonal covid-19 shot now a is true both a cam 2000 and genius are two types of smallpox vaccines which have some cross protection to monkey pox and the us us officials announced today that they will potentially have millions available if we need them. hopefully we don't on that large scale and nova facts approval is coming through according to all the recent data, but they introduce some new manufacturing details. june 3rd and the fda said we need a little bit more time, but inevitably i do think no effects will be approved to give us a fourth vaccine option for people. all right real quickly gregory congrats on getting b correctly marissa as well and gregory. yeah, there are several people so good job. our viewers aren't being attention, but i am a little curious about novavax. let's talk a little bit more about this. it is more of a traditional vaccine technology, right? so not mrna and i wonder if you think this get those who are a

little uncomfortable with the mrna and have been sitting on the sidelines to finally get vaccinated maybe. possibly kristen and maybe on the individual level it may help some people out there who still have some reluctance but an mrna vaccine i don't like this method of convincing people and saying hey fine have your fears of the mrna vaccine use this protein subunit vaccine instead. i wish we could just address the fears regarding mrna, but hey, we got to do what we got to do. the technology behind nova facts is vaccine is a little bit more of the traditional model and it's actually fascinating out there for any science nerds, but what they basically are doing is in a laboratory creating that spike protein they're using cells from a moth which is totally rad and then injecting you basically with a vaccine that has those spike proteins in it serum immune system can recognize it. this is different than the mrna vaccines which are basically injecting the blueprint for making the spike protein so different technology same net effect, you know that initial data which showed 90% effectiveness was actually

pre-ohmicron. yes, so there is some data to sift through with all that. there's still a very very small incidence of myocard. is the fda did report and novavax kind of rebuttaled and said hey the recent myocarditis is similar in both placebo and people who got the vaccine at around point zero zero five to zero zero seven percent. can i ask you real quick question about this because it is different in technology. could it be a better booster more effective booster for someone that they initially got visor or moderna because we've heard that potentially when you mix like that maybe you get a bit of a boost. kristen you're too well read because these questions are brilliant. you're absolutely right. there is plenty of data and science and immunology to say that hybrid immunization can be beneficial and it's entirely feasible that if novak's gets approved. this would be a great option for a booster if your primary series wasn't mrna vaccines that is definitely something that we we will probably say data about

that or recommendations coming this fall. all right, we have a lot more to talk about take a short break where we'll of your questions and be right back with more with dr. log patel. i was injured in a car crash. i had no idea how much my case was worth. i called the barnes firm. when a truck hit my son,

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one and we are back with abc 7 news special correspondent dr. olok patel. lots of great viewer questions came in during break on facebook live before we get to that i will get to them. let's do one more round of two truths in a lie with dr. log patel. let's do it. everyone knows how this goes. which one is not true. is it 8 according to the washington post about a hundred thousand kids have experienced gun violence at school since columbine or is it b san francisco's test positivity rated 14% this week the second highest during the pandemic or is it seed a survey report a

survey reports nearly 30% of parents will definitely not get their kids under five vaccinated that is from the kaiser family foundation which one of these is not true well, viewers help me out here. i think i can rule out b, even though i store vacation brain, but i think we did hit 14% i read that, you know a and c both sound plausible. it could be even more than a hundred thousand kids having experienced gun violence at school. so, you know, and but it also could be that more than 30% of parents will definitely not get their kids under five vaccinated. okay. so, let me let me look at the view. responses brendas's a phillips says c. right. those are the two that i'm torn on. you know what i'm going to go with a is the lie because i think more than 100,000 kids have you know chris and it is heartbreaking his a is the lie the washington post is actually keeping a track of this the

numbers about 311,000 kids and as we have seen more studies showing an association between mental health issues and exposures to gun violence whether that is gunshots in your neighborhood a loved one being the victim of gun. ounce or shooting in your school? it's definitely something that we need to pay attention to when it comes to public health and protecting our youngest generation now b and c are i'm sorry. yeah, b and c are both true. and you know we can dive into both those headlines also, but i think we're at i actually completely forgot what i wrote. that's okay. they're both true. i actually i will get into that in the second about kids under five, but i want to get to vivian's question and it has to do with tupac she says can someone be infected with monkeypox through the air. she says i was contacted by the county nurse because i flew back from frankfurt to sfo and somebody on our flight had monkey pox, i did not touch. so there are some confusion about this now, theoretically

according to the cdc and what we know about smallpox airborne transmission is possible if you're in close enough contact and someone is really spitting and shedding that but this is different than the airborne transmission that we've seen with sars cove to it is not the same with sariscope too being incredibly infectious and airborne in the same way that tuberculosis is there's a much higher risk, even if you're in the same aerospace to somebody else whereas monkeypox you really need that really close contact so i do think, you know having these phone calls coming in about you being on the planet. someone is as an abundance of caution, which is a good thing right now as we're monitoring cases. yes, but is it likely to become a pandemic though? it sounds like not right if it requires that kind of close contact. you know, i haven't seen any reports suggesting that it could become a pandemic a lot of the concern right now is not only looking at why exactly monkey pox is moving out from the it's where it's endemic in africa, but you know, i just see a report of the cdc saying that this is two strains of monkeypox on initially thought it was one

and how far has this been spreading? how long has it been spreading before we begin to track it? those are really the questions right now, but kristen we have treatments we have vaccines what it comes now comes down to now is awareness and potentially a ring vaccination program where we're vaccinating people who are extremely high risk. all right. i want to talk about the vaccine for kids under five. i know the fda has big hearings next week about it to see if they can approve a vaccine before father's day, right? which one would you get maderna or advisor? what do you recommend? whoa, put me on the spot here. so i i'm gonna get approved. i think so as well and i'm gonna be paying very close attention to all those meetings as somebody who has a daughter who will potentially be eligible for this vaccine. i do like the fact that there's three shots involved with pfizers and it seems like they had a longer period of time to kind of go through everything with the ups and the downs. but again kristen, i don't want to say anything or speculate at all. i want to see the data. okay, and i understand why

there's 30% of parents who say that they're not going to get the vaccine because there is some mistrust right now, and there's parents i hear from who say i don't want to do. i don't i'm worried about side effects. i don't want my kids to be experimented on even though this vaccines can give not to millions of people the safety and the immunogenicity has been closely studied, but also some parents are simply say like kids don't need it. you know, they're not worried about their kids getting covid-19 which we have to dispel that as well because kids are at risk and not only getting hospitalized spreading into others but of getting long covid themselves, right that hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but it really should real quickly. so glad while i was on vacation your whole family recover from covid finally testing negative, and i'm so happy for it, but given the fact that your daughter is in that age group under under five and she just recently recovered. would you still have her get the vaccine right away? i'm hesitating here, but i would chris now. i'm really hoping that we're gonna see an update about that from the cdc. you know, i would not i may not be first in line rushing

together the vaccine. i might wait she just had it too. yeah, i'm sorry because she just had it too. so theoretically just recovered time to have immunity. yeah. correct. yeah, you know and she just she just has a negative about a week and a half ago. like i will still get her vaccinated if it's approved. but again now it's personal now. i'm not just a journalist and a position in a human but i think father coming out on father's day trying to do what's best for my baby girls. i'll be paying close attention with a lot of other parents out. well, you're helping a lot of parents out with your great information. great to see you dr. lo patel. thank you so much. happy friday. thank you kristen. alright coming up next a special guest from dub nation is going to be here to help us get ready for game for tonight nba finals right here on abc 7.

welcome back dub nation. are you ready for? fourhe nba finals the warriors are in boston trying to take game four from the celtics down one to two right now in this series and we are counting

down to tip-off tonight right here on abc 7, and we've got a very special guest to help us get hyped up. alright domination. we need you louder than ever ever right now. it's no time. it's go time. it's showtime and it's time for franco hype the warriors hype man. thank you so much for joining us franco. so good to see you. so good to see you kristen first up. i gotta started off with live on abc 7. it's kristen. oh my gosh. i can't believe i'm getting this steph curry clay thompson treatment. that was i can't i can't believe you did that to me. frankie give you a big hype. oh my god. that was amazing. look. i'm just so can make the time because i know super busy. you're getting ready to host tonight's watch party at chase center. i heard it's gonna be a packed house, right? oh my goodness. i mean just when you think it can get loud it gets louder even for the watch parties and let me just tell you this second road

watch part of the official watch party presented by chase live at chase center right there. it is super loud. it's on another decibel level. i'll be honest with you. i have the meter it w i so ty're just oud we a regul ge. chasehe vibe and feels like youe in the atmosphere with all of patient full-on intros live, you know fire pyrotechnics prizes giveaways dancers. it is the real deal holyfield, but hey, you know what the players i know are in boston, but it feels like you are right there in the action. i mean not every team has this. i don't know if any team has this this kind of energy fans who go to the games know this about you but for new fans, you know, and they're always new fans, especially when you get in the finals. what does the height man do besides giving the awesome? well, yeah, so that's my favorite part is the intros, but i host a pregame show called warriors tv, you know as people are coming in and it's just great to see people coming

together. we kind of welcome them to our house. it's the show within the show so as the hype man. i have met multiple duties. i'll do voiceover drops, you know, i'll get the you know, little matchup teasers like tonight. the nba final before. taking the boston and we basically do all the timeouts. i do the brakes the contests all the promos live on the screen on the court. and then yeah. yes. hi man is really the fourth quarter fourth quarter. it's like an alter, you know my goodness you go ultra the fourth quarter. contest like do you have anything special up your sleeves for tonight? since it's such a big game for people who go to the table. hey. well for those who are here at the game tonight, it is i believe is sold out, but i'm sure you could find a way to get in there somehow, you know,icts. got the dub squad. we're throwing them out. we got the dance team. i mean, we're giving out prizes like it's a normal game. it's a normal game for us.

yeah. we got the best prizes. i gotta tell you you but okay height man. that's a superhero names better than superman i think and every superhero has an origin story. so what's yours franco? i mean, how how did all this happen for you? well first off i am a native and born and raised here in the san francisco bay area. i'm a city kid, and this has been my dreams my dream now 20 years with the golden state warriors and it really started with the mouse which we all are familiar with here seven. you see that photo my mom and i might i'm a son of an immigrant my mom immigrated here in the 70s from the philippines and then i started this little station called radio disney freestyle franco. you must right? that's when we first met actually. kristen like how many how many years ago my god twenty plus years ago just a pop here. i am. yeah. that lead to you becoming the warriors hype man. so this is what's such i mean right place right time. so i was working for radio disney, right, you know our

little sister radio station down there in the 900 front and we had the biggest concert in 2002. it was hillary duff if you remember her lizzie mcguire of fame, right? he's a triple threat dancer singer actress jacob concert at the arena in oakland, and they didn't have an opening act. guess who the opening act was. yeah, franco. yes. yes. i just twenty thousand fans screening teams and tweens and their moms and parents and i had to come up with some chance to get this place. before hillary came on and i'm like my god these 20 minutes took forever. anyways, long story short. i belted everything out got him hyped up on their feet and then hillary came out. i was exhausted and then the warriors exacts were backstage with their kids and they said you have to be our guy you have to be your mcright man, and then the rest is history 20 years later amazing. okay, look help us get in the zone right now. i mean the game is just two and a half hours away. so do something get us juiced.

any now introducing in the nba finals live here at chase center make some noise for your golden state warriors. all right. oh my gosh. okay. you're just gonna bring it tonight. it's gonna be so exciting. the watch party is gonna be a chase center a hosted by franco the height man himself. so if you're lucky enough to get tickets for you and you should know that you can watch the game itself abc 7 is the only place to watch warriors in the finals our coverage starts at five o'clock tonight with the dubs on seven pregame show then nba countdown at 5:30 tip off at six countdown at 5:30 tip off at six and then after the when big tobacco's products were found out to be killers,

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joining us on this interactive show getting answers. we'll be here every weekday at 3:00. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the explosive hearings about the capitol riot, and now the divisive fallout. the january 6th committee taking its finding to the american, saying president trump spurred a coup. a capitol police officer describing a scene of war, the carnage and the chaos, saying she was slipping in people's blood. vide playedpridughter soin-law, and his former attorney general testifying under oath. and what trump is accused of saying about those chants from the crowd the hang mike pence. the former president now responding. our jonathan karl is standing i numbers at a 40-year high, sending stocks tumbling. record