>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ kristen: hello. i'm kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers." we ask experts your questions every day at 3:00 p.m. to get answers for you in real time. today, with president biden's corporate infection and the subvariant because in cases to skyrocket, we will talk to the public health officer dr. matt willis for his advice and forecast. also san francisco bay's task rabbit is shutting down offices, all of them, even the headquarters. we will talk to the company's vice president to talk about where the future of productive work does not need to include coming into the office. first governor newsom today signed a bill allowing californians to sue makers and dealers of illegal firearms for

damages. it is another first in the nation law by california. and that is the latest move by newsom to position the golden state as the archrival of texas. joining us live to talk about all this is politico reporter jeremy white. great to see you. >> thanks for having me. kristen: explain the bill the governor signed today. it takes effect in a year. how does it work? >> so, not long after the supreme court allowed a texas law to stand that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers, governor newsom said he wanted to do the same thing for firearms. that's exactly what this bill authorizes. it is clearly an attempt to provoke a legal fight. the governor has said a few times some version of, there's no where the texas law to stand, and not allow this lotta stem.

-- strengthen california. kristen: that could certainly be in play. but also on this very same day, the signing day, he placed an ad in several texas newspapers. let's go ahead and show that. you tell me what it says and what the intention seems to be. >> this is pretty similar to something we saw a couple of weeks ago with governor newsom placing television ads in florida. calling out ron desantis this is something that governor newsom has created, this contrast with red states, we've

seen it from pandemic management to climate change, to gas and guns and abortion. it is a role the governor clearly enjoys having. creating that contrast, making california part of this national debate. of course it's prompted speculation about his white house intentions. which he has denied having. i don't think anybody fully believes in him. regardless of what the governor is or is not doing two years from now, i think there is no doubt this elevates his persona and it helps them to create this framing of california's progressive agenda as defined against these other states. kristen: i find it very interesting the crossing out of the name abbott, writing it in blue ink very dramatically, governor newsom, gun violence -- kind of clearly making that contrast clear. i want to review see there is this desire to have a folk hero of the left who was willing to

kind of stand up in this way. >> i think the governor has articulated that. he has said something, when it was clear the supreme court was going to strike down roe v wade. he said something to the effect of where is the democratic party? he very clearly is trying to embody this role of a sort of fighter. of course it is easier to do that when you are in a deeply democratic state like california. the governor is up for reelection this year. is not spending much money here in california for reelection. he's taking admittedly little bits of that and spending it another states, in a way that is more about a national political conversation than specifically trying to get reelected here in california. kristen: that's right. the $100,000 on the florida ad. we can show that certainly. he was speaking directly to for -- to floridians saying come join us in california. that could also be a business

move, too. >> that could. i don't suspect many of the fox news watching floridians are going to move. similarly your right -- similarly, you are right. the newspaper ads were $30,000. for contacts governor newsom has more than $20 million in his campaign account. it is a rounding error when it comes to the amount of money he has on hand. that said, we are talking about this. the governor and his team, they were prominent in the national media. for a very small amount of money, he is getting a lot of attention. kristen: a good number has been signing a slew of gun restriction bills. i think yesterday he sent sb 906 targeting gun violence in schools. what does that one enable? >> that one has to do with reporting around shootings at school spirit as part of a much larger package of bills the

legislature has been advancing both before the supreme court's decision on abortion, as well as on guns. and after, we are also watching a bill moving through the legislature that after the supreme court essentially invalidated california's more stringent rules on concealed carry permits, california is moving to institute more rules they believe the supreme court decision still allows. there's no doubt california's continuing to push the envelope, exactly what is legally permissible what is under -- permissible under what is being created. >> but the court struck down the laws? >> they absolutely could. that is part of what we are seeing. is a test. if you ask about the concealed carry pundits love for example, which would impose a background check requirements and limit places where these guns can be carried, the attorney general,

governor newsom, the state senator will also, we believe the supreme court clearly articulated this is allowed. the ultimate arbiter of that is of course a supreme court. so i think whether it is this gun lawsuits will, texas abortion law, concealed carry permits, there are challenges in the pipeline to california's laws banning assault weapons, restricting high-capacity magazines. they are all sort of an illegally -- in a legally questionable space right now and we are going to see the court , ultimately the supreme court sort this out over the next two years. kristen: is newsom a realistic presidential candidate if that is in fact when he is reaching his national profile for, in two years? should president biden not run again? or perhaps six years? there was a time not too long ago when he was seen as too liberal. this was the mayor at the time, was sentient and greenlighted

gay marriage at a time when it was not accepted and you see this one is much more accepted by even the senate republicans than they feel about abortion rights. so a lot has changed. >> indeed. leaving aside the fact that president biden has been consistent that he's going to seek another term, of course a lot of warning signs for democratic voters --ou were to m leo governor newsom would be vice president kamala harris. you know, positioned to be the party's candidate, should the presidents of aside. i don't think that would dissuade other people from potentially getting in there. but newsom would be competing with her for a similar pool of donors and supporters based in the bay area and california writ large. does not rule it out? i don't think so. but it certainly obligates and narrows the potential path. should we be in a situation in

which president biden is not running in a typical field. kristen: interesting to watch. jeremy white, california playbook writer, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. kristen: coming up next -- we dove into the latest covid news including president biden's condition. condition. th i was injured in a car crash. condition. th i had no idea how much my case was worth. i called the barnes firm. when a truck hit my son, i had so many questions about his case. i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. your case is often worth more than insurance offers. call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm, injury attorneys ♪ ♪ coneight hundre eight milli♪

kristen: covid continues to dominate headlines this week, with president biden vanilla testing positive, many are asking, my more at risk than catching -- of catching it now than ever before? cases go up when kids go back to school? will they need to mask? joining me to answer this and more is dr. matt willis. good to see you. >> but to be here with you.

kristen: i want to get to monkeypox as well. but i want to start with covid. how are things looking in marin county currently? >> we are seeing the ba.5 variance has taken off -- variant has taken off here and across the bay area. up 90% in the samples of ba.4 or ba.5. we are not seeing any dramatic increases but we are still seeing about 100 cases per day. in marin county, tempe broke in the hospital. we anticipate that -- 10 people a day in the hospital. we anticipate that to continue with the emergence of this new variant. kristen: at a plus our hasn't dropped yet, but we don't know if president biden has ba.5. chances are he does. tell us why it is so infectious and contagious. >> as this virus continues to

evolve, it makes sense that each strain sort of out the previous one. the way it does that is been moving more effectively to the community. -- through the community. so it makes sense they are more contagious than the last variant. they are also further from the original strain. the immunity we may have gained from prior infection or boxing becomes less and less effective at protecting against the new variants. in this case ba.5. it is more effective at evading the immune response. kristen: a bit is less effective at keeping people from catching it, is it still very effective? at effective enough to get it, just to not have a serious case? because the white house today is pointing to president biden who was almost 80 years old, he has a mild case, 99.4 degrees, tylenol, paxlovid, doing fine, mild symptoms, pretty typical -- they are saying, this is a message the booster works, the second booster.

how do you see it? >> absolutely. that's exactly right. we hope this boosts interest in the second booster. we were just looking at the numbers. we have about 60,000 of our residents in marin county that have gotten the second booster. not one has died from covid-19. that's a mortality rate of 0.0%, among people who have gotten the second booster. about 65% of our residents age 65 and older, so two thirds have gotten the second booster. that is contributing to the decreased mortality in the county. the experience of the president is a powerful reminder to us of how far we have come. in the beginning of the pandemic, there was already one intense chance at he would pass from covid-19 -- a mortality rate of 10%. that's what's going to lead to a

successful recovery for the president. kristen: i think right now the second booster is still only eligible for people 50 and over. do you support moving that to 18 and up? >> i do. i think we are seeing that with the new ba.5 variant, that people are getting reinfected at a shorter interval. we are seeing people who might have been infected with the earlier omicron ba.1 or ba.2 that are now susceptible to the subvariant infections. it certainly impacts risk of hospitalization and death. that is the most important thing. we want to make sure people are not so sick that they end up in the hospital and the second booster does that very effectively. kristen: is there such a thing as waiting too long for the second booster? i know there are a lot of people waiting on the sidelines trying to time the perfect time. a lot of people thinking, fall surge, went to

get it. >> ba.5 has changed the calculus. . i was concerned, maybe i should wait, that's no longer the case. we should all go ahead and get the protection, if we are illegible. right now it is 15 and above. it may be expanded for the second booster. doesn't mean you won't be able to get that new vaccine that is likely available in the full. we know there's going to be a vaccine that has both omicron related strains and the original ones available in the fall. getting the second booster and i will help all of us get through the remainder of the summer. knowing there's more contagiousvariant out there. kristen: are likely is it -- kristen: how likely is it that you can avoid this summer or fall without locking yourself up in the house? >> that is a thought of those that have not yet been affected. i think it is hard to find someone who does not have some level of immunity. those people who are not

vaccinated that have not been infected, i have not seen any of that recently. but among those who have not have an experience of infection they know of, by a large, vaccinated and -- by and large are vaccinated and boosted. there's a high likelihood unfortunately because of the variants being so infectious that those people will be exposed. that's one of the reasons why we are recommending people continue to use face coverings when in public. if you're serious about not getting infected, unit to have your eyes wide open to the fact that there's a lot of virus out there and the best way to prevent infection and healing the virus is to cover your face when you are in a public setting. it is easy to do. carry a mask with you. put it on when you walk in. you can take it off when you walk out. for those lucky few that have not yet infected, that is the best way to prevent infection. kristen: we have talked with other bay area public health officers, too, that it would be a high threshold to bring back a mask mandate at this point.

but given that, do you think going -- kids going back to school should voluntarily wear a when in the classroom? >> i'm really interested in what we will see in the next couple of weeks. we are at the beginning of the beginning of this interval of observing how ba.5 behaves in our community. if we see a surgeon case numbers, certainly and people coming out of the hospital, that would change the game in terms of recommendations. i don't know yet in terms of what will be the formal guidance for coming into schools. we know people are tired of covering their faces. there's been a lot of concern we might be too restrictive with the mask mandate. we are not planning to do a countywide one for universal masking. there will be schools will reasonably choose to have face covering recommendations or mandates at the school level. where hoping that that i will help guide those decisions. >> let's talk about monkeypox. it's been spreading a great

deal. how many cases do you have confirmed? >> we have two cases. kristen: that has remained the same, but there's a headline that the virus could represent the dawn venue std in the u.s.. could it? >> i think that captures the reality we are seeing, more than 1000 cases now across the nation. through sexual contact. , it is sexually transmitted. it is not only transmitted through sex. most std's. per se are only contracted through sexual behavior. this is a virus that can be contracted through any intimate contact, skin to skin contact or even touching articles of clothing that might be contaminated with fluid, from someone who is infected. i don't know that we would call it a sexually transmitted disease per se.

it is accurate to say that this is a new bug. a new disease that's going to be with us. sexual behavior is now the way that it's being transmitted. kristen: some of the leaders have talked about how the federal government has been slow in providing them -- providing the monkeypox vaccine, what would you advise people to do in the meantime as vaccines come in? >> if you are at high risk, you've had a partner more than two partners allows 14 days, you should get the vaccine. if you are not able to get the vaccine, limit your sexual partners. those are the two important things you can do until the vaccine arrives. kristen: dr. matt willis, great talking with you. thanks so much. coming up next, we are looking at the future of the workplace, as test rabbit ditches its offices including the one in san i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance

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francisco encourages workers to come back to the office and downtown, the movement toward remote work marches on. task rabbit, the on-demand platform connecting people who need tasks done to people who can do the tasks for a fee, is closing its offices, all of them, including their san francisco headquarters. joining us to discuss the big move is their vp of people experience, jessica d. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. i'm excited to be here. kristen: correct me if i'm wrong -- what i understand is you are closing all offices and going fully remote. what does that mean and how did you all arrive at the decision? >> we did close our offices. we are now a remote first culture. what that means is we put priority on virtual working. our employees working from home. but it doesn't mean remote only. because we do want to get together and we want to have those in person connections and

moments. we made this decision because it was working for us really well. we listen to our employees. it was what they wanted. kristen: i assume this is something workers discovered during the pandemic. and you surveyed them. i've seen national surveys that show a lot of people say they would look for a new job with their employer made then return or they would take a pay cut, not full-time. >> we have surveyed pretty often. one on ones, chickens ins, just better understanding the market. that we were recruiting and. -- in. sentiment to change over time. we saw a lot of changes. at the end of the day, our employees wanted to but what matters most, which is their life before work, and we wanted to provide that for them. kristen: how do you balance that? some say you might lose those spontaneous interactions that could lead to id aiding angry

concepts being born. how do you re-create that? if people don't come into the office at all? >> that was our biggest concern, too. we thought a lot about it. we are trying to create that virtually pair would and would do a lot to make sure people feel meaning in their work and impact. but we have also started getting a bit innovative, with how and when we meet. created what we are calling team weeks. once a month or once every other month, depending on the location, we do get together in person. we rent a temporary space once a week for a couple of days a week. and folks can commute in and even travel in and use that time to workshop, to brainstorm, or even just grab a coffee and a drink and get to know one another. kristen: so there will be opportunities to see each other in person. at that point they probably look forward to it, right? ? >> absolutely. kristen: do you have any doubt

as to whether this has helped you with retention or recruiting -- data yet as to whether this has helped you with retention or recruiting? >> we do have data. we have seen folks are happier. our engagement has gone up substantially. i would like to think that is for many reasons. one of those reasons being feeling valued and heard. feeling like they can put their life first. we are seeing that when we recruit, folks want remote options. and we give it to them. we also see we benefit in this effort and recruiting, because we can recruit across the u.s. which means our diversity is better, and we are also able to hire more people in more markets that we serve. which allows us to truly understand the experiences in our different cities. kristen: i want to know if you are adjusting the pay for those who leave the bay area. >> we have a unit compensation

philosophy, which pays for the contributions and value you bring, no matter where you live. so we pay by the role, not the location. kristen: jessica, thank you so much for sharing your remote first philosophy. appreciated. >> absolutely. kristen: getting answers continues in a moment, but first a reminder -- you can get our live newscasts, breaking news, and weather with our abc7 bay area streaming app, available on apple tv, android tv, amazon fire tv, and roku. just search "abc 7 bay - you okay? - there's a flex alert today so i'm mentally preparing for the power outage. oh, well we can help stop one because we are going to reduce our energy use from 4-9pm. what now? i stepped on a plug. oh that's my bad!

unplugging. when it comes to preventing outages the power is ours.

kristen: thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show, "getting answers." "world news tonight" with david muir's next. we will be here every weekday at

3:00 on air and the livestream answering your questions. have a great day. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the dangerous and deadly heat wave spreading from coast to coast. a verdict in the steve bannon trial. but first, new developments on president biden's bat really covid. the president making an appearance today at a virtual meeting with economic advisers. his voice deeper, with a slight cough. the president saying he feels fine one day after testing positive. president biden's personal physician saying biden had an elevated temperature, runny nose, fatigue, but overall is improving. and taking the anti-viral p paxlovid. the vice president and first lady testing negative. dr. anthony fauci. what he has to say about the president's condition and his own recovery