moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. karina: we are asking experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers in real-time. we have an update on the controversy involving a san francisco school board member. she's defending herself in an exclusive interview with our media partners at "the san francisco standard." their reporter joins us to explain why she insists she is not a racist. first, monkeypox is declared a

public health emergency. what that will do in terms of resources for the outbreak. good afternoon. how are you today? >> happy thursday. i'm good and i'm happy to be here, but not with these headlines. karina: let's talk about that white house announcement. how does that help us deal with the monkeypox outbreak and how does it add to san francisco's already declared monkeypox emergency? dr. patel: some of this is speculation and i'm basing this solely on what we heard from the white house. what can historically happen when a national health emergency is cleared. there can be better resource allocation in terms of resources and treatment. we will see an increase in ending that can hopefully boost some of those resources as well. hopefully, there's contact tracing, but also the cdc can

also try data collection across state lines helping us understand who exactly is getting infected worst, what does transmission look like, what do secondary attack rates look like, meaning people getting infected from others. a lot more can happen, but last but not least, this might put a big alarm sign out there in terms of awareness for people to take it seriously. it is sad that we need a national public health emergency to achieve that, which is why some advocates, including hiv/aids advocates, say this is the reason why the white house should have declared this national emergency weeks ago. karina: it sounds like it will make a difference, but that could take time. talk about the timeline or what we know about that. some people are still waiting to get the vaccine and just to get more resources available for people in regards to this outbreak. dr. patel: i wish we had been given a very clear timeline. we have heard these estimates about there being 500,000 to one

million vaccines available by fall, and i don't really know what "fall" really means, so i do hope that now there is somebody heading the monkeypox efforts for the white house that we see a little more transparency to ease some tension out there and so people know that help is on the way. karina: i have to ask. we just went through a pandemic -- covid -- and still in it. what have we learned from covid that is helping us with this outbreak? dr. patel: i think one thing we have learned is that we can never underestimate an outbreak. it we look historically at outbreaks that have happened prior to covid-19, specifically talking about ebola and zika, people took this seriously on an individual basis, but a lot of people out there did not have the projection of what it means if a new virus becomes endemic in the united states, and i think that mentality has shifted. when someone goes on the news and uses these public health or epidemiology w terms, the averae

person understands, so i'm hoping the average person is paying attention to monkeypox and recognizing, what does it truly mean if a virus that did not used to spread in the united states now does? karina: we have more than 6000 cases in the united states reported. what is the latest on the moderna monkeypox met -- moderna monkeypox vaccine? dr. patel we did hear a preliminary report that maternal was talking about using their mrna technology to get us a vaccine that would work against the monkeypox virus. number one, this is very speculative. there needs to be a clinical trial showing the effectiveness, this is a larger, more important story about mrna vaccine technology and how it can be reappropriated quickly to fight off viruses, which is a good thing in terms of science.

karina: we will keep tabs on that. i know you have two truths and a life for us right now. this is my first time participating, so i will let you take it away. dr. patel: welcome to the party. all you have to do is tell me which of these is not true, and i went easy because i know this is your rookie year on this game. is it -- children can receive the vaccine, but it is on a case-by-case basis? remember, it is only approved for adults 18 and older. or is it have been for declared national public health emergencies in the last 15 years? or is it monkeypox symptoms usually start a few days after exposure and can last two to four weeks? which of these is not true? karina: i think it is b because i was reading up on this and how many times the united states has declared a national public health emergency and i believe it is 4 in the last 20 years, or

do i have my numbers mixed up? is it b? dr. patel: you are more than welcome to lock in your answer or you can fact-check on facebook live. karina: we are waiting for some of our viewers on facebook live to weigh in. i would go b for -- i don't know. i'm leaning toward b. i'm just going to go with b. am i right? dr. patel: i like the confidence. b is unfortunately true, meaning it is not right. we're talking zika, h1n1, the opioid crisis, and covid-19. the reason why c is so important is because symptoms can start on the two weeks after exposure, so we call it the incubation period, and the overall illness can last for up to and month, possibly even longer. the reason i want to highlight this is you could potentially be

contagious for that long and be told to isolate for that period of time, so when we see these testimonies of people who have monkeypox who are bravely sharing their stories, you have to ask yourself, how much of the population can be told to isolate away from friends, family, and work for an month? that is not sustainable. karina: good to know. we do have a viewer question from someone watching. how much protection does one have after the first dose of the monkeypox vaccine? dr. patel: simple answer is we don't really know. i know that's going to sound like, whoa, what are you doing? we know it is effective against smallpox and against monkeypox, but we don't have a specific percentage to tell people, so that is what some of the data hopefully will start to show us as we move forward, but based on the fact that these are part of the same viral families

historically, we understand it is effective at preventing. to what degree? time will tell. karina: we want to talk about symptoms once again, just as a reminder how monkeypox is spread and what are the symptoms people should be looking for. >> according to the cdc and every research article we have looked at regarding monkeypox -- remember, it has been around for decades -- we know it will primarily be spread from the intimate, close, skin to skin contact and orderly fluids, but primarily skin to skin contact. which is why the large percentage of people who have monkeypox right now are gay or bisexual men who have sex with other men, but by no means is it limited to this population. this is a human virus. anyone can get it. an early study showed it might be found in seaman, -- in semen, but this is why it is difficult to call it an std because we don't want people to be under

the assumption they can only get it from sex. the first phase is kind of a flu-like pattern where you can have muscle, swollen lymph nodes, feeling of sore throat, then the rash traditionally appears. they can appear in blisters and all over the place. you may not have any at all. some people skip the flu-like phase as well and go straight to the rash and you are contagious until that rash scabs over and falls off. karina: before you go, the nih plans to study monkeypox treatment in clinical trials. what can you tell us about that? dr. patel: t box is the treatment people are talking about right now. that is approved for smallpox, and there is a stockpile in the event of a bioterrorism event, but right now, it is being given under kind of a compassionate use, but we want to see a clinical trial that would not only give us a better sense of how effective it really is, when it should be given, who it

should be given to, but also a clinical trial might be able to expand some of its use because right now if we look at reports of what people had to go to -- go through to get the treatment, it is pretty crazy. some people had to go to different counties or take time off of work, go to multiple, different hospitals, and that right there is a set up for disparity in access to treatment. karina: we do have to take a 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 let our injury attorneys know he how much their accident cget the best result possible. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ karina: we are back on on abc 7 news. special correspondent joins us once again. the cdc is expected to come out with new guidance when it comes

to covid-19 safety in schools. i want you to weigh in on this. part of the plan is to ease quarantine recommendations for people who are exposed to the virus and the six feet of social distancing, that could be used as well. some schools require kids to take those regular tests to stay in the classroom. those could be -- those regulations could be removed as well. tell us what you think about the cdc easing some of these recommendations. dr. patel: i think it is reflective in general of what schools are already leaning toward and what the attitude of most americans are when it comes to covid-19. people are saying this is not sustainable. test to stay is not sustainable. you find an asymptomatic child and the school shuts down. the entire situation is not really going to work. i'm not saying i'm happy with the fact we may be introducing more covid-19 into schools, but

we have to look at every measure we can to keep schools open because we know that is the best, safest place for children to be, and regarding removing the six feet of distance, i think that might shift if a certain location or community or county has a high caseload, but at the end of the day, what is extremely important is that parents understand their child's individual risk and take necessary steps. it means getting vaccinated, checking what measures the school is doing and making sure your kids, if appropriate, are wearing masks. karina: if you decide your child needs to wear a mask, i'm sure you could do that. is that your advice to parents? you know your family dynamic. you know if your kids are around high-risk people, if you need to send them to school with a mask, i guess you would just do that

regardless of what the cdc says. dr. patel: absolutely. when we talk about hedging your odds of getting severely ill, it comes down to those protective measures and vaccination. karina: we do have another round of two truths and alive. i'm hoping to get this one right. i got the last one wrong. dr. patel: you came out swinging, so a plus for that. tell me which of these is not true -- about 400 people are still dying from covid-19, as of july 27, about 10% of kids six months to four years old, have one shot of covid-19 vaccine, or one in five people who have had covid are experiencing long-haul symptoms? which of these is not true? karina: ok, i'm going between a and b. mi at least on the right track there? dr. patel: i will give you that. we are playing once again "millionaire" now, and elimination. i will give you that. karina: i'm hoping it's more

than 10% of kids that are vaccinated between six months to four years old and have that one shot, but i know there vaccination started at lot later, and i'm waiting to see if anybody ways in on our facebook page. on facebook, it looks like viewers are divided between b and c, so i'm going to go with b as a process of elimination. am i right? are we right? dr. patel: that is a great testing strategy because you are right. unfortunately, the number is about 5%. it is a multitude of reasons. everything from parents not trusting the vaccine to the fact that some parents simply think their kids do not need it to the fact that parents think it does not work. it is kind of a conglomerate of all three out there. hopefully the number increases as the school year approaches and we get more data and work on communication. if i can go back to a and c, the

reason -- actually, i need to hold on. we cannot get used to this number. in july, over 12,000 americans died from covid-19. even the people have pandemic fatigue, that does not take away from the fact that we are still losing people every single day. people are becoming severely ill and/or getting long covid like we mentioned in c. fortunately, hhs and the federal government have extended resources in addressing long covid. people can go to covid.gov and look up long covid research and clinics to find resources if they are a loved one need it. karina: we discussed when talking about kids getting covid is we don't know the long-term effects on kids yet, so if we can prevent it, there is a good reason why. even though we think kids are not going to get to sick, they are not impacted as much, right?

dr. patel: absolutely. death is not the only metric. we hear people say a small percentage of individuals die of covid-19. that is true, but long covid still plagues at lot out there. also children or anyone with underlying medical conditions if it's diabetes, asthma, whatever it may be, those conditions can be exacerbated by covid-19. i see that happening in hospitalizations. there's more reasons than just avoiding death that you want to avoid covid-19 four. karina: absolutely right. thank you so much. it was a pleasure talking to you, and always, -- and as always, i learned so much. up next, our media partners at "the substandard" will be here to tell us about their collusive interview with embattled s i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance

on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54 and was a smoker, but quit. wh's mpric price that fits your budget. you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65, retired, and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80 and i'm on a fixed income. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. that's less than 35 cents a day.

you cannot be turned down because of your health. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed. and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock so your rate can never go up for any reason. options start at $9.95 a month, plus you get a 30-day money back guarantee. so call now for free information and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. use this valuable guide to record your important information helpf decti tod it's you falling.maon karina: welcome back.

san francisco school board member ann hsu is defending herself amid comments stereotyping black and latino families. the board voted to admonish her at a meeting earlier this week. she is speaking out in an exclusive interview with our media partners at "the san francisco standard." the article just published today where she told the paper, "i am not a racist." joining us to talk more about this is the "sf standard" reporter who spoke with hsu. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. tuesday night, that school board meeting, we saw video of some of it. it seemed like it got so heated and that's because so many people feel strongly one way or another about what she said and if she should be on the board or not. describe that meeting to us.

you are seeing some of the video of what happened and how it all unfolded. >> this controversy started two weeks ago when commissioner hsu was answering questions, she was accused of stereotyping black and latino families. she said one of the biggest challenges she saw in black and brown families is lack of family support, so the school board had a special meeting this tuesday to discuss admonishing her, and a lot of members of the african-american community, latino community, and asian community showed up, some to support admonishing her and some to defend her. in the end, it was a very heated meeting and people were arguing with each other, and the meeting

had to call for a recess to cool things down. in the end, there was a unanimous vote to admonish ann hsu, and even commissioner hsu herself voted for admonishment. karina: what does that mean? >> it has an aura of punishment, but that does not mean she is being removed from committee assignments. she remains on those committees and is still a school board member. karina: you talked to her. i want to know what the mood of that interview was like. was she defensive? was she understanding? kind of describe the mood of the interview. and how long did you end up talking to her? >> i did sit down with her yesterday for an exclusive interview. she is very calm and peaceful

and for the past two weeks, she has been staying away from media interviews and the public spotlight, but now she decided to come out and speak. i think she did have a lot of self reflection. she talked to a lot of people, and she was telling me how she was going through for the past two weeks and also what is her plan in the future. karina: she told you in that

interview she's not a racist. can you expand on that? >> i was asking her what she was thinking when she wrote down those answers. she said she was approaching an issue with a very engineering and business way, and she used to work in silicon valley and tech and also has her own business and she is a successful businesswoman, so she saw some data in the district, there's a dramatic difference between different ethnic groups of the students about their achievement, their performance, so she was thinking there might be reasons responsible for that like housing and security hour food insecurity, so she was trying to approach this problem and thinking about potential solutions. that's why she was writing there might be a lack of family support to those families, and that's how she thinks and that's where all the controversy comes from. karina: was she apologetic at all about what she did and what she said? >> she did issue an apology, and in the meeting, she apologized again. she has made public about she is deeply sorry she cause harm. i think she is well aware of that. >> she's very adamant about not stepping down. what are her reasons for staying in that position after so many people have asked her to step down?

>> after the controversy, there's a wave of elected officials and groups asking her to step down, but she did say she knows there's harm being caused. the whole process needs time to heal, but she also mentioned she did bring some benefits to the district during this short period of time after she was appointed to the board, so she mentioned they hired a superintendent who is very student-focused, and also a program for students and they passed a balanced school budget. she said she is committed to going back to work and also serving the students, the kids in the district. karina: real quickly, we have about 30 seconds left. tell us what's going to happen

in november when it comes to her position? >> she's up for reelection. if she won in november, she would have a four-year term. karina: thank you so much for your reporting and for making time to talk to us about it. we really appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. karina: you can check out more of "the san francisco standard's" other reporting on their website, sfstandard.com. and a reminder, you can get our live newscasts, breaking news, and weather with our

i had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. c call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ check out this time space wormhole i creat how's it work? let me see your togo, and i'll show you. ste adi, troducg ew eed s, roasted red peppers, and smothered with melty american cheese. the new pastrami cheese steak. try steak or chicken, too.at

he's always getting worked up about something. flex alerts notify us of preventable power outages. that way we always know when to help stop one. okay, flex, just drop some knowledge on me again. oh okay, i will. i'll turn our thermostat to 78. i'll unplug the blender. the hair dryer. - my blankie? - yep! - let's taco 'bout it! - nope. ohh, we can save the laundry 'til the morning. yes please. oh, little things like this help save our power and help save us from outages. with flex alerts, the power is ours. learn more at powersaverrewards.org.

joining us on this interactive show, "getting answers we will be here every day 3:00 on air. tonight, the u.s. declares the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. cases spreading across the country. more than 7,100 americans infected in at least 48 states. the federal government freeing up funding to increase testing, treatment, and vaccines. the biden administration under growing pressure to make more vaccines available. new york and san francisco saying they don't have enough vaccine doses to meet demand. overseas tonight, wnba star brittney griner convicted on having charges in russia, sentenced to nine years at a penal colony. the judge finding she intentionally smuggled vape

cartridges into the country. griner's message to family, fans, and teammates. president