>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions this is abc7 news. julian: good afternoon and welcome, i'm julian glover. you're watching getting answers. as you know, every day we speak with experts about issues important to you in the bay area, we get you those answers in real time. we continue our celebration of hispanic flat never -- latin american heritage month. dr. nolan cabrera talking to us about 70 and identity. we focus on your health. keep part of our -- a key part of our health, from the covid boosters to the monkeypox vaccines, we get your answers to your questions live.

it's always so great to have you here. >> thank you for having me. i'm not sure if i have all of the answers but i know what to find them. that is the key of being a facet -- a successful physician. julian: we're so happy to have you here. it's been a minute since we have done one of these segments together. dr. patel. the last time we did, i did not do so hot onto truths and ally. i will try to redeem myself as we let you take it away for another segment. >> let's do it. i love the fire. it's redemption time. anyone who is watching this live, this is your opportunity to help julian out. tell us which one of these is not true. a, prep that is 99% effective at presenting -- preventing hiv, yet only one in four people have a prescription. or is it b, nearly 20 2000 americans have a died of covid 19 since the start of the pandemic or is it c, when a new

-- one of the new variance hasn't been detected in all 50 states. i'm talking about the variants on the cdc's radar. which one of these is not true? julian: which one of these is not true? well, i'm going to see if we can solicit help from our viewers watching on facebook live. if you think you know the answer, way in. i am pulling up the link. i think a is definitely true. prep is highly effective in preventing hiv. so many folks who could benefit from taking prep are not on it or are not taking the pills regularly. i think that is one of the truths. this is where gets trickier between b and c. daniel, one of our viewers said b is the lie. i think so too. i saw a stat recently, i think it was this morning, saying, we are still averaging about 400

covid-19 death the day. credit -- correct and that if i'm wrong. to see the number being 200,000 americans, that seems high. so it looks like all of the viewers are saying b. i am confident the answer is b. let's go with b. >> see is x -- c is is actually the lie. it's alarming to think of how many americans died at the start of 2282. we are talking about that now in the month of september. we can ignore how many surges we had this year. there is something i did between each one of these answers. the reason i brought up hiv is when we talk and have these conversations about pandemic versus endemic, there are still endemic diseases out there that are killing, millions of people a year. hiv being one of them. it does not mean harmless. it does not mean the virus can

no longer hurt people. c is echoing the fact that we have lost a lot of people and continue to do so. c, even though ba.2 has only been detected so far in about 25 states, there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to what could happen with variants this winter season. there's unpredictability left with covid-19. julian: we will get to that in a second. hopefully you can rub the crystal ball and tell us what you foresee happening when it comes to a false -- false surge or during the winter when folks are could -- cooped up inside, higher transmission in the bay area. i want to talk about covid boosters. as you have been telling us, this entire pandemic, getting those boosters and vaccines for those who still have not gone their first or second doses, that is our best shot at protecting against the spread of covid-19. how urgently should people be booking these variant specific boosters for covid? >> one thing i want to make sure

we are very crystal clear about, going back to your crystal ball restaurants -- reference, the vaccines are critical in preventing deaths. when it comes to preventing the spread, nothing changes, just like it doesn't change for any respiratory virus. handwashing, wearing a mask, and staying home if you are sick, are very important things people should be doing this fall and winter if they're having a cold. everyone out there should please, have completed their primary vaccine series. when it comes to these boosters, they are important in preventing anything that may happen when it comes omicron. this is the taylor to protection. but i want to be clear, there is not a lot of evidence yet to really do a side-by-side comparison of what it looks like for people who have gone the five alien booster versus -- the booster versus anyone who has gotten the full vaccine series plus the previous booster. we know this protection is important to have. people out there have questions.

a lot of people may be saying, how quickly do any the shot? the most important thing people can do, when you're in doubt, talk to a health care professional. but, anyone who is high-risk, or has underlying medical conditions, or who want the extra protection, should be getting the shot. we crossed about or million americans who have done so. i encourage everyone to do so or asked the right questions. julian: or at least put getting it on your radar. we know that is not the case for everyone, specifically younger kids. how quickly well that variant specific rooster for kids be available? we heard news about that, earlier this week. >> this is potentially good news. what was just announced at the fda is that there may be data available for the authorization of this omicron specific booster for kids five to 11 that is very fast amount of time. in the meantime, a lot of parents, they should be thinking about the timing of getting the

booster shot for their kids assuming it is approved. assuming that we have the same eligibility requirement as are currently two for -- do for kids to and up, you can only get this booster to month after the primary series. in that age group, 30 to 40% of kids are fully vaccinated. 60% of kids need to get their primary series. even if they do that tomorrow morning, they literally run out and get the shots tomorrow morning, mathematically they will not be able to get the booster until december, maybe january. that is something to think about, especially for parents who have kids with underlying medical conditions, as the world the starting to reopen and act like covid-19 is an issue. which we know it is still one. julian: that is great advice. it is stunning to hear the numbers are lagging when it comes to kids getting those initial shots. jsut getting the first one or two shots that they need to get that protection. as we know, not to be out on, the flu season is alive and well. it's here early.

we are hearing that folks can get those flu shots and those covid boosters at the same time? >> they can. it's completely safe to get them both at the same time. i wouldn't be surprised if in the future we saw company make a combined a shot, if covid-19 becomes an annual or seasonal vaccine. so it is safer people. happy halloween. you want to make sure you get the shots before halloween rolls around, to give you the optimal protection for flu season. even if it is november or december, for whatever reason you haven't got your flu shot, it's not too late. some of the predictions we saw our alarming. usually what happens in places like australia, gives us a prediction of what our flu season would look like, they had the highest number in years. influenza can still hospitalize hundreds of thousands of people, killing somewhere around 50,000 americans each flu season.

julian: the numbers are absolutely stunning. a reminder, you have to get those shots now if you want the protection later, as more and more transmission is occurring in our communities what it comes to the flu or additional covid strains. it's safe to get the covid rooster shot in the flu vaccine at the same time -- booster shot and the flu vaccine at the same time. i want to talk about the monkeypox vaccine. for folks getting the first dose, there being told to not get there covid boosters now. can you explain how the two might interact and why folks are being told to hold off? >> i haven't read specifics about any chemical or biological reason why you cannot do it at the same time. from what i've heard it mostly has to do from the side effects people are feeling. the recommendation is if you have the window, space them apart a bit because what may have to your immune system, one may happen if you're feeling run down, spread the shots apart.

it's best on an individualized basis if people ask their health care professional for the best advice. if you are at risk, that might hedge your bets away from spreading those shots too far away from one another. julian: that makes a whole lot of sense. but we have a lot more to talk to about right here. we'll take a quick break and continue the questions online. dr. patel is joining us in our next segment, answering some of your questions your life. join us on facebook live on th

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you shot, go ahead. julian: we are back now with abc7 news dr. alok patel, always so full of knowledge when it comes to the covid boosters, the monkeypox vaccines as well.

i know you want to answer some questions that you have been receiving from folks on twitter. what you have? >> i like to scour some tweets and look to see what people are talking about. i picked out a few ones that represent important points of conversation. let's pull up the first one. i will read it and respond to it. there really important talking points. this one is very important. once upon a time kids were allowed to smoke, we stopped exposing kids to cigarettes when we learned it was bad. we learned covid harms kids brains and health, yet letting kids get exposed to covid, this is why i think it is important. when it comes to covid-19 and kids, we often look at debt and hospitalizations as the only metric in saying that is what we have to worry about. that's not true. we want to keep schools open, of course. we want kids to go back to their normal lives. we want to make up for the gaps lost, we cannot ignore long covid or what it may do to kids.

we want to make sure all pears have the kids protect, and we want society to do the same thing. julian: also learning loss is a huge issue too for the kids have been out of school because of covid-19. what do we have for the next week? -- tweet? >> rochelle walensky said we will have the coronavirus that would lead to death and some people every season, that we will then tolerate in some way. the response from the person and tweeting this is the critical question is who some people are. the reason why this tweet was powerful is that, are we really going to say we are going to lose 400 americans a day? this is a large conversation between those people who are immunocompromised. if we look at the people who are still dying from covid-19, we know it is the elderly and those who have underlying medical conditions, they have to be involved in conversations moving forward when it comes to living with covid. julian: that's a great point. you hear so many people on

disability twitter saying, hey, i feel like i'm being left out by the cdc guidelines. i feel like i life is expendable based on what the cdc is saying and what the director is saying in the most recent message. >> the community is not even being addressed and some of these public statements which is the ground zero of the problem. julian: you have the president coming out of. saying the pandemics over. just because we may be going from up pandemic to endemic doesn't mean it is all clear. >> absolutely. that's what it is. i have one last week. it's a different topic, but very important. this is relating to what abrams, she made a comment, she said the prenatal hard breeds do not expect hard do not exist, it is -- heartbeats do not exist. funny how all fact pickers are silent now. quick step backwards when we talk about public health we cannot ignore what is happening

with reproductive rights. the big contra feet of what is happening in a fetus at six weeks. fetuses have electric activity in the cells that will eventually turn into a heart. it's a bit of a misnomer to call this heart. i know for some people it is offputting. it will be very clear about what is really happening in six weeks. ultrasound machines are designed to turn that electrical impulse into the sound of hard beat the people -- hard to be that people here. it's important for people to pay attention to the objectivity as we had this debate affecting reproductive rights across the country. science matters. julian: certainly matters. we know the conversation is far from going away. it will be a huge factor in the upcoming midterm elections. one more question that was sent in from a viewer. the guidance that came out this week that adults should be screened for anxiety as a part of normal physicals and checkups. how important is that? how do we bring it up with our

doctor who might not be used to doing this? >> i think it is crucial that we are not only screening for anxiety, but we are for depression and other numerous forms of mental illness. we know millions of americans have undiagnosed anxiety or depression. this has been worse than from covid-19. the first step is awareness on both sides, not only are people who are going to seek their medical care to not only say, hey i am done with the stigma i'm going to ask questions. it comes from society, doctors and other health care professionals to finally lift the veil and say we have to screen about this, we have to treat mental illness like any other preventable disease that were wires a screening. after that, comes more resources to make sure we're doing everything we can into address this looming epidemic of mental illness. julian: it's important we see all of ourselves, even personally as a whole person. it's not a port -- about just

your physical health but your mental health as well. >> they are absolutely connected. julian: i want to jump back to the monkeypox conversation. what should people, going to the folsom street fair no? we know there will be monkey pox vaccinations happening at the fair but for someone who has not been vaccinated yet, what should they be doing to be as safe as possible? >> i don't think the guidelines have changed. especially our community in san francisco, they have been responsible when it comes to not only curbing their own behavior to make sure that they are limiting the spread, but making sure they are cognizant of any symptoms they may have or someone they are in close contact with we have also in getting vaccinated. when in doubt, to get tested if you need to. i suspect people will be aware of all of the senate -- and they will be very safe. if anyone feels like they may be ill, it is ok to stay home and stay away, not just related to monkeypox but for any other disease or virus or anything you may have.

you don't want to spread it to others. the right thing to do is to protect your community. which san francisco is doing in spades. julian: deal with the fomo. >> we should make t-shirts. > julian: we just came up with the idea. that is a one million-dollar activity -- idea. >> $1 million between the two of us, the guy need a little more. julian: i like the way you think. it is always such a joy to be here with you, thanks for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. julian: we talk about identity and inclusivity. hispanic, latino, latina latinx . which term you should use and when, 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?

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about the importance of inclusivity, a topic covered in the book, white guys on campus by dr. nolan cabrera. he delivers a powerful message about the terms hispanic versus latinx, and what we can all learn about inclusive language. he is also professor of higher education at the university of arizona. i had the pleasure of seeing him at a talk he gave to our company, disney and abc 7. you are fantastic. i am clad you decided to continue the conversation. >> thank you so much for having me. i appreciate the engagement with my earlier work. julian: you are so great. i am glad we could share with what you had to say. your book covers racism and white immunity. first of all, how do you define white immunity, what is it and what inspired you to dive into this topic? >> well. [laughter] the inspiration was bill o'reilly. i am being completely honest. but it was because i was interested in how conversations

around white privilege got to railed. he was sick, i don't have white privilege -- she would say i don't have white privilege. i started engaging, because i saw a lot of ray's conversations be derailed by that. does racism elevate white people or does it create a social inoculation against the treatment people of color receive on a regular basis? i thought it was the latter instead of the former. that is where started thinking about white immunity being a social inoculation that white people get in a systemic way racist society, that allows them not to have them be targeted by the way people of color are. it shifts the dialogue from white privilege to white immunity. julian: that is a great point. that one word, privilege, can so often be picked apart, when we're talking about the larger issue of systemic racism in our country and we could even say

globally. as we recognize hispanic and latin american heritage month, you recognize the word hispanic can be trouble my, when it is used as a catch all phrase. >> it was never meant as a way for us as brown people to identify ourselves. it was externally imposed by the nixon administration in the senses to describe this group. they're not quite right -- white, they're not quite black, or asian. there everything all at once. it didn't make sense. they were trying to make sense out of it. it wasn't something we necessarily identified in our selves. we thought it could have been a nice identity to use as the larger organizing principle. but the problem is, that it is rooted in colonialism. it is saying that we are -- we stem from spanish conquest. and it also implicitly excludes people like our brazilian

brothers and sisters who were not the targets of spanish conquests. non-spanish-speaking latin american countries. it is a fraud to terminology, one of that we use and have technology that it is problematic -- and use it that we have to acknowledge it is problematic. julian: we have seen the word latinx being used, for folks who do not fit in the gender binary. there is also latina. i want to talk about those terms in a minute. can you give us the definition of what each of these terms means? >> ok. i will try to do this quick. latinos people from latin american descent, mexico all the way south but not having it be rooted in colonialism. latinx is trying to disrupt the gender binary within the spanish-language whether it is latino or latina. it is trying to disrupt to that. latine, is just saying that

latinx is not medically correct because there is not a latinx. they're trying to say we are disrupting the gender binary also not trying to subscribe to english norms in the way we express ourselves. julian: that was sosa simply done. thank you -- so it's distinctly done. one minute left. we know the word latinx, for the reason you mentioned, is not necessarily the most popular, within the community that it is supposed to be representing. can you talk to us about the notion, just because it is not popular now, doesn't mean it is not the right word for us to be using? >> absolutely. the first thing is historically, none of these terms, chicano, latino, puerto rican, none of these terms people have used were popular in the communities initially. it was always people left out of the conversation trying to assert their identity in a larger political conversation. because of that, it's never been popular.

it has gained popularity but the focus has been with the terminologies that are popular, who are the groups that are being left out? this is a way of adding more inclusivity into it in the process. julian: there are more things i want to ask you. we have run out of time. o love to keep you on the brakes we can continue the conversation on facebook live. if you could stick around that would be fantastic. our coverage continues on our abc 7 bay area tv app. it's available on apple tv, google tv, fire tv and roku. search abc 7 bay area and downloaded. we will be back on air.

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we will be here every weekday on air and livestreaming answering your questions in real time. world news is next. tonight, breaking news. hurricane fiona blasting bermuda. the strongest hurricane ever this far north in the atlantic. and the new storm now set to become a major hurricane. the new tracks show it potentially headed straight for florida. a state of emergency there already. first, a hurricane slamming bermuda tonight. wind up to 125 miles per hour. 70% of the island without power. the storm will now slam canada next. tonight we turn our attention to that new system growing in strength. many of the models show it could be a direct hit on florida. rob marciano in bermuda following all of the tracks tonight. the war in ukraine and tonight the alarming images coming in. russia holding referendums in parts of eastern ukraine. their own votes.