>> doing a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc7news. >> you are watching getting answers, we are live on abc 7 and what we do is every day we talk with experts about issues that are important to you and important to the bay area to get you answers in real-time. count them down, we are less than two weeks away from election day one person looking for your vote is melia cohen. the democratic candidate for state controller in california. we will hear all about her platform. are you ready for halloween? one house in san francisco's corona heights district is definitely ready. we will show you the elaborate display that is drawing big crowds.

but first, an alarming health headline. the u.s. could be facing a potential triple demo of flu, rsv and covid. how concerned should we be? joining us to answer the question and so many more, abc special correspondent, you are a triple threat of your own, but in a much more positive way. >> i don't know what the trifecta would be, but any comment from you is a complement well received. >> i love it, this will be great. right away let's talk about what to expect this winter because i read a headline today saying these covid debts are predicted to flatline for the season, but we do have that triple threat of the flu, covid and rsv to contend with. how bad do you think this is going to get? >> as of right now, things are pretty bad in terms of children's hospital capacity and what is happening with emissions. secondary this surge of respiratory viruses and young

kids, there are some unknowns about what could happen regarding covid-19 and the variant we are keeping a close eye on. the fact of the matter is, covid-19 still has 300 americans dying every day and that has been normalized. it's important we remind ourselves that covid-19 is still out there and if you haven't gotten vaccinated and boosted, do so immediately. influenza, we are seeing an uptick earlier than usual in some parts of the country, so it's important that people all get their flu shots, if you haven't already we will try to get those as early as possible. and based on what we've seen so far in the summer -- southern hemisphere, it could be a bad flu season. there are unknowns. possibly an issue in every single cold virus that kids are getting is what they really are and you have to be vigilant and you know when to call a doctor. >> i think there's a lot of confusion and nowadays when people sneeze your brain automatically thinks it's one of

those three things. speaking of, what about rsv, is there a vaccine available? we haven't heard anything about it. >> after just one thing you said. you said when people sneeze, you don't know what it is. i can't tell you how may times i've heard people say, don't worry, it's not covid. guess what, we don't want you discipline influenza or anything else at all. so if you are sick and have symptoms, stay home for the good of your community. going back to the rsv vaccine question, one thing for sure is rsv is not a new virus. we see this every civil year, with rsv we would love to see a vaccine, it would save hundreds of children's lives every year, thousands of hospitalizations, billions of dollars in health care savings. there was a trial that did not go well. since then there has been multiple attempts to get in rsv vaccine. a little bit trickier of a vaccine. the protein rsv uses to attack

people mutates similar to what we saw in the spike of the coronavirus. the two recent clinical trials, one from pfizer, do show some promise in early studies show an 80% activity rates in older adults. fingers crossed we will see it probably in the next few years. >> in the meantime, give us your guidance on all of these vaccines because i further there are people who get the flu shot in the covid booster on the same day, is there anything to the timing, is there anything to the efficacy of getting them both at the same time, is it beneficial? like nothing we've seen regarding a change of efficacy. it's totally safe to get both vaccines at the same time. it's convenient for some people, it is absolutely convenient to just get your shots done, it's one trip periods one thing you may want to consider is there

are studies where you could have slightly increased adverse effects. these are things where you could be feeling tired and maybe a low-grade fever. you want to plan and say my traveling around the country the next day, maybe i should get my vaccines a different day. >> it's good advice for when you want to schedule vaccines. if you have a series of tweets that you'd like to share, and i think there might be semi-rolling when you read them off. >> there might be, let's show some tweets, shows what people are thinking and we will respond in real-time. rsv is not a problem, neither is the fact that it doesn't prioritize kids. we see these problems collide. dr. gamble is a friend of mine practicing in texas. this is true. as we move forward's is important to advocate for children's health not only in terms of equity, but awareness because a lot of parents are learning about the warning signs

of rsv at home and realizing that it's been around for years, for decades. it's finally now seeming like it's getting the media coverage it deserves to save lives and keep kids healthy. >> and you have a couple of other tweets you would like to share, is that correct? >> i have two more. omicron subvariants are -- in treatment options are bearing because congress failed to pass funding. white house covid-19 task force. i think this is an important one because people need to pay attention to the fact that with congressional funding drying up, this bivalent booster may be the last free booster, so remember, mass, ventilation, handwashing and these preventative tools still work if you can't stay home and you have to go out, those masks are still a great tool. as part of the season we are

experiencing now with halloween. >> let's take a look at that, i think we have it pulled up for everyone out there. this is from rookie city sergeant. take it away. >> take it from me, a real-life police officer, no one is giving out free -- on halloween. you can still check your kids candy, not because of drugs, but for gross candies. so here's the thing, i am a fan of licorice, but it is very important that we are evidence-based when it comes to the opioid crisis, but we have not seen reports of people handing out opioids and trick-or-treat bags. people want to make sure they are cognizant about their children's safety on halloween night and paying attention to what kind of candies kids are bringing home and anyone out there with food allergies. we hear about this every year. even candies you don't think would have allergens may continue like milk, soy, wheat and eggs may be processed in a

facility that processes peanut products. for parents who have little trick-or-treaters and food allergies, pay attention to ingredients and if kids are going trick-or-treating in a group, they are cap separate -- separate and not passed around. some people like to hand out home-baked goods, i'd be worried about those because you don't know what's in them. >> i love that reminder and also what you mentioned about putting the context and what kind of drugs could potentially be in the candy. how many cases truly have there been that we have seen? now freaking anyone out, remembering that context is really important when it comes to these halloween stories. i want to move on because you had touched upon this with the government because the timing of covid, midterm elections has been interesting, we have seen all of these messages amplifying abortion access, not so much covid plan, covid strategy, i read the biden administration is

acknowledging covid fatigue. what have you seen and how has this been detrimental going into the holiday season. -- holiday season? >> it's hard for people to get seriously with the same fervor. people do have fatigue. there is also this point where there is a lot of distrust and politicization. it almost feels like a political signaling to talk to someone about the booster shot and people are taking sides, which is not the way it should be. public health should not be related to identity politics. it's important we stick to the facts and evidence when it comes to covid-19. cognizant of the facts we don't know what will happen and we pay attention. we want people to be healthy and be able to gather around during the holidays. we want to make sure everyone knows what to do to protect themselves against all three viruses and more that we talked about. if we have time we get quickly run through what i like to call the home treatments for rsv. >> we have less than a minute and i really want to get to this

last question because i'm hearing it a lot from people who follow me on facebook, asking about a new variant on the horizon because already we've seen so many and talking about that fatigue, what is your forecast for what could potentially happen the next several months? >> my forecast has to be based on what the forecast is with the who and the forecast does look like we are seeing this current domination by omicron and subvariant which the bivalent vaccine is targeting. booster shots and clinical trials. even if you just had your primary series, you are very well protected. beginning the maximum amount of protection is important. we don't know what's going to happen if and when it comes to the country and starts to try to compete against the other variant circulating now. >> still so many questions but we will try to get them to you next week >> we are preparing for the unknown, that's what we

do. >> thanks so much, coming up next, your voice, your vote, date controller candidate will be here

>> we are now less than two weeks away from election day and this november 1 of california's highest ranking positions is on the ballot. it is one that doesn't give very much attention, it is for state controller. with no incumbent in the running the two candidates who made it to the general election are democrat melia: in republican -- she was a san francisco supervisor and now chair of the california state board of equalization. chen was an advisor to

republican politicians, including mitt romney and as a fellow at stanford's hoover institution. many experts predict a tight race, so what we've done is invited both candidates to the show. chen joined us on tuesday. today, we welcome his opponent to the show. welcome. this first question we asked your opponent as well, so we want your take. a state comptroller is the chief financial officer who oversees the state budget. what in your background has prepared you for this job? >> thank, so as you heard in the introduction i spent eight years on the san francisco board of supervisors and in that role i chaired the budget committee for a number of years and at that time it was a $12 million budget. i also chaired the government audit and oversight committee, and that's important to note, i did that for a couple of years aired one of the key functions of the state controller is to perform an audit.

i have in my background i'm a policymaker, so i have experience with understanding the budget, understanding how audits work, but also taking those audits and putting them into action. often times an audit will reveal shortcomings, gaps, gaps in services, a problem, so you need a skilled tactician to be able to understand that, interpreted, and work with key stakeholders to close the gaps and solve a problem. i served on the san francisco pension fund and the controller sits on the calpers and cal stirrers, the world's largest engines fun. i sit on the board of equalization in their franchise task board. as controller you chair the franchise task board. those are three examples of huge overlap where i had experience that is absolutely relevant to the job and to the role of state

controller. >> we appreciate you sharing those insights with us. we do want to take a moment to show an ad that your opponent has been running. let's take a look. >> the l.a. times reports she did not pay her business taxes, her license revoked, defaulted on her mortgage and walked away. she can't finance her -- handle her own finances. quick something we have to bring up as you told the times you did not recall what happened when the suspension happened in your taxes were unpaid, this is for the area of the time of march 2020 one. a spokesperson later decided that an address change was the region, but shouldn't someone in the position of comptroller, someone who oversees spending and auditing iq just mentioned of some $100 billion of receipts, no where exactly every single penny is going. quite sure, absolutely, you are right, someone should and someone needs to have that level of experience. and the added talks a little bit

about a foreclosure that have been 13 years ago, which has not had any impact on my public service as chair of the budget or government audit and oversight committee. and also my opponent fails to conveniently neglect that i'm in good standing, i am not in default or owed taxes in any way , personally as well as many of the businesses i am affiliated with. >> but going back to 2019, i just want to make sure we address this head-on, -- >> i do recall the further question. it was an administrative error. we moved, and when you move we moved right at the -- right before the beginning of the pandemic. signals got crossed when this error was brought to my business partners attention, she made the corrections. >> when was that error brought to her attention and was at something on your radar at the

time? >> no, it was not on my radar, it was not my particular role. i'm not sure when it was brought to her attention, but i do know it has been corrected. >> you did mention the ads and your opponent, but i do want to circle back till one thing about your opponent. your camp essentially said that women's rights are at risk, implying that chan's anti-choice. what i want to point out is that he came on our show and said flat out that was not his stance, he is a pro-choice republican. what happened with your ad, how do you translate what he said on tuesday? >> my translation is certainly based on an entire career that mr. chen has produced. working for marco rubio, working for donald trump, working with mitt romney, these are all career republicans that are in favor of a band.

mitch mcconnell is putting forward a universal statewide ban. and also i want voters to realize that what's unfortunate is that mr. chen has apparently flip-flopped in his positions. he's been noted on the record applauding the supreme court justices in their efforts to dismantle roe v. wade. why would you applaud something like that if you are not in favor of it? so i don't believe that he's being completely honest about his positions when it comes to proposition one. ethic it's a matter of convenience. >> i do want to get to this, i know we only have 30 seconds so we will have to be quick during we asked them this question this week, what would you changing your role as controller? >> i would change the way we -- i would modernize our payroll tax system. i would modernize how we access

information making it more accessible -- language accessibility to the website, and also ensure that there's a transparency. so please audits that we perform, that they are transparent and easy to understand and that we are not just taking these audits but leaving them on the website but putting them into action and actually solving the problems. >> we appreciate your time, we've got to go. many thanks to you. >> thank you. >> coming up, a halloween house that is the talk of the town in san francisco. our media partners will be here to tell us all about

>> if you're looking to get into the halloween spirit, we have an idea. check out a home in san francisco's corona heights district. it's drawing crowds with an elaborate halloween display. >> excuse me, could you help a sweet old lady find her

cauldron, i can't seem to find it anywhere. >> that is horrifying. our media politics -- partners have written an article about the house in the history behind the decorations, which have become a yearly tradition. joining us live now with more on this is julie. the arts and culture reporter for the standard. the homeowners are hard-core about the decorations and this is not a one-time thing. >> for sure. so they have been decorating their house in corona heights for years, and it's not just halloween that they get all decked out for, but other holidays as well. although halloween really takes the cake in terms of decoration. >> the quality of these are amazing, let's roll some video because you sent some to us so that way our viewers can take a look at how elaborate this display is. tell us what we are seeing with some of these traditions are. >> my favorite is the graveyard because they love to bury

politicians, particularly unpopular politicians, in their backyard, and some past burials have included kellyanne conway and rudy giuliani, and this year i believe steve bannon is on tap to be buried. so they are having a lot of fun in their decorating and getting in some laughs. >> they must have other inspiration as well, because it seems as though there are ghouls, and i see pumpkins, can you tell us a little bit more about how they decide what's going to go in their yard? >> it's a collection that they've added to slowly over the years and they've ordered from catalogs and each year they pick something else and it's really a tradition that wade is carrying on from his own father, who was a huge decorator for halloween, and really inspired wade to decorate his own house and draw kids and neighbors all around to

come check out their elaborate display. >> i just got a chuckle, the anti-vaxer tombstone. there is so much to see with this house. we are also hearing that it's the place to go if trick-or-treaters want to score some scan -- want to score some candy among other things. >> for sure. it's become such a tradition in the neighborhood that wade and his husband actually started inviting kids and neighbors into their home for pizza and to hang out because some in a people love going to the house and just enjoying all the fun decorations there. it has really become a landmark in the corona heights neighborhood. >> i know this wasn't necessarily a planned question, but these people seem like they are so young at heart. what was your take when you met with this family and with their spirit must be like, also what they do for their day jobs?

>> yeah, they are definitely young at heart and definitely -- maybe not young themselves, but young at heart, which i think is very important for decorating. i think they also just really love their home, that something that really came across to me that they saw this house in this house just called out to be decorated. it looks almost like a spooky, haunted manner and i think they really took that idea and ran with it. >> it's definitely a stately house. anybody in the neighborhood has probably seen it, even when it's not decorated, so it probably stands out as it is. we appreciate you being with us, really looking forward to swinging by and checking out this house myself. a reminder that you can always get more of the san francisco standards other original reporting up their website. sf standard.com. abc 7 will continue to bring you

more segments featuring the standards of cities focused journalism on a regular basis. you could get your live newscasts and breaking news along with weather and so much more with our 24/7 streaming tv app. all you have to do a search abc 7 bay area and download

>> we will be here every weekday at 3:00 answering questions from experts around the bay area. coming up today on abc 7 news at 4:00, the latest on elon musk's twitter take over. the saga continues. and a mega sized powerball jackpot. i will see you today for news of 4:00. world news tonight with david muir is next. see you in just about 30

minutes. tonight, several developing stories as we come on. a new york city bus hijacked. what the bus driver does to save passengers before jumping out of the window himself. the frightening scene unfolding during rush hour here in new york. the suspect boarding the bus. how the driver manages to get 25 passengers off the bus. the driver jumping, the bus crashing. the january 6th rioter that dragged police officer michael fanone, all of it caught on video, seen by the country. that rioter sentenced today what the judge said, and how much time he'll serve. pierre thomas reporting. stories from inside hospitals across the u.s. tonight from texas to ohio, to seattle, washington, covid, flu, and rsv. what parents need to know tonight, as some children fight