>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. kristen: every day, we talk about issues important to the bay area and get answers for you in real time. today, the future of clean energy and fighting climate change is here. a new advancement in nuclear fusion is giving scientists a lot of hope, and the discovery was made right here in the bay area we talk with scientists from the lawrence livermore national lab to understand what is at stake. also, the sierra snowpack is experiencing unprecedented changes. why that is creating new hazards and how you can stay safe.

first, several bay a are back to requiring indoor masking at higher risk settings like jails, shelters, and heating centers, the result of moving back into the cdc's medium covid transmission tear, and two counties are in the high tier. the state is trying really hard to manage the triple-demic the head of the holidays. joining us with tips stay healthy, the deputy director at the california department of public health. thank you so much for your time. >> my pleasure. kristen: how are we doing right now? i'm not sure i want to know, but i better ask. i heard dr. galli saying taken individually, our health care system can handle it, but all three at once is causing a huge strain. is it?

>> we are seeing a winter season that hit earlier and harder than many years. this is not just covid, as you mention. it is flew under other respiratory viruses. two years ago, i got my first shot and many californians were lining up at those mass vacs -- vax sides. we have more tools than ever, but also more threats. we have five common prevention tips for californians and families that will help protect their holiday plans for all of these threats we are facing. yes, holiday capacity is being strained. covid and flu continues to increase. kristen: really strong. your department announced the state is going to start offering flu testing at covid test sites, is that right?

>> that's right. it is hard. i'm a family doctor and out of young kids -- to tell what threat we are dealing with when someone has symptoms. the more answers, the better, so community testing sites all have covid and flu testing. if you are traveling for the holidays, it is a good idea to take a covid test with you in your travel gear so you can get quick answers if you are exposed hour you have symptoms. it is not just about the combined testing. it is also about the combined vaccinations. you have two arms and on the same day, you can get your annual flu vaccine and an updated booster. the sooner the better. you don't want to wait, and that's the main message, don't let your guard down, and it is not too late to maximize your entire family's immunity before further holiday travel and plans. more family members than ever are eligible, including our youngest ones. kristen: if you are planning

ahead to those christmas and new year's eve gatherings, now is the right time. are you saying people could, if they show up sick, get tested for covid and the flu and it is free to them? >> yes, at those community sites, people can get tested for both now, and we are starting to roll out more vaccinations. we also have test to treat. part of what the state has learned over the past two years is it is really about trust, but it is about having multiple tools in our toolbox. that is the state's smarter frame. for flu but also against covid, medicines like paxlovid that can lower your chance of being hospitalized by 50% to 80%. we are particularly concerned about older adults as hospitals start to fill up and we want everyone to use all the tools available.

several also have something called test to treat where you can test positive, you can on site get a prescription for one of those antiviral medicines that have you feeling better faster. near them? >> if you go to you can sign up to get an updated booster and learn more about resources we have at test to treat sites across the state. we have a variety of community events taking place, and we want people to know that the tools are there, but they are only as good as we use them. as you get ready, we don't want

winter viruses to be the grinch that stole christmas, hanukkah, new year's plans. maximize your family's immunity. now kids six and up cannot just only get the flu vaccine, they also get we have more tools in our toolbox. kristen: since you bring therapeutics and paxlovid, i just want to ask you -- are you guys urging doctors to actually prescribe them to more people and not reserve them for older adults and the immunocompromised or people with super serious symptoms like was the case earlier this year? i think a lot of people wanted paxlovid and could not get it. >> great question. today we put out a press release encouraging not just the medical community but all of california to acknowledge that supply is ample but use is not.

we are not using the newest tool in our toolbox that we did not have in prior winter. some high cases. 2/3 of all the cases of covid we get happened during this period between november and february, so now is the time to get updated and educated. californians age 50 and above, most of them are eligible. most have some other qualifying condition, and it really will decrease the strain on our hospital system. it will get people feeling better faster, and 50% to 80% reduction in hospitalization and death is pretty powerful. a lot of people think it is only for the unvaccinated or for those who are seriously ill. that's not true. if you have had a past infection hour already been vaccinated, they are still a great benefit to you. by using these therapeutics, they lower the amount of virus in your body right away. the sooner you use them, the better. that's why right after getting

tested, you want to reach out to the medical community to get a therapeutic, and many people qualify even though they think they may not. kristen: basically, if i'm over 20 and feel some sort of symptom, go talk to my doctor and try not to leave without the paxlovid, right? you mentioned the two-year anniversary of the rollout of the covid vaccine, december 14. that is today. you mentioned how many people have gotten it since then. some of these numbers are pretty good, especially comparatively. others not as great. when you look at these numbers, how do you feel about them? >> 86 million vaccine california and on since the beginning is a tremendous success. california has been and continues to be a leader in terms of vaccines, preventing hospitalizations and deaths. we together have saved tens of thousands of lives, but our work is not done.

72% getting their primary series, and we are under 20% when it comes to getting an updated booster. past infection or vaccination is not sufficient for the threats we are facing this winter. the benefit of that updated bivalent booster is it has pieces of the original strain as well as those coming from the omicron variant to give you updated immunity. we update our antivirus software. we need to update our immunity as well. the work is strong but not finished. californians are behind on many in the vaccine series, but now in the winter series in particular, we want everyone to get a flu vaccine. counties in the medium tier that are requiring masking in jails,

shelters, and things like that. do you see any possibility of ph requiring masking endorsed this winter? what do you think >> masks are the smarter planet and one of our oldest tools. don't use those floppy cotton ones. you want to go from good to better to best. a surgical paper mask is good. a kn95, which they have for young kids, is better, and i well added, high filtration and 95 is best -- a well fitted, high filtration and 95 --n best. we trust locals to make the decision that is best for the community. what may be happening in l.a. county may not be best for the bay area.

as you mention, a majority of the status in that medium to high level of transmission according to the cdc. they are known as community level indicators. don't just look at case rates. they also look at hospital capacity, which is something we need to factor in. masks smarter plan. it is something that we need to bring back in more settings. there's a lot of indoor time happening -- traveling, shopping, gathering. we want people to enjoy the holidays but know that they can use that tool in different counties -- and different counties may increase how they are using the tool from a recommendation to requirement in certain settings. the state is here to continue to provide guidance, but we trust locals to make that decision. kristen: thank you so much for your time today.

coming up next, with the world buzzing about the breakthrough in fusion energy, we ask what comes next and what will it be used for? an 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 ♪

kristen: the science world is celebrating a history-making moment that happened right here in the bay area. researchers at the lawrence livermore natural lab made a breakthrough in nuclear research. for the first time, they produced more energy from fusion from the laser than they used two power the experiment. joining us now is a physicist at the lawrence livermore lab where the discovery was made. thank you so much for joining us

today, and congratulations. >> thank you, and thank you for having me. kristen: absolutely. i know this was a long time in coming. very exciting. explain to the non-scientists what you did here. >> sure. last monday, december 5, for the first time in a laboratory, we made more fusion energy than it took to drive the target with the laser. this is a remarkable fundamental science achievement and the culmination of 60 years of research in labors, diagnostics, manufacturing, target, modeling, and end experimentation. this is teamwork that took generations to accomplish. kristen: this is very exciting. the part about producing more energyntoke it the ignition part, but i'm going to ask you to take a step back just because i did not do so well in physics

or chemistry. define nuclear fusion. i do know that's why our sun shines. that's about as much as i know. >> that's exactly right. fusion works by combining lighter elements into heavier elements. in our case, we are combining isotopes of hydrogen into helium, and that is exactly what the sun does to power it. the sun uses this giant mass to create this gravitational pressure that pushes the center to just enormous pressures, but here at the laboratory, we use the world's largest laser to heat and compress a very small capsule. exceed the crgybuitso reallynd like a leave iting eney st but when you turn it off,t cools down. this is a race. we want to make more fusion and energy than plasma loses. last week on monday, we won the

race. we made 3.15 megajoules of energy with only 2.1 megajoules of energy. kristen: why is that a game changer at this time when we are seeking clean energy, right? when we are fighting climate change, why is that net aim in energy -- why is that a potential game changer? >> it is a great question. it is a significant step forward in our path towards fusion energy. think of the wright brothers' plane flight. that proved to the world that plane flight was possible, and that set forth in motion passenger airlines and airplanes that we have today that are nothing like that first flight, but it showed to the world what we could do, and this is a lot like that. kristen: i imagine a lot more

experiments, a lot more money will be poured into this research, but tell us why this is so much more of an attractive option in terms of producing energy than what we have now, including fission, which is nuclear energy and what we have right now as well. >> fusion is very attractive because it is very clean. you can take isotopes of hydrogen which can be found in water and experiment, and it produces its energy and its byproduct is effectively helium, which is entered, so there's not a nuclear waste concern. there's almost limitless amounts of fuel on earth, but it is really difficult. it has taken us 60 years to get to where we are, and we have a long road ahead of us, but this is a moment that i hope and i think will energize and motivate us to keep working on this. kristen: right. i know you said it's a long road, but i'm going to ask you to look down that road a little bit and give us a sense how long

it might take to scale it so it is in our power grid, we are using it to power our homes -- what does it take to get from here to there? >> that's a really good question. it is a hard one to answer. we need to make more energy. we need to do it multiple times. we have done this once, and we need to do it multiple times a second, so we have a long way to go. it will probably take a decade or decades to get there, but it's worth it. this is the long-term energy source that could power us for a very long time, so it is worth the work and the weight. -- kristen: what is the next step for your team? >> we are going to try to repeat the experiment. we are going to try to make some improvements. we know the target had a few flaws, so we are going to try to fix those, try to do it again, and try to get more energy

still, keep pushing the envelope as far as we can until we find out where and if there's a limit with the system we have. kristen: thank you so appreciate it, and congratulations again. coming up next, we are talking snow science. we will look at the changing sierra snowpack (grandma) [in navajo] where are they? it is cold outside. (vo) wells fargo has donated $50 million dollars in support of indigenous peoples... including funding solar furnaces that convert sunlight... (grandma) come into the warm house (girl) hi grandma! (vo) into household heat. (grandma) [in navajo] are you kids hungry? (vo) doing gets it done. wells fargo, the bank of doing.

kristen: winter is in full swing in the sierra. video from heavenly mountain resort shows white out conditions, which is great for a snowpack but also presents new challenges. that's why safety is the focus of this week's third annual tahoe backcountry safety awareness week. the lead scientist and manager of uc berkeley's central sierra snow lab joins us to talk more about it. good to see her.

>> thank you for having me on. always a pleasure. kristen: at the snow lab, kind of things do you track? >> we track how much snow is falling overall, how the atmosphere is affecting that snow, what changes are occurring from year-to-year, and other things as well, as far as rain falling on the snowpack and how forest fires even impact the snow. kristen: let's try to unpack that one by one. tell us how much snow this year has gotten this weekend and what type of snow is it? >> we got about 55 inches of snow over the last weekend. a really good dump of snow, and it was very moisture-laden snow, too, so really good for our drought response, and fortunately, it is looking like a pretty cohesive snowpack at this point. we are not seeing too many avalanches just yet. kristen: that is a relief for

skiers and snowboarders. are we perhaps on track for any records? >> no records so far this year. we are kind of sitting above average, which is a great place to be. with that being said, we might wind up having another dry streak, so above average is a good place to be for the time being, but not necessarily an indication of what the end of the season holds. >> so right now you cannot say if this will truly make a dent in our drought? >> that is exactly it. we had a wonderful december last year. 214 inches of snow here at the snow lab in the driest january through march on record. realistically, we did not get the benefit we would have it will be a wait-and-see type of game, so march and april when we are really able to determine where our snowpack is at and if it can help us come out of the

drought at all. kristen: also if it can help us with wildfires. we did not see anything this past fall that was major. >> absolutely, yeah. we want the snowpack to stick around as long as possible because it really helps keep a lid on that wildfire danger. that is something i will talk about tonight in my seminar is the challenges posed by a reduction in snowpack because inevitably, that means our ecosystem health is not good and we are more prone to severe fires. we want this to stick around as long as possible. these cool temperatures are really giving us a handle on that. hopefully it continues. kristen: not only are we talking about that difference in quantity. is there a qualitative difference you are noticing as well? >> we are seeing some different characteristics as far as early season snow than we did last year.

as i mentioned earlier, conditions now are looking quite good, but the quality of the snow early on kind of meant we had a persistent week later in there that was triggering a lot of avalanches around the area. the quality is getting better as far as cohesion goes with the snowpack, but only time will tell if that continues. kristen: the tahoe safety awareness, what can people learn from it? >> there's a lot about saf but it will talk about how our climate is changing and the new hazards we will have to keep an eye on. a lot of this is just modify or enhancing old behaviors, so there's not a ton of super new information, but it's going to be more so about what to look for and possible hazards when you go into the field. kristen: we only have about 15 seconds, but i want to ask you,

are you anticipating a lot of snow this season? >> crossing our fingers, but it's looking like we are done for the time being. >> thank you so much for your time. really appreciate the information. >> thank you. have a good one. kristen: you can get your live newscast, breaking news, and more with our abc 7 streaming tv app. just search abc 7 bay area and download it now. we will take a short break and

kristen: thank you so much for joining us for "getting answers" today. we will be here every day at 3:00 with experts from the bay area. coming up the latest on the paul

pelosi attack. the suspect in the case was in court today. we will tell you what happens next. world news with david muir is up next. have a great day. tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the confirmed tornado in new orleans just moments ago, amid deadly tornadoes across several states. tonight, at least 36 reported tornadoes. at this hour, the watches and warnings across several states. at least two people killed. a mother and her 8-year-old son. to the north at this hour, blizzard warnings in several states. snow, heavy rain, dangerous driving. and real concern tonight over the ice as this system now moves into the northeast tomorrow. washington, d.c. up through new york city and boston. rob marciano live tonight in new orleans. also tonight, the disturbing new details about the violent attack on house speak er nancy pelosi's house. the suspect in court today, accused of hitting paul pelosi in the head with a hammer, and

what we learned. tonight,