>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. kristen: hi, i'm kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers." every day, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and get some answers for you in real time. today, flag football for girls is on the verge of becoming an official high school sport in california. a representative from the san francisco 49ers will join us to talk about why the team is firmly behind the idea. also, lots of people who drink alcohol want to cut back but many have a hard time actually doing it. our media partner the san francisco standard will be here to highlight a potential new treatment that can help drinkers before it becomes a problem. first, ucsf's chair of department of medicine has made

national headlines again with a new thread on his covert decision-making, he tweeted, plan to wear a mask likely forever, referring to public transit, theaters, and other large gatherings. joining us now is dr. wal great to see you, by the way. the big news this week, the white house says it is ending the covid health emergency on may 11. i know you just spoke with the white house covid coordinator today, can you relate to us why this timing -- relay to us why this timing? >> i interviewed him, it will get posted tonight on youtube, the timing was that his feeling and the feeling throughout the administration is that we had passed the stage of covid being an emergency. that doesn't mean that we passed the stage of covid. there is still plenty of it around with 400-5 hundred people

a day dying. it is a real threat. but it no longer requires the kind of emergency measures required to were three years ago. the loosening of all sorts of different regulations and rules, in order to deal with an emergency. his feeling was we have entered a new, more stable phase where there will be surges, c very real, but we need to get on to what is a chronic approach. they wanted to wait until the winter was over. to be sure there wasn't a massive surge during the winter, it had something of a surge but not a massive one, has come down quite a bit so the timing was right. they thought it was important to leave several months between the announcement the state of them emergency will go away and the actual removal of it because hospitals and health care organizations need time to adjust. kristen: you think may is good timing but california is ending its covid health emergency even before that, i think by the end of this month. do you think that is too early

or do you think that is ok? >> it doesn't matter that much. it is very clear we have to sort of constantly saying, the state of emergency -- say, the state of emergency is simply a regulatory environment where the government gives hospitals and health care providers some flexibility in the way they implement certain rules, the example used was during the state of emergency, a hospital could set up beds in the parking lot. they don't want to allow hospitals to do that in day-to-day work. the key thing is is the surge and the threat of the winter seems to be receding, flu and rsv are down. it gives the health care system and -- the health care system time to adjust to this new state. kristen: are there other implications when it is no longer an emergency, does that affect money for vaccines or

paxlovid or other treatments or tests? >> it doesn't really affect money that much. that is a separate issue the government needs to get appropriations from the congress and move money around and -- around internally for better treatments. he helped me understand this a little better. i thought it did change the amount of support for example for free vaccines and free paxlovid. that is kind of different. the government has already purchased a ton of vaccines and paxlovid. and eventually that supply will run out. he thinks that will really be in the summer when there is no government paid for paxlovid or government paid for vaccines. what they are really trying to do is make sure that it's covered under insurance. the aca requires that preventative treatment is

covered under insurance. the vaccine i'm not worried about. that should be covered by everyone's insurance. it's a different issue for people that are uninsured. the free testing probably does go away and they are working again with testing companies to make it is an expensive as possible -- inexpensve as possible. kristen: i'm trying to get the free ones right now and don't miss a month that i'm eligible. it is great to get your wisdom and we also get the direct line to the white house. did he say anything about the vaccine strategy going forward? >> yeah, we talked about the idea of your yearly covid shot similar to the yearly flu shot. he thinks, he and i agreed that it is a reasonable way of framing at that for the average person who is at average risk, if you can get one shot a year, and a shot that is the best possible shot against the

variants and play at that time, that one shot a year would protect them against infection for a few months and maybe the virus becomes seasonable, so being extra presented over the winter has a value but it offers good protection against getting very sick for most of the. for the average person that will work fine. he thinks and i think that someone at a very high risk, particularly older people, if you are over 70 or 75, it may be that you want to get a second shot every year because the protection against severe infection when you are at higher risk, probably doesn't last a full year, it seems to begin waiting after six or eight months. so it may be that the general strategy is like to get your yearly flu shot, you get your yearly covid shot. if you are at high risk of a bad outcome of hospitalization and death you have the opportunity to get an extra one probably every six months. kristen: it doesn't sound like we are moving towards -- -- does sound like we are moving

towards consider your own individual situation strategy and make your own decisions. which gets us to your popular tweet threads on twitter where you talk about decision-making and risk-taking. i want to put one up that got a lot of attention. national headlines in fact. the headline seems to be masks forever. that is a simplification. can you explain this to us? >> yeah, well, if you read it does not say that i will mask forever in all circumstances. it says that right now, the state of covid in the bay area and california is really pretty low, hospitalization rates are low, we had close to 200 a year ago, it is really not bad out there. i am comfortable playing poker with my pals, eating in an

indoor restaurant, unlike a few months ago. on the other hand when i go into a very out crowded -- a very crowded into a space like an airplane or inside a theater, to me the benefits of keeping a mask on in preventing the possibility of covid, because i have no idea if the person sitting at my table has it or frankly if i have it. i don't want to spread it to someone. i don't know that somebody in the crowd might not have it or have the flu or rsv or something else. to me the benefits of wearing a mask and circumstances like that out the downsides. i'm partly influenced by my wife who still has symptoms of lung covid. -- of long covid. she still has fatigue and brain fog. a good reason to not want to get covid. when i get it respiratory

infection i would get asthmatic and start wheezing, i have not had that for three or four years. so the benefits of wearing a mask in crowded indoor spaces outweigh the down side. i would probably keep doing it forever. kristen: a crowded grocery store is another example of that. do we know any more about long covid now than we did two years ago? i understand you are doing these things to try to avoid that. >> that's exactly right. having had five vaccine shots, if i got covid it would take -- i would take paxlovid. it does not cross my mind that i am going to die of it. but the main issue is it would leave me up for a week or so and isolation is not pleasant but also the main issue is the , not probability, but the possibility of having long covid even in the form of chronic symptoms or increasing the long-term risks of heart attack

and stroke. i still tried to avoid it and i've been lucky enough not to get it so far. we have a better handle on how frequent it is. i think the numbers are all over the map. the best numbers i think when i go through all the studies is 5% is a reasonable estimate of the possibility of getting lung covid -- long covid in the omicron era. higher risk in women than age is not a factor but young people also get long covid just like older people. the number i use is about a one in 20 chance, if you get covid that you will have persistent symptoms. and that is not superhigh but it's high enough to take prudent precautions, if you can. my wife is back to work and she's not disabled by it. but it certainly gets on the way of her quality of life when she hits a wall at 1:00 in the

afternoon and has to take a nap. something she never had to do before she had covid. kristen: hope she continues to improve. since we are talking about prudence, there's a new study that seems to confirm there was a covid baby bump and 2021 when everybody was stuck at home. but there's bad news, too, right? >> yeah, what we see is the population has been declining for a long time and it seems like covid was the impetus for a fair number of people to get pregnant, both because they were stuck at home not traveling and at least for some people their finances were in decent shape. what we now know that the outcomes of both mothers and children, if mom got covid during her pregnancy, are worse. the kids are more likely to have babies prematurely, mothers are likely to get sick and go to the hospital and the icu, and we now know, putting aside all the

misinformation, that the covid vaccine is perfectly safe during pregnancy. it is great to get pregnant but you should try to avoid getting covid. one way to do that is to get vaccinated would also be prudent and thoughtful about masking and other things like that. kristen: always great talking with you, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. good to see you. kristen: coming up next we are hearing from the 49ers on a plan to make girls like football a varsity sports in

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kristen: 49ers are throwing their support behind making flag football a varsity sport for girls california football.

the governing body is set to vote on the initiative. joining us live now is the associate counsel at san francisco 49ers. thanks for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. kristen: i love the red. very appropriate. the interest collected federation -- interscholastic federation will likely approve this tomorrow. does this mean school competitions could begin by this fall? >> absolutely. we would be able to have some high-level young ladies on the field by as early as this fall. kristen: why did the 49ers love this idea? >> one of the things we want to do is we are committed to advancing opportunities for girls in football. and with the support of our organization and others, sanctioning girls flag football as a varsity sport, this will hopefully open up more opportunities for girls to experience the game in this way and ultimately succeed. kristen: how is organization actively supporting it?

>> one of our main focuses this year will be supporting the san francisco matt rhule. this comes with our partnership with nike who has committed to partnering and providing that scene with custom jerseys and we are going to have a bunch of other events as well, we are going to do coverage of the lead and hosting events such as our summer skills camp as well as our conference, which is a one-day event focused on supporting young women in their athletic endeavors and giving them careers in professional sports. kristen: got it. so there's training for the players, the refs, the coaches, uniforms, there is exposure -- why do you thin flag football has become so popular in recent years? >> flag football is truly a game that can be experienced by everyone. all gender identities, ages, the

entire family. it is simply what i call the great equalizer sport. kristen: that is very much something supporters .2. -- supporters point to. i wonder if this in some ways may compete against tackle football. certainly with boys where we have seen a rise in terms of the popularity of flag. >> i don't think that it would be a competition. i think it is something that would just give another look for football. for people to be able to experience the game in a different way. the game is the game. the skills are the same. i think it's just an opportunity for more people to get involved with a sport so many of le. krten: i know it's a little too early to talk about it because right now we are just talking about having girls flag football as a high school sport. but do you see that as having any professional potential? >> 100%. i've actually played with a lot of women who have played internationally, and i hear

rumblings that is going to become an olympic sport in the next couple of years, so i think we are just on an upward trajectory of making this a professional level game. kristen: obviously flag football, one of the appeals is there is less contact. so it's definitely less injury prone, if you will. in terms of having seen some high-profile injuries in the league, how are the niners promoting safety for kids playing the sport? >> one of the biggest things we are going to focus on is making sure that every athlete takes care of their bodies, with strength conditioning, eating good, having good diet habits and making sure that you are doing what you can to stay injury free. >> thank you so much the big photos tomorrow to make girls flag football a reality in california high schools. we will talk soon. >> thank you so much for having me.

julian: coming up next -- putting a stop to problem drinking. our media partners at the san francisco standard join us with more on a new treatment being studied at ucsf. 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. what's my price? 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?

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kristen: media partners at the san francisco standard are exploring a new treatment to help alcohol drinkers cut back before it becomes a problem. we should talk about how they are talking about how ucsf professors actually -- a ucsf professor is actually leading the way. joining us to talk more about this is no boston -- noah boston. thanks for coming on the show. hi, noah. >> can you hear me? kristen: i can hear you now. >> perfect. [laughter] kristen: a treatment that helps drinkers cut back before it's a problem. that sounds intriguing.

what is the treatment? >> yes, so the treatment is medication -- is a that reduces that dopamine hit you experience when you drink. you got that kind of high, well, this drug muffles that experience so it makes it less likely that you are going to read for that next drink beyond what you should. kristen: got it. for me that would be like, that chocolate cupcake doesn't taste as good anymore. it doesn't give me that sugar high. i'm not going to have the next one. is that the idea? >> that's exactly right. it's been shown to help people to drink and more moderation. kristen: it's not a new drug and it's been used before. what's different about what's being proposed now about how it can be used? >> this drug has been out there, it's a prescription that historically has been given to this kind of small slice of the population that has really

severe alcohol use disorder, which most people might think of as alcoholism. it is a drug that you every day may be for people that were getting drunk every day so it made sense for them. but much more people have more moderate or mild problems with alcohol and so this professor at ucsf, dr. santos, he's exploring, how can this medication be used for people who want to take it once every now and again, when they are coming into a situation where they want to keep in moderation but they don't have a severe problem? kristen: got it. it could be like, today i'm going to be going to the company holiday party, i don't want to overindulge here so i'm going to take one now? >> that's exactly there's gonna be an open bar and i'm going to take one, but maybe the next night you want to have a glass of wine at home and you don't necessarily feel like you need the medication then. kristen: ok.

who did the study focus on any particular group? >> dr. santos studied queer men here in the san francisco bay area and he really focused on that group because he explained to me that unfortunately quer men do have a higher rate of binge drinking than the rest of the general population. there's a lot of reasons for that including the fact that of course there's a lot of stress that just comes from the identity and facing homophobia and also there is this vibrant culture around gay bars and gay clubs, but those are really centered around alcohol, those places. kristen: despite the fact that the study mainly studied one particular demographic group, do you think the results and the proposal would work for other groups, too? >> absolutely. dr. santos was saying that this is a medication that can work for anyone and it is not just a supply for queer men but the broader population. julian: that is dr. santos'

picture. if people are interested in this treatment, what should they do? >> the next step is really a -- as relates to talk to your doctor. dr. santos is on the cutting edge of researching new ways to use a medication, so right now it is kind of an approval you're -- your physician may be familiar with severe drinking, but if you think this could be a good option for you, it's a good idea to tell your physician, maybe it will have the chance to look at this research and they might feel like this kind of intermittent use of the drug could be a good fit for you. kristen: ok. does it have side effects? >> i don't know the answer to that question. kristen: we certainly -- it is certainly something to look into and talk to your doctor about. it is fascinating is certainly beneficial to a lot of people. thank you so much for coming

out. >> really appreciate you having me. kristen: you can check out more of the san francisco standard's other original reporting on their website, sfstandard.com. we will continue to bring in more segments featuring the standard's city focused journalism. and a reminder -- you can get our live newscast, breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming app. just search "abc 7 bay area" and download it now. we'll be right back.

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♪ >> i am now hearing from victims all across the country, their bank accounts were drained in seconds. but the banks would not refund their money until -- >> you don't know how excited i got. >> my money is back. >> i want to cry. >> i couldn't be any more thankful for 7 on your side. >> it's just really life-affirming. >> we will all be ok, thanks to you. julian: -- kristen: 7 on your side always doing great work. thank you so much for joining us for "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at three -- at 3:00 answering your questions from around the bay area. "world news tonight" with david muir is next.

see you at 4:00. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the pentagon just moments ago on what's flying over the u.s. the suspected chinese surveillance balloon the size of three buses, hovering over the northern u.s. the giant balloon unmanned carrying what's believed to be sophisticated spy technology, and we have now learned tonight u.s. officials tracking it for several days, spotted over billings, montana. montana, where there are several sensitive nuclear sites. so, where is it now? military officials also discussing whether to shoot it down, but did not do so, because of the risk to people on the ground. terry moran standing by with late reporting. also tonight, that dangerous arctic blast. 58 million americans, multiple states. wind chill alerts from montana straight across to maine. life-threatening cold already moving into the