>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. kristen: hi there. i am kristen sze. thanks for joining us for "getting answers." everyday, we talk with experts about issues important to you, and we get answers for you in real-time. the snowpack is about double the usual signs this time of year. while that is great news, it does come with risk. today, we have a climate scientist, who researched snowpack areas and the impact it has in our future water supplies. tomorrow, san francisco is celebrating chinese new year with the famous parade in san francisco whether you attend or not, there's a lot going on.

we talk with buster posey miss chinatown usa -- last year's miss chinatown usa about china's new year parade in san francisco. we are moving into a in the covid pandemic, announcing dates for ending the public health emergency. giving that mean for you? joining us now to talk more about this and other health news is correspondent dr. alok patel. dr. patel, happy friday. happy lunar new year. thanks for coming on the show. dr. patel: happy lunar new year to you. i cannot believe that it has been three years since we first saw the emergency declaration. it is while that we are talking about moving away from it. kristen: yeah, i mean, three

years, and as he finally said, the federal government erred -- ending is emergency may 11, california ending the health emergency at the end of this month. what tactically emergency -- what tactically does this change? dr. patel: two big things. we are moving into the pandemic, where we are learning to live with it, those who are most vulnerable, higher risk. this is potentially the end of the free services, masks, testing, and vaccination sites, and people will have to be more strategic about when they need that care. that is a potential problem, because anyone who is higher risk in uninsured, we need to make sure we have a solution for those of the visuals both locally and nationally. kristen: a lot of those people have been going to those county operated mass vaccination clinics, santa clara is closing

there's, i imagine everybody is going to. how do we make sure that the ugly still seeks out covid care and still seeks out future boosters, for example? county specific level, what vaccination rates look like, what infection rates look like, and coming up with that type of plan. if i look at santa clara, one specific county, nearly 90% of residents have gotten one shot to the seven-day average of covid cases is about 180 with 025 deaths. they feel confident that they can move forward in this manner. that will be a county by county decision. nationally, between now and make them a we need to figure out what to do with those individuals who may not have access, to those and get dropped because of the emergency decoration, such as medicaid expansion. there's a lot that needs to happen as we move toward, while

we need to be transparent about why this is not a pandemic anymore. kristen: i'm just worried because the theory of closing these sites and saying it is time is because the idea people can go elsewhere and get it pretty easily now, right? , right? but it is not true for everyone. we got used to getting it all for free, whether it is paxlovid, other treatments, the test kits. is that still going to be free? dr. patel: i'm so glad you brought this up, because it is almost like we did get used to access -- aspects of universal health care, not having to worry about co-pays or paying for any of what you mentioned. this is another thing that is going to change. right now, you should still be able to get the free materials before the emergency decoration is over, but afterwards, people should be able to get a free vaccine, provided they have access to a health care professional. this will happen across the board with texting, -- testing, paxlovid, even inpatient treatment. paxlovid costs hundreds of dollars if you are not insured,

and vaccines themselves are going to cost the federal government nearly four times what they were paying prior. it will include antiviral treatments as well. we need to make sure the funding is there to protect people across the board, and this will be a longer conversation that inevitably will congress, d what we will do moving forward not only regarding this public health crisis but everyone in the future. kristen: the white house covid coordinator, dr. a she shot -- ashish moving toward a once a year booster model, right? but i do wonder, if you don't have these sites come if people have to seek out there primary care doctor, for example, or something else it already come our booster uptick is not good. i wonder if you think this will impact that much more? dr. patel: potentially. it is a lack of trust and understanding. people understanding why they need to provide the by late -- why they need to get the bible

daily booster. -- bivalent booster. this summer, we need to look at what variants are out there, what efficacy looks like, and make recommendations potentially about a new cave-in -- catered covid shot, and there needs to be a transparent messaging campaign to make sure people understand it is important, in the same way they do the influential maxine -- vaccine. kristen: today is go red for women day. dr. patel: and i love your shirt. i have to match it with my little tie and look help in. hopefully people at home can see that. kristen: i can see it. glad we are on the same wavelength. to talk about heart health, i know you have a special edition of two truths and a lie for us. dr. patel: i do. it has been a while since we have done one of these pit all of these are related to the extremely important topic of heart health cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in women representing one out of three deaths, so these are all important facts.

not true. and, nearly 30% of women have some form of cardiovascular disease org, b, 70% of women before a heart attack reported having chest pains, or is it c, women are less likely to get medication after a heart attack, cardiac rehab, or cpr when repaired to men. which one of these glaring statistics is not true? kristen: hm. you know what? i'm going to say c is true, so that leaves us with letter a or b, and i want to say b is the lie, because i'm thinking fewer women than that actually have chest pains before the heart event. so b is my final answer. dr. patel: this is why you probably crushed the s.a.t.'s, kristen, because b is not

true. 40% of women who had a heart attack reported not having any chest pain at all. when we think about what we see in movies, people grabbing their chest, falling on the ground, and that representing a heart attack in women can present with atypical symptoms, according to the cdc and the american, these things can be nausea, feeling lightheaded, job pain, arm pain, not realizing you are having a heart attack. kristen: can i ask you why you think there is not that much awareness? i think less than half of women recognize how big of a problem this is? dr. patel: i think it is a long-standing problem that goes well beyond recent times in terms of women not being well represented in clinical trials, and the general portrayal of heart attacks in these traditional symptoms you and i just talked about, and also women not actually having a voice when it comes to these symptoms and having the lack of awareness they are. a lot of times it is both.

that is why the campaign was started in 2004, to raise and make sure all women are well aware of risk factors and access to health care, access to things preventing them conversation about it. kristen: i know when there is an event, rthe american heart asson has video out showing us how to properly administer cpr. dr. patel, maybe you can walk us through, as we look at how it should be done. dr. patel: absolutely. i would be happy to do it. i think it is truly important for every single person out there to learn chest compression based cpr. if you see someone anywhere, in your house and outside, on the street, who looks like they are down, you want to check for eight pulse, make sure the scene a safe, shout for help, call 91, immediately start cpr. you can see on the screen right now, you have your hand together

right on the chest, right around the nickel line, and your hand is forward, you're pushing down and will compress something to the chest. guessyou are not going to worry breaking ribs or you are going out if pushing down at about 100 to 120 beats per minute, and a trip we all do is make it a song that represents that beat. it is ♪ ah, ah, ah, both: ♪ staying alive ♪ dr. patel: another one, "another one bites the dust," or "call me maybe." maybe. dr. patel, thank you could let's do it. go read together. dr. patel: go red pit i know you were not planning on karaoke, but you got some pure dye appreciate you. kristen: [laughs] coming up next, increasing wildfires and the

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kristen: california's epic snowpack this season is the deepest it has been in decades, about 200% of normal. but the snowpack is facing an emergency risk that scientists are just now discovering good here is a live picture of lake tahoe. good conditions, but you can see the snow-covered mountains, pretty thick come a very different picture from the pasty winters. joining us now is benjamin hatches, climate scientist at the desert research institute located in reno. thank you for joining us, benjamin. benjamin: thank you for having me. kristen: let's be clear. is our snowpack facing a risk, or is our snowpack causing a

risk? benjamin: that is a good question. it could be both. in this sense, i think it is more facing a risk, as we see more wildfire reach higher elevations and burned at higher severity, that is where the changes in the forest create some risk for our snowpack. kristen: can you explain to us, why is it when we see more wildfires, i'm thinking of the caldor fire in 2021, for example, what does that do to the landscape, to the area that threatens our snowpack? benjamin: so it does two things in particular. it removes forest canopy by, in some cases, completely combusting all the trees, as you are seeing in some of these photos, and that reduces the abilityoshave the snowck, so its when the snow falls, we get a little bit of snow on the ground, we get a lot more solar

radiation or sunlight hitting the snow. the other big thing is all of this burned material, either in the canopy or just the remaining snags or burned trees, burned shrubs, as the winter goes on, the wind knocks pieces of that charred debris onto that snow, and it reduces the snowpack's activity, snow is one of the brightest natural substances, and as we make it darker, it is more easily absorbing the radiation, which is also going up, because we remove the canopy. so it is a two full process that causes snow to melt out more quickly and earlier in the season. kristen: so what happens? what are the dangers created when that snow starts melting faster and earlier in the season than it normally would? benjamin: it does a number of different things. probably our biggest concern is it means, particularly what we looked at with the midwinter dry

spells, which we are just coming out of now, is the snow can melt earlier in the season, when we expect it to be hanging out and sitting there as a natural reservoir, and that means it is going to run off earlier. in a lot of cases, we cannot store that water in our reservoir, because we do not plan for that water to happen until later. instead of being able to hang onto that water, it is going to flow downstream, and we are not going to be able to store it for later use. kristen: when we were putting up with all of that, you know, rain and snow at the end of december, early january, we were thinking, we are suffering, but at least knowing the snowpack, we will have more water to use, and you are saying "nuh-uh, we do not keep all of that water to use." benjamin: potentially. if we cannot hang it in our reservoirs, how else can we store it for our dry season? kristen: it is also flooding season? benjamin: exactly. as the snowpack receives more energy and absorbs more energy, it is closer to its melting

point, meaning if we have a very extended heatwave or sunny and hot period of weather, or if it rains, that snow is easier to melt, and it is going to more quickly come out of the watershed and be more difficult to store and cause flooding concerns downstream. kristen: so given that we can't -- or we can try, to slow climate change -- but given that this is what is happening now, what can we do to improve our water picture? benjamin: probably three key things we can do. one is going to be improving our hydrological modeling capabilities, to incorporate fire and its effects, so we can better understand how things will change as we see more fire. we can also adjust and look for other ways to store our water, how our reservoirs are operated, options for restoring floodplains downstream. and then the other piece is a really big one, and that is changing our forest management to increase the amount of good

fires, so low severity fire, bringing back a natural fire regime through prescribed or cultural burnings. those are going to be ways to reduce severe fire and also make us a little bit more adaptable to deal with these effects and other impacts from climate change as well. kristen: interesting, because we were moving away from prescribed fires for so long, right? the prescribed burns. now this seems to suggest there is reason to bring that back in a way that is going to be helpful. living just ask you, is this reversible? that is, you talk about, you know, after a wildfire, the snowpack in that area will melt faster. is that, like, forever, or does not get resolved over time? benjamin: falling off of the burned vegetation onto the snow, we know those effects can last for five or 10 years, so there is a limited supply of that material to fall. so those effects will decline this time and be the worst in the years immediately following

fire, but the canopy changes, those can last for much longer, because we need to regrow a forest, and so that is where it is going to be a difficult challenge to figure out how to restore and re-vegetate our forest in a healthier way, so that we gain back some of those benefits of shading the snow and returning a healthier ecosystem to the mountains. kristen: benjamin, before i let you go, what is it you are hoping for, weather-wise, for the rest of this winter to try to optimize the snowpack that we have got? do we want rain, do we not want more rain, do we want more snow, no dry spells, what do we want? benjamin: i think the perfect scenario, and i am a little biased, as a skier, is going to be continuous snowfall, maybe not as extreme as we have seen, but we will do just fine if we cap right here on average, no major heat waves until the snowpack has melted, and then, perhaps, maybe a little bit

warmer spring with some high elevation snow, lower elevation rain, to start melting those lower elevations and middle elevations slowly, such that we do not become at risk of summer snow melt flooding, if all of a sudden we have 30 feet of snow left in the mountains and a persistent, sunny, hot period to melt it all. kristen: we will keep our fingers crossed that that is what happens. benjamin hatchett with the desert research institute, thank you very much. benjamin: thank you very much for having me. kristen: tomorrow is the chinese new year parade in san francisco, and tonight is one of the saving festivities leading up to a come. we will talk with the -- leading up to it, the miss chin

kristen: tomorrow is the annual chinese new year parade in san francisco can once again, how hundreds of revelers will pack the street witnessed the floats, the dragon, and -- hundreds of

revelers will pack the streets to witness the floats, the dragon, and the parade. the dragon is so impressive, right? joining us like to talk more about this fan favorite event is the reigning miss chinatown usa, crystal lee. hi, crystal. crystal: how are you? kristen: good. happy lunar new year. crystal: happy lunar new year kid i was born and raised here in the bay area. i was living most my life in the east bay, and they currently live in the county. kristen: fabulous. i can see behind you you are getting ready for tonight's pageant. tell us how it came to be, how did the tradition come about? crystal: yeah, so originally it was just a beauty pageant, and then the chinese chamber of commerce decided to combine this pageant with the chinese new

year celebration, so now it is part of the annual festivity, every single year we have a bunch of girls from all over chinatown, of the united states, come over and compete, and then they are the ambassador, and so for the remainder of the chinese new year, they are able to visit small businesses and different communities, to just celebrate the lunar new year and of course to promote the chinese culture. kristen: yeah. by the way, i just want to show folks from the website, the photo of you from last year, when you were crowned. gorgeous. gorgeous. crystal: [laughs] thank you. kristen: i know there are a lot of participants and contestants, i love the group photo get you all look right get i know you are in the final hours of your reign here. what are you doing to help the final contestants get ready come and what are you telling them? crystal: my court, all three us are dancers, so we will be

putting on a quick and short little opening dance for everyone, and i have to honor also this year choreographing a little bit for this class, so very exciting, and i cannot wait for you all to see it. kristen: wow. that is exciting, crystal. i also want to ask you, what does it mean to you to be miss chinatown usa? i know it is kind of an ambassador goal, and i wonder if you think, during these times, right, when there has been so many challenges for asian americans in particular, how you see this role as being important. crystal: yeah. for me, i do my best to be involved in the communities, by going to a lot of events. as an ambassador, i showcased two young ladies, young girls, hey, like, you can grow up and be beautiful, strong, and intelligenent, and really just e there for the community, of course. kristen: in terms of the things you have put your time into

, what are the things, the missions and the causes that you took part in? crystal: i attended a lot of galas, events, and i also really enjoy coaching a lot of girls, so i have been doing pageant for couple of years now, and every year, i have a new class of girls, which i can hopefully inspire them to be part of the community, for them to be wonderful spokespersons in the future. so that is something that i find a great honor, to be a teacher to these young girls. kristen: yeah. definitely we need role models who are visible, confident, to put themselves out there. what is the last thing you want people to know about lunar new year? crystal: i just want everyone to have a healthy and safe year of the rabbit. i know these times are really tough, and with covid, but we are all resilient, and it shows, because we have so many wonderful chinatowns across the

united states, and we love chinatown, and we are excited to show the world wonderful culture of our traditions. kristen: crystal lee, congratulations to you on a year well done, and best of luck tonight as you crown a new miss chinatown usa. thanks for joining us. crystal: thank you so much. kristen: in the course tomorrow, san francisco, like we said, is celebrating the lunar new year with its famous chinese lunar new year parade. the parade begins at 5:15 at market and second straight, winds through union square, and ends at columbus 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,

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today. world news tonight with david mir is coming up next, and i will see you back tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. news coming in, the suspected over the u.s.alloon hovering - where it is now, and will there be a window to shoot it down? also tonight, the dangerous life threatening cold moving into the northeast. the live readings already. first, the pentagon tracking that chinese balloon, the intelligence bay hanging beneath it, the size of three busses. where it's spotted over the u.s., where it's believed to be headed now, 60,000 feet in the air. will the u.s. shoot this down? secretary of state antony blinken postponing his trip. the deadly cold already tonight, the national weather service is call it a once in a generation arctic blast.