>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. julian: kristen: hello. 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 in real time. today as the state and bay area counties and their public health emergency declarations end next to the come along covid sufferers are sounding the alarm. a patient will join us along with dr. patel. and traveling to latin america to play ball and learn about other cultures. we will talk with the oakland all-stars playing through baseball beyond borders. but latest our winter storm

lately has brought historic snowfalls of the bay area. let's take a look. here's a live one from mount snl joining us live with the latest on our storm and the snow is abc7 meteorologist sandy patel. meteorologist: this one is for the history books, without a doubt. i do want to show you what is left on live doppler 7. we have seen snow in the last 24 hours as low as 700 there have been isolated cases as low as 300-400 feet in places like cloverdale. you will notice that we do still have some snow showers over mount hamilton. by the way, the lick earlier, 14 inches of snow has fallen there. they had some drift, that's pretty crazy stuff. as we take a look at the east bay, parts of fremont boulevard, 680, dealing with showers right now.

to the north bay, we are seeing pockets of showers right around santa rosa, highway 101, petaluma hill road, some light to moderate showers moving through. temperatures are in the 30's, 40's, 50's, you can feel the chill in the air outside. it's one of those winter days when you know it is cold outside and you need to layer up. you are starting to see some sunshine out there, we will call it a wintery mix through tomorrow morning. a cold morning tomorrow with warnings and advisories going up and rain is back on sunday. i do want to clarify, there is light snow that we are expecting on higher peaks of about 2500 feet but it's not a done deal. it will not be a repeat experiments of what -- a repeat experience like experiencing right now. scattered showers, isolated thunder and a hail chance. there was lightning over sfo.

snow showers and slightly increase by 9 p.m. it will come back around with the area of low pressure off arcos. tomorrow morning is when we will see the most activity between 4 then it is pretty much done and out of here, you got a short break between tomorrow afternoon through late tomorrow night, before we bring in more rain. the additional rainfall totals here, anywhere from a few hundreds to about a half an inch of rain is expected. so far, the rain has been pretty darn good. last night we had thunderstorms and downpours. it's been half an inch to an inch, pretty common in isolated areas, close to 2 inches of rain. a winter storm warning for the sierra, still going on till tomorrow morning. hold off on travel, heavy snow. the snow is coming down at low elevations. we have a freeze warning for inland areas and a frost advisory for the coast and

the bay shoreline until 9 a.m. tomorrow so protect pets, plants, and pipes. temperatures dropping into the 20's and 30's. it'll be phone chilling -- it'll be bone chilling cold. the highs are going to be similar to today, upper 40's to low 50's. but at least you got a break. we have a level 1 tomorrow, on sunday. unsettled monday through wednesday. keep your umbrellas handy. kristen: we will do that. thank you. the snow may have been delightful to kids, but it's been downright dangerous to drivers. joining us live now with the latest on the bay area road closures is officer barclay, thank you for your time. >> thanks for having m kristen'it been like in terms of accidalls in the last 24 hours or so? >> it's been busy. it's consistent with when we have inclement weather. i checked earlier around n oon, we are looking at about a 30% chance increase in our call

volume over a normal day. so whether it is rain or snow or ice, it's definitely keeping our people busy out there. kristen: where are your biggest trouble spots right now in terms of road closures? >> the highway 17 closure between san jose and santa cruz right now is still the one that seems to be causing the biggest disruption. a lot of the other closures we are seeing are out in unincorporated and more rural areas. highway 17, obviously a very well-traveled road between those two areas, something we are continuing to monitor, working with our caltrans partners and hoping it can get opened up sooner than later. kristen: you can see some of that snow on highway 17. that is pretty wild. highway 9 had some downed power lines. what about north of the golden bay? highway 29 had snow closures, too, right? >> yeah, we are seeing these

instruments and as these storms are passing through -- intermittent as these storms are passing through. many are not used to snowy conditions in these areas. in tahoe, that is something we may have to encounter, but around here it is not something we do you -- it is not something we deal with very often. especially as the storms are passing through, anticipate that there may be closures or other weather related incidents we are out there dealing with. kristen: we always say, please try not to drive if you don't have to, as it is coming down. but if folks have two, ca you give californians a few tips as to how to handle snow? >> the biggest thing is speed. when we say that, we are not talking about going over the speed limit -- we are talking about the speed for those conditions that you are driving in. just because the speed limit may be 55 mph, but if you are going through an area when it is snowing or there may be patches

of ice, lowering that speed is very important. and that is regardless of how many wheels you have engaged, whether it is to will drive or four-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive, if you had the patches of ice, you can lose control, regardless of how many tires you have there. the biggest thing is just slow down, and really what helps us out a lot is, anticipate these delays. very often, some of the biggest problems we encounter at these closures or other crashes is just people that are in such a rush, that they end up creating more incidents. so have that patience entering the weekend, anticipate that there may be delays out there. kristen: as we look at the shop next to you, that's from the sierra lake tahoe area. they keep the main roads plowed pretty well, but what your advice in terms of going out there this weekend? >> keep watching those would conditions. definitely check out the caltrans website, listing current road closures.

they are updated, as closures takes place -- take place. also utilizing gps systems, ways or google maps maps as an example, also integrating in road closures. if you are already on the way and you find out that that road is closed or you get up there and there -- and they are closing the road, please understand that we are doing this for driver safety. our biggest goal is to keep everyone out there safe. finally, i will say the one thing to not do, please do not call 911 for current road conditions. i promise you that our dispatchers and call takers right now are working incredibly hard to handle this call volume, and ouro help to people who need it, it's not there for asking if the road down the street is closed. kristen: chp officer andrew barclay, thank you so much. >> thank you. kristen: imagine getting a mild

case of covid as a healthy person and now dealing with life changing long covid more than two years later. when we come back, we will talk with a long covid suffer and dr. patel as california's

kristen: today is the last day of former president obama testing at the santa clara fairgrounds. sites are closing out that the state public health emergency is ending next tuesday. some doctors and patients are urging the public not to drop their guard even as a majority of people no longer mask. joining me now is dr. patel and the san francisco man who suffers from long covid, charlie m. thanks for your time.

>> thank you. kristen: before we talk about long covid, dr. patel, can you tell us about the headline that just came down, the fda authorizing the first over-the-counter test that can detect the flu and covid? >> that's exactly right, kristin. what this looks like is, it's a home pcr test similar to what a lot of people have been doing during covid, but it will also be able to detect influenza a and b. these are two respiratory viruses that could require immediate treatment, in the case of tamiflu or before influenza, you needed an appointment to get tested and then get a prescription within 48 hours of symptoms. if this were to be ruled out, widespread and affordable, it will help get people on treatment plans a lot faster. kristen: with the process, how long before it actually hits the store shelves? >> i just looked at the briefing

right now, looks like it is approved and set to be sold for $99 a test. i don't know exactly when it will hit store shelves but i hope we see widespread distribute and before this upcoming influenza season and any potential next covid surge. kristen: dr. patel, now i want to go to the conversation about the covid emergency ending and some long covid concerns. do you think that was the right time to end local and state emergencies? >> it is hard to speak about the policy decisions behind why this has to -- the declaration is going to be ending soon. it is hard to speak about all the different plans that have been put in place. but i do hope that when this is lifted, that we continue to have the psa's that covid is still out there and long covid is still a risk if you are high-risk or vulnerable, there is still the need to maintain that you are vaccinated and boasted, you have a mask with you in high-risk situations. the one question we have is why we are ending the declaration in

february when the federal declaration is said to be ending in may. it seems like we are having a much earlier transition then we need to be. kristen: that's a little -- than we need to be. kristen: that's a little unexpected. charlie, i think you have expressed concern about the emergency declaration ending. that is based on your first-hand experience with long covid. i'm really sorry you are going through it. maybe you can walk us through what happened to you. >> ye regardless of the policies and plans put in place, when our governments send a message like that, it is sending a signal that folks don't need to worry about covid as much anymore. and the most frustrating thing is that every week, i still hear about people who sang, i got long covid, i had no idea this could happen, this is now three years after, where i developed the same exact thing. and i got covid in ma

and i never recovered. now i am severely housebound, i can't work, and i have a barrage of debilitating symptoms and no clear outlook three years into this. kristen: what are some of your symptoms? dr. patel, feel free to jump in. >> yeah, i have chronic respiratory issues. i have trouble breathing on a daily basis. . i have severe left chest pain. i have severe fatigue and cognitive issues. i can only be productive for about a couple of hours a day, where before i was sick, i was biking 10 miles a day and working full-time. overall i rely on a caretaker for most of my day-to-day activities, to get through the day. but now it is year four of the pandemic and we still don't have any treatments for long covid or any specific social support for folks with long covid.

and we still have no robust public mourning for -- public mourning for long covid. -- public warning for long covid . in 2023, they found 5% of americans are living with long covid. that is nearly 20 million people. and i is still happening up to 20% of folks will get an infection. so clearly, it is something we need to be very concerned about. anybody who is seriously researching this would say unanimously that we can't move past covid in any serious manner until we have treatments for long covid. >> charlie, i have to commend you on being open and talking about what you are going through. is absolutely horrific. i know there's people out there watching this who can relate, unfortunately, to what you are going through. i'm sure you saw there was a recent big analysis in the journal, the lancet, that found about 45% of people who had covid mostly in asia and europe had one debilitating symptoms lasting with immediate follow-up time of about 130 days. that is a long time.

i wanted to ask you -- given the fact you had symptoms in 2020, over the past three years, have you seen awareness truly increase? have you seen more health care professionals? more public health officials really truly believe people saying they have long covid? and what's improved in the kind of hunt to help people with long covid? >> that's a really good question. i would say probably a few things to that -- i'd say, i think in the beginning of the pandemic, the researchers who were really looking at this were not really sure what to make of it. is this a psychological phenomena? or a real organic phenomena? i would say no unanimously, anybody studying this has said this is a very real biological thing -- we are close to figuring out the exact pathology. we are very optimistic about therapeutics. but we still don't have nearly enough funding and support and awareness to be treating this with the emergency that

we have to. in terms of physician awareness, it is still a huge problem. i just spoke to a tech worker last week who went to a cardiologist to deal with their symptoms, he's now three months, and the cardiologist says, sounds like you might be dealing with some anxiety. and so, we are still seeing that. however, i think in the medical community awareness, it is definitely rising. the train has left the station, that this is going to be dealt with. i'd say the past few years of probably going five miles per hour, is probably going out about 15 mph now, so we are making headway but we need a high-speed rail type of urgency to address this problem. there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of awareness. we know 70% or so of americans know little to nothing about the condition. when you are talking about the most common adverse outcome from infection, that is a huge problem. especially when you are sending signals like this. kristen: can i just ask you, obviously charlie got his a long

time ago near the beginning of the pandemic. are the people who get covid now less likely to develop long covid? and if they do, is it more likely to be less severe? >> that's a great question. that's actually a subject of some of these follow-up studies happening right now. some conducted by the city's income at the variants. -- by the cdc, to see is a difference between variants. i think the more important to tell people as individuals getting covid within the past six months, so the subvariants of omicron come are still having symptoms persistent. so the threat of long covid has not disappeared even though the virulence of the viruses has gone down. even though the patients may not be hospitalized, non-hospitalized patients are still getting long covid. the one thing that you and i

and a lot of us have talked about since the very beginning, it isn't binary, it is not, you die, or you frolic away in the sunset. there's a lot that can happen if you get infected. which is where the message still needs to be out there for people. kristen: exactly. >> i would also add that we are now seeing folks in our patient community developing long covid on their second or third infections. so folks who got infected, they are probably ok now but we are now seeing folks where that's not the case. we know it's not a against developing this condition. kristen: i really appreciate you coming on to share your story and the take away from that. dr. patel, always appreciate you with the great information is always. great advice. thank you both. >> thank you. >> appreciate the support. kristen: coming up next -- baseball beyond borders. an oakland team of 12 and 13-year-old all-stars, about to embark on a cultural exchange trip of a lifetime. but they need your help to get there.

we wil

kristen: an oakland baseball team made up of millis g -- made up of middle schoolers has an upcoming trip of a lifetime to experience different cultures in the baseball beyond borders tournament coming up in april. joining us live now are the team organizer, anthony wilson, and two players, simon ps and andrew hodge. thank you for coming on the show today. >> thank you for having us. >> this is exciting. anthony, tell us about this team and where you are taking them, what you are going to do, what you will learn from it. >> thank you so much for having us. we appreciate this opportunity to be on the show today. the neighbor -- the name of our organization is called baseball beyond borders. a nonprofit called 306 a5 high-performance is taking 27 players from the north or oakland south oakland area, 12

to 13-year-old players portable all-star team last year and they are going to go to cuba and get the chance to compete and train with cuban players over there. really excited about it. kristen: that is amazing. can i just ask the kids, tell me how you feel about this. are you nervous? are you excited? who wants to go first? >> i'll go first. i think that it's pretty exciting. we are going to go on a to cuba to play baseball with a couple of kids. it's just amazing. an amazing opportunity. kristen: do you think you are going to get better at baseball from it? is that what you are excited about? are you excited about learning about other kids and their culture? >> i am excited for both, because i think, a, it is a culture that we don't really get to experience very often, but at

the same time, it's good competition and it's good practice and improvement. kristen: wow, that is so very true. i can only imagine. have you guys been away from home? how long are you going to be gone? how long is the trip? >> it is april 5 through the 10th. kristen: got it. wow, to go away out of the country with just your baseball buds and coaches, that is amazing. can i ask you have you all have been preparing for this -- how you all have been preparing for this? >> laying, practicing, working as a team, coordinating with each other, finding work as a team together. kristen: that's amazing. anthony, obviously something like this takes a lot of coordination and also fun. how are you guys bringing it, fun wise? >> the cost of the trip is about

$3500 per player and we started fundraising way back in october. can you imagine, 27 players times $3500 is just shy $100,000 -- we have raised about $50,000. about half of it. our community has been fantastic. we are not quite there yet. as you can imagine, this would create a financial hardship for a number of our families. we've been making a real push over the last week to try to get those last few dollars in. because we don't want to leave anyone behind, we want everyone to be able to go on this trip. so we just had a silent auction this week which went really well. but then we opened up this gofundme page which is baseball beyond borders oakland all-stars and we are hoping that people can go there and donate and help us get over the top, so that we can bring all of our players with us. kristen: all right. i hope folks will check it out, consider this. just one less thing -- one last thing before we go,

will this make them not just better baseball players but better people? is that ultimately the goal of something like this? >> absolutely. you know, this trip is really the brainchild of michelle rodriguez, who runs 365 academy baseball in sunroof i'll. is a professional baseball player. my oldest son went on this trip and i thought it was an amazing opportunity. life-changing. kristen: we do have to run, but folks, check out their gofundme. best of luck to you guys. definitely had a lot of home runs out there, simon and andrew. >> ok. kristen: we'll be right back. thank more paper being crumpled music: “i wish” by skee-lo boom! sound of paper balls landing in bins office workers cheering

music stops why do we shoot baskets with paper balls? for the same reason we play scratchers from the california lottery. because a little play can make your day. logo scratches on

kristen: thanks for joining tonight, the abc news exclusive. my interview a short time ago at the white house, one-on-one with president biden on the war in ukraine, now one year into this war. the president tonight on russia, china, and issues here at home. the ohio train derailment. is the president running for re-election? and is age a legitimate consideration? the president just back from ukraine and poland after addressing allies on the world stage. tonight, what the president told me about f-16s.oesredent mak of china's new peace plan? and we ask about concerns that china could be considering offering lethal assistance, weapons for russia in this fight. we also press the president on issues here at home, the chinese