california, march 17th and 18th airport home appliances warehouse in hayward, because you deserve better. abc seven building a better bay area. building a better bay area moving forward finding solutions . this is abc seven news. hi there. i'm kristin z. you're watching getting answers on abc seven every day, we talked with experts about issues important to the bay area, and we get answers for you in real time. today we're gonna talk about whether san francisco is, in fact, coming back in terms of the small businesses. well, the answer really depends on which neighborhood you're looking at. we're going to talk to our partner, the san francisco standard and break it all down for you. also what a dramatic turn of events in our drought picture. however all that snow and rain does come with some problems, and for that tahoe area, that means telling people not to come, but that's their bread and butter tourism, so we'll talk more with folks from south lake tahoe about that as

well. but in the meantime, today is the three year anniversary to the day, the bay area leaders announced a lockdown, a shelter in place order that was supposed about right. buweks imymic dn'nt t tre's also a lot that we don't know about long covid about boosters about paxil vivid. so abc seven news special correspondent, dr lo patel is here now to talk to us about all that, and more and other medical news as well. doctor patel, it's hard to just believe that it's been three long years, right? kristen it's mind blowing. i actually went back and looked at the san francisco chronicle from march. 16th 2020 just said, put myself back in those shoes, and at that time there were a little over 4000 reported cases the united states with under 90 kn 90 deaths. and now wherever 100 million cases of over a meal, cleon debts and it's just it's

mind blowing to see that and you know, march 16 2020 is also when the vaccine trials were underway , so there is some optimism. there's some optimism there as well to see what can truly happen with the science when we all work together towards a common goal, right? i mean, there's a lot that we understand now. but what still confounds you that you wish we had more clarity on is it long covid, is it? the booster regimen. like what? the origin. what is it? that still keeps you up at night? the two things that really keep me up at night. kristin is long covid and how many undetermined people are suffering from this condition that has 200 documented symptoms associated with it, and then also a lot of the healthcare disparities that were really unraveled during the pandemic that have not yet been solved. we don't have clear plans him as well. but regarding long covid. there's still a lot that we're learning. there's a lot we're going to continue to learn, which is why we're seeing it in headlines. we need a lot more advocacy awareness treatment plans for individuals and what that's going to me, too, is better care because we're also seeing headlines about insurance

denials. people who are seeking care for long covid and chris and you mentioned also about boosters. we are learning what's potentially going to be happening in the next few months. regarding boosters as well. will they be needed? will they continue to be by violence? and also, how do we best get the data out there so we will go and we improve vaccination update and then the origin story with covid 19 also was unraveling as well. unfortunately that's starting to take a little bit more of a political political facing debate, as opposed to a scientific one, but there's still a lot of unknowns. um look, i gotta ask you a little bit more about the booster situation, and i realized things could still change. but not only is this the three year anniversary of the lockdown mons since a lot of people got there by violent booster right then one for omicron when i came out, so we were hearing that okay, six months. it's not you know, it's wearing off. not as protective now, so a lot of people are now at the point where they're saying should i get another booster? should i get what's available now? should i wait? what do you think? you know, as of right now, we don't have any clear cut information. the fda has not put any

statements out regarding a so called spring booster, but you know, based on previous data we have people should still have a high level of protection against severe illness. but christian, you're right. there are a lot of individuals, especially those who are 65 older or who may have an underlying medical conditions such as being immuno compromised or asking. what do we do, especially as a lot of other countries in the world are having this conversation and we yet aren't so i don't know that's i mean, that's the best answer. you can give us but i'm afraid that's still not total clarity for people who are wondering if they should wait till the fall. right maybe a different, terrible answer. i'm well aware that i gave people and i don't know which is appropriate sometimes, right? you're absolutely right. but you do have some new information with regard to paxil that because the antiviral that treats you know some of the symptoms and hopefully help those who are immunocompromised . get over it a little more quickly. people are wondering. hey is that in itself going to lead to rebound the virus coming back after you're done with the five course treatment? five days. what do you think? well

according to data put out from the phase two and three portion of the trial. there is no difference between the amount of rebound covid from a routine infection and people taking a placebo vs paxil of it, so in other words, it may not be related to packs of it at all. it might be the natural course of these infections and chris and in fact, as of one hour ago or so the fda just voted 16 to 1 in favor of a full approval for pax 11. so what that tells us is that all the data the fda has looked at shows that it does really work. and preventing severe illness or hospitalizations and those who are especially those who are high risk, and also it's extremely safe. i in fact, i saw one quote from a physician saying that packs live it is right up there with oxygen in terms of hospital, treating people with covid 19 to preventing severe illness. so this is good news moving forward. okay well, that's you know, somewhat definitive. so thank you, dr lo patel. for that brought it back. i brought it back to a definitive silver lining. that's great. that is great, and i want to move on to

some other important health topics today in the news. the cdc released some really shocking numbers on maternal deaths in the us what are they? and you know how come. chris and these these numbers are horrific and basically showing us that our rate of maternal mortality has been increasing over several decades, and it's trying to actually started before the pandemic and as many people predicted, appropriately, it rised during the pandemic as well. and the whole reason of how come is a multifactorial deep reason. everything everything coming from or access to healthcare in certain areas. we also have a high rate of complications, which has to do also with access issues as well. we have social disparities in health care. we have a mental illness issue. a lot of different topics out there are affecting our expecting mothers , and it's awful. it is gut wrenching to see that, according to the commonwealth fund, we have the highest rate. maternal mortality out of all developed

countries that is. canada france , uk, australia, japan, korea, we have the highest. this should be an absolute cause for alarm and a major talking point in terms of public health 32.9 deaths, right basically, 33 deaths per 100,000 live births. so is this times the rate of japan by the way? okay is this higher still in certain demographic groups or certain regions of the country? it is higher, kristen, in fact, and women above the age of 40, the risk of maternal mortality is seven times that of younger women around the age of 25 in black women, these reports found that their rate of maternal mortality is two times higher than white women. so there's a lot of factors involved, but definitely with respect to physiologic physiologic conditions underlying medical conditions. high rates of chronic disease but also simply put social disparities, racism and healthcare lack of access for certain demographic groups. these all have to be addressed, which is why it's there's no way to put it. it's all hands on

deck approach needed absolutely . i also want to talk about ending pregnancy. sometimes the most common way in this country is via abortion pills. today we are waiting on a texas court's decision on the lawsuit that could cut off access to a drug that's been used for 20 years. right um what is this drug and the judge rules for the plaintiffs? then what? so the drug in question right now is me for kristen, which is an extremely widely used and safe medication as you mentioned that is that is used as the first step of two pills for a medical medically induced abortion. chris and over 60 million women have used this pill. what this judge ruling basically what this this court case is basically trying to do is overturned the fda approval which took place in the year. 2000 this is unprecedented to ask the fda to remove the approval. now if this goes through the prediction is that the fda will appeal the safety of this drug because the lawsuit actually came across at the came about at the end of 2022 with the group saying, hey , person is not safe for women

and the fda says look at the data. it's actually just as safe as over the counter pain medications, and in fact, it is 10 times safer than medications like viagra. it's safer than penicillin. so this isn't just about safety. this is actually turning into a political fight, with some people predicting that if overturned the fda approval, it could have wider spreading ramifications in the overturning of roe versus wade, because of how many people rely on me for princeton, not just used for abortions also for miss care, okay, right. so i've got two questions for you. right? okay one. how would this decision potentially affect us in california? and to the second part of that regimen. miss approach stole. i think if i'm pronouncing that correctly, would that still be available? and is that enough? the answer the latter so i'm used to process all on its own can be used to terminate pregnancies. in fact, according the world health organization, this is done in other parts of the world , and studies do show that it is safe may be less effective than

using the two drug combination now, with respect to how this may potentially affect us in california or other states that are protecting reproductive rights. the hope is the body is that the fda will appeal this and there will be there will be some kind of action. but you know, kristen, this is up to politicians. unfortunately, to really sit down look at their state. aids and defend reproductive rights, and we saw a test case for this last week when governor newsom put out a statement against walgreens, who said that they were no longer gonna sell kristen in pharmacies . so i do think that we are. we're gonna be witnessing a little bit of a political fight moving forward, which is needed in order to protect the rights and health of millions of people in this country. i want to touch on one more topic. this is in the headlines. more people are being prescribed diabetes drugs like those epic to help them lose weight. do you have any concerns about that at all? whether it's you know, side effects, or perhaps creating any shortages for people who need the drugs for diabetes, anything? the shortages is a top of line concerned and not only i

have. but my colleagues who work in endocrinology and are directly trying to treat patients, rosemberg is only fda approved for type two diabetes. similar medication we go be is fda approved for type type two diabetes and for obesity. so there are people who are taking this off label such as celebrities, people risking on social media because one of the side effects is weight loss. study effects also include things like nausea, diarrhea, fatigue issues with blood sugar . so what we don't want to see is people who truly need this medication, not be able to access it because other people who are like hey, i'm going to use this to lose vital £10 and i can afford that $1000 a month so you know cost of this medication are instead taking it one thing that this may that may be fixing this is more awareness but also potentially in the pipeline and fda approval, which would grant more access all right, doctor. look, patel, thank you so much. really always great learning from you and talking with you. checking in with you again soon. thank you. the extreme

we've had with so many storms, causing lots of problems in the lake tahoe area. we'll check in with the south lake tahoe city official about how all this snow is affecting them and whether you should be visiting. we'll be right back. it's big sng . big sng features northern california's biggest selection of flooring with free samples that you can check out and a no surprise guarantees of the price. they quote is always the price you pay. and during s and g's big sale over half their flooring is up to 30% off, including cara stand up to 30% off over half their flooring. even cara stan. now that's big and g, more than carpet, carpet .com for the showroom, nearest you or to have their mobile showroom come to you. this is how chevy silverado, a new silverado hd. she was your own path, with the number one best selling retail full size pickup and see where it takes you. find

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your free sample pack with your free catalog and $45 in money saving coupons and free product samples. call 809 51 40 74 that's 809 51 40 74. public safety is something we all care about. now. our exclusive tool gives you the power to see exactly what's happening in your area. understand crime trends. check out the numbers. compare the data neighborhood safety tracker only from abc seven. what a dramatic turnaround in our drought picture one that few meteorologists could have foreseen in late september, most of california was in either a severe or extreme drought. the heart of the central valley was even in the most serious, exceptional drought. but look at us now, after all the bomb cyclones, the atmospheric rivers and endless storms, most of the state is now completely out of the drought, including the bay area. now that's the upside, but there's a downside. for like

tahoe, it means an extraordinary amount of snow and rain leading to flooding, road closures, people being snowed in and collapsed buildings. all of this is leading the normally tourist friendly region to say, do not come, and that message continues . joining us live now is the public information officer of south lake tahoe. sherry juarez. sherry, thanks for your time. hi there. good afternoon. so we set out the joint warning from your city, the chp and the forest service last week saying don't come right. don't visit if you don't have to, but let's just give you a live look from our zephyr cove camera here at lake tahoe. it seems like the storm has stopped. it's beautiful. in fact, lots of new snow but also sunny. are you still sending the message do not come for this weekend. so i think we never want to say don't come. we just during severe conditions we recommend, um you know not to travel and right now we do anticipate, um, tourists coming this weekend. second homeowners . it's just, you know to, um he cautioned to check road and

weather conditions. there's still some localized flooding, so we just want to make sure people are aware of that. also we've seen a lot of pet puddles come from this, um as a result of freedom 1000 of this yes. precipitation so it's just really watching out for that. taking it slow. um and also just being aware of your surroundings and being safe, so the message has been amended from do not come to come carefully now. is that right? am i right there? okay. okay what are your key challenges right now? i know there are many, right. we talked about. severe flooding the threat of that, and we've seen all the videos of homes with. i don't even know how the roofs can take that much snow and very wet snow. so talk about what are some of the risks and dangers that you're managing right now. so just the structural collapses . we've had 11 total so far. um, we still have building inspectors going out. just assessing. and we, um for seymour in the future, especially with second homeowners coming up. they may

go into their homes and see some issues. also there's still a heavy snow load on the roof. and so another concern is roof, shutting. and that's where those can give way at any time. and so that's another concern and safety message. you want to get out there just to stay clear of those areas around homes just so you don't get seriously injured. look i want to bring things over to the ski resorts because that is your bread and butter right? and they've gotten in past years. it was kind of like not enough snow having to make snow having to close early, having closed a lot of runs, but this year look at the mountains. this is heavenly. like tahoe. uh ample snow lots and lots of it. but i wonder when you look at all the storms and challenges getting up over. all of this has been a good season for the local economy or bad one. i think overall, um you know, having closures definitely affects the economy. but i think we're gonna belong season. a lot of resorts are going to extend out their season with this amount of snow,

so hopefully that will make up for it. that is really good to hear. what are you expecting, though? in terms of this spring as we start to phase out of winter and get into spring and maybe even summer, right are their worries that you might have now due to so much snow. i think you know with the where we're temperatures. definitely um, things you know, water movement so potential for flooding. i know that we're in a good spot right now, especially with this break with mitigating flooding by clearing dreams, but it's just how warm those temperatures will get. and how quickly um, the snow is going to melt him with this amount of snow. that's a concern and also a little later start to summer because it is gonna take a while for all of the snow to melt. that is true. but in terms of the summer pursuits up in lake tahoe, whether its voting or perhaps rafting or hiking. how did those activities? look given what we're facing here? i think as far as activities on the lake like, um is, i think emma's

close to, um at full capacity, so it's gonna be great for boating hiking. might you know in the higher elevations might be a little wet and take a little longer for, um so to melt up there, so just, you know when you, um, participating hiking up there just kind of checking out the conditions prior to going just to make sure that you can access as trails. alright cherie juarez, public information officer for south lake tahoe. thank you so much for your time and again. the message for tourists right now is come carefully. alright the best of luck. okay, thanks. some san francisco businesses are coming back to life, but it depends on the neighborhood will talk with a reporter with our media partner, the san francisco standard when we return wow, look at the pipes in this house. they're full of rust and corrosion. no wonder your showers and faucets are down to a trickle. that's a problem we can permanently fix. hi i'm pete from re pipe specialists. worse

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francisco standard, took a deep dive into the data and found that the answer is yes. and no, it just depends on which part of the city you're looking at. joining us live now to discuss his findings. san francisco standard business reporter kevin strong, kevin, thanks for joining us today. thank you for having me three years since the barrier lockdown. we stay locked down longer than most metro areas, and we have more restarts and rollbacks than other metro areas. what was the impact of all that on san francisco as a job center? well san francisco has really struggled in terms of its rankings when you compare it to other major metro areas by a lot of measures. san francisco downtown recovery sits at the bottom of the list, and that is in areas like the return of mass transit. bart being a prime example or the return of off office workers to their workplaces. i think san francisco has peaked at somewhere around 47% you can wear that to austin, which is on the other side of the spectrum. we're seeing numbers. near to

70. wow okay. and conventions to relax there, too. right um look , one measure is, of course, business openings, right? you want there to be more openings than closing, so i know you looked at data since march 2020 . when we locked down so three years, it's stunning how the different neighborhoods in the city really tell very different stories of recovery. let's go ahead and show that map. walk us through this, kevin yes, so well . let's start with some of the good news since march, 2020 if compared to, uh over the time. that is now you know, february 2023, there have been more business openings than closures . but if we look at the geographical spread, there's definitely a north south split. so essentially, you have neighborhoods like north beach like downtown. so the financial district soma um. china town, which has seen more closures than than openings, whereas

areas like bernal heights like glen park, or even the bayview have seen much more openings than closings. this up and again , green means more openings. areas in red means, you know more closures. what explains why some of those areas like financial district, chinatown, south and market have taken a bigger hit and having a harder time coming back. it all has to do really with foot traffic. um a lot of the downtown neighborhoods were reliant on this ready supply of customers and office workers and people walking around that were brought in daily, um, by their work. um now, if you don't have those, those people that engine really doesn't exist for a lot of small businesses. and conversely, we've sort of seen a spread out to the neighborhoods as neighborhoods have really recovered because folks are spending a little bit more time there because of their changing work patterns. we're seeing new neighborhood serving retail and businesses that have sprung up

to help support those people. um and interestingly, when i talked to the researcher who came up with these numbers, um this is an acceleration of a trend that had already started to kind of manifest in the pre pandemic era. it's something that she said, is probably likely to the way that downtown used to be where rents were super high vacancies were super low, just hard to do business there and what we've seen is the pandemic really pushed the gas pedal on that trend. oh, so more businesses popping up in the neighborhoods where people also live. that makes a lot of sense. um look, it's been three years of work from home or hybrid if you will, as you mentioned and emptier downtown, right? how well is the city adapting? uh that's an interesting question. in some ways, i think the city has adapted. um you know, i think hybrid has become the new normal, uh, in in the real question is how the city adapts

to that. um, although people's behaviors might have changed that still has a lot of questions, for example on the city's budget, which is facing a huge budget deficit coming into the next year. um, obviously the activity the economic activity in downtown that support small businesses. as many which are closing in those areas. um so the question is, we've seen some change now. are we adapting to that change? are we evolving to that change? that's still in process. i mean, you've been talking to cd leaders, i'm sure. what have you seen? what have they told you in terms of a policy or strategic response. so, yeah, the mayor came out ea likesion bay in soma,revive t and there are many aspects to this. some of it is talking about making it easier to convert office buildings into housing, making downtown a little bit more of a mixed use 24 7. community rather than something that it only works 9

to 5. there's some talk about, um, you know, changing the business tax structure to make it a little bit easier and lower the costs for businesses to work here, and then there's obviously some ideas around bringing pop ups or artists to enliven and make more of, you know, create more vibrancy in some of the places that have really been. lagging um, you know, one of the out of the box thinking, but i guess out of the box ideas are kind of what we need at this point. so kevin strong with the a substandard. thank you so much. it's all the time we have appreciate the conversation. thank you. you can check out kevin's story and more of the san francisco standards. other original reporting on their website as of standard .com, and we'll be right back. and welcome if you or someone you know were injured in an accident. that was not your fault. listen up. we have legal professional standing by to tell you how much your case is potentially worth. so tom, tel

the viewers watching at home who should call in right now, gina. anyone who's been injured in an accident that was not your fault should give us a call. right now. we have live agents available to answer any questions you have. they'll tell you if you have a case and how much is potentially worth. thanks tom. you heard it. folks call now moves bush with pureed nut spread and muddled berries. hate that. i love this so much well done. pb and j. out flour dusted nature's own perfectly crafted bread your fancy now it's back. march 17th at 10 a.m. airport home appliances warehouse sale event held it their product distribution center in hayward, march, 17th and 18th dramatic discounts to 70% off like top load laundry units as low as 3 99 refrigerators as low as 4 99 in stock and ready to take home. same day come see the largest appliance warehouse sale in california, march 17th and 18th airport home appliances warehouse in hayward. i wish i

was in a little bit taller. i wish i was a baller. why don't we shoot baskets with paper balls? for the same reason we play scratchers from the california lottery because little play can make your day. most important thing is you. hi, everyone. and welcome back. i'm here to remind you that if you've been injured in an accident that was not your fault. we have legal professionals standing by to tell you how much your case is potentially worth spokesman tom must in is with us in the help center. so tom, tell the viewers at home why they should call in . well gina. they should call because we have live agents available for you right now, if someone's been injured in an accident. that was not your fault. give us a call right now and find out how much your case is potentially worth. identical twins. last his mama proud. clearly the apple did not fall far from the tree. next we'll have a big winner, 27 30 only on abc seven.

thank you so much for joining us for getting answers today will be here every weekday at three. answering questions with experts from around the bay area have a great day. the tornado warning as we come on the air in dallas, reports of a tornado on the ground already in fort worth. also tonight, the pentagon releasing stunning video of those russian fighter jets, intercepting that american drone over the black sea declassified images tonight, crystal clear showing the very moment a russian pilot dumps fuel under the $30 million american reaper drone. hitting the drones propeller tonight to u. s officials now confirming that russian ships are at the scene of where that drone went down martha raddatz with late reporting. also tonight that tornado warning as we come on in dallas, right during the evening commute reports of that tornado already in fort worth all part of this powerful storm moving east, several states in the path rob marciano, timing