♪ (wooh) dale gas ♪ ♪ vive en el estado dorado ♪ >> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ i'm kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers" on abc7. every day, we talk with experts

about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time. today, the silicon valley company using sand is taking a leap in creating hydrogen fuel. the ceo of bloom energy will join us a talk about the new energy hydrogen can be a part of our battle against climate change. also a new bay area documentary reveals how shelter dogs play a huge role in helping veterans overcome ptsd. the producer of "by my side" we'll talk about the film. today, a long-awaited report identifying the 12 most common lung covid symptoms. -- long covid symptoms. joining us as a long covid researcher at ucsf and one of the investigators for the nih recovery program. thank you so much for joining us today. how do you define long covid, before we jump into this conversation? >> it typically refers to

symptoms that a person experiences after a covid infection. these symptoms typically were not present before they had covid. and can continue for weeks, months or years after covid. kristen: is there a lengthy you have to hit before a doctor says, that as long covid? >> i think the consensus overall is that around three months is when people kind of sort themselves out into either experiencing improvement in their symptoms or having issues that could persist for months or years. kristen: about how many americans i've had covid you think and what percentage have long covid? >> the short answer is a lot. there was a recent study by the u.s. cdc that reported that up to 6% of americans currently have long covid symptoms. that's more than 15 million people. so quite a large number of people are affected by this and that has a big impact on

people's quality of life, ability to return to work, and ability to function within their families and among their friends. kristen: right. i understand the goal of helping those folks, the recovery team tried to provide an expanded working definition of long covid . is that to help with research? is that some put everybody on the same page with regard to language and how we talk about these things? >> absolutely. both of those things. i have been studying long covid for three years now. and one of the biggest challenges for the field and the work i do and my role as a physician is actually being able to say, this is the definition of long covid. there have been hundreds of studies that have used hundreds of different case definitions, and this has been a big barrier to achieving what we ultimately need, which is an answer as to what is actually causing the condition. so by formulating a standardized

case definition that can be used by researchers, clinicians will all be on the same page in terms of identifying people who may be experiencing long covid and then we can do a deep dive to understand the biology of what causes it. kristen: in total, how many long covid symptoms are there? >> there are hundrs of different long covid symptoms that have been repte thistu took a big step toward narrowing those symptoms down and really honing in on what symptoms are more common among people who recently had a covid infection, as compared to people who were living their lives, in the course of everyday life, many of us experience symptoms that are not related to covid. so the purpose of the study was to try to ascertain symptoms that might be more common among people who have had covid. the thought is that those symptoms are representative of long covid. kristen: without further ado, you are seeing the 12 most common symther.

walk us through those. >> i don't think a lot of these will be surprising to people, these are things that many people -- many patients with long covid has been describing for years. have been describing for years. issues with fatigue, malaise, feelg ped out or sick after any sort of physical or mental exertion. symptoms like brain fog, trouble withemy, trouble with concentration affects a lot of pele with long covid, things like dizziness,i symptoms, nausea, diarrhea, changes in appetite, heart palpitations ic can be quite debilitating escily for young people who le to exercise at ate fit and high-capacity. and then other things like chronic chest pain and chronic cough, persistent issues with smell or taste. all hlmarks of covid kristen: i don't see it on this

page b i do think it was one ofheop 12, issues with sexual desire or capacity? that is one of them? >> yeah. we have been hearing stories from our research participants really since the early days of the pandemic that many of them have had a change in their sexual function or other genitourinary issues, women experiencing issues with their periods that they never had before, that is an important part of this that is important to understand. people are often embarrassed to talk about it so would get swept under the rug. so it is encouraging to see that as one of these core symptoms that will warrant further investigation. kristen: i wonder if that symptom is due to the other symptoms like if you were not feeling good, then that leads to that loss of sexual desire or a bit is a thing on its own, i'm sure that's for you to do further studies on. i want to also talk about symptom clusters. you talk about it in that report. what does it mean and what does that reveal? >> what we can do with huge

studies like this -- -- this study was over 10,000 people participating -- is we can kind of say, i as a clinician have a feeling about how symptoms relate to each other. but a large dataset like this really allows us to see in an objective way how different symptoms might interrelate. and the reason that is important is not to say that any symptom is more important than any other symptom, but it's possible that different groupings of symptoms or actually -- are actually caused by different processes going on in our bodies. so a natural extension of this study will now be doing a deep dive into all the different patient groups that came out of the study, to see what we can identify, different biological mechanisms, different performance on different tests that will help us understand what drives those symptoms. kristen: i wonder if you've noticed whether people infected with omicron, the later stuff, experienced covid --

more or less or if symptoms are more or less severe. >> one of the findings of the study that is born out of my personal experience taking care of patients is that there are probably overall -- there's probably overall less risk of getting long covid from an omicron infection down from the delta or pre-delta infections. however, i still see plenty of people every week that have long covid related to omicron infections. so i don't want to downplay the concern. it just seems like these variants are less likely to cause long covid. doesn't mean that they won't cause it at all. kristen: what about any differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in terms of long covid? >> another really important question. we clearly see in this study confirming what has been seen in other studies that vaccination before you got covid is a really important protective factor against developing long covid. i continue to encourage all of

my patients but also my family and friends to stay up-to-date on their vaccine. that is the single best thing that a person can do to avoid getting long covid. as well as avoiding the infection altogether. kristen: now that you have come up with these expanded working definitions and the long covid and symptoms, what is the next step? are you going to do trials? >> the goal of this is to move toward figuring out how to treat long covid and how to get people to feel better, and having definitions like the one that was described in this paper are going to makmar strides tord doing that because we will be able to nowo a deep dive into the biology that symptoms and the different symptom clusters to say, it is this process, this inflammation, is clotting, this autoimmunity that causes this typof symptom, and then we can design clinical trials to say, a going to intervene on that mechanism in these people wh the hope of getting them to feel

better. that is still going to take months or years of additional work. but this is a major important first step toward that. that is e goal of all of us and that is the goal of the recovery mission. kristen: dr. michael pelus thank you so much for your time. >> thanks for having me. kristen: we will talk with the ceo of bloom energy next about how the silicon v fuel company helps to bring us closer to a clean energy future with

kristen: there is always cutting edge science going on at moffett field in mountain view but it's

not just about exploring space, it is about sustainable, clean, affordable energy. that is something a san jose fuel-cell company has been working on, delivering since it made waves on 60 minutes 13 years ago when it unveiled its energy in a refrigerator sized box. joining us live now is the founder and ceo of bloom energy to talk about a big new step that he hopes will bring us closer to a clean energy future. thanks for joining us. >> very nice to see you. happy to be with you. kristen: thank you. it's right before memorial day weekend so really glad you took the time. what does bloom energy build? >> bloom energy for the last 15 years as you pointed out has been making these bloom boxes that take a fuel into a reliable way of electricity on site so people have clean, affordable electricity. now they are taking the same process and converting it to

something new that they are super excited about. we are taking electricity that is clean, zero carbon, whether it's from solar, wind, nuclear and converting this to hydrogen. hydrogen is a big deal. kristen: explained to the layman, that would be me included, why hydrogen is a big deal. as it feel that we can use -- fuel that we can use? >> yes, it is a fuel with a quest. let me talk about that. if you are in the solar system anywhere, all energy is solar, and on the sun, that energy is created using hydrogen. so hydrogen forms the basis of all energy of the solar system. but then, on earth, hydrogen is not available in a free-form by itself. it is a simple

one in the periodic table, but is not available freely. but it is available in abundance in something we all use, which is water. water is hydrogen and oxygen. now, if you can take zero carbon energy and break the water up to hydrogen and oxygen and put that in a bottle and save that energy, and we can talk about why putting energy in a bottle is important, that hydrogen then is available for you when you need it, where you need it. kristen: so we are looking at video here is at nasa aims, where you're trying to generate hydrogen on a large scale through a project there. i want to ask you how this works, what are you doing there, what are you using? >> so, this is a full circle moment for us, right? because i started my journey trying to make more sustainable by taking solar energy on mars -- mars sustainable by taking solar

energy on mars and breaking up the molecules and greeting the fuel and energy needed on mars. then we reversed the technology to create the electricity which is the refrigerator sized bloom boxes that you talk about. now we can take the same refrigerator sized boxes and with a simple twist take the electrical energy and make hydrogen. and what you are saying there is roughly four megawatts of energy -- of electricity being used to produce 2.4 tons of hydrogen, and biggest demonstration in the world of hydrogen production using this advanced technology that is the most efficient in the world. kristen: i think a lot of people are very intrigued by this idea but usually cost is a factor, right? it is one thing to start about to bring the cost down cheap enough that it can be actually widely adopted, is that actually realistic? >> that is a great question. here's the thing --

80% of the cost of hydrogen you produce is the input electricity that goes in. so obviously the less input energy you use to break that water molecule and make the hydrogen, the cheaper it's going to be. our technology is 30% less energy hungry than any of the other technologies out there, from the legacy old technologies. so this is the superduper technology for making hydrogen with the least amount of electricity that you need, and that is why it's a big deal. now, if you look at hydrogen, right, we want to produce hydrogen -- their good for agriculture and for people to live, deserts, very hot areas, people where the wind is blowing heavily on people to want to live, but we want that

energy where we live. so you need to be able to take that renewable energy when mother nature gives it to you, bottle it, bring it to a different place, and put it. that is what we are doing with this technology. this is the biggest enabler for energy abundance in the world. i'm super excited about this opportunity here. kristen: you are talking about energy that you can put in a bottle or bring it where it is needed, where they don't have it. it reminds me of something you did during the pandemic, right? i think you put your engineers to use. first you also refurbished ventilators i think. that brought governor newsom to come visit bloom. also your provided those energy boxes to field hospitals when they opened up field hospitals. >> yes, absolutely. being able to provide energy where people need it. access and affordability, without compromising sustainability. we are all about the power of

bloom. we don't accept false compromises. when we saw that the field hospitals had to be stood up, how would you possibly want to use dirty diesel generators, putting out all that exhaust that people are grasping for breath with covid? we said, that's not right. let's go put these bloom boxes. now, if you think about the emerging world, why would they have to depend on the that are happening in countries far away for them for their energy security? so hydrogen is not only about energy abundance, it is not only about this inability -- about sustainability, but it is about giving equal access to people who need it where they needed. -- they need it. i absolutely think in the future, we are going to be a better world, because there's going to be energy abundance. kristen: wow, whether it's your technology or another company's, it is clear that green energy is

an important part of our future as we work towards a zero emission world that we quickly need to get to. the bloom energy ceo. thank you so much for joining us today. coming up next, hea through the unconditional love of a service dog. a new documentary profiles bay area veterans with ptsd and how their loyal canine companions helped. we willalk to the filmmaker of "by my 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?

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and give helpful direction to your loved ones with your final wishes. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. kristen: empowering suffering from posttraumatic stress, a new documentary called "by my side" shows the role service dogs can play in raising symptoms and helping families reclaim their lives. >> the person that left is very different than the person that came back. because now they are injured, they are wounded. some of those ones are invisible. >> i didn't understand how service dogs could help with ptsd. ♪ >> there are so many different

ways a service dog is a lifelong friend. it is tethering them to the here and the now. a reconnection to family. unconditional love. kristen: joining us live now is the san francisco filmmaker, vicki topaz. who directed and produced "by my side." thank you for having us. this project is personal for you, isn't it? >> it's very personal, yes, for a couple of reasons. kristen: tell us about it. >> my father was -- i'm the daughter of a world war ii veteran. my father came home with post-traumatic stress. however, we didn't know that because back in that time, it hadn't been identified or treated. so my childhood was always a bit puzzled for me, because i didn't understand anger and some of the other symptoms. then, several years ago, later, i am a photographer and

filmmaker, i was listening to a broadcast by terry gross on "fresh air," she was talking about service animals and ptsd. -- and ptsd, veterans. and i realized at that time that i didn't know any veterans from current wars nor did i know about ptsd or service dogs. i was finishing another photographic project. one thing led to another and i met mary court tony -- mary cortani. and for several years i have been with her there at operation freedom, photographing and interviewing veterans. as a few years went by, i started meeting the families, the kids, the spouses, and i realize that we didn't really know about them, and it was time to show the world and show our country what is happening

with these families. and that is exactly how i met the veterans that are in the film. kristen: we don't have time to go into each of those three in detail right now, people have to watch the documentary to learn more about them, but briefly, can you talk about what they were going to and how their service dogs were able to help them? >> yeah, each of them were suffering with post-traumatic stress for different reasons. and really when they kind of reached kind of the final step, you know, they learned about service dogs, they learned about operation freedom paws, and that is when things changed for them when they got partnered with a service dog and they began having a healing journey because of all of the things that service dogs are able to do for the veterans with ptsd. kristen: what is it that they do, just being them? >> for example, a service dog

can alert the veteran of an oncoming anxiety or trigger and can paw them or get their attention so they understand that is about to happen to them, so they can go sit down, they can rest. but the dog is telling them something and the dog is able through scent to smell the chemistry of the onset of anxiety, and then is trained to alert the veteran that it is time to back off from wherever they are so they take a break. kristen: that is really amazing. i have read some studies that say dogs have been more successful than medication in some situations. surely the training process, you talked about operation freedom paws, what they do, that can't be simple or cheap, right? >> well, for the veteran, there is no cost. other than they have to

attend a certain amount of classes for many months in order to be part of the organization. operation freedom paws and other several dog providers spend a lot of time fundraising so they can support this operation. and support bringing the dogs and vets together. kristen: that is what i mean, the cost, the energy, that time, what is it that you hope people take away from the film? >> i hope that for veterans and service members that see the film, that they will see there is an option that may be they don't know about -- maybe they don't know about. i hope that they see that there is hope. i hope that they see that there is help. because they are going to recognize the veterans in this family are very close probably to what they have been through, at least in terms of dealing with those trauma. kristen: how can people catch the screening?

and has not been released yet. >> the best way to reach out to us as to our website, www. bymysidedoc.com, and to click the contact button. reach out to me directly. kristen: thank you so much. we will take a short break. 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 ♪

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♪ grocery outlet bargain market ♪ kristen: ♪ ♪ >> david: breaking news as we come on the air. an 11 hour extension on debt ceiling talks. janet yellen late today issuing

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