right now at 3:00, it is time to conserve energy. a flex alert will be in effect tonight as the bay area turns up the heat again. and it's one of the biggest bay area employers, now google has one requirement for its workers before they return to the office. cases surging. more people getting hospitalized. the state now making a new recommendation in an attempt to keep you safe. we're on early because of the olympics. before we get to olympic coverage, mask up. the state health department says

you should mask up in public indoor settings even if you've been vaccinated. the move comes after the cdc made the same recommendation yesterday. the health department says more than 90% of the state's population lives in high-transmission areas. here in the bay area, three counties are under high transmission rates, according to the cdc. solano, contra costa county and alameda county. >> cdc says 46% of all counties in the united states are in a high transmission rate. that means those counties are experiencing a surge. statewide, our positivity rate is almost 6%. it's been going up every day. within the last 24 hours, 374 more people have been hospitalized. the state says that's a 10% increase from just yesterday. >> to help curb the rise in cases, president biden is expected to announce all federal

workers will be required to get fully vaccinated. two administration officials tell nbc news that federal workers will have to prove their vaccination status or submit to regular testing and mask wearing. california and new york have the same policy for state workers. the president is expected to include additional efforts and incentives to ramp up the pace of vaccinations as the delta variant continues to spread. >> not just federal workers, google is requiring employees returning to the office to be fully vaccinated, the first major tech do to make that announcement. in a memo the company ceo says getting the vaccine is the most important way to peep everyone healthy. google pushing back the date for employees to come back to october 18th. in the last hour, facebook announced it was making the same move, requiring all u.s. employees to get vaccinated before coming back to the office. what about schools and kids? in contra costa county, thousands of students returned to in-person learning today. but not everyone was in class.

>> the district says attendance was up, though, just a handful of students choosing to stick to virtual learning. nbc bay area's melissa colorado joins us when of from brentwood elementary with more. but the common theme i heard from parents was, will my child remember to keep their mask on at all times? will they remember to wash their hands frequently? even though the district is not requiring staffers and teachers to be vaccinated, the superintendent says most of them already are. and the rule here is, if there's a child present, all adults must mask up. >> how do you feel about the mask on your face, giovanni? >> it's all right to wear, it feels good. >> reporter: how did giovanni handle his first day of kindergarten at brentwood elementary? just read his shirt. >> crushing it. >> reporter: it was a return to

normal for the brentwood union school district in charge of welcoming more than 9,000 students for in-person learning. >> oh my gosh, this has been the best day i've had in a long time. there's so much joy on all of our 11 campuses. >> reporter: superintendent dana eaton says 120 students still opted for the virtual learning program. eaton says while most of the district staff is vaccinated, those who are not will not be required to test regularly. all adults must mask up when students are around. eaton says the district has a team of nurses trained to handle any potential positive case. >> last year was something that we don't want to return to, so we want to make sure we follow all the protocols. >> i know there's some of my friends that have elected to do homeschool. but you know, my husband and i are both workers to get vaxed or face te next? >> if you want to be va

>> reporter: physical distancing will only be a requirement when students are eating, so not necessarily in the classrooms. we know the district did receive some state funding to hire more counselors and to help kids adjust to in-person learning, especially help those struggling kids catch up academically. that's the latest in brentwood, melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. here's a live look from our network of cameras. a flex alert will begin in about an hour from now, because believe it or not, it's going to get hotter. here's a look at the state's energy usage. it's expected to peak around 6:00 this evening. everyone is being asked to conserve energy between the time of 4:00 and 9:00 p.m. this evening. chief meteorologist jeff ranieri tracking the heat what we can expect. we've been seeing a lot of flex alerts. >> there's a lot happening on the weather map. this smaller system moving up

the coastline helped bring in cloud cover today. the real driver of our weather is this area of high pressure over the desert southwest. the clockwise motion around this, that's bringing in the humidity and also some heat. we have some thunderstorms, but those will be contained right over the sierra. temperatures so far today, we're still warming. brentwood 102. that's their hottest. concord 97. alamo, livermore 97. st. helena 95. the next couple of hours it's going to stay scorching inland east bay. low 100s. look at this, 7:00 p.m., still 92. even by 9:00 and 10:00 tonight, we're in the 80s. we'll talk more about some cooler changes, just how much i think we'll drop off here, and when, coming up in about 10 minutes. >> okay, we look forward to that, thank you, jeff. the conditions that led to the flex alert are on the minds of firefighters who are dealing with high temps, drought conditions, stretched resources. nbc bay area's robert handa talked to cal fire and firefighters about preparations and response.

>> reporter: the conditions that lead to high fire danger might be more apparent to the public during a flex alert. but for firefighters it's a daily escalating concern. even on a hot day, local cal fire crews run drills to make sure water powers its way through the hose when needed. since january, cal fire has responded to about 300,000 incidents such as this milpitas fire yesterday. for only the third time in its history, cal fire is at preparedness level 5. >> it's that 80% of the incident management teams and 80% of fire suppression resources are on large incidents currently right now. and it's just mid-july. >> reporter: one large incident is the dixie fire. firefighters are prepared to be away from their families. >> deployed for weeks at a time. if the county decides we need to send a mutual aid strike team out to one of these assignments. >> reporter: cal fire is concerned about precious resources. >> so far, we've used over 6

million gallons of retardant, and we've used over 3.3 million gallons of water. >> reporter: for the public, it will be a relief when the flex alert is over. but for cal fire and firefighters, the alert never ends. in san jose, robert handa, nbc bay area news. our app is a great resource to stay in the know while on the go. tailor your weather forecast for your specific area. punch in your zip code and you are set. another live look outside. this time tokyo. you see the flame in the olympic cauldron burning bright as athletes continue to compete at the world stage. >> simone biles is out for now. the gymnastics superstar and defending olympic champion pulling out of another event at the tokyo olympics. biles will not compete in order to focus on her mental health. the decision comes a day after biles removed herself from the team competition. swimmer michael phelps, who has been open about his own mental health struggles, said he respects her decision.

>> we're human beings, we have emotions, we deal with things like everybody else does. but we're also literally -- the spotlight is on us, we're supposed to carry all this stuff, and it's difficult. so in my opinion, i would say we want support. >> usa gymnastics says biles will be evaluated before deciding whether to compete in next week's individual events. it's our favorite thing to track the olympics. that human drama that also goes along with the games, there's been a lot of it. >> we've had great olympic moments so far. >> high highs and lolos. low lows. we'll talk about the weather. it's been hot, a tropical storm blew through a couple of days ago. again, weather played a role in an event. the rowing venue, the lightweight double skull. it was windy. the water was choppy. look what happened as a result. that's norway's boat. it has capsized. christopher bruin and ari

stranly won bronze in rio but had to be pulled from the water by lifeguards. they got back in the shell and finished the race. something's in the air in tokyo, marriage. argentinean fencer is in the middle of the interview when her coach and boyfriend, guillermo saucedo, comes up with a sign. your spanish is better than mine, what does it say? >> "do you want to get married with me, please?" >> she said yes. but wait, there's more. german soccer player max crusa had assisted in the winning goal. during his interview he pulled off his jersey, revealing a t-shirt with a message. pretending to pull out a ring as he asked his girlfriend back home to be his wife. the message on the t-shirt is in kurdish, the language of his girlfriend. as you know, my german is better than yours, and i listened to

the interview. he said, "i love you, will you be my wife?" >> aww, so romantic. >> how sweet. >> finally, a gold medal performance in cheerleading. cameras captures nbc's hoda kotb during shanice sa lee's floor movements and doing the moves along with her. shanice saw it herself and tweeted at hoda, i love you. >> she did a good job, give her a 10 for that. >> some people remember aly raisman's parents. >> every move with her. >> and when you get so into it, so emotionally attached to these athletes, you're out there with them. >> 100%. go, team usa. thanks, those proposals were so romantic. a lot going on tonight. here's what to watch out for. cal's ryan murphy swims in the men's 200 meter backstroke semis at 7:00 on nbc bay area. 25later, stick around for stanford's regan she's going for gold in the 200 meter fly.

catch the men's water polo team led by stanford's alex bowen. they're going to try to stay undefeated, taking on italy at 10:00 on the usa network. follow our bay area athletes by heading to nbcbayarea.com. have an athlete tracker on our trending bar. a hate crime investigation in mill valley. what a security camera captured that has police involved. he is on the world stage competing in judo. tonight we look at where colton brown got his start -- right here in the bay area. we'll tell you about the pushback and confusion over the cdc new recommendations over masking. also, from tokyo, my conversation about pressure and mental health with olympic champion michael phelps.

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the 37-year-old went on an hour run but did not come home. his wallet and cell phone were found in his car in the park. a search for days, no sign of krajicek. his family didn't giving up hope. >> we believe there's a chance he made it out of the park. and if he did, we think that he will come back. he may be recovering from a physical problem or a challenge of some sort. but we're convinced that there's a good samaritan who's looking after him and taking care of him. >> the alameda county sheriff's office says the search has been one of the biggest for a missing person on the west coast. two years after a gunman opened fire at gilroy's garlic festival, the community is still gilroy strong. city leaders placed flowers on the memorial at christmas hill park, the site of the annual festival. the pandemic canceled the event last year and limited this year's food celebration to takeout. the 2019 mass shooting took

three lives and wounded 17, but also reinforce the city's strong ties. more work is needed though. >> and there remains the challenge nationwide to end violence committed with weapons that are already illegal, like the one used in this incident. >> also, to attorneys represent the families of the victims say they're suing century arms, the gun distributor they say is responsible for modifying and selling assault including the gun used at the gilroy shooting. a hate crime investigation is under way in marin county, someone who defaced a piece of art. police released this surveillance video. this man seen spray painting a social justice sculpture in front of tamalpais high school in mill valley, last tuesday around 11:00 p.m. the vandal covered the words "black lives matter" and the word "equity."

the art piece was installed last summer and moved to the front of the school a few months ago. stanford grad katie ledecky powering her way to olympic gold in the grueling women's 1,500 meters. she may have been more excited for teammate erika sullivan, wh olympic record. she held it for 16 minutes until ledecky swam and broke it. in a news conference after, ledecky, who may be the greatest woman swimmer of all time, says she understands the pressure gymnast simone biles faces and says all olympic athletes have to watch out for it. san jose's state's colton brown made it as far as round 16 in olympic judo competition. brown one of many olympians who come from the university's legendary program. >> we see the man who spent seven decades at the center of that program. >> reporter: whenever the words "united states judo" and

"olympics" occupy the same sentence, chances are san jose state will also be part of that conversation. the school's dojo at the edge of campus has turned out numerous olympians. but you can't school's judo program without talking about this man. ushida, a student at san jose state in 1940 when the athletic director asked him to become the judo coach. >> i guess he thought that i was japanese. he said, do you know judo? and i said, a little bit. >> reporter: he remembers his first day on the job, a burly marine sergeant student, unimpressed with his new coach, picked up ushida and swung him around. ushida calmly picked the man up and threw him down, to the shock of his students. >> i said, this is judo. and so started my career. >> reporter: his coaching career was briefly interrupted when he was drafted during world war ii.

while members of his family were sent to japanese internment camps. after the war, he dove back into coaching, hoping to establish judo as a competitive sport in the u.s. 1964, he took the first u.s. judo team to the olympic games. >> we were able to do something that nobody else had ever been able to do. >> reporter: some 20 olympians have risen from the san jose state program, including five-time olympian mike swain, who bron a bronze medal in the 1988 games in seoul, korea. swain, who still coaches at san jose state, says coach ushida's greatest contribution may be the skills he taught off the mat. >> discipline, respect, how to be a better person in society. >> reporter: ushida's current disciples include colton brown, who made it to the round of 16 in these tokyo games. >> and the relationships that i made there, i still have to this day.

>> reporter: at 101, ushida is still the san jose judo team's official coach. the dojo that bears his name, the trophy case, and the who's who of olympians are testimony to his 70 years of dedication, putting san jose state on of th. joe rosado jr., nbc bay area news. >> i thought he was like 70s, 80s. >> yes. >> he's 101. >> crazy. >> i'm going to take his words of wisdom. thank you so much, joe. we've got a flex alert kicking in in about 40 minutes? >> yeah, isolated heat back across the inland east bay. that's where our warmers temperatures are. we're going to continue with that heat through the next couple of hours. let's get into that microclimate forecast and put it out there, it is gross-looking on this livermore camera. we have the heat, we have the humidity, we have clouds moving in. because of that heat, it's making it quite hazy here.

it's helping to cook all the pollutants in the atmosphere. bottom like, back out in the inland east bay, you've got to remember to drink water under this kind of weather. also limit your outdoor exposure. even just a little bit of 80s at 6:00, 7:00. up holding on to some mild 70s here through 8:00, 9:00, also 10:00. let me show you what's driving this weather and bringing in the hu it's high pressure over the desert southwest. normally this is parked a little more to the east and it keeps a lot of that humidity over places like arizona and nevada. but it's moved closer towards us, so that's why the circulation around this has brought in that humidity. i see another day of this through tomorrow. also some of those clouds lingering. 7:00 a.m., those high clouds moving across, that continues into the afternoon. so it's more that filtered sunshine kind of day, just like we had through today. so pretty much a repeat as you move through tomorrow's forecast. we'll start off on the mild side

with a touch of that humidity. 66 in the south bay. peninsula at 63. tri-valley at 67. and a little bit of an ocean breeze in san francisco in the north bay will help to keep you slightly cooler and not as humid. temperatures here in the upper 50s and low 60s. daytime highs through tomorrow, once again we'll have the hottest weather closest to that source of heat. so it's back here to concord, 97. brentwood 102. livermore 98. morgan hill 95. closer to the bay numbers drop off. 86 in san jose. 83 in palo alto. san francisco right there in the 60s. if you want some relief from the heat and the humidity, i do have some changes coming in. so that area of high pressure we've been tracking, that's going to start to kick more off toward the east to make way for a cooler system once we roll into this weekend. i'm thinking a 5 to 10-degree drop in temperatures. san francisco, a minimal drop, staying the same with 60s over the next seven days. the inland valleys, that's where

i think it will be noticeable. less humidity, upper 80s to 90 as we hit this weekend. that's going to be a lot more enjoyable. tokyo real fast, we're complaining about humidity here. as we know, it's a lot worse. we'll feel like 94 as we go through thursday. look at next week. monday 100. 1 oe 101 tuesday. 102 wednesday. >> is that rain? >> thunderstorm chances, yeah. we heard from raj, he said after 10 or 15 minutes he has to go back inside, he's drenched, it's stifling out there. >> yikes. humidity and 101? it's not dry heat, it's yucky, sticky. thanks, jeff. coming up, are you planning a vacation to europe? you're in luck. what people who are fully vaccinated won't have to do once they land.

a familiar sight in high-end shopping malls, tesla showrooms. not for long. according to a report from

"electric," the shuttering showrooms, instead putting money toward delivery centers in less-expensive areas. it's a massive blow to mall owners which have struggled to hang on to tenants. vaccinated, you can travel to england next week without quarantining. currently only people who have been vaccinated in britain can skip 10 days of quarantine when arriving from most of europe or north america, but that changes monday. despite the rising number of covid cases in england. the change applies only to england. scotland, wales, and northern ireland will decide later whether they want to follow suit. coming up, we'll check in with raj in tokyo, stay tuned. it's a new day. and it's coming at you fast. it could be the day your workforce doubles... or the day your visitors quadruple. with comcast business you'll be ready... with the flexibility to control multiple

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learn more at alaskaair.com/oneworld. now to olympic eavesdropping. >> digital correspondent abby fernandez is checking in with raj throughout the olympics to see what he's up to and what he's hearing. >> look at you, you took a

picture with lydia jacobi, who won gold, she's from alaska. how fun is that? you got a picture with her. >> she is so cool. we interviewed her, she is just saying her phone's blowing true that all the text message. >> i bet. >> she's 17. she has to go back home to alaska and do her senior year of high school, how cool that is? >> lydia jacobi won gold for the women's 100 meter breaststroke. >> head to nbcbayarea.com and raj will be with us live tonight at 11:00. tonight on nbc bay area, here's what to look out for. cal's ryan murphy swims in the men's 200 meter backstroke semis. watch that at 7:00 here on nbc bay area. 25 minutes later, stick around for stanford's regan smith. she's going to be going for gold in the 200 meter fly. and then catch the men's water polo team led by stanford's alex bowen. they'll try to stay undefeated,

they're going to take on italy at 10:00. that's going to be on the usa network. >> i have fingers crossed for ryan murphy. he was with me in rio. i really want him to do well. >> yes. you have a personal connection. >> i know, i have my list of athletes. >> see you back here at 4:00. tonight, frustration and confusion over the cdc's mask guidance reversal with covid now surging in all 50 states. and breaking news. the washington nationals game postponed after 12 positive tests. the cdc defending its call for fully vaccinated people to mask up inrea of high or substantial transmission. many cities, states and businesses scrambling to adapt. other states rejecting the new guidance outright. president biden today wearing a mask outside at the white house, and now google and face