out sick. east bay parents and students anxiously awaiting to find out if teachers will return to school this morning. now the district is firing back. shutdown. contra costa schools being forced to temporarily close. we will show you when they head back to the classroom, after a covid outbreak. plus -- >> you get enough virus -- >> covid cases explode across the bay area and the nation.

but which tests are most reliable? doctors tell us what to do to get the most accurate results. this is "today in the bay." of course, we broadcast not only to your television but can you watch us on roku, apple, fire tv and online, nbcbayarea.com. we want to start off with vianey arana who is in for kari. we are tracking a gorgeous forecast. good morning. >> good morning. we are seeing a couple low clouds. we have a system off in the pacific right now, but we are starting off dry for the most part across the bay area. 51 degrees in san josé right now. you can see some of the low cloud cover out there. if you notice, a lot of the system is off to the north and we are talking about the eureka and redding area.

this could bring us light showers by the afternoon. so far the weekend is looking dry. as kris mentioned, we will see a nice day ahead. i will talk more about our weekend coming up in a few minutes, but let's first check in with mike and traffic. >> often times it gets more crowded this week, but not so much. we did have a report from chp of a wrong-way driver. i have heard no follow-up in the last few, and that's a concern so we're tracking that, of course. and then our maps, we will outline some areas in the next report. back to you. >> thank you. there are growing concerns about the accuracy of some covid

test results. >> that's right. we explain how you can get a more reliable result. >> at school districts like franklin mckinley and san josé, parents dropped by campuses to get test kits to return the process of getting back into class, and some are testing negative and then positive a day or so later. doctors say that's the reason why at-home kits include two test. >> you need to viral load in your nasal pass ages. >> immediately we start thinking of everywhere we have been, friends and family we may have seen. >> and then the following test

they got from the school he tested negative. they are learning the virus may be concentrated more in the back of the throat instead of the nose, so some are adjusting the way they collect the sample. >> some are testing negative with nasal problems, and then some are swabbing the back of their throat and submitting that. >> testing centers across the bay area are booked up for weeks, but if you can get a pcr test it's far more accurate at detecting an infection within a short timeframe of potential exposure, and doctors recommend you do not get a pcr test after

a few days of testing negative. >> your pcr test can stay positive for a really long time, out to 90 days. >> i would not recommend doing a pcr test to confirm you have cleared the infection. if you are going to use the test, you need to use the antigen test. now to a live look in oakland where parents and students are now concerned teachers may not show up for class this morning. oakland teachers took part in the sick-out day. the district warned a teachers' sickout could significantly disrupt the instructions, and they called it illegal. some parents are echoing that concern. >> if there's one staff member being asked to watch 90 kids because that's what is the

reality in the moment, i -- i would make the choice, most likely to pull my kids out of school. >> we asked the teachers' union for its take, and it released a statement that said in part, quote, this is not an official union action but we are urging district and state leaders to listen to the demand for better masks and more testing. happening today, west contra costa campuses are temporarily closing after positive covid cases were reported there. that means a brief return to remote learning for about 28,000 students across the bay area. classes are expected to resume on tuesday. if you want to know the covid stats for your own child's school, we have you covered. let's take a live look outside overlooking the south bay city of san josé.

the biggest city in the bay area. biggest big city. >> better than saying biggest little city. reno? >> yeah, that's reno. are we going to get rain today, vianey? >> we could see a very slight chance of light showers. no measurable rain, just a couple 100ths of an inch there. 50 degrees in walnut creek. i want to show you your current temperatures if you are heading out the door right now. we're not that cold, we're not in the 30s but in the 40s and 50s right now, so mild overall. i want to show you a closer look, again, we could see showers in the south bay but we will get clearing skies by the afternoon. let's get a check of how the roads are doing with mike? >> i am relieved the issue at the bay bridge, the wrong-way

driver is cleared without any follow-up here. we are looking at fog advisory from chp around the mission, and not showing up so much on our radar, but we have 84 with the construction and the closure, and altamont pass, and pinole they have fog off of 580. back to you. >> thank you, mike. covid already postponed the grammied and the sundance film festival. game stop getting into nfts. it's new plans to help consumers start trading in the virtual games. bay bridge toll plaza, mike is keeping an eye on the morning commute and we see it, it's pretty light here, but we will watch if things progress. you're watching "today in the bay."

it's 4:41. we're starting out with temperatures in the 50s. we do have a system in the pacific northwest that will bring us a chance of showers by the afternoon. take a look at fairfield, by about 9:00 a.m. we could see rain moving in. i'll talk about how much coming up in a few minutes. traffic on i-80 through fairfield is fine, and chp says there could be fog as you go i-80 through pinole, and we see droplets on the lens at the san

mateo bridge, and now let's check the business world with dom. good morning. i am dominic chu here at cnbc. the december report is expected to show that the u.s. economy added 422,000 jobs last night, and the unemployment falling but the survey used for that report was taken before covid cases tied to the omicron surge started to move higher in mid to late december, which disrupted, of course, airlines, businesses and schools, but if the numbers do hold it would mean that 6.5 million jobs were created last year, and that would be the biggest annual increase in employment since fdr was president in 1939. the markets pulling ahead of the jobs report today.

and then games e3 expo will not be held in person, but it will be online. the grammys and sundance film festival were both postponed this week while the consumer electronic's show is ending a day earlier than scheduled. and then game stop is get into the nonfungible tokens, cryptocurrency, and they are developing a market for those collectibles and creating crypto partnerships. it's building an online hub for buying, selling and things like collectibles, such as outfit changes and different kinds of weaponry and types of games. you have ever had a moment online or on air that could be

re-created digitally and owned on the block somewhere? i can't any if i do or not? >> no, we keep it pretty straight, clean, nothing funny here. >> i have had interesting situations. >> i think i did a dance one time mockingly in front of our wall in the studio, and it made it on the daily show one time. >> yeah, i was caught dancing on the ellen show. >> did you turn it into a boomerang type of gift? >> no. a robbery caught on camera. thieves stealing from a truck, and we'll show you the violent way it unfolded and now why one

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good morning. it's 4:47. we are monitoring a system in the pacific northwest that could bring us a chance of seeing scattered showers. very light, though. no significant rainfall. take a look at walnut creek now, it's 51 degrees. let's look at how your forecast will shape up today. we will see some south bay

showers in the afternoon, and then it will move out and we will clearing. daytime highs in the 50s for san josé, and hayward, 57. oakland, 57 degrees. san francisco, 56. as far as how much rain we are going to get, well, ukiah could see about a quarter and everywhere else we are talking about a couple 100ths of an inch. if you live north you will get rain sooner and we have seen reports of drizzle. after we get this system that passes through, here's a closer look at what to expect. looking ahead into next week, we will see foggy nights and mornings, and then sunday night we get this system that moves in, and showers offshore and then more showers might be possible by the middle of the week. i also want to give you a closer look at the improvement we have seen so far in the drought monitor condition, here's a closer look. saw a nice boost there with the addition of all of the storms

that we had. this is kind of sort of where we stand today versus last week, which is definitely a little bit of an improvement from extreme to severe and also more into the moderate category as well. over the next seven days, here's a closer look at what to expect, inland temperatures keeping in the 50s, rain, early, nice and breezy and by early saturday morning we could see patchy morning fog as well into fog by sunday. showers to the south on monday and thenmain nice. overall, a nice weekend ahead. >> thank you, vianey. new details at a deadly freeway shooting. now a $10,000 reward is available for any information leading to an arrest. a cadet was training to be a

deputy, and david van nguyen was supposed to graduate last month. a san francisco man interrupts the robbery and the thieves open fire, and it happened at golden gate heights near the inner sunset. residents no longer feel safe in their beloved neighborhood. >> you thought you live in one of the best neighborhoods in town and all of a sudden it doesn't feel safe any more. >> people in san francisco's golden gate heights on edge after thieves shot at a neighbor on 11th avenue near ortega. >> blocking the street, and i thought that was kind of rude. >> neighbors say they saw a silver car stopped in the street and then two men started stealing tools out of the truck. >> my neighbor came out and tried to video their license

plate, and he was not chasing them really hard, just following them, and that's when i heard the loud pop. >> i saw mick ducking the bullets. the shot. are you kidding me? >> residents say this neighborhood is busy at 8:15 in the morning, they are walking dogs and going to work and taking kids to school, and people here say they are relieved nobody was shot. witnesses say officers collected lots of video evidence. they say many in the area have installed cameras because of the increase in crime. >> during the pandemic, a lot of houses have been broken into, and that house has been spoke toen -- broken into. 4:51. get ready to spend your money even before you enter a popular mall, and the parking fees

getting the green light and the activity those fees are hoping to discourage. a couple just bought a 7-acre parcel of land off mission college boulevard. amazon already has smaller offices in several counties.

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get ready to pay a little more if you head to valley fair mall in the south bay as it's having a pay to park plans.

shoppers will be allowed to park for free for the first two hours, and after that it's a dollar for every hour with the maximum daily rate at $10. can you also get a monthly pass for $40. the plan goes into effect next month. the warriors start a home stand on sunday with the possibility of klay thompson finally returns to the fold and the other star veterans now nursing veterans. the warriors were missing curry and green, and new orleans came out on top of the end, and the warriors have now lost two straight games. we're not calling that a trend, though. we are counting down the days until next month's olympics. the u.s. figure skating

championships are being held in nashville. karen chen is in second place, andly yao is in third. the winner will be decided tonight after the long program, and you can watch it right here on nbc bay area. can you just tell how happy they were to be on the ice. winter olympics begin here on february 3rd. you can start listening right now wherever you get your podcast, so we prefer you wait until 7:00. >> no kidding. exactly. we have a lot going on. so great to see those skaters out on the ice as well. >> yeah, they are so excited and happy. >> yeah, get to know them more because they are representing the bay area. 4:56 right now. a lot more news on "today in the bay." teachers are calling out sick

across the bay area. we will have a live report on how it could impact a lot of kids learning for today. and then detecting the omicron variant. new advice from local experts on how to get the most reliable results. we are seeing some fog right now in the bay area. we have got some rain to our north. what this mean for us? a full forecast, coming up. moisture in the air means the possibility of mist. here in oakland, traffic looks great. we are looking at a smooth flow of traffic there, and also i checked my camera over in emeryville, and there's low clouds in the east bay. we have a couple spots that the chp has called out for fog and i'll point those out coming up.

right now at 5:00, a new covid variant unique from omicron raising new concerns overseas. we'll show you why experts so far are downplaying the concerns, plus -- >> the ctr test can stay positive for a really long time, actually out to 90 days. >> is your covid case giving you rapid and reliable results? experts break down the test to take for the most accurate information. >> teachers planning to call in sick today raising fears about staffing shortages. the message one district is sending to parents about potential disruptions.

this is "today in the bay." you know you can watch this on your tv, but if you are watching roku, amazon fire, apple tv, online, we're there, too. i am kris sanchez in for marcus washington. >> i am laura garcia. first we are checking in with vianey, and she's in for kari this morning tracking that weekend forecast. looks pretty good. >> yeah, it does. look who is back, binxie is back taking a nap on the couch. right now i have satellite radar, because you can see the line right there to the pacific northwest, and a little further up north. this could bring the potential of seeing showers, and first i want to talk about the fog and visibility. morgan hill, down to about five miles. half moon bay, six miles.

santa rosa down to about five miles.