right now at 5:00, staggering numbers. covid deaths in the u.s. top anywhere else in the world. life-saving medications are running short and how hospitals are responding. >> more than just a location. turns out vaccination rates may be impacting home sales. the signs some experts are seeing in the bay area and surrounding neighborhoods. this is "today in the bay." good wednesday morning to you. thanks so much for starting your day with us. 5:00 right now. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. before you head out this morning, we're not just on television. you can catch us live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online at nbcbayarea.com. >> let's start with a look at the forecast for this wednesday morning.

kari hall is tracking high winds that continue. >> yes, it's all about the wind the past couple of days, especially yesterday when we started to have downed trees and some power outages, and that continues this morning. we're still getting pretty high wind gusts and we've seen this wind advisory continue and a high wind warning for parts of the north bay. this continues until midnight and during the meantime, we're going to see those winds picking up and reaching the peak by late morning into early in the afternoon. this is what i'm seeing right now. still 40 to 50-mile-per-hour gusts across the bay area, and especially for higher elevations we're feeling the winds gusting and that will continue. so we're going to continue to monitor that for the potential of more downed trees and power outages. i'll have another update to the forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> thank you so much. 5:01, two years into the pandemic, the u.s. covid death rate is far higher than most other nations. these numbers from johns hopkins university compare the seven-day

average since april of 2020. the u.s. far exceeds countries like france and canada. over the past week an average of more than 1,800 americans died. in france and canada it was much lower. it's mostly proportional to their lower populations. doctors in the united states are facing a new enemy in the fight against covid, a lot of medicine shortages. "today in the bay's" bob redell joins us live. why is this a problem now that we're so far into this pandemic? >> reporter: good morning, laura. doctors have the same question. one doctor said that it's infuriating and demoralizing. there's a couple of things going on. the cdc has determined that the previous go-to monoclonal antibody treatments by regeneron and eli lilly don't work on omicron patients who make up 99%

of infections. that leaves doctors scrambling for another monoclonal treatment which is in short supply. doctors are also clambering for two newly approved antiviral pills, one made by pfizer, one by merck. the pfizer pill is not yet at full production and those take six to eight months to manufacture. >> we shouldn't be dealing with such basic principles as tests and therapies three years into a pandemic. these should be issues that have been resolved. >> reporter: as a result, doctors are having to ration those medicines for the patients who are the highest risk and most vulnerable to covid infection. last month the white house indicated it was working with pfizer to speed up production of its antiviral pills. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you, bob. 5:03 this morning and some oakland teachers are staging a

hunger strike to protest the district's plan to close up to eight schools and merge five others. the protesters yesterday marched from westlake middle school to district offices. they believe the closures will unfairly affect black students. among demonstrations planned for tomorrow, the district says in part that it hopes that the staff members who actually consider the hunger strike explore other means to protest that don't involve harming themselves. happening today, a rally in san francisco to support investments for the aapi community. the rally is at 9:00 a.m. at the chinese historical society. the supervisors' resolution is to apologize for the city's racist history dating back to the 1950s. they talked about it during yesterday's lunar new year celebrations in chinatown. some day they need to think the lunar new year entirely. >> it's not just a day off for the asian american community,

but it's not chance for our country, asian or not, to learn about the holiday and the culture and the history. >> san francisco's chinese new year's parade celebrating the year of the tiger takes place february 19th. new this morning, can the covid vaccine help you sell your home? a study from zillow shows cities with higher vaccination rates is helping homes sell faster in certain areas. the study compares home sales in atlanta and in san francisco. atlanta has the lowest vaccination rate and san francisco has the highest. take a look here. so zillow says if atlanta had the same vaccination rate as san francisco, homes may sell an average of two days sooner. one zillow economist explains why the two phenomenons may be linked. >> the reason why it's having an impact on the speed of sales is it makes home transactions a little easier in places with higher vaccination rates, more open houses are taking place,

more showings per home because it's easier to interact in person in these markets. >> you can watch the entire thing on nbc lx and watch it any time on lx.com and on xfinity, channel 185 or over the air on channel 11-5. we have been dealing with strong winds across the bay area. we're taking a live look in san jose. you can see there are no clouds in the sky. you better rework your plans. i've been trying to play tennis or pickleball with my friends but it's too windy. when do we get a break? >> you'll get a break tomorrow. not today, but tomorrow will be a better day for that or any outdoor activities. we're starting out this morning with some still breezy winds, even in the north bay, in santa rosa it's right now 40 degrees and the wind coming in from the north-northwest at about 10 miles per hour. our temperatures will start to gradually warm up.

yesterday it felt colder because of the winds gusting and that's going to be the case again today. a northerly wind feels very dry. it cools you off faster. winds will be gusting at about 20 to 30 miles per hour. it may get higher as you go up in elevation. today winds at about 15 to 20 miles per hour and then starting to calm down later this afternoon into the evening. a few more hours to deal with this before we get some quieter weather conditions, and that's also when our temperatures will be heading back up. we'll talk more about that in the forecast in a few minutes. mike, chp giving a heads-up about the bridges across the bay area. >> that's right, kari. calling out the bay bridge and antioch bridge, which are moving smoothly at all. highway 84 coming through the niles area of freemont, we're

back in order. at least the freeway itself is open. a couple of ramps still have construction crews, so keep that in mind, just for the next few minutes. and a little more build out of the altamont pass. over on the right you see the yellow arrow. that's our longer drive and our slower drive, i guess, compared to all the other sensors we see. south bay through south county, and getting through the north bay as well, no major problems aside from the wind we're talking about. back to you. we've all asked this question at some point, are we saving enough money? coming up on "today in the bay," if that is a question you've been asking yourself, we're going to break down three simple steps you can take to increase your savings. >> maybe skip the starbucks. starbucks is raising prices again. i'll tell you what's behind the price hike coming up. >> will we get six more weeks of winter? the world's best-known groundhog has spoken.

his prediction ahead and what our meteorologist has to say about it.

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good wednesday morning. right now at 5:11, you can put on a hat and go. don't worry about styling your hair. take a look at this flag wving in the wind. we'll talk more about it in the

forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> maybe put on your hat, but hold onto it, too. we're looking at the golden gate bridge, and a smooth drive because the wind may be going with you or against you. look at that clear, beautiful view. it's a pretty easy drive. i've got a couple spots to point out coming up. >> good morning, and a very happy wednesday, and 2/2/22 to you. alphabet has announced a stock and it will bring google's share price down from a whopping $2,700 to $140 a share. alphabet also recorded record profits. if that stock split thing is still confusing, you can think about it as pizza. if i give you a pizza but then cut it into 20 slices, you still

have the same amount of pizza. in alphabet's case, having a lower stock price could allow it to enter the dow industrials index. there are only 30 companies on that index ever, but ibm might be on its way out, alphabet could be put in, maybe, we'll see. starbucks is paying its employees more and that means it will have to charge more for a cup of coffee. this will be the third price hike in just a few months. there were price hikes in october and january. they say the cost of materials and granting employees' sick leave contributed to the decision to raise prices. this is video of folks in san francisco trying out cruise this week. the gm company has been working on self-driving cars and has announced you can take a drive in their robot taxi. cruise also announced more than

$1 billion from a venture fund called soft bank and we've talked about softbank before. it has been showering silicon valley companies with billions and billions and billions of dollars. now, this is the guy in charge. i've compared him in the past to the monopoly man, just walking around with money streaming out of his pockets. if you would like to know more about all that money and softbank, we'll give you the basics on our podcast sand hill road. you can find it anywhere you find podcasts. now, the episode, that's an older one. this week's episode looks at investors who are investing in big scientific developments in genomics and all kinds of other omics. >> she said tell me things you'll be investing in, and she said stop right there, i'm sick

of talking about this already. you're going to make it look good and spell it omx. that was it. >> that's what a venture capitalist who gets good advice from his spouse as to what to call the company. available, again, anywhere you find your podcasts. >> easy to remember. >> thanks, scott. general motors is speeding up plans to launch its new electric vehicles that includes a new factory to build plug-in trucks as it expects a sharp rise in demand. ceo mary barra says they're targeting sales of 400,000 sales in america this year and that would be a sharp spike from last year when it sold fewer than 25,000. it turns out the best job in america pays $145,000 and has 14,000 current openings. how about this, glass door is out with its annual list of top jobs and it's based on earnings potential, overall job satisfaction and the number of

openings. once again, tech workers came out on top, enterprise architects, who actually design i.t. infrastructure is number one. it's followed by stack engineers who develop websites, apps, and data scientists. >> if your resolutions include improving your finances, experts say your credit should be front and center. guarding yourself against scams and identity theft should be a top priority. they recommend signing up for free credit monitoring. one wallet hub expert says commit to paying off your debt and think about which credit card is best for which purchases. >> say you've been saving up for a new couch or something to renovate your home and you know it's going to take a while to pay that off. that's when you use the zero percent interest card. >> most experts recommend 6 to 18 months of take-home pay set aside for emergencies.

>> good advice there. you know what is trending this morning? laura, some people out there, well, they are actually calling it trumpet day. >> they are, right? >> yeah, trumpet day. toot, toot, toot. do you remember that song? ♪ don't mess with my toot toot ♪ it's considered pretty lucky and some county clerk offices are expecting a surge in weddings. >> so what happens 20 days from now? oh, this, too, groundhog day. a short time ago in pennsylvania punxsutawney phil saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter. there you have it. hopefully we get some snow here, get some rain. we'll see. the roads are clear, though, at least right now. toot, toot, toot. think of that this afternoon at

2:22. >> i think marcus just became a meme with his move. >> i hope so. >> let's see how things are moving on the roadways. let's take a look out there. we'll get a look at the maps. green sensors dominate. i want to call out the earlier closure in freemont, great for the niles canyon drive. over here, driving through the tri-valley north 680 at bollin ger canyon the off ramp may be affected. on the left side of the freeway there's a little sensor slowing there. nothing major going on, but we'll track the roads no matter what size they are throughout the bay. an easy drive for highway 4. just off highway 4 at the bay point area there is a minor crash on surface streets. i did circle on the right the antioch bridge at highway 160, and then of course the bay bridge, 180, those both got called out by chp with regard to wind overnight and potentially throughout the morning, as kari

has been talking about the gusty winds. the drive is building a bit out of the altamont. you're clear once you pass north flynn. vasco road holding steady at 17 minutes out of contra costa county and toward 580. we'll send it back over to you. >> thank you so much, mike. >> i'm sorry, take a look at oakland. bonus look. there you go. that's for the extra money you gave me. >> $5 goes a long way these days. >> come on back in about ten minutes. coming up next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> new rules require us to pick through our trash a little bit and sort out certain stuff. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura, we'll show you how and explain when you might be fined for not doing it. this morning we are shining a light on african american pioneers in our community, including regina jackson, more

commonly known as mrs. regina. she's led the development center as its executive director where she works with youth and helps them achieve higher education. jackson is appointed by mayor staff to be the chair of the oakland police commission where she served for four years. and we are celebrating black here in the bay area. go to our streaming app to find out about a man who is taking the bicycle to many colorful places. download it on roku, apple tv or amazon. you're watching "today in the bay."

wow, take a look at this. a live look in san francisco. that flag billowing in the wind. those high wind conditions continue today. in fact, there's a wind advisory on right now. let's check in with meteorologist kari hall. >> good morning. we are still dealing with these high winds across the bay area and the wind advisory continues through tonight at midnight. also, the higher winds in the north bay still going on with some of those gusts reaching 70, 80, even close to 90 miles per hour. still really whipping in parts of the north bay, increasing our fire danger. we're going to continue to monitor for that.

our temperatures will head for the low 60s today. breezy in the south bay and feeling gusts around mount diablo. we'll see upper 50s on the peninsula. for san francisco, we're mostly in the upper 50s today, but low 60s downtown. our north bay temperatures reached the low 60s, sonoma today 63 degrees. our temperatures get warmer as the winds calm down, especially going into the weekend. we're going from highs in the low 60s for the inland valleys to upper 60s by the weekend into early next week. i'll have another update in a few minutes. >> thanks, kari. the next time you take out the papers and trash, your a se glance. >> consumer investigator chris chmura is here to break down rules for yard waste, craps, and other waste that just kicked in. >> on january 1st the state required all cities and counties

to start up programs that provide organic waste collection for things like yard trimmings and food straps. many already do. lots of houses, apartment and condo complexes have green bins. if your home doesn't, just wait. >> you should see the wins showing up within the next year. >> what about larger apartment and condo complexes? we'll get to you in a minute. local governments are required to provide green bins for curbside pickup, or let you haul away your organics yourself. it's each family's responsibility to sort through your waste. what do you put in that green bin? cal recycle says generally it's wood, paper, carpet, texttiles and other organics. the biggie is food waste. >> if you think about our food waste from eggshells to banana peels, that's what we're really focused on. 56% of the waste that we throw away right now is organic waste.

>> the state says local governments like cities and counties are responsible for specific rules and rollout throughout 2022. so be on the lookout for information from your local recycling department. >> thanks so much, chris. 5:56, the warriors young and hungry backups mounted a massive fourth-quarter comeback last night with stars out of the lineup. jump shot with 17 seconds left brought them all the way back from 17 points down. the warriors won it 124-120 for their seventh straight victory. coming up, top stories we're following today, including a stolen car with kids inside. the device that led police straight to them. >> reporter: and with less than two weeks until the state's mask mandates expire, what do doctors

say? coming up, we'll have two health professionals weigh in. oh, wow, barbara corcoran! good morning. sorry, we don't need any business help now. we're gigillionaires. what? we're gigillionaires now. i don't get it we have at&t business fiber with hyper-gig speeds. but i just... so thanks, but, we're doing great. i'm so happy for you!

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we can't predict with omicron with certainty where we're going to be in two weeks. >> right now at 5:30, california's mask mandate expires in less than two weeks. some are arguing it should stay that way. we talked to our covid experts about what may happen next. >> plus, does covid have a negative effect on woman who are breastfeeding. what a new study reveals and the one thing doctors say mothers

should continue to do. this is "today in the bay." a very good morning to you. thank you so much for starting your day with us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. to keep you up to date on what's going on, we're not only broadcasting on television, but you can catch us live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. first, the day has arrived. 2022 olympic games are officially under way and curling, laura's favorite competition, has already started. here's a live look at china's great wall and look at the excitement it brings. it is building. the torch relay kicked off with a small ceremony this morning. we have much more on the winter games coming up for you at 5:45. back here at home we want to get you started with the day and meteorologist kari hall taking a look at the forecast. the wind advisory still sticking around, kari. >> yes, it is. and we're still dealing with these high winds that are actually reaching closer to the peak and we'll see that happen

later this morning into early in the afternoon. wind advisories for all of these areas shaded in yellow and for the areas shaded in red, that is the high wind warning. as you go up in elevation, we've seen gusts at 50 to 80 miles per hour in the past 24 hours. right now our temperatures are in the mid-40s for parts of the east bay, low 50s in other spots. as you're stepping out the door in pleasant hill, still feels breezy and we've had winds in the area gusting at about 40 to 50 miles per hour. that makes it feel even cooler as we start out with mid-40s and then start to see our trend warming up. but it still will be a very gusty day. i'll be following that. we'll talk more about when the high winds will calm down and what's expected for temperatures in a few minutes. >> thank you, kari. with the state's mask mandate set to expire in two weeks, governor newsom's team is hard at work crafting new guidelines. >> and some argue maybe it's time to move on from the masking requirements.

"today in the bay's" cierra johnson live this morning. what are the experts saying? >> reporter: good morning. as you can imagine, experts are kind of split on the issue. there are some saying let's stop and think and there are some experts right here in the bay area that are saying they want to see a future without masks, specifically for those kids in school. now, one of those doctors pushing for change is a doctor right here at ucsf. she's an emergency medicine doctor jan noble. she's started a change.org petition asking state leaders to consider kids when deciding whether or not to renew the mask mandate on february 15th. >> what we would like to see is if that is not going to be extended for adults, that is also the moment in which we lift the mask mandates for our kids. >> reporter: she's specifically talking about kids in school. but for some health providers, they feel it may still be a bit early for masks to come off.

dr. peter chin-hong also with ucsf says we should continue to watch positivity rates and new variants before coming to any decisions. >> we can't predict with omicron with certainty where we're going to be in two weeks. i think that we're going to be fine, but, again, i would like to see the data before feeling perfectly confident. >> reporter: and as we reported before, some communities have already started loosening their mask requirements. some in san francisco will be allowed to go maskless in certain settings if they're vaccinated, as well as boosted. health leaders say the guidelines apply to offices, gyms, religious gatherings, as well as college classrooms. it's important to note that the location must have fewer than 100 people. the state mask mandate is expected to expire february 15th, so this is a story we'll definitely continue to follow as we have less than two weeks until the expiration date. we're live in san francisco, cierra johnson for "today in the bay."

>> thank you so much. here's reassuring news for nursing and pregnant mothers. a new study shows covid does not spread through breast milk. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez is live with good news on the pandemic front. we'll take it where we can get it, kris. >> reporter: i mean, we can only imagine what it must have been like to be pregnant or have a brand new baby during a pandemic. but at least this is just a little bit of good news for those new moms. this is a ucla study that came out showing that breast milk does not transmit covid. let's show you the methodology there. more than 100 nursing mothers gave samples of breast milk. more than half of them were positive for covid. researchers found that even in mothers who had covid and were symptomatic, there was no transmission to their babies, even in those close quarters. one of the professors of pediatrics leading the study says the findings validate an earlier smaller study, too.

>> the fact that we can find zero out of more than 50 breast milk specimens from women who were infected, being in the hospital in the intensive care unit at the time the milk was given, without finding the infectious virus, we think is very reassuring. >> reporter: the doctor says that mothers should continue to breastfeed if they are well and if they are sick they can still nurse their babies, making sure to mask up while they're in close contact or providing pumped milk to their babies, perhaps delivered by somebody else. i did ask the doctor if the babies from those mothers who had covid or who were vaccinated got some antibody protection from the breast milk, we know that happens with some other things that moms catch when the babies are still. he said it's too early to tell. this study didn't look at it. but it's too early to tell if there are enough ant bodes going

into those babies to give them full protection against covid. so certainly a lot of parents will be listening for when the availability for the littlest ones will happen. >> thank you so much, kris. 5:35, and new video this morning of a restaurant damaged in san francisco. police say vandals shattered glass in boulevard overnight on january 17th. the cost of the damage, more than $12,000. the repairs have already been made and police are investigating. now to a developing story, two young kids are now safe, thanks to apple air tag, in a car that was stolen. it happened about 7:00 p.m. last night. police say the car was stolen near the west oakland b.a.r.t. station with a toddler and infant inside. officers located it about a mile away thanks to small gps trackers. the infant and toddler were inside unhurt and were soon reunited with their mother. for the first time in more than 20 years underground

restrooms at b.a.r.t. stations are reopening. riders will be able to use the facilities at powell station in san francisco. b.a.r.t. shut down ten restrooms following the september 11th terror attacks. a toilet paper cutting ceremony starts at 11:00 this morning. the restroom at the 19th street station in oakland will reopen later this month. happening now, a burn ban now in effect in the north bay. the marin county fire chief suspended burning within the county after the national weather service put a high wind warning in place for part of the bay area and people are asked to not do agriculture and controlled burns as well as use fire pits or wood-burning stoves until the wind passes thursday morning. a live look this morning in san francisco, and you can see the wind whipping up there. the flags blowing in the wind. meteorologist kari hall has been monitoring the conditions across the bay area and we have been

seeing wind for a couple of days. >> yeah, i've been watching that same camera because it really shows how strong those winds are right now. let's take a look at some of the gusts we've had in the past couple of hours. about 48 miles in the healdsburg hills, yesterday it got up to 72 miles per hour. mount diablo still gusting at 52. looking at the freemont hills gust at 42 and 51 in the santa cruz mountains and higher elevations, we're still looking at high wind gusts throughout the morning. here we are at 1:30 this afternoon. the north bay we're seeing 41-mile-per-hour gusts and in fairfield 36. then we start to see the winds calming down a bit. we're still seeing 20 to 30-mile-per-hour gusts in san francisco and about 15 to 20 in san jose. this will be the last day we'll have to deal with this before some calmer conditions come in

tomorrow. mike, people heading out this morning need to keep a tight grip on the steering wheel, especially if they're crossing bridges. >> absolutely, kari. also delays ahead potentially for this issue, i want to warn folks because of a closure in the north bay. we talked about the tennessee street bridge over-crossing that was slated to close this week. yesterday caltrans specified it is today that it's closing. it's today the tennessee bridge closes. keep that in mind. meanwhile, the bridges we're talking about, bay bridges, antioch bridge, wind advisories because of higher winds. a smooth drive across and to all of those bridges, though. a delay developing here at south 680 into freemont, right around vargas there is a crash blocking one lane. the winds do not sound like they

played a part in this crash, but we're watching a build for 84 coming, of course, out of pleasanton and livermore. back to you. >> thanks, mike. helping seniors make it in the bay. coming up next on "today in the bay," the new housing option that will soon be available in the east bay. >> and america adds trillions of dollars to its national debt, breaking new records. we'll have the latest coming up. >> plus, the wait is over and the winter games are getting under way. we're going to introduce you to the ice-skating olympian who is already making waves and breaking barriers.

it is 5:42, and you don't have to worry about fog this morning. the wind is taking care of that. it is a very clear morning, but we're also chilly and dealing with high winds. in walnut creek it's 49 degrees and we're going to see a dreer sky continue today and the winds peaking later this morning. we'll talk more about the winds and what's ahead in the rest of our forecast coming up. >> and dealing with lower speeds as traffic builds. we're looking at a crash blocking one lane in freemont, the tri-valley impacted because there's more traffic coming out of pleasanten off of highway 84. we'll be tracking more coming up.

>> we'll check back to you. governor newsom not laying out any kind of timeline to replace the state's first surgeon general. the governor's office confirmed dr. nadine burke harris is stepping down. she was appointed in early 2019. so far, there's been no reason given for her resignation, but the governor's statement says, in part, i thank her for the impactful initiatives and framework she has put in place as california's first-ever surgeon general and we'll continue this important work to create healthier communities across the state. and we are following breaking news for you this morning after nearly two years, the washington football team has finally chosen a nickname and it was just unnamed on nbc's "today" show. the team is now going to be called the wash commanders. it follows a lengthy process to rename the team. hundreds of suggestions were recently trimmed down to just seven before the final selection was presented this morning.

later on the "today" show, craig melvin will get reaction from players and those fans. the fight against the pandemic, plus other spending means america owes more money than ever before. >> scott mcgrew, we're talking about lots of money. >> well, trillions of dollars. and people are smarter than me and have tried to illustrate just how much a trillion is. it's a thousand billion. we're talking about $30 trillion and that's how much the government owes according to the latest figures from the treasury department. it's a record national debt and the first time it's crossed $30 trillion. much of that is new spending. the debt jumped under president biden, but the budget has not been balanced for years, which creates deficits that contribute

to debt. republicans in charge, democrats in charge, it really doesn't matter, you've got deficits. president biden met with both parties on the senate judiciary committee yesterday to discuss who should be nominated to the supreme court to fill stephen breyer's seat. before he became vice president under obama, president biden was in charge of the senate judiciary committee himself. >> advise and consent, and i'm serious when i say that i want the advice of the senate as well as the consent, we can arrive on who the nominee should be. >> now, as far as the crisis in ukraine, president putin said yesterday that it was the united states that was pressuring russia to invade. that is a false claim. but it may be a way for putin not to invade and appear like he's standing up to america and our nato allies.

putin made those comments during a press conference in moscow, after meeting with hungarian leaders. putin said he hoped dialogue would continue and that's a good sign. i was thinking about something secretary of state antony blinken said last week. he said that moscow would face swift, severe and united response if it invades ukraine, which is about what you would expect from a secretary of state to say. but then yesterday the white house issued this statement, where the u.s. promised swift consequences. it's good to have a unified statement, but there's that word swift again. it may be coincidence, but swift is also the name of the communication systems that banks use around the world as they move money. if we cut russia off from swift, we would cut them off from the world economy. of all the sanctions, it is the most devastating, and the statements that both contain swift may be designed to remind russia of that.

and you thought i didn't do conspiracy theories. you can talk to me about it on twitter. you'll find me on twitter @scott mcgrew. 5:47 and east bay leaders have approved a new plan to boost housing options. the row dayio gateway apartments and contra costa supervisors approved new plans for the companion project adjacent to this one. when finished, it will offer nearly 70 new residential units for very low and low income seniors. right now there's still no timeline. so some of the early competitions for the 2022 winter olympics are getting under way today. in fact, we've got a little bit of a spoiler alert, just coming down. team usa just won its first curling match. one figure skating is waiting for his turn on the ice, team usa's nathan chen is very excited for the sport as well. >> absolutely. there's two nathan chens to talk

about this morning, the athlete and the artist. the one responsible for the jumps, the other responsible for the spins. neither can win gold alone. >> because figure skating has to be done to music, almost every single skater out there that competes at this level will be able to understand music quite well. >> nathan has almost a spiritual connection to this piece of music. you can feel it flowing out of his fingertips. >> i think when i was a kid and i started learning piano it just gave me a sense of rhythm and timing and coordination, necessary characteristics in a skater. >> wow, the choreography, the vibe, the way that he interprets his music is unlike any other. >> i'm trying to do my best to emote to the music. but i think a lot of it is unconscious. i would definitely say that artistry is also quite athletic,

from the pure basis of stamina, to be able to perform through a four-minute program with artistic drive requires a lot of athleticism, so you can figure out how to balance the two. and i think that's something you can work toward and strive toward. >> bow down to nathan chen. >> so impressive. >> i know. beautiful there. you know what? beautiful skating, and beautiful weather for beijing olympics going on right now, the winter olympics. meteorologist kari hall, of course, monitoring what's going on here and what's going on there. >> cold there. >> yeah, because you may be wondering, like what's the weather like there in china at the grounds where they're celebrating the olympics and doing all of those activities. some of them outside. well, their temperatures are usually in the mid to upper 30s. they'll see 40s and clear weather there for the next several days, and also here as we've seen a stretch of dry conditions. let's take a live look outside.

gusty winds coming through the tri-valley. you can see a lot of people up and out the door. as you're driving this morning, still pretty windy, especially as you're crossing bridges and overpasses, you want to keep a tight grip on the steering whee as we go into early in the afternoon, 30 to 40-mile-per-hour winds that start to calm down, the wind advisory expires at midnight. for the rest of the bay area, especially the hills, about 25 to 30-mile-per-hour winds for the middle of the day. once again, we can see it going down to 5 to 10 later tonight. as far as temperatures, we're starting out chilly and we only make it into the upper 50s and low 60s for today. but once the wind calms down it's going to get really cold tonight and there will be some spots in the low to mid-30s. look at santa rosa, tomorrow morning, 33 degrees. i wouldn't be surprised to see it dip to freezing. we're still looking dry as the systems pass just to the east of us, bringing snow across parts

of the rockies. for us, it's just making winds gust really high. as that moves away, we're still left with high pressure that's going to keep it sunny, but then we see temperatures going up. for our inland areas, we have highs reaching from the low to mid-60s. morning temperatures staying around 40 degrees. still no rain in the seven-day forecast. mike, you were looking at a crash in freemont. >> we're looking at south 680 at vargas. we have a crash that is slowing 84. 84 itself sees lighter traffic. the first burst coming out of pleasanton has eased up a bit. the rest of your day looking good, but the bay bridge toll plaza does have the metering lights on. still no backup as of yet. happening now for you, more helping is coming for those trying to make it in the bay. san francisco leaders have

acquired the gotham hotel and the plan is to convert the building into 114 units of housing for people exiting homelessness, all with private bathrooms. the move comes with a price tag of just under $26 million. it looks like the end of an era for the 49er faithful. coming up next in "today in the bay," a lot of signs leading to quarterback jimmy g leaving the team. the hints he's dropping and why you might say it ain't over until it's over. amid a blood shortage in california, lawmakers are working on new incentives for donations. how soon you could cash in. plus, at 6:00, the covid surge may be ending, but hospitals are still struggling. ahead in a live report, the shortages health care workers are facing while trying to treat covid patients. a lot more news ahead. it's 5:53. we'll be right back.

5:56. welcome back. you're watching "today in the bay." developing now, classes canceled at bridgewater college in virginia after a shooting on campus left two police officers dead. >> it's a story we first broke to you yesterday during our midday newscast. police say the officers were called about a suspicious person and when they confronted him, he shot the officers and then ran.

he was arrested within an hour. flags on campus will be flown at half-staff. tonga will enter a covid lockdown after cases were discovered as workers distributed aid. before now, tonga had only one confirmed covid case during the entire pandemic. the prime minister says two port workers became infected in the days since last month's volcanic eruption and tsunami. ships and planes from several countries have been delivering fresh water and medicine to tongans. crew members from japan and australia have also reported infections. the push to get more people to donate blood in southern california. one california assemblyman is introducing a bill to give a $500 tax credit to anyone who does. to qualify, they would have to donate at least four times a year. if approved, it would begin the next year. the committee is expected to pick up the measure later this month. 9ers fans, even a lot of

fans who are not all about the 9ers, they are asking the same question after sunday. has jimmy g played his last game with the team? >> if you read between the lines after his news conference, you might as well picture him on another team this fall. here's how he finished it. >> faithful, thank you very much for everything. it's been crazy, man. all the comebacks at levi's, on the road, ups and downs. it's been a hell of a ride. i love you guys. see ya. >> so let's get something straight, the 9ers are not talking about their plans for jimmy g, but they do have rookie tre lance waiting in the wings. jimmy g is saying he wants to go to a team with a chance to win. >> you know what, the 9ers are not heading to the super bowl, but it's still going on. if you're thinking of going down to l.a., be prepared to pay high prices for tickets. on ticketmaster, prices start at

$6,600 and exceed $24,000. seat geeks said the average price is about $10,000 and exclusive seats are over $50,000. experts say that one thing driving up those prices, rams fans, because they're willing to spend more since they don't have to pay for the flight and hotels, and since the game is played in rams home stadium. you can save yourself thousands of dollars, just stick around here in the bay area and watch the game for free on nbc bay area. the kickoff starts at 3:30. we're going to broadcast the olympics and super bowl all day. >> you can save a lot of money. >> quickly approaching 6:00 this morning, winds blowing across the bay area. look at this flag in san francisco. meteorologist kari hall has been tracking where it's the strongest. >> covid deaths in the u.s. topping anywhere else in the

world. life-saving medications are running short and how hospitals are responding. plus -- >> it just makes home transactions a little bit easier. >> more than just location, turns out vaccination rates may be impacting home sales. the signs that some experts are seeing in bay area neighborhoods. this is "today in the bay." and here we go, wednesday morning. thanks so much for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. if you're on the go, we're broadcasting not only to television, you can watch us on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. >> so, look, let's get you started with a look at the forecast. meteorologist kari hall, of course, tracking strong winds we were talking about. >> yeah, we're watching that midway peak of getting through this high wind event as we go through this wednesday. so we're looking at some gusty winds continuing today and the wind advisory in effect through midnight.