>> tonight on kqed newsroom. s coronavirucases are on the rise. there are more infections among younger people. extract challenges facing the san francisco zoo and the oakland zoo. an the imals still need feeding . >> scientists are collerorating across boto fight covid- 19. we spoke to researchers in california and in bolivia about their pioneering solutions . >> good evening. public health officials hoped to see fewer conavirus cases since it is summer. instead, the cases are on the rise. it is across the globe, across the nation anin california. senior citizens seem to be the

hardest hit. now younger people are making up the larger number ofpeople falling ill. since the beginning 65of july of the cases are between the ages of 18 and 49. domingo. e by skype is dr. thank you for joining us. >> reporter: thank you. the age of affection is dropping drastically. why is this? is it related to reopt ing? >> tis a great question. we see the average age of earlier in the pandemic was 65 years old. now some reports are as low as 35 years old. we have seen the shift, it has gone down word there are probably two ways to

think about is. we ask older people tostay home. we said you are more at risk for this type of infection. what wreopen peopledid stay home. it was the younger people that went out. they probably did oftwo types things, they worked, that is what we asked them do. they also had a good two time. the reason why the younger people, they are the people we said you can go out and helpus to reopen the economy. that is why they are at risk now. >> reporter: you enforce the protection. the younger people e not getting as sick as people that are older. they are not dying at the same rate. does ts mean if you are younger, you do not need to worry? >> an important messe is at

every age, everyone can be infected with the virus. at every age, they have the ha possibility of ng a severe course. that includes as severe course that may lead to death. we have seen death and have seen severe cases in younger people. they do not occur as commonly older people. here's the numbers game. we have many more cases in younger people, we are also seeing that some fraction of them are ending up in the hospital. some, i believe may have more severe outcomes. it is important to know in california even though the cases are in younger people we are seeing a rise in hospitizations. we also, i think we are seeing are rise in death. >> reporter: dating this is wot t it's going to get in this is why i am optimistic

on my we have to be cautious. i am optimistic is because california was great at the beginning of the pandemic. we were great in that bay area by shutting down theconomy. we sheltered in place. we paid attention to all of those things. that is why we work good at flattening the curve. the problem is shutting down waeasy but opening up is hard. it is hard because we need to do our part. that includes wearing a sk and the other things that we have to do. we have to pay close attention. right now we are in the mist of an uptick of cases. we are in a delicate and dangerous time. this is the time we have to redouble our efforts to get this under control. >> porter: once reopened it we would see more new cases.

by this time ho itals would be able to manage more cases. why are retrenching in closing down sectors of the economy? >> that is a great question. you are correct. to have an overload of cases in our hospitals like what happened in new york. even though we have had an attack! uptick in hospitalizations, we are not cr thical point. we have been able to redistribute across the state of california. we expected to see an uptick in cases but not nearly the rate of rise that we are seeing now. number of tests that are positive that are continuing to rise across the u.one it is definitely in the danger zone. that is concerningand we do have to pay attention. i would say two thin that we did not do as well. one thing is we fail to realize as we went outside we had to

treat the protections that we got from sheltering in place from protection that we needed in public. the universal masking when you're out. the second area, this is something we are starting to appreciate even more is how indoorvironments really are where there is grea risk. we have seen this in the retrenchment in taking that there were we can dine indoors. closing the bars, also it is important to make sure that gatherings in onsos home or another private, indoor environment is limited to a smaller number of people. i believnta clara just banned those types of indoor gatherings. indoor environments are particularly challenging. we are learning from the world health organization is that the virus will stay in the air.

in closed environments, especially when you have the maskngff because you're ea or drinking that is a risky environment. that is what you are seeing by the move of most of our counties to take back indoor dining. >> reporter:rni want to to testing. you have been involved in correlating the testing in different locations. there was a very specific st in the mission, there will b another one in oakland. why is testing still scarce why arthe resources not available as they should be? >> california has done a great job of making e test available. what we see is a mismatch of where testing is here weknow california that the latin community has been hit very

hard with this virus. the african-american community has also been hit. what we have seen is that it is important to take testing to there was fear about testing. some mes there is concern about the there is fear contact tracing and other people being involved. what we have done it in many of the studies in the mission, and also in the bayview district, what we hope to do in oakland is testing in the communities, in the community fair type of atmosphere. that will bring people out. we work in partnership with community sed organization to build trust and to make sure we are following up with the people that have tested positive. that is a barrier that leaves ú>> reporter: in the last few minutes if you were to shape

your crystal ball what is the scenario that you see playing neout over the three months? do you think the schools will reopen? >> i the k in next three i months, iflook at california i feel optimistic we are stayed that will where we can get back to where we were at the beginning of the pandemic if we understand and help all of us, this will require the leaders and everyone that lives in california to do their part to t us decontrol. then i think we will have to reevaluate the state of the our resources are, can we reopened thschool safely? can we reopenllegesand universities safely eight? if businesses arreopening how to ensure the workerscl, ing the low-wage essential workers are safe when they are there. if we can get that we can get er back to whe we were here >> reporter: thank you so much dr. domingo . >> thank you.

let's turn to to long- standing bay institution. the california dues have been permitted to reopen. the oakland zoo and the san re francisco zoo both in close. behind the scenes the zoos continue to care for the animals and maintain the grounds. but the lack of visitors has been addressed a call in th budget. does zeus have received money from the paycheck protection program. the money is running out. ssibility of closing forever. joining me by skype is the ceo. we ao e have ceo of the san francisco zoo, tanya peterson. >> thank you . reporter: the san francisco botanical garden d over 20,000 visitors. why is there a difference between the botanical garden and the zoo? >> i do not see a difference

especially with the reopening plan. all outdoor places will be open. i think can open safely with less people and in a controlled rmanner. orter: tell me in a nutshell how bad is the financial picture for the oakland zoo? >> it is a matter of numbers. by the end of this month we will have to $.2 million left inhe reserve. we have earned $1 million per month. we will usup the reserves. >> reporter: what about you dr. peterson? how is yo financial picture? >> we are just a couple of months behind. we have not had to use the rserve thanks to the community and mar donors. i think there's a frustration

from our donors and our >> reporter: what isthe hold up? what do you understand on why you are not opening? >> frany, i have no understanding wife. s once that outdoor musewould open up that we would get to reopen. we would have childcare for essential workers. we are outside. we serve the local mmunity and the local families. i have no understanding. b i reached out to the san rt francisco though dent of th public heand asked if the san francisco zoo would reopen. i had a one line response. the date is still pending. i follow on why it was pending and i have not received a response. i have not received any information from the alameda county of help anom the oa zoo reopening. do you have the same lack of information? are you getting redtape?

>> no, healameda county th department has been very supportive. the county supervisors have been supportive. the state said we are in stage iii. if they classified as as an outdoor museum we could reopen. they are still waiting rmfor sion to let the zoos open. how are we different from an ? outdoor muse that is what we have been dealing with. it is just a stay classification. right now we are runninout of reserves here >> reporter: what about for you? you have not been able to move rward . that is exactly right. we have the support of our board of supervisors.

we have starbucks and other the zoo? its open but why not >> reporter: i understand you are both concerned about the lack of the zoo openinand the financial situation of the zoo. neither of you want to be a vet there, you'rputting the safety measures into ace so when visitors come they will have a safe experience. could you tell us about the mekland zoo and of that measures you have put into place? >> i am glad you asked that. rt it is imt in no way a transmit the disease. owill we arebasing it on science. the science said it is being transmitted person-to-person, primarily indoors in large groups. if you go to the san francisco zoo or the oakland zoo you will be outdoors. you will briefly pass anyone along the pathway. you add on the requirement of the masks and social distancing

d we do hansen canisters and disinfecting throughout the day, the risk of transmission at the oakland zoo, no matter how many cases are in alameda county the risk of transmission is minimal. >> reporter: what about the san francisco zoo? have you taken similar measures? >> before the shelter in place our animal staff teams were wearing masks . at that time we wereconcerned about transmission from animals. we have created a timed, online reservation system. you would have have a reservation just like a restaurant to avoid congestion. we have a one-way path. we are opening up the entire area so there is plenty of room for all of the families. >>eporter: if you nnot

reopen what will happen to the zoo? >> it is a city facility. it is a city-owned facility managed by a nonprofit organization. of our reserves would be transferred back to the city of oak and. then it would be their responsibility. >> reporter: what about san francisco? what are your thoughts about how that would happen and what the management of the zoo would look like if it was transferred to the city . >> we recognized san francisco zoo needed to improve. the mayor said politics should day out of zoos. they spent millions of dollars and hundreds of hours to move forward. i fear we will go backwards to the old zoos of the past that nt no one to see again. >> reporter: what will happen to be turned over to the city?

>> the city would have to find homes for them. primarily anothezoo, we have 750 animals. there is no way everyone would be able to find a home. the main reason is you have certain species like a geriatric and more and you are trying to reintroduce her primate to a group. the social dynamics will not lo it. animals doing now without visitors? >> the animals are thriving thanks to the animal support team. i see that they are lonely. when i lkaround the primates come out immediately. they blow me kisses. the penguillow me. the rhinoceros follow me. we provide them enrichment and

curiosity. >> reporter: thank you both so much . >> thank you. >> thank you. ise a worldwisis. it is fostered increased collaboration among scientists across the globe. researchers are looking into creating low-cost orventilat faced masks and other personal protec many of innovations are being rolled out around the world . this is includes bolivia. they're working on a coronavirus kid that includes no electricity. they are learning new ways to work togetherby joining me skype is the buyout engineer profession or

mr. cosh. thank you for being on the show. >> thank you for having me. we spoke withyou a couple of months ago. you are innovating new technology. would you bring us up-to-date on yo new mask? tell us about your ventilator prject . >> i think as we talked about last time, beenapproved in several countries in europe. wanted to mention some work that has gone and on fa al coverings. this is our open source hardware design for a ventilator. this is a partnership between the universies across the university. it is brown, stanford and the un hersity of utah. ntilator that will have the medical requirements to support a d-co19 patient. we want to do it in a context

of r nufacturing partners in kenya, india, ne bring ventilators across the ty scale as the needs are starting to rise. >> reporter: we have heard fromo scientists. the pandemic has brought about an unprecedented scientific collaboratn. can you tell about the projects that are being worked on now? >> they have worked at communication. they want to make sure it is assessable. how we support teams across thwo d and bringing the ideas and products to the market through the prthanesard e e aro between 10 to 15 countries on a s to sibar gulaessentially

outpace he growth at which the virus has caught in the global sector. >> reporter: i want to winter prect that allocovid project without electricity. this is been contacted in the amazon region. we have this partner usis the c next foundation. thank you for being on the . sh >> thank you for the invitation. president announced she has the virus. brazil's president announced he had covid-19. can you describe the told the viruses have partularly focus on the indigenous groups . >> at the moment we have more than 44,000 positive cases of covid . 1600 people have died.

we share a border with brazil. the cases are increasing. we also shared the amazon region. for the indigenous groups we do not know how many cases we have. an unofficial report is that we have 1digenous people that are sick. we have at thast 30 have died. we do not know the real said relation. they are in a remote situation. they are along the rivers. it is complicated or >> reporter: this project will hopefully bring cotesting to those regions. can you tell us more about th yes, we have been working on

this idea of converting and bu ding an electricity free covid test. could be conducted in the are se onat where such as the whsentyolly a .u aztype of component that we built from parts of a y flashltoight. ofat using tsble to seteamt ha rvard and in the labs, they will take it and nve fr thcan bestbyiva. is n takethcois to the e thresoreursts parar e t of nonexistent. we partnered with erica and her

teamweulyo u , kewolive. >> reporter: can you tell us about these tests llwibe diagnosed? how will that the research fir validate the test. we will look positive samples. we will work with one of the local labs. we will monitor that in the laboratory. we would do it in thfield. we will do it in the amazon, there are leaves for indigeus groups thatlive nearby. depending on the holocal ital. >> reporter: how is the acceptance? >> i have been working for many

years with the indigenous people. i have been working for years on different projects. there is a good ceptance. we haveknown each other for many years. this is an advantage when you work with this type of group. it is also good, the local people, the indigenous people who is at risk. the experience of working there many years will help us. it will reduce e oblems. the axis is restricted. >> reporter: can you tell us about the learnings, working internationally. we know you have done it on previousrojects. wh hatasthis experience been like for you? you have been fighting e pandemic . >> the biggest thing that we think about is we are trying to see how technology trsfers

around e world. all of the covid projects that o we have ed on an open license. that will allow manufacturer and industrirtners to engage rapidly. i think to meet, the joy and the act of delivering the sc nce is really neat to meet ic people like who is been there entire life in these she understands the challenge. o ieit unithas been valuable to g early in the faces that you are seeing in this project. ato, the sets of partpsrs technology. e d invedia. we hav it has been infomeative, many when we do research there is a serious natureto think about how the sets of products will deployed. and center. to put

if we cannot deliver these innovations to people that need them, i am not so sure if we could acally help them. >> reporter: thank you so much for your time. >> thank you for having a or >> reporter: you cafind more of our coverage on our website on kqed.org. you can reach me on boitter, fa and instagram. from all of us at kqed , thank you for watching .

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