tonight on kqed newsroom. coronavirus cases are on the rise. there are more infections among younger people. extract challenges facing the san francisco zo and the oakland zoo. the animals still need feeding . >> scientists are collaborating across borders to fight covid- 19. we spoke to researchers in california and in bolivi about their pioneering solution >> good evening. public alth officials hoped to see fewer coronavirus cases since it in summer. ead, the cases are on the rise. it is acro the globe, ross the nation and in california. sebeor citizens seem to the hardest hit. up the larger number of people

falling il since the beginning of july 65% the cases are between the ages of 18 and 49. joining me by skype is . domingo. thank you for joining us. >> repter: thank you. the age of affection is dropping drastically. why is this? is it related to reopening? >> that is a . great questi we see the average age of earlier in the pandemic was 65 years old. no some reports are low as 35 years old. we have seen the s ift, it gone down word. there are probably two ways to think about this.

we asked older people to stay for this type of fection. what we reopen people did stay home. went out. ounger people that they probably did two types of things, they worked, that is what we asked them to do. they also had a good two time. the reason why the younger said you can go out and help us to reopen the economy. that is why they are at risk now. >> reporter: you enforce the protection. the younger ople are not getting as sick as people that are older. they are not dying at the same rate. does this mean if you are younger, you do not need to worry? >> an important message is at

every age, everyone can be infected with the virus. ve at age, they have the possibility of having a severe course. that includes as severe course that may ad to deat we have seen death and we have seen severe cases in younger people. they do not occur as commonly as older pehele. 's the numbers game. we have many more cases in younger pele, we are also ng sethat some action of them are ending up in the hospital. some, i believe may have more severe outcomes. california even though the cases are in younger people we are seeing rise in hospitalizations. we also, i think we are seeing are rise in death. >> porter: dating this is the worst it's going to get in california? >> this is why i am optimistic on my we have to be cautious.

i am optistic is becaus california was great at the beginning of the pandemic. we were great in that bay area shutting down the economy. we sheltered in place. paid attention to all of those things. that is why we work good at flattening the curve. sh the problem is ting down was easy but opening up is hard. it is hard because we need to do our part. that inudes wearing a mask and the other things that we have to do. we have to pay close attention. right now we are in the mist of are in a delicate and dangerous time. this is the time we have to redouble our effortto get this under control. >> reporter: once we reopened it we would see more new cases. by this time hospitals 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. part of this we do not want to have an overload of cases in our hospitals like what happened inew york. even though we have had an attack! upck in hospitalizations, we are not at the critical point. we have been able to cr redistributes the state of california. we expected to see an uptick in cases but not nearly the rate of rise that we are seeing now. we have positivity break, the numb of tests that are positive that are continuing to rise across e one you. it is definitely in the danger zone. that is concerning and we do have to pay attention. i would say two things that we did not do as well. one thing is we fail to realize aswe went outside we had to treat the protections that we

in public. on that we needed the universal masking when you're out. the second area, this is something we are starting to appreciate even more is how indoor environmentsr reallywhere there is great risk. we have seen this in the retrenchment in taking that there were we can dine indoors. closing the bars, also it is importanto make surethat gatherings in someone's home or another private, indoor environment is limited to a smaller number of people. i believe santa clara just banned those types of indoor gatherings. indoor environments are particularly challenging. we are learning from the world health organization is that then virus will stay the air.

in closed environments, especiallywhen you have the mask off because you're eating 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: i want to turn to testing. you have been involved in correlating the testing in lo differentions. there was a very specific test in the mission, there will be another one in oakland. why is testing still scarce? why are the resourcenot available as they should be? >> california has done a great job of making the test available. what we see is a mismatch of where testing is here we know in the bay area and across 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 important to taketesting to their communities affected. there was fear about testing. sometimes there is concern about the cost of testing. there is fear ntact tracing and other people being involved. what we have done it in many of the studies in the missioal and in the bayview district, whate hope to in oakland is testing in the communities, in the community fair type of atmosphere. that will bring people out. we work p in partnersth community based 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 be tested. ú>> reporter: in the minutes if you were to shape your crystal ball what is the io scenhat you see playing out over the next three months?

do you think the schools will reopen? >> i think in the next three months, if i look at california i feel optimistic we are stayed that will where we can get back to where we were at the beginning ofwethe pandemic if understand and help all of us, this will require the leaders and everyone that lives in califoeiia to do part to get us under control. then i think we will have to reevaluate the state ie the e, also the state of what our sources are, can we reopened the school safely? can we reopen colleges and universities safely eight? if businesses are reopening how to ense the workers, including the low-wage s essential workerare safe when they are there. if we caget thatwe can get back to where we were>>here reporter: thank you so much dr. domingo . >> thank you. les turn to to long-

standing n.bay institut the california dues have been permitted to reopen. the oakland zoo and e san francisco zoo both remain clese. behind the scthe zoos continue to care for the animals and maintain the grounds. but the lack of visitors habe addressed a call in the budget. does zeus have received money from the paycheck protection program. the mot.y is running with those facing the possibility of closing forever. joining me by skype is thceo. we also have the ceo the sa francisco zoo, tanya peterson. >> thank you . >> ank you. >> reporter: the san francisco botanical garden had over 20,000isitors. why is ere a difference and the zoo? den >> i do not see a difference especially with the reopening

plan. all outdoor places will be open. i think we can open safely with less people and in a controlled manner. >> reporter: tell me in a nutshell how bad is the financial picture for the oakland zoo? >> it is a matter of numbers. by the enof this month we will hioe to $.2 mileft in the reserve. we have earned $1 million per month. we will use up the reserves. >> reporter: what about you dr. peterson? how is your financial picture? >> we are just a couple months behind. we have not had to use the rserve thanks to the community anmajor donors. i think there's a frustration from our donors and r

members. >> reporter: what is the hold up? what do you understand on why you are not opening? >> frankly, i have no understanding wife. once that outdoor museums would open up that we would get to reopen. we would have childcare essential workers. we are ouide. we serve the local community and the local families. i have no understanding. b i reached out to the san francisco though department of public healand asked if the san franopsco zoo would . i had a one line response. the date is still pending. i followed up on why it was pending and i have not received a response. i have not received any infoation from the alamed county of help from the oakland zoo reopening. do you have the information? are you getting redtape? >> no, alameda county health department has been very

supportive. the county supervisors have iv been suppo the state said we are in iistag if they classified as as an outdoor muse we could reopen. they are still waiting for permission to let the zoos open. how are we different from an outdoor museum? that is what we have been dealing with. it is just a stay classification. right now we are running out of reserves here >> reporter: what about for you? yoabhave not been to move forward . >> that is exactly haght. we the support of our board of supervisors. ar we have cks and other retail units open but why not

the zoo? >> reporter: i understand you are both concerned about the lack of the zoo opening and the financial tuation of the zoo. neither of you want to be vea there, you're putting the safety measures into place so when visitors come they will could you tell usabout the oakland zoo and some of that measures you have put into place? >> i am gl you asked that. it is important in no way a visit to the oakland zoo will transmit the disease. we are basing it on science.sa the science it is being transmitted person-to-pers, 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 alanyone g the pathway. you add on the requirement of sothe masks and al distancing and 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 miken r measures? >> before the shelter in place our animal staff teams were wearing masks . at that time we were concerned about transmission from animals. we have created a litimed, reservation system. you would have to have a reservation just like a restaurant to oid congestion. have a one-way path. we are opening up the entire area so there is plenty room for all of the families. >> reporter: if you cannot 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 resees 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 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 vehours to forward. i fear we will go back the old zoos ofthe past that no one wants to see again. >> reporter: what will happ to theanimals if the zoos have to be turned over to the city?

>> the city would have to find homes for them. primarily another zoo, we have 750 animals. there is no y everyone would be able to find a home. the main reason is you have certain species like a geriatric and re and you are trying to reintroduce her primate to a e oup. cial dynamics will not allow it. >> reporter: how are th animals dog now without visitors? >> the animals are thriving thanks to the animal support team. i see that they are lonely. when i walk around the primates come out imdiately. they blow me kisses. the penguins follow me. the rhinocer follow me. we provide them enrichment and curiosity.

>> reporter: thank you both so much . >> thank you. >> thank you. the coronavirus pandemic is a worldwide crisis. it is fostered increased collaboration among scientists across the globe. researcherare looking into creating low-cost ventilators, faced masks and other personal protective equipment. many of innovations arllbeing ed out around the world . this is includes bolivia. coronavirus kid that includes no electricity. they are learning new ways to work together. joining me by skype is the buyout engineer profession or mr. cosh. thank you for being onthe show.

thank you r having me. we spoke with you a couple of months ago. you are innovating new technology. would you bring up-to-date on your new mask? tell us about your ventilator prject . >> i think as we talked about last time, it has been approved in several countries in europe. i wanted to mention some wo that has gone and on facial coverings. this is our open source hardware design for a ventilator. this is a partnership between the universities across the university. it isbrown, stanford anthe university of utah. we have tried to build a ventilator that will have the medical requirements to support a covid-19 patient. we want to do it in a ntext of a global collaboration with

our manufacturing partners in kenya, india, nepal and chile. we want e to bring capacity to bring ventilators across the world in a manner that can scale as the needs are starting te rise. >> rep we have heard from some scientists. the pandemic has brought about n an ecedented scientific collaboration. can you tell us about the projects that are being worked on now? >> they have worked at communication. assessable. make sure it is support teams across the world and bringing the ideas and products to the market through the process and the specific countries. we are are on zoom calls between 10 to 15 countries on a regular basis to essentially outpace he growth at which the

virus has caught on in the reporter: i want to winter project that will allow covid project without electricity. this is been contacted in azthe region. we have this partner join us from bthivia. she is coordinator for the next foundation. thank you for being on the show. >> thank you for the invitation. >> reporter: bolivia's president nounced she hathe virus. brazil's president announced he had covid-19. can you todescribe the the viruses have another region? particully focus on the indigenous groups . >> at the moment we have more than 44,000positive 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 digenous groups wedo not know how many cases wean have. unofficial report is that we have 150 indigenous people that are sick. we have at least 30 that have died. we do not know the al said relation. they are in a remote situation. they are . ong the rive we do not have the reports. it is complicated or >> reporter: this project will hopefully bring covid testin to those regions. can you ll us more about the device? >> yes, we have been working on this idea of converting and

building an electricity free cod test. could be conducted in the middle of nowhere such as the amazon . what you are seeing is esntially a type of component that we built from parts of a toy flavhlight. webeen able to monstrate that using sets of assets that were developed by a team at harvard and in the labs, they will take it and nv ted into an electricity free test that can be performed ca saliva. thistake this to the remotest part of the world. this is where resources arno xistent. we partnered withica and her

team, we would like to ensure the test shoulde be availa matter where you live. >> reporter: can you tell us about these tests will be diagnosed? how will that research be conducted? how will it be deployed? >> in thfirst instance is to validate the test. we will look at posive samples. we will work with one of the ca labs. we will monitor that in the laboratory. we would do it in the field. we wildo it the amazon, there are leaves for indigenous groups that live nendby. deg on the local hospital. >> reporter: how is the acceptance? i have been working for many years with the indigenous people. i have been working for 12

years on different projects. there is a good acceptance. we have known ea other for many yea. this is anadvantage when you it is also good, the local p. people, the indigenous people who is riat . the experience of working there many years will help us. it will reduce the problems. the axis is restricted. >> reporter: can you tell us about the learnings, working internationally. we know you have done it on previous projects. what has this experience been you have been fighting the pandemic . >> the biggest thing that we ink about is weare trying to see how technology transfers around the wod.

all of the covid projects that we have worked on are under an open license. that will allow manufacturers and industrial partners to engage rapidly. i think to meet, the joy and of the acdelivering the science is rely neat to meet people like eric, who is been there entire life in e th communities. she understands the challenge. it has been valuable to engage early in the faces that you are seeing in this project. also, the sets of partnerships that we have created in kenya, nepal and india. we have rolled out the technology. it has been informative, many times when we do research there is a serious nature to think about how the sets of products will deployed. we have had to put that front and center. if we cannot deliver these s innovati people that need

them, i am not so sure we could actually help them. >> reporter: thank you so much for your time. >> thank you for having a or >> reporter: you can nd more of our coverage on our website on kqed.org. you can reach me on twitter, facebook and instagram. from all of us at ed , thank you for watching .

robertunder preure. on the virus and the campaign. president trump: if you look at the chart of deaths, deaths are way down. >> it's a false narrative to take comfo in a lower rate of death. robert: case numbers rise. but the president pushes schools to reopen. even as health experts express caution. >> that's the tragedy of donald trump being president today. he's exactly the wrong person to lead at this moment. robert: and the battle for the white house heats up as joe bide speaks out. and the president turns to race and culture. ne. announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by -- >>