two tonight on kqed newsroom we speak with california's surgeon general about the states looming lockdown restrictions and how to ensure the vaccine is distributed fairly. we speak with california church leaders to be able to worship indoors during the pandemic. a question they are asking the u.s. supreme court to weigh in on. we take into unique architecture of myron's county civic center. welcome to kqed newsroom. >> the death toll from the coronavirus keeps climbing. more than 19,000 people have died in california and more di than 276,000 have nationwide.

in a move to curb the rapid rise in cases governor newsom announce strict new rules for the state. in regions where intensive care units are more than 85% of all private others will be prohibited and many businesses will have to shut down again which is expected occur throughout california this month. meanwhile there is a lot of optimism about two vaccines. start shipping before the end of the year. for now the centers for disease control and prevention nts recommended resiand employees of nursing on be the first to get vaccinated along the front line have her work with. our first gases here to talk about how to manage through thispandemic as well as her help to make sure their and is distributed in an equitable manager. joining me now isdr. your nadine burke harris. dr. thank you so much for joining us. compared to other state california has had a pretty strong culture of wearing masks

and shows chilly distancing from other. at the break of hospital here overruns? >> we are saying there is a nationwide surge that is happening. you are absolutely ght. californhave worked really hard to keep the coronavirus at bay but we are ei that with increased mixing as we have gone about our daily lives and kind of opened up a bit more that the surge is not spreading california. we are enexpeng record high rates of coronavirus. so, we need to come together to do what we have done before. which is weto that mask, watch our distance, wash our hands and stay home during thish time so we can reduce the spread. >> as you just mentioned one of the guidelines is to not gather with outside our households for

e foreseeable future. frankly, able are tired and they see some of ours date leaders as social gatherings as well. do you think it is realistic to expect that they will travel sp and that als have done all they can to maximize our surge capacity? >> it is no surprise that people are tie d go we all tired of this is been a really difficult and challenging experience and i want to acknowledge that. , at the same me, we recognize that these protective measures, they are what we do for lyr friends, our fa our community. they are our way euring that our hospital system does not overwhelmed because what we heard in the governor's press conference on thursday was that we are weeks away from overwhelming our icu capacity.

is a to the california public, it is up to each of us to be part of preventing that from happening. >> turning to the ght at the end of the tunnel here, the distribution of vaccine, you are the chair of california's communcoy advisory vaccine ittee. that is focused on eqsttable bution of this vaccine. who is on this committee and can you tell me about the concer you are hangfrom them? >> we have a wide range of workers, advocates, community representatives that are part this process of weighing in on ourvaccine distribution strategy. the entire process is grounded in the threprinciples of safety, equity and transparency. these argspublic meet members of the public can call and listen in on how these conversation are happening. wh are hearing is, as you

mention firs and foremost, issu equity. that is what we have been hearing about atrees amount. there are strong voices in that. we are also aring from our advocates ound disability rights, around labor, around r advocates our seniors. so, we really have this rich chorus of voices that are informingr decisions around vaccine distribution in >> i just want to get into the details of that a little bit. specifically in the black and brown community there has been a lot of suspicion of thit medical commbecause of historical exriments. what are you hearing from black and brown communities about thr willingness to trust this vaccine and to take it? >> what we are hearing is that there are issues of trust.

it is critically important for us to beutilizing our trusted messengers. we know that vulnerable communities, some of that this trust is well-founded by historical harms that have taken place and so it is important to be not only mindful of that but to be making effort to recognize and respond to the impact of those past harms on current perceptive. it is so important for us to y reach out through trusted messengers, through community networks to be able to ensure that our vulnerable communities, our black and brown communities can be protected by this vaccine. >> unfortunately access to testing has t been as evenly distributed as we mit have wanted it. often people with power and money have been able to get tested more frequently.

>> you are absolutely right. that is part of the reason why as lifornia has implemented our equity metric, as we are holding counties accountable for addressing increased vulnerability of certain communities we are also pairing that with resources. so, we are not just saying hey you guys have got to do it but we are not gog to give you any resources to do it. the california department of health is providing resources for our local county departments of health to be able to address the areas that have the greatest vulnerability. >> dr. birx cares where you take the vaccine as s is available to you? >> the moment it will be available, you. >> you do not have any concerns about it? safety or effica >> i think we are looking at the data. currently is still under review. california is doing its own say it to x safety review.

i deeply trust in that safety review process. the folks who are part of that safety review process e experts, they are extremely well-versed in reviewing the safety of vaccines and the minute they say that it ist sa only will i sign up to take it out when it is available i will make sure that my entire family rece. es a as we cayou are on pointed as thfoe ia's pandemic struck. how have your goals been impacted by the pandemic? >> it is a great question. coming into office when a my gn ure initiatives that i have been working on since starting was something called asis aware initiative. it is itiative to raise awareness and ain our healthcare providers to understand how stress and trauma impacts house health and how to spond with evidence- based inform trauma care. while we have been all hands on

deck with the cronut coronavirus pandemic it turns out this initiative has been more imptant than ever. because so many californians in our rinsing the to get levels of trauma and adversity. and responding th trauma informre, having a trauma informed healthcare workforce it turns out has never been more important. so, we have trained since january of 2020 more than 15,0healthcare providers on how to recognize the signs of how trauma is fecting health and how to reese with evidence- based care. all of this in the middle of a global pandemic. >> you are up pediatrician by trading a much of your work has been with childhood trauma. kids are not impacted in the same way physically in terms of the coronavirus as adults. what either what are your alncerns about their phys psychological have question mark >> well, there are significant concerns. what we are seeing is that the

reports for child maltreatment declined dramatically after the shelter in place order early in the pandemic. while that may sound like good news we know child maltreatment did not go away, it is likely just being unreported. we think about children's social and emotional development and how that is impacted by not beingwith peers, not being in school. ai these are cey big concerns. you know, some of the things that we know make a big di erence is thatwe as parents and caregivers, folks who care for young folks. my husband and i have four bs. we have a really important role in providi a safe, stable and nurturing relationship for kids.

that connection is actually the most important thing to help kidshrive during this time. >> we have learned inthe wake of natural disasters there is also a broader health toll with an increake in things strokes and heart attack as trgeon general of california how are you using that knowledge to prevent those outcomes? >> absolutely. we recognize when we have a huge disruption like a pandemicr ther natural disasters that folks have more limited access to disruption and access to their usual healthcare channels. they may have disruption to some of the resources that we used to keep ourselves healthy. like our ability to go outside and have safe places to play, employment and food and all of those things. and, this is why the office of the surgeon gened l has partneross health and human services to work to not only communicate to healthcare

system, healthcare providers. we issued an all plan a letter to all of the health plans across all of california to help raise awareness about this as an is e and infoour healthcare providers on how we can connect patients to the resources at they needto keep themselves healthy. >> how have you personally been impacted by coronavirus ? have you or any of your family members tested positive? >> unfortunately none of my faly members and i, myself and i have never tested positive. i am affectwa in the that many of us are affected. my mom has been, is not in gray hous. earlier this year hae to spend several weeks in s really grateful that there was a bed for her. ju so as any californian, just as you or anyone watchinght us tonwould want to make sure that if their own mother

or father or grandmother were l that they would be able to receive the lifesaving carein the care that my mom received in the icu earlier this year did save her life. i grateful ththat was available. the reason that was available was because of the work of all the californians who stayed home, her who warm us, who wash their hands. even when it is hard. >> california surgeon general. thank you for joining us. stomach turning now to religion. the debate isescalating over whether churches should be allowed to hold indoor services during the pandemic. back in may agripparn cali churches went before the u.s. supreme court with a plea to allow religious services to resume ago they argued that the governor's limits on how many people could worship ndors during the pandemic violated their freedom of religion. at the cold at the time the court voted to uphold the roles. saying churches should be

treated in the me fashion as the secular government go with the dition of amcomey barrett and that new court just overturned new york restrictions on indoor worship saying those restrictions do violate olit does e religious liberty. >> there taking their case to the supreme court again. number bishop hodges and archbishop of san francisco, gentlehank you both for joining. before we get into the specifics of the legal challenge before the brain court. would you please share with us what changes you would like to see to the current restrictions . archbishop i will begin with you. >> yes, wetrhave been ng to sustain our people during the time of this pandemic. we have about one half callion olics in the archdiocese of san francisco and 90 parishes

covering the west side of the bay. we would likesito see lly quality. we have been unjustly discriminated against while being lockedr out of church as well secular activities have been allowed to continue. it does protect religious practice. we will look for a quality we say indoor retail. we have shown that we can celebrate our mass safely, we haveafety recalls that a been fective. callyroven to be they prevent outbreaks. when we have been able to worship and insistr priest follow them so we can keep our people safe and we can worship indoors we do not understand why large department stores are able to operate at this certain percentage of capacity and people can be inside for two or three hours and employees are inside all day. we can keep our services to about an hour and keep our people say. >> what about south bay re

pentecostal,you seeking a 25% capacity allows? >> we are asking for no instructions to be imposed regarding numbers or percentages. we are asking that churches be allowed to operate with the least restrictions placed on al any other operationswed indoors. churches are the only enterprise in california that is being lared, actually has this constitutional guarantee, the exception clause if you will. we are notin to ask that there be no restrictions at all. if this pandemic is such an emergency that it requires restrictive than the least terprise allowed to operate r should be applied to churches. if there is a complete shutdown churches should be the last to close the first to open. churches are the most essential operation enterprise in the state of california. >> archbishop archbishop whitey

went people together inrson crismark >> the church is an assembly appeared will. it is in our nature together as the body of christ. in addition to that catholics are a sacramental trip. sacraments cannot be live stream. you cannot receive communion virtually. it has to be in person. thrr is a le we are. i do accept that the government has some authority to regulate our worship. i agree with the ship hodges it should be least restrictive unchurched. but government has no authority tell us we cannot worship. s thatnot the government's business. the government's business is to protect public health. at government does not tell us how to arrange our worship space. we need to gather togetherwe can gather together safely. the government has no authority to tell us not to. we have been and during this unjust discrimination for a

long time. we want to be cooperative, we have reduced safety protocols that work and we should be allowed to use them. >> arch bishop i understand you have safety measures in place but en it comes to communion is not that a hand tomorrow sort of contact that would be ripe for an infection to spread? >> it possibl to give communion without touching the person receiving communion whether it is in the hand or in the mouth. so, weask our communion ministers to be very careful. if they had do make contact they are told to have hand sanitizer nearby so they can sanitize their hands before they give communion to the deck. it is bra very f encounter, it is only a few seconds. e the people t close to one another for an extended period of time. study that was done on the 14 million masses that found no outbreaks in any of those mask i spoke with two of those naturalist to conduct that research.

they said there was no danger of spreading the virus if communion is given correctly. >> bishop hodges you have taken your challenge to the supreme court not once but twice. there has been positive news for you in the past ek and that the supreme coe t throughout restrictions in new york and they sent the case back in lifornia saying to at the judge they should look at it again and look at it in light of their decision in new york. you take as fra message these judicial decisions. this is a game changer. this is a game changer for churches all across erica. while these are nearly tailored and specific to the cases involved and specifically they are dealing with an emergency injunction and that is what we hadenied the and narrow five- forced lit decision was also on

our injunction. the supreme court has not yet heard any church case on its merits. y right now have assert before the supreme court asking for just that. our full case resides right now at thninth circuit they are waiting on the supreme court to decide whether they will take our server or not. it is a gamechanger. basically it signals the only significant difference between the merits or the data in our case and the case from nevada in july and the case in new york last week and the case we this in pasadena, california, the only ic signt difference is the reflection of the court. now that justice barrett s replaced justice ginsburg the complexion of the court has changed and it is a signal the r is now going to come down more on the side of religious liberty in favoring our chargers and allowing baworshipers to go to their house of worship. >> so bishop hodges which you then hope that the supreme

court would reviert other cotive causes such as right to life, row versus wade. >> certainly that is part of our moral coiction of biblical conviction. noc all of these conjoined together necessarily pick i think one step at a time. honestly the fight are fighting right now for religious liberty strikes at in america. rt of all liberties everyone in america whether you are religious or not, believe in god or not, believe in the e bi not really you should leave in the guarantee of e constitution for religious liberty. that is why our nation was founded. we are ce40brating the the mayflower compact. it was the first governing er document in a and they specifically mentioned god four times in state a are coming here to the glory of god and christian faith. f of course our constitution allows people to worship freely. that is the first of all guaranteed freedoms in the ns tution. everything follows along with

that. it is kind of like i dono effect. if we use our rhenish liberties next will be the freedom to asesmble, the freedom of freedom to redress grievances, every thing hangs on the freedom of religion. will you also be fili legal action? >> it is not something i would want to do. and i went to way and see what the district court does now that they have to re-issue their decision for this injunction. i would not take up the table but it is not really in our instinct to do that. we need to be responsible citizens and good neighbors. we do not want an advearial relationship i am hoping this cannot be worked out more amicable way. we are beginning to lose patience with this unjust discrimination esand opon

of us. yes, i agree totally with what bishop hodges said and i was thinking of a letter that the department of justice sent to the mayor here in san francievo that had more restrictive limitations in the state guidelines but had a lot of gems of wisdom in there. one in particular that stands out is worth they de the point precisely what they do hodges was making was said the constitutions on wielding pr ection of believers distinguish from places dominated by tyranny and despotism. this important to everyone in america. >> why do you think your patients migme to an end and you might file legal action quench my >> we have christmas coming up. i cannot sehas been shut out of our children churches at christmas. i want to plore whatever their what other options there are as well. it wiall depend on what the district court decides with bishop hodges what is your general response to the ending

restrictions put into place by governor newsom this week? >> we all need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. we need to practice cdc recommendations and protocols. our possession is these have to be generally applied to they cannot specific and discveminatory as they been. our churches would protocols in place. i argue that our churches have thesafest otocols of any institution in the county come in the ty come in the state. the issue is allow people to go to church under the sa or we think that are protocols and protections that what they are allowed to do in any other facet of society. let people go to cheer. if you are going to shut justin down everything has got to be shut down. if anything is going towebe alto be open churches have to be allowed to be open but we will practice safe

>> archbishop do yoe this debate is a classic conflict between church and state or faith in science? >> i see it as an unnecessary conflict between church and state. there is no conflict between faith and science if both are understood correctly. there should nobe this conflict. again, if the state treated us eqlly, digit highs hodges is feeding thinking abousafety protocols. san francisco coked faith unities to submit safety plans back in may looking forward to when they were going to reopen for worship in mee time the city approved safety operation plans for stores and they went back in at opn. we still have not heard anything back from our safety plans for our faith communities. is protocols were come up peek a wi kept safe, we can worship safely. there is no reason for this conflict >> we have a few moments left. as the leaders in the faith

committee what you want to say to californians? >> keepyour faith in god. keep going tier house of worship . let us believe in god that this pandemic is going to and that we will succeed in the and. >> stay strong and fit, stray strong in hope, stay connected with your faith community. access your faith community and sacraments says pu can. keyer alive in your home. thank you both gentlemen. >> thank you. let us take a look now something you do for. the civic center and marion county is an unusual building just signed by frank load right in the 1950s. it has received the honor of being both a california anna national historical landmark.

you can find more of our news covege on kqed/newsroom. >> from all us hereat kqed newsroom. in thank you for jous. good night.

bert: one president fight and the next one looks ahead. >> it's all gone too far. robert: t president's baseless claims spark outrage as he refuses to concede. and considers pardons. >> help is on the way. robert: put the predent-elect mostly ignores him and announces nominees to address the pandemic and the economy. on the hill, momentum gathers behind a stimulus compromise. >> the time to borrow money is when there's ad crisis. this is a crisisre >> we a not going to leave until we get something accomplished. robert: next. announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by --