mark ghaly will lay out the details for that age-based system tomorrow. >> we've been through this before, but this time around fewer businesses are actually in business. santa clara county officials just finished answering key questions. >> reporter: yes, and this afternoon county leaders stress that covid hospitalizations are still way up in the south bay. even though some restrictions have been lifted, they say it's important that everyone remains vigilant. a sign of hope, as hundreds of restaurant owners in santa clara county reinstall tents and prepare to welcome back outdoor diners after a surprising announcement from the state. >> all regions effectively are no longer in the stay-at-home order. >> reporter: after relying on to-go orders only since early des, restaurant owners are thrilled. >> we could easily serve a couple hundred more a day. >> this is highly unanticipated. >> reporter: the state lifted the restrictions because of the availability of icu beds is expected to exceed 15%. some restrictions have been lifted for professional, collegiate and other sports. however, santa

. >> reporter: secretary mark ghaly agreed. >> so this is a perfect way to match both that experience as well as a way to support the state. >> reporter: but dr. sharon goldfarb, the president of the california association of associate degree nursing is worried it will be all talk. >> so we want it to be more than just a sound bite. yes, we like nursing students. yes, we want to see them helping out. we really want to know the details like how, what, where, when, who. >> we have some additional questions. >> reporter: so we kept pushing the california department of public health. can you slain exactly what your team has been doing to help with this, and will you make it a priority? >> reporter: the state told news an email they are looking into it. meantime, nursing programs at santa rosa junior college and deanza junior college in santa clara county are allowing students to start administering vaccines. we hope the rest of the state will follow suit. san mateo county is expected to review plans for csm's vaccination site on saturday, and if approved it will open next week. in the mea

mark ghaly concluded that cases in the post-christmas surge are lower than the post-thanksgiving surge around the 5th and 6th of january we will seeing on average 3500 new admissions for covid across the state. over the past couple days we've been in the 2500, 2600 range for new admissions. >> dr. ghaly is disappointed in the number of vaccines provided by the federal government but implied he expects a steadier supply from the new administration. california has now used over 40% of its supply, with some 1.4 million doses administered statewide. well, starting to plateau. that is the new trend in the bay area. take a look. on january 11th, we at our high point, the peak, 4800 cases in one day just in our region. take a look at january 18, just over 4,000 cases. that's a pretty good drop in one week. but in one county, cases are still on the rise. we're talking about the peninsula. san mateo county, on january 7, the county reported 742 new cases in one day, that number has actually gone up. you can see it. we reported 859 new cases. today county health department offered issued a state

mark ghaly says overall he is seeing some improvement. most bay area counties started publishing case data in march, and this graph here shows the change in total cases across ten counties in the region from march 1 through yesterday. you can see there that spike in the middle. that is in august. and then the cases began picking up again around november. >> we're here. abc7 news reporter cornell bernard live in the newsroom with a look back. hi, cornell. >> hey, larry. a year later, the pandemic is far from over. the country is still suffering from rising covid infections and deaths. here in the bay area, there is pain, but there is some hope. >> when he arrived, our country and history changed. >> reporter: this is patient one, the first known covid case in the country, treated at a hospital in washington state one year ago. about ten days later, abc7 news news reporter david louie reported on the first bay area case, a man from santa clara county who returned from china. akentral he ad fr ina, but theirus spread. there were outbreaks on

mark ghaly addressing concerns, they are getting more pharmacies, hospitals, health clinics to all work together throughout this distribution process. >>> governor newsom admits the distribution is slow but improving, take a look at this. six weeks ago, the end of december, the state was vaccinating less than 20,000 people a day. steadily improving, week after week. now about 100,000 each weekday. that's five times more. so what do the numbers look like here in the bay area? this map shows how many doses have been administered in each county, more than 200,000 in santa clara county. alameda says they have received 100,000 doses but it's not clarifying how many have been administered. contra costa county given out about 93,000 shots. san francisco, 59,000, and marin county about 23,000, raj. >>> after nearly a year of covid restrictions and precautions, the ways to protect ourselves are changing. what should we be doing now? jessica aguirre joins us now with new guidance. what do you have, jessica? ? well, raj, that guidance includes an international travel ban again. now today is the bi

health and human services secretary doctor mark ghaly says they have successfully picked up the pace in recent days. and they're also studying whether the new variants of covid-19 will have any effect on the vaccine. >>working to determine if variance similar to the uk marion has any increase in infectious mask, what its impact might be on vaccinations and in other areas of concerns. >>when coliseum it's been approved to be cut become a mass vaccination site alameda county supervisor nate miley tweeted tweeted the announcement yesterday but the alameda county public health department still must approve using the coliseum site as a vaccination center before it can begin giving out shots. the serving news out of san francisco city leaders say they could run out of vaccines by tomorrow, san francisco mayor london breed says the city and county of san francisco. the vaccine vaccinations in the vaccine is running very low at this particular time. even if the vaccine shipment arrives before then it still won't be enough. >>remaining vaccine doses are schedule for individuals to receive the

capitol bureau reporter ashley zavala explains the optimistic update from state health leader doctor mark ghaly. >>california's top health official says the rate of hospitalizations for covid-19 is beginning to decline across the state biggest signal to me. >>that things are beginning to flatten and potentially improve. as that around the 5th and 6th of january we were seeing on average 3500 new admissions for covid across the state. over the past couple of days we've been in the 252600 range in his weekly update galli said the state is starting to turn the corner from the post holiday surge. the state saw a below average number of cases reported tuesday compared to the last week along with the stabilizing covid-19 positivity rate a very encouraging sign but we're not out of the woods. >>we know there's still a lot of covid in our communities as california continues to confront the virus. the state is trying to improve its vaccination strategy. >>opening a vaccination super sites in major entertainment venues and sports. stadiums like disneyland and petco park. >>galli echoed governor newsom's

mark ghaly makes and the decision-making process, did that change or and see they are making it public for the four and week icu capacity for the first time today. >> it's true -- i actually am not privy everything going into the california dph decisions. there was some time over the weekend where it was said we can't tell you the icu numbers yet because it may not be clear. again, i think there was a little bit lack of what all went into the decision in terms of transparency on the icu. on the other hand, we have been seeing the kind of tried and true metrics that we knew about, which were cases and test positivity rates going down. it could have just been based on the latter. i'm sorry, i can't shed light on more than that. >> and if you can't, i think that's the problem. you follow it closely. how are we supposed to make sense of it? i do want to ask you, they are liftwood the stay at home orders now gone. but the restrictions under the stay-at had home and the curfew between 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., were those necessary, and data driven in your opinion, as a doctor? >> i think the

. >> reporter: secretary mark ghaly agreed. >> this is a perfect way to match both that experience as well as a way to support the state. >> reporter: dr. sharon gold far be, the president of the california association of associate degree nursing, would are eid it will be all talk. >> we want it more than a sound bite. we want to see the students helping out. we really want to know the details like how, what, where, when, who. >> reporter: we have some additional questions. so we kept pushing the california departmenake it a priority? the state told us in an email they are looking into it. meantime nursing programs at santa rosa junior college in sonoma county and deanza college are allowing students to started energy vaccines. san mateo county is expected to review plans for the site on friday. if approved, it will open next week. in the meantime, with he will stay on this story until we see results in every bay area county, pushing to get nursing students involved in vaccinations. stephanie sierra, abc7 news. >>> dozens of ucsf doctors haveg for california schools to reopen by febru

mark ghaly. >> and it's no small feat to get 2.5 million californians vaccinated in seven weeks. >> reporter: but even he admits not enough people are getting the vaccine because, in part, there is a shortage. so today dr. ghaly announced changes to the way the vaccine will be distributed. after that first group has been vaccinated, the expectation is that in mid-february these are the people who will get the vaccine. first responders, food and agriculture workers, and teachers and school staff. san francisco's school board president gabriella lopez says that gets them one step closer it reopening schools. >> just to make sure when we are in the space, they are -- there is no risk. >> reporter: here is the big change. after they are vaccinated, the tier system as we know it will basically go away and eligibility will be based on age. >> transmission rates, if they do go back up, that we create a protection, a bubble around those most vulnerable. >> reporter: we know that the virus is most deadly if you are older, but the persistent issue remains the lack of vaccines. desperate to give out th

the state's top doctor, mark ghaly, will outline the new plan tomorrow at noon. >>> all right.'s get to our weather. for your procrastinators like me, clean your rain gutters asap. it is cold across the bay area, dropping into the 30s before the incoming storm. let's bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri with the updated timeline. what does it look like, jeff? >> everything is really on track for us right now with our incoming weather, raj. i wanted to start off with a look at this kind of two-prong situation we are dealing with. we had this cold blast right now that's sitting with us and also the windy conditions that will bring near records tomorrow morning. lots of low 30s throughout the inland valleys, wind gusts on and off of 20 to 50 miles per hour into tomorrow evening as well. then we have our approaching storm out here that returns rainfall by tomorrow night, and that's going to continue those rain chances into thursday. now, our storm system, it is all about this boost of rain from this atmospheric river. it is a subtropical tap of moisture and it is just that

mark ghaly says overall he is seeing some improvement.data in march, and this graph here shows the change in total cases across ten counties in the region from march 1 through yesterday. you can see there that spike in the middle. that is in august. and then the cases began picking up again around november. >> we're here. abc7 news reporter cornell bernard live in the newsroom with a look back. hi, cornell. >> hey, larry. a year later, the pandemic is far from over. the country is still suffering from rising covid infections and deaths. here in the bay area, there is pain, but there is some hope. >> when he arrived, our country and history changed. >> reporter: this is patient one, the first known covid case in the country, treated at a hospital in washington state one year ago. about ten days late

mark ghaly reported an 5%8. hospitalizations over the last 14 days, as well as nearly 3% drop in the number of people in icu statewide over the last seven days. these positive reports are allowing the state to revise the state's hospitalization rate downward for the second half of the month. they had expected the number to go up.ta here with us, because we have a lot more coronavirus coverage copping up in the next half hour, including the progress made today on letting some bay area residents know when they can get vaccinated. >>> there is a developing news in sta windy weather has sparked multiple wildfires. now they aren't big, but some are tough to reach because of trees blocking roadways. abc7 news reporter chris nguyen is in the santa cruz mountains and spent the day on the fire lines. [ siren ] >> reporter: anxiety fills the air as some residents in santa cruz county are forced to evacuate after a series of fires teniig d >> wind, really, really hard. and also the branches, they startling wn.al f >> repor

mark ghaly. >> for the first day are seeing less than 20,000 cases reported today statewide. that's first time in a while. indeed, our hospital numbers are coming down. those icu numbers, the last number starting to come down, starting to come down as well. >> and right here in the bay area, abc7 news contributor dr. alok patel says we're on the right track. >> we should be cautiously optimistic that we're possibly reefing the end, but we headed into this recent surge from a really bad place because of all the holiday traveling. and so i think we're on the right track. people should stay motivated, but remember we still have a ways to go. >> we do. san francisco is becoming more frustrated with the state's phased allocation of covid-19 vaccines as the city fends off criticism for not moving fast enough. we now know that more vaccines are on the way, but still way below what city health system needs. abc7 news reporter lyanne melendez joins us with the latest numbers. and lyanne, plans for moving forward? >> the vaccines that will be given soon have already been allocated to t

mark ghaly says there are signs showing hospital capacity potentially improving. >> around the 5th andjanuary, we were seeing on average 3500 new admissions for covid across the state. over the past couple of days, we've been in the 2500, 2600 range. >> dr. ghaly says those numbers offer some prohat the regional stay-at-home orders14-d couple of weeks ago, but it is a smaller change than we've been seeing lately. >>> the california democratic party speaking out for the first time against a growing campaign to recall governor gavin newsom. abs news anchor liz kreutz looks at the effort that is now under way to discredit the petition drive that has more than a million signatures. >> reporter: the efforts to recall gavin newsom are gaining steam, and democratic party officials seem to know it. at a press conference, they launched a new effort aimed at discrediting the petition, saying there is a connection between the recall campaign and those who stormed the capitol. >> this recall effort, which really ought to be called the california coup is being led by right wing conspiracy theorists

mark ghaly is expected to speak at 1:30 this afternoon. we'll also get an update on covid-19 in san francisco, we'll hear from mayor london breed and director of health dr. grant koufax at 11:00 this morning. and we'll stream both of these news conferences on our website, abc7news.com and our abc 7 news app. >>> today is a turni iing point get residents vaccinated. you can get an alert for when it is time for your shot at sf.gov/vaccinenotify. the city is working with healthcare providers to administer the vaccine at safe way, walgreens and with mobile vaccinations teams. there are high volume vaccination sites in the works. the moscone center, the sf main campus. >>> 3 million doses of the covid vaccine have been received but only 40% have been administered. cdc ranks california 45th when it comes to the number of shots administered per 100,000 people. governor newsom said the state would administer 1 million vaccines in ten days. and abc 7's vaccine tracker shows california fell way short of that promise. >>> for more information about t

california health director mark ghaly will share an update at noon today. we expect the state will keep all bayrethe state's most restrictive purple tier, that's the previous color coded blueprint the state was using based on the virus' rate of spread. that purple tier means the return of outdoor dining and indoor hair and nail salons. and we saw some people rushing in the south bay to get to that dining as soon as the ered word listed. tables were filling up almost immediately after people heard the news. >> let's pump some blood into this blood line of our city. i love it. >> i came out immediately. >> we were happy to take it and run with it and we had everything ready to be set up. urgin people to be careful s because they still have one of the highest case rates in california. so keep up with the masks and social distancing. other businesses that can reopen, breweries that serve meals, outdoor museums and zoos and limited indoor retail. >>> you can see where your county stands in the reopening process on our website. this map shows you what's open and

>>california's health and human services secretary doctor mark ghali is defending his decision to lifthe stay at home orders. despite covid-19 still spreading all across the state. well business owners are understandably praising the move some people are pretty concerned that it could cause of people to let their guard down. well today doctor golly revealed the formula used to project icu capacity as a way of explaining how state officials determined that it will be safe to reopen. we would. >>use their current actual icu data. to help guide to rent a region needed to come under the order. but bad and after at least 3 weeks after the region was under the order that we would then look at projections for icu capacity for weeks out. and the reason again that is is because we know today is. kaye says become hospital cases of about 2 weeks. i see uk says 3 to 4 weeks later. >>doctor kelly also says that the decision to ban outdoor dining in the first place was largely based he says on the desire to reduce people's overall movement and mixing it up with other household. >>some good news toda