peter chin-hong thank you. dr.h, my pleasure, soledad. >> ahead on "matter of fact," in the 1950's and 1960's, the salton sea was a major tourist attraction. until it dried up and became a health hazard. wade crowfoot: if you breathe this air, you're going to develop some type of respiratory problem. >> the rarely told story of the rise and fall of california's toxic lake. and later, meet the admiral who has served her country on all seven continents. find out what her next big assignment will be. soledad: america is increasingly running on battery power, for everything from cell phones to laptops and electric cars. as the country moves away from fossil fuels, car producers like gm, cadillac, and honda are looking for a new source of battery power. and the catalyst for that power is lithium. the salton sea, which borders the imperial valley in southern california, may hold the key to our battery powered future. researchers say the shallow, landlocked, highly-salinated body of water could be sitting on top of enough

peter hong.ou for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> what is the latest dosage of this modernity at -- vaccine for kids under six. >> it is looking at one quarter of the dose of the adults. 25 micrograms instead of 100. and if you want to compare it to pfizer, it was 1/10, 10% of the adult dose. 10 micro -- sorry -- three micrograms. a big qualitative difference. that is why they have to study three shots now and modernity is sticking to to for the time being. >> is it a three week wait in between? >> for weeks. -- four weeks. >> let's look at efficacy. a 37% among kids two to five. that doesn't sound great, does it? >> it is comparable to a lot of other vaccines and how they perform. and was not reported as the sample size wasn't big enough and the impact on hospitalization and death which was pretty big. if we change our guidepost for how we evaluate it, it's going to look very comparable to what we think as normal. in omicron, a lot of people got breakthrough infections. in the other i

peter chin hong, one of our experts from ucsf. nice to have you back. put this into context. >> it's a huge milestone, raj, and big point, even though you may be seeing cases increase in the community and further increases, this is not translating into a lot of people getting very ill, not a lot of people going to icu, and eventually not a lot of people dying. which is a disconnect from what we've seen in previous surges. numbers go up in the community, go up in the hospital. i think you're going to see a decoupling in the community versus the hospital, exactly what we're hoping for. >> last time we had you on the and i spoke to you, watching the case downtown in london and other cities a barometer for us. what is happening in london and other cities that's not happening here? is there a disconnect? >> i think what happened in london and uk is that they may have reopened too early. it's like if we reopened california a month before we actually did. there was enough circling virus, when you had highly transmissible variant come along like ba.2, that fuel

peter chen hong. hi, dr. peter. happy friday. thanks for being with us. we heard it. numbers are ticking up, 23% up in the past two weeks. is this going to be a spring surge? >> well, we'll definitely see an increase in cases. aim not sure it will qualify as a surge. it's a really, really different kind of, you know, surge per se because all the cases are going up 25% in california, going down 25% in the hospital. today at ucsf compared to 150 cases we saw in january, a day, we are tomorrow seeing about 11 cases, none of them ventilated. so it speaks to large immunity force field. whether or not we keep that up, i am crossing my fingers, but time will tell. >> that is a major difference. less hospitalizations. good news. it's going to be a busy holiday weekend. passover, easter, it's one of the first major holidays without any mandates. family and friends definitely going to get together. we will have the easter egg hunts. are there any recommendations you have? >> yes, definitely. i think you want to think about three things. with how many strategies you are going to

peter chin-hong. i mentioned a number of a few minutes ago. 15,000 new cases, around the same number we had just before the winter omicron surge. is this an indicator that a new surge is coming? >> yes, maybe an increase in cases, probably would be very different from what we've seen in previous surges. meaning that there will be decoupling, cases in the community, but not as much action in the hospital. there will be some action, but, hopefully, not as. . that will be the difference, we think, from the previous surges. >> because the variants, these subvariants, are -- they don't seem as serious, but they are highly contagious. there are two new subvariants of the subvariant which was a variant of the omicron. tell us about that. obviously, they are all related? >> yes. these are all flavors of omicron. ba.1, the original omicron. ba.2, the predominant strain in the united states right now. but then subcategories of ba.2. so it's spun off into -- they didn't name it yet. something like b 2.12 and b 2

peter hong. nice to have you back on the program. do you believe with dr. fauci, we're out of the pandemic stage? we've been saying this for two or three years now. >> well, there are few words, we're out of the pandemic phase in this country but it's still a pandemic in many parts of the world so you think, you know, possibly. i think that the number two is we're in transition so we're not quite at the destination. we have a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, we're probably at mile 800 or 900 but not quite there yet. to give you some examples of this, if a bad flu season is $60,000 deaths in the whole year, we've reached 60,000 deaths already for this year so far. so, you know, it requires an acceptable number of deaths per year and it requires predictable. we don't really have predictability because even though ba.1, ba.2, .12 .1, we're doing well with that. i'm crossing my fingers we'll also do well with the pie and sigma that may come later in the year. >> good perspective. let's localize this. are local health deputies already treating t

we're talking live with dr peter chen hong about why we should not be as concerned if we see a surge in cases. with this latest variant. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ vard cities across the country or either considering or reinstating some mask mandates. some of the country's top health officials say a surge in cases not expected to rise to the same level as previous outbreaks such as delta omicron joining us now to give us some insight as dr peter chin hong from ucsf, thanks for being with us. thanks for having me on garcia course. we got the news a few days ago here that philadelphia reinstated its mask mandate. just a couple of hours ago, we learned the cdc plans to extend the nationwide mask requirement for public transit by two weeks. this can feel alarming, but how should we read these decisions? i think we should think about the difference between what's going on in the community and what's going on in the hospital. why is that important? that's important because hospitalizations our measure of how sick it's making us as a community. if a hospitals are doing okay. i think we're going to do

peter chin-hong, we appreciate it. dr. chin-hong: my pleasure, thank you. kr kristen: muni has not made it mask optional despite the federal ruling yesterday. that is one of the topics we have to discuss with san franciso mayor london breed today. thank you for your time. mayor breed: thanks for having me. >> you can hear her just fine? ok. we understand the bay area transit agencies met today and decided to remain in a holding pattern, that is wait for state and federal guidance before making an announcement to officially make masking optional but not really enforcing rules in the meantime. but muni is strict. talk to us about what you hope will happen. mayor breed: right now we are still imposing the mask mandate on transit here in san francisco. we know that cases are going up, but we aren't seeing hospitalizations go up. so we are happy about that. ultimately, i know that people are anxious to take those masks off and we are hopeful that in the near future, muni will make the decision to do that. it is still in place, but i think we're almost there. kri

peter chin-hong said it would be safer. >> easier to protect the public with everyone wearing masks attime. not indefinitely but given how dynamic the numbers are looking right now, not sure where it's going. >> reporter: the state's public health director says we continue to monitor federal action and will announce additional changes to state policies as needed. but tonight it's up to passengers if they want to mask up. south bay, ian cull, nbc bay area news. >>> happening tomorrow, not one but two high profile political visits to the bay area. vice president kamala harris in san francisco. among stops, ucsf to continue efforts to address maternal health. tour a health care facility, visit with expecting families and talk about the maternal health crisis. last time she visited was september when she campaigned for governor newsom in the recall effort. former president obama will be at stanford to deliver a speech about the way we create and consume information and how it threatens democracy. cohosted by cyber policy center, stanford and a foundation. we'll have coverage on air and onl

peter chin hong, thank you so much for joining us, really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on, audrey. >> the mask mandate is still necessary to protect public health. do you agree with that in. >> yes, i definitely agree with it. i think it is easier to protect the public with everyone wearing masks at this time. i am not saying it is something we need to do in definitely. i think right now given the dynamics of the numbers are looking, we are not sure where it is going. it is crucial why we got more data, at least for two weeks to figure out what the numbers looked like. new york, more than 100% increase and puerto rico, more than 200% increase. california, 25% increase, not so bad but still dynamic and we are not sure where things are going. >> of course, there is disagreements even among infectious disease experts whether mask mandate actually works. what's your take on this? >> i think it is hard to look at the data because we only wear masks in isolation. it is a layer approach, it is vaccines, plus masks and ventilation and all the strategies. it is so easy and so straig

peter chin hong. appreciate your time tonight. >> thanks at lot, raj. >> you got it. >>> something we like to see, fresh snow in tahoe in april. our snowpack is alarmingly low. we'll be joined by our sierra snow whisperer to talk about the conditions and what it means for business. you're watching nbc pay area news tonight. large out-of-state corporations have set their sights on california. they've written a ballot proposal to allow online sports betting. they tell us it will fund programs for the homeless, but read the fine print. 90% of the profits go to out-of-state corporations, leaving almost nothing for the homeless. no real jobs are created here. but the promise between our state and our sovereign tribes would be broken forever. these out-of-state corporations don't care about california. but we do. stand with us. are you looking to renovate your kitchen or bathroom? i'm mike holmes here with ivan from agm renovations thanks mike! too often, homeowners hire the wrong contractor. ivan, i see th

peter chin hong. >> i think we're moved by the stories of lots of people getting it. for example i haven't gotten infected and don't want to get infected if i can help it. doesn't mean i don't engage with life enthusiastically. i'm not walling myself at home, but when i go out, i try to reduce my risk. >> dr. chin-hong says mild symptoms can even cause you to miss work or five to ten days. and some vaccinated and boosted people are still getting it. covid accounts for more than 13% of all people who died last year. >>> despite the rising number of cases, oakland public schools are moving forward without masks. starting today, the mandate is changing to a strong recommendation, but if a student or staff member tests positive, the district will require masks to be worn inside again. oakland unified was the largest district to keep its mask policy even after the state changed its rules. >>> 4:38 for you this morning. are you feeling relief at the pump? next on "today in the bay," experts say that gas prices are not expected to go any lower, any time soon. >>> plus return

peter chin hong says the recent reopening of large segments of the economy could be another reason, butg drop in the bucket to what we saw a few months ago. >> we were a few thousand cases a day in january, and now we are talking about a couple hundred per day in the bay area. >> reporter: what doctors are seeing in hospitals is also important. >> we see cases in the community, not much in the hospital. and eerie silence. >> reporter: and covid detection continues to be flat in the water. the combination of rising booster rates are overall enough to keep hospitalizations low. right now more people are eligible for a second booster or rather the fourth shot. and when they get it is also something they should be keeping an eye on. dr. rutherford said people should be strategic. >> i am going to be in europe and africa in early june. so i would get my booster in may. so it would cover that part of my, you know, those are the exposures that i might have on those trips. >> reporter: in san francisco, sergio quintana. >>> let's take a look outside, our live, exclusive ballpark cam at oracle p

it's up to each school district for now, dr peter chen hong at ucsf, and that there's less urgency nowme when these bills were introduced, i think we didn't really know where we're going. but right now, i think with successive ways of infection, high vaccination rates in the community in general and even booster rates. with the hustles being preserved kids in school not being hospitalized at a high rate, there's time to wait for the full, uh, regular process occur. right now. pfizer's covid-19 vaccine is fully approved for ages 16 and older and there's only an emergency authorization in place for kids ages. 5 to 15 , california public health is waiting on is when the vaccine will get full approval. california public health hopes to move forward with the school vaccine mandate by july 2023 dr peter chin hong believes that the full approval could come from the fda. as soon as by the end of this summer, reporting live in oakland, emma gauss, ktvu fox two news. thank you, emma. later today, we're expecting some more details from the oakland unified school district on what their plan will b

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this is peter chen hong. this weekend and particular gatherings are up. we have easter, passover ramadan, and coachella if music is your religion. people are going to come together. as far as case rates they are about 25%. it sounds like a lot in the place like the bay area but right now that translates into a couple hundred new cases each day. you have to remember there was a time when we were seeing 20,000 cases a day. so bumpy in the numbers but not spiking. be careful. >> let's turn from the state of affairs of for all of us to one particular individual. there have been concerns for some time about the health of senator dianne feinstein. she is our senior senator here in california. joe, we have been hearinsome time that her health degrading but colleagues of hers and congress are seeing they are very concerned about her mental acuity at this point. >> yes. six i did the story with tall coping. we have four senators and three of them democrats. these are colleagues and many of them friends of dianne feinstein. and three former staffers and one number

. >> well, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong says health experts will continue to monitor the sub variant spread. coming up on the kron 4 morning news. the deadly shooting in sacramento over the weekend left many people in mourning how the state attorney general hopes to stop the shootings in the future. >> and 3 people are injured after multiple sideshows in when our reporters know about the incident. and the vote to confirm judge ketanji brown jackson by the senate is this week. but lawmakers on both sides have different opinions will have more on that after we get back from break. welcome back to the kron. 4 morning news it time for you now for 14, 08:00am here on this monday morning. >> and we are in the month of april. and john, the question of asking, i'm going to see some april showers i'm looking forward to potentially seeing some mayflower of the mayflowers our imports into purse hours is something that needs to happen to get there. >> doesn't look like we're going to be seeing those at least here locally over the next week next week. i'm not this week,

not just on planes been any public transportation, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin. hong. >> agrees extending the mandate on public transit in airlines is the right call until we have better information as to the trajectory of the new surge. >> i think would probably want to see at the minimum stability. alright, now we're still moving up. so when there's a predictable baseline amount, we can make judgments as to what we can do in. you know what steve will not see in terms of risk mitigation strategies. >> the federal government will have another look at this in 2 weeks. we'll see what they decide to do. extending again are lifting that mandate. but doctors point out whether there's a mandate or not, you can still wear your mask on a plane live at sfo. dan kerman kron. 4 news. >> more than 50 students in marin county tested positive today for covid after a spring break trip last week. roughly 75 0th graders from 2 schools with the washington, d.c., for an annual field trip. they came back sunday. 56 students reported positive for covid so far this week. at this point, the

super power that it has is increased transmissibility, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong says preliminary data suggest maybe about 10% more transmissible. the nba to you. so far, the united kingdom has reported more than 600 cases at this time. there are no known cases in the united states yet a lot of jurisdictions and countries. >> i'm reporting less frequently and doing less frequent onala you may find before. we know it's already here. doctor chin-hong said that he is not concerned about the new variant. neither is doctor john swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at uc berkeley. i would think said we would have seen war. >> iceland's in more places by name now because we've known about it for a while. still, it could all of a sudden take off the who is monitoring cases. both experts say the best defense against covid-19. >> remains the vaccine in the long run. >> to get out of this mess of constantly chasing and these variants is to get not just americans vaccinated but worldwide to get people vaccinated. once we do that once we get a high percentage of people vac

peter chin hong on the b.a. 2 variant. >> we've seen this pattern before. it happens in europe. it comes to the east coast and then it comes to the west coast. what we may see happening more is a faster change from one region to the other. because of decrease in restrictions in general with covid. so virus will probably tend to travel around more as people move around more and of course, it is spring break now. >> reporter: he also shared that vaccinations and the boosters can still greatly reduce the severity of an infection. as we saw with those ineffected students from marin county. now, today at 3:00 p.m., the marin county board of education, as well as the public health department, they'll be hosting a joint zoom meeting to notify and spread information for those parents and students that were infected on this d.c. trip as well as any parents at the school for these infections happened. again, 3:00 p.m. and you can find more information at marin schools.org. we're in marin county. cierra johnson, nbc bay area news. >> thank you so much. let's look outside across the bay are

ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin. hong says extending the mandate on public transit airlines is the right call, especially with cases going up. we need to have some well, at least this ending before we feel comfortable tinkering with something that already work. they've been very, very few inches from her clean. >> transmissions to date. and that's because we've all been very safe in the midst of a pandemic. >> the last thing you want to be doing is removing things that keep people safe. >> uc berkeley, infectious disease specialist doctor john schwartzberg agrees the feds made the right call in hopes the mask mandate will be extended again in 2 weeks. he says an airplane is not the same as a grocery store or a classroom. >> those are situations that are very different than sitting on it. and they're playing with 240 of your best friends for several hours. and then sitting on the tarmac. 4 is one of these planes often sit on tarmacs. you're putting yourself an increased risk, but it's so easy to avoid that. >> cdc will rev

the true number of cases doctors, including ucsf infectious disease specialist peter chen, hong says one reason could be that fewer people are getting tested for the virus and in the past another reason could be that people are not experiencing serious symptoms and are failing to report positive test results of the department of public health doctor chen hong says he test positivity is up it's just something to be aware of. but nothing to be afraid of. because again if you're vaccinated and boosted, um chances are you're not going to get really ill even if a new variant comes along for most people. meantime the san francisco department of public health launched a campaign today to make sure people are prepared for the next covid surge or variant. the program is similar to others that teach us to be prepared. in case of an earthquake while fire or other emergency. 4 20 tomorrow, so i think everyone just going to come out and have a good time, you know? the unofficial celebration of marijuana returns to san francisco. how this year's event will be very different from years past. and so

ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong. >> says it shows has significantly covid-impacting our population, but it really shows what impact a covid has had on lifespans by. >> such a heavy toll on deaths, infectious disease specialist doctor monica gandhi says >> it's even more heartbreaking knowing some of those hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been prevented. it was an estimate today that about 230 to 250,000 deaths were absolutely avoidable if people have gotten vaccinated. so we've become very non by numbers. we look at 2000. that's a day and >> you know, it's in the back o4 mind because they're not like humans that we see that both doctors are hopeful that covid won't maintain the number 3 spot on this list. long term. we have had its chances just in the last 6 months. they're going prove the mortality rate of covid-19. that includes things like improved immunity. >> better patient treatment and oral antiviral like paxlovid that can prevent the virus from becoming severe. >> doctor gandhi also added everyone can help bring down the number of people dy

ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin. hong says it's another sign of the endemic stage of covid-19. it could be deployed in really interesting scenarios like >> in in the workplace, medical offices. one can even imagine if it's scaled up and mass produced a use that in the gathering setting or even mass events using a mobile service. doctor chin-hong says it detects covid-19. >> by looking at the chemical mixtures in your breath. >> instead of doing a rocket test waiting, you have to buy the rocket tests. if there's one before an event that you can rents. >> by. >> you just give it to everyone as they come through door. you get the results in 3 minutes and by the fda says in studies the breathalyzer detected positive cases correctly. 91.2% of the time it detected negative cases correctly. 99.3% of the time. i think options we have. >> to me people in different i different comfort levels. the better we are into of knowing what people statuses with covid. the breathalyzer test has to be administered by a trained operator under t

>>doctor peter chin-hong says the most important thing you can do to prepare for this new variant is to make sure you're up to date on your booster shots. >>students and staff at schools in san francisco are no longer having to mask up as they return from spring break. the district lifted their mask mandate for everyone over the weekend. the change applies now to elementary k through 8 and early education last month is when middle schoolers and high schoolers are able to do this. but now the younger ones get to learn without their mask. school district officials. >>decided to ease covid-19 safety requirements due to declining case numbers in san francisco. the district says masking will be strongly recommended, not required anymore. 123,000 rapid at-home covid-19 test kits had been given out prior to spring break to teachers and students in the district so that they could test themselves before returning to campuses today. new developments in an ongoing effort to build a new ballpark for the oakland a's. will it ever happen? i do not know. a lawsuit has now been filed claiming certai

. >> ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin. hong says that health experts will continue to monitor the sub variants spread. in the u.s. the number of covid-19, hospitalizations fall to the lowest since the early days of the pandemic. about 12,000 people were hospitalized with covid in the last week. and that's a drop of more than 90%. and more than 2 months, some hospitals report going days without a single covid patient in the icu for the first time since early 2020 hospitalizations hit a pandemic high of 145,000 patients during january's omicron search. still ahead here at 8 o'clock as we continue to follow developments in the sacramento mass shooting. police in dallas are also investigating a mass shooting in that city. but we know about the moments that led up to that tragic. and now most admired alum! get up there. this is so embarrassing. there's no way it's me. you know her.... you love her.... ruh roh. what are you doing here? it's anna gomez! who? our first gigillionaire! with at&t fiber, anna's got the fastest internet wit

super power that it has is increased transmissibility, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong says preliminary data suggest maybe about 10% more transmissible. the nba to you. so far, the united kingdom has reported more than 600 cases at this time. there are no known cases in the united states yet a lot of jurisdictions and countries. >>i'm reporting less frequently and doing less frequent onala you may find before. we know it's already here. doctor chin-hong says that he is not concerned about the new variant. neither is doctor john swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at uc berkeley. i would think said we would have seen war. >>in more places by now because we've known about it for a while. still, it could all of a sudden take off the who is monitoring cases. both experts say the best defense against covid-19. >>remains the vaccine in the long run to get out of this mess of constantly chasing these variants is to get not just americans vaccinated but worldwide to get people vaccinated. once we do that once we get a high percentage of people vaccinated, the virus is not

not just on planes, but any public transportation, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong. >>agrees extending the mandate on public transit in airlines is the right call until we have better information as to the trajectory of the new surge. >>i think would probably want to see at the minimum stability. alright, now we're still moving up. so when there's a predictable be slight amount, we can make judgments as to what we can do and you know what, steve will not see and to serve risk mitigation strategies. the federal government will revisit this issue in the next couple of weeks. either extend the mandate again are lifting it. >>but doctors point out whether there's a mandate or not, you can still wear your mask on a plane. >>at sfo, dan kerman kron. 4 news. >>let's go on to our finance segment here for your money. google is spending billions on a u.s. expansion and which california restaurant has the best view. jane king is at the nasdaq with those stories and more. >>restaurants great news in california. but for the best, least according to this survey had self 2000 dot

ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin. hong says extending the mandate on public transit airlines is the right call, especially with cases going up. we need to have some well, at least this ending before we feel comfortable tinkering with something that already work. they've been very, very few inches from her clean. >> transmissions to date. and that's because we've all been very safe in the midst of a pandemic. >> the last thing you want to be doing is removing things that keep people safe. >> uc berkeley, infectious disease specialist doctor john schwartzberg agrees the feds made the right call in hopes the mask mandate will be extended again in 2 weeks. he says an airplane is not the same as a grocery store or a classroom. >> those are situations that are very different than sitting on it. they're playing with 240 of your best friends for several hours. and then sitting on the tarmac. 4 is one of these planes often sit on tarmacs. you're putting yourself an increased risk, but it's so easy to avoid that the feds will revisi

super power that it has is increased transmissibility, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong says preliminary data suggest maybe about 10% more transmissible. >> the nba to you so far, the united kingdom has reported more than 600 cases at this time. there are no known cases in the united states yet a lot of jurisdictions and countries. >> i'm reporting less frequently and doing less frequent onala you may find before. we know it's already here. doctor chin-hong said that he is not concerned about the new variant. neither is doctor john swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at uc berkeley. i would think said we would have seen war. >> iceland's in more places by name now because we've known about it for a while. still, it could all of a sudden take off the who is monitoring cases. both experts say the best defense against covid-19 remains the vaccine in the long run. >> to get out of this mess of constantly chasing and these variants is to get not just americans vaccinated but worldwide to get people vaccinated. once we do that once we get a high percentage of people vacci

ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong. >> says it shows how significantly covid-ing our population, but it really shows what impact a covid has had on lifespans by. >> such a heavy toll on deaths, infectious disease specialist doctor monica gandhi says >> it's even more heartbreaking knowing some of those hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been prevented. it was an estimate today that about 230 to 250,000 deaths were absolutely avoidable. if people have gotten vaccinated. so we've become very non by numbers. we look at 2000. that's a day and >> you know, it's in the back of mind because they're not like humans that we see that both doctors are hopeful that covid won't maintain the number 3 spot onethis list. long term. we have had its chances just in the last 6 months. they're going prove the mortality rate of covid-19. that includes things like improved immunity. >> better patient treatment and oral antiviral like paxlovid that can prevent the virus from becoming severe. >> doctor gandhi also added there's a way he believes everyone can help bring down th

peter chin-hong, thank you for joining us tonight. doctor we're going to talk about that dreaded norovirus in a minute. but first, though, >> that poll that referred to a little earlier that roughly a locally 30%. >> believe that, you know, they're comfortable enough returning to normal right now. and what does science have to say about whether we should get back to prepandemic existence? >> i think science isn't completely sure you and what's going to happen. but what i'm least have high confidence in is that the vaccination that we already have? >> we'll keep a lot of people away from getting really, really ill regardless of what variant comes. >> whether or not we need to top it off from time to time remains to be seen and exactly how often. but right now, i think we're doing pretty well you know, i think we have tools, not just vaccines, 30 takes and testing and where. down to the days of putting all the eggs in one basket like vaccines. i think the multi-modal approach. >> do you think the fed should ease up on the mask requireme

peter chin-hong, who we spoke with, says the country needs to first figure out what it's trying to accomplish with these booster shots. >> it depends on what your goalpost is. is your goalpost preventing serious hospitalization and death, if so, one would already say that the current strategy of three shots may already be doing that. if your goalpost is preventing any breakthrough invection because, again, with our current rules the workforce is infected, even if you get a breakthrough infection and that's mild. >> reporter: this morning's panel could recommend a two-for-one shot that protects against both the flu and covid just like we have the two-for-one for diptheria and tetanus. reporting live here in pleasanton, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> bob, thank you. >>> more details for you. san francisco now has the highest covid transmission rate anywhere in the bay area. the state health department says the city is averaging about 13 cases per 100,000 residents. rates for all other bay area counties are averaging around ten cases or less. the nine bay area counties averaging about 700 ne

super power that it has is increased transmissibility, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hongaybe about 10% more transmissible. >> the nba to you so far, the united kingdom has reported more than 600 cases at this time. there are no known cases in the united states yet a lot of jurisdictions and countries. >> i'm reporting less frequently and doing less frequent onala you may find before. we know it's already here. doctor chin-hong said that he is not concerned about the new variant. neither is doctor john swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at uc berkeley. i would think said we would have seen war. >> iceland's in more places, brian eno because we've known about it for a little while. still, it could all of a sudden take off the who is monitoring cases. both experts say the best defense against covid-19. >> remains the vaccine in the long run. >> to get out of this mess of constantly chasing and these variants is to get not just americans vaccinated but worldwide to get people vaccinated. once we do that once we get a high percentage of people vaccinated, the virus is no

peter chin-hong plus says the heat wave over chief meteorologist lawrence karnow is tracking the weekendn. 4 news at 9 is next. >> from the bay area's local news station. we now breaking news. >> now at 9, our top story that breaking news in san jose where police remain on the scene of a deadly hit and run involving pedestrians. thanks for being with us tonight on kron. 4 news at 9, i'm grant lotus and i'm vicki liviakis. san jose. police reported the hit and run just about an hour ago in the area call avenue and oak 10 court. >> that is in front of dcp alum rock middle school and cala steam academy. and that's where we find kron four's justin campbell. he joins us now live with details. justin. >> good evening. still not a lot of information, but here's what i want you to see. this s

. >> doctor peter chin-hong says the most important thing you can do to prepare for this new variantsure you're up to date on your booster shots. students and staff at san francisco schools were not required to wear masks today. the district lifted its mask mandate over the weekend for those remaining students and staff. the changes applying to those elementary k through 8 and early education schools. school district officials say they decided to ease covid-19 safety requirements because of declining case numbers in san francisco prior to spring break, thousands of rapid at-home covid-19. test kits were given out to teachers and students so they can test themselves before returning to campus us today. for your money. this afternoon, prices on the shelves keep getting higher this time. prices are on the rise all because the massive bird flu outbreak according to the agricultural department, more than 17 million birds have died. the increasing number of cases threatens to increase the prices of aig's even further. other poultry items may be affected of this continues. the usda reported

we talked to dr peter chin hong, an infectious disease specialist at ucsf.this point. there are some groups that will want to watch the covid numbers very carefully. and these groups are those who are all learned. 65 not boosted those so immune compromise those who are unvaccinated and those who live with these groups. dr chin hung says he does not envision the u. s. will follow china and go through another lockdown because of a new covid wave. he says the u. s. should be concerned about future variants, though, but the country has a large vaccine booster supply. and has been far more successful in vaccinating its residents. he also adds that china's lockdown to become both a blessing and occurs while they have been successful at times keeping the virus out of the country. it also means china does not have a population immunity. us health officials are keeping an eye on a rising number of covid cases as the omicron sub variant b a two remains the dominant strain here. cdc data shows cases climbing in more than a dozen states, though hospitalizations and deat

not just on planes been any public transportation, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin. hongnding the mandate on public transit. in airlines is the right call until we have better information. >> as to the trajectory of the new surge. >> i think would probably want to see at the minimum stability. alright, now we're still moving up. so when there's a predictable be slight amount, we can make judgments as to what we can do in. you know what steve will not see in terms of risk mitigation strategies. the federal government will revisit this issue in the next couple of weeks. either extend the mandate again are lifting it. >> but doctors point out whether there's a mandate or not, you can still wear your mask on a plane. >> at sfo, dan kerman kron. 4 news >> now for another check on your 4 zone forecast is one that we're excited about. this is a live look out over interstate 80 and highway 2.67, and truckee where it is snowing. yes, really dark. and this shop in lawrence. we have a better picture. last time we look not too long ago, the road was wet. yeah, it's not wet not one mo

ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong. >> says it shows how significantly covid-19 is impacting our population, but it really shows what impact a covid has had on lifespans by. >> such a heavy toll on deaths. infectious disease specialist doctor monica gandhi says >> it's even more heartbreaking knowing some of those hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been prevented. it was an estimate today that about 230 to 250,000 deaths were absolutely avoidable. if people have gotten vaccinated. so we've become very non by numbers. we look at 2000. that's a day and >> you know, it's in the back of mind because they're not like humans that we see that both doctors are hopeful that covid won't maintain the number 3 spot on this list. long term. we have had its chances just in the last 6 months. they're going prove the mortality of covid-19. that includes things like improved immunity. >> better patient treatment and oral antiviral like paxlovid that can prevent the virus from becoming severe. >> doctor gandhi also added there's a way she believes everyone can help bring

super power that it has is increased transmissibility, ucsf, infectious disease specialist doctor peter chin-hong says preliminary data suggest maybe about 10% more transmissible. >> the nba to you so far, the united kingdom has reported more than 600 cases at this time. there are no known cases in the united states yet a lot of jurisdictions and countries. >> i'm reporting less frequently and doing less frequent onala you may find before. we know it's already here. doctor chin-hong said that he is not concerned about the new variant. neither is doctor john swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at uc berkeley. i would think said we would have seen war. >> iceland's in more places, brian eno because we've known about it for a while. still, it could all of a sudden take off the who is monitoring cases. both experts say the best defense against covid-19. >> remains the vaccine in the long run. >> to get out of this mess of constantly chasing and these variants is to get not just americans vaccinated but worldwide to get people vaccinated. once we do that once we get a high percentage of people va

the true number of cases doctors, including ucsf infectious disease specialist peter chen, hong says one reason could be that fewer people are getting tested for the virus. senate passed another reason could be that people are not experiencing serious symptoms and are failing to report positive test results to the department of public health doctor chen hong says test positivity is up it's just something to be aware of. but nothing to be afraid of. because again if your vaccination and boosted, um chances are you're not going to get really ill even if a new variant comes along for most people, the san francisco department of public health launched a campaign today to make sure people are prepared for the next covid surge or variant that comes our way. the program is similar to others in the city and around the bay area that teach us to be prepared in case of another earthquake while fire or some other emergency says it helps to have a new type of covid booster available by fall. the company says it wants to combine the original vaccine with a new formulation that can protect against

. >> doctor peter chin-hong says the most important thing you can do to prepare for this variant is make sure that you're up to date with your booster shots. time now is 5, 0, 6 in students and staff at san francisco's and schools don't have to wear a mask today as they're returning now from spring break, the district has lifted the mask mandate that happened over the weekend. this change applies to elementary k through 8 and early education schools. district officials say they decided to ease the safety requirements because of that kind number of cases. the district says that masking still is strongly recommended. it's just not required before. at the headquarters in mountain view with more. hi, sarah. >> yeah, these googlers have not experienced a true monday in person at the office monday in 2 years. so we'll be back here in mountain view, going to the office. and so it's going to be sort of like back to normal and mountain view, seeing a lot more cars coming by. they have to come to the office 3 days a week. some of them will becoming less. some of them becoming more. it's really jus

also dropped from more than 15,003 months ago to more than 1000 now infectious disease doctor peter chin hongll, i think the most important thing and it sounds like a broken record is really to get the third shot. the third shot is really the magic bullet. i think overall, it looks like other vaccines and what we do. nationwide the b a two variant is the dominant strain of the coronavirus. but the cdc is also watching for the new x e variant that reportedly is 10% more transmissible than the b a two. right now it is spreading in the uk, but here in the united states, only three cases have been reported. and none in california. we're hearing from the marine health department about a group of middle schoolers. you tested positive for covid after a field trip to washington, d c. ktvu. andre senior, has the story. a tradition amongst some marine middle school students every year is a trip to washington, d. c has been on hold for the past two years. this year, though, was the first year back. but those students came back home with covid-19. what happens in d. c does not stay in d. c. where covid i

researchers say current case rates may be undercounting the true numbers of cases doctors, including dr peter chin hong of ucsf says one reason could be that fewer people are getting tested for the virus than in the past. it's just something to be aware of. but nothing to be afraid of. because again if you're vaccinated and boosted, um, chances are you're not going to get really ill even if a new variant comes along for most people. the san francisco department of public health has launched a campaign to encourage people to prepare for the next covid surge and variant program is similar to others in the city. that teach folks to be prepared in case of an earthquake wildfire or another emergency happening today on this april 20th san francisco's welcoming back the annual 4 20 celebration. ktvu jesse gary live at hippie hill and golden gate park. there is a lot that's new this year. i wonder if our people starting to show up already or still a bit too early, jesse i fear there waiting for you. i'm working all day, man. daca it's ha ha! but at what? yes the people are starting to show up and you can see b

doctors including ucsf infectious disease specialist peter chin hong say that one reason could be that fewer people are getting tested for the virus. then in the past, another reason could be people are not experiencing serious symptoms and are failing to report positive test results to the department of public health are of, but nothing to be afraid of. because again if you're vaccinated and boosted, um chances are you're not going to get really ill even if a new variant comes along for most people. meantime the san francisco department of public health launched a campaign today to make sure people are prepared for the next covid surge or variant that comes our way. the program is similar to others in the city and around the bay area that teach us to be prepared in case of an earthquake, wildfire or some other type of emergency possible surge is happening face mass are no longer required at bay area airports following a federal judge's order that voided the mask mandate on public transportation. the justice department says tonight it will not appeal that ruling unless the cdc says it'

peter chin-hong. >> i think we're moved by the stories of lots of people getting it.otten infected and don't want to get infected if i can help it. doesn't mean i don't engage with life enthusiastically. i'm not walling myself at home, trying to protect himself. but when i go out, i try to reduce my risk. >> reporter: dr. chin-hong points out that even mild symptoms can even cause you to miss five to ten days of work and school. and some vaccinated and boosted people are still getting it. covid accounts for more than 13% of all people who died last year. reporting live here in pleasanton, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> interesting numbers there. thanks so much, bob. >> 5:35 for you this morning. >>> despite the rising cases of covid, oakland public schools are moving forward without masks. starting today, the mandate is changing to a strong recommendation, but if a student or staff member tests positive, oakland unified was the largest district to keep its mask policy even after the state changed its rules. >> 5:36. >>> authorities on the peninsula are trying to d