of the headlines we'll talk about with the professor and chair of the department of epidemiology at uscsfthank you for joining us, doctor. >> not at all. thanks for having me. >> let's start with a big picture of where we are with covid. nation bide it's just stunning. >> yeah. it's really striking. we're in what we call the third wave and it means that across the country and we're seeing cases rise again as they have done twice before across the country. the worst hit areas of the country are the midwest. even here in california where our cases have been more muted than other places in the country we're seeing rises in cases and rises in hospitalization. >> those numbers are rising quickly even here in california. 47% up crease this week. which areas are driving the increase? and of course our hospitals in those areas stressed right now. >> yeah. so if you look across the country, what's striking people here about wisconsin and the north dakota, north and south dakotas where you have the striking 30% positivity rates, 50% positivity rates. here in california we're nervous by about 4%. th