Us, and we are committed to doing better. Tonight the states Top Health Official admits his team blew it. Californias coronavirus case counts are off because of a Computer System failure. And now the investigation into how this could happen is under way. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. The system broke down, or i should say break down comes as the state records 10,000 deaths from covid19. Abc 7 News Reporter melani woodrow is on the story. Reporter for months californias leaders have emphasized they are making decisions about reopening based on science and data. Now a bombshell announcement. Our data system failed and that failure led to inaccurate case numbers in case Positivity Rates. It also prevented counties from having some of the data they need to monitor and respond to the virus in their communities. Reporter secretary dr. Mark ghali says most are coronavirus test samples. He says no changes to californias response policies were based on the incomplete data. Also, that Health Officials believe the trends they discussed earlier this week remain the same. A delay in lab records coming into the states reporting system. He says data from a large commercial be lab was also not received for five days due to a certificate the state neglected to renew on time. You deserve better, the governor demands better of us and we are committed to doing better. Reporter county Health Officers are disappointed. In emailed statements Contra Costa Health services writes, quote, we have had to stop calculating our Positivity Rate because positive results come back faster and were likely making our rate look artificially high. Contra costa says delays hurt Contact Tracing efforts. Santa clara county writes the residents and businesses of the county of santa clara and the state of california must have accurate and reliable data about the spread of covid19. The doctor expects the backlog of records to be resolved in 24 to 48 hours. In the meantime counties are not being added or dropped from the watch list which will only be unfrozen once state Health Officials are confident they have it right. The state is making changes to servers to increase capacity and strengthening oversight and monitoring. Governor newsom has also ordered a full investigation of the issue. Melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. Sonoma has joined other bay area counties in saying it will write citations and issue fines for not properly wearing a mask to prevent the spread of covid19. Do these citations and fines really do anything . Reporter outside a restaurant in petaluma the signs about Wearing Masks have not changed in weeks, but after today there are some teeth behind them. Weve been pretty strict about wearing the masks. Reporter and now is Sonoma County had a has joined others in issuing fines for those caught not Wearing Masks. Supervisor james gore. This is not to go out and slap everybody with a fine and get out of ticket book. This is to deal with people who are straight up jerks. Reporter how sharp are the teeth in those new county ordinances . The answers surprised us. We checked across the bay area, berkeley, San Francisco, san jose, oakland reported back that they had not issued a single mask citation nor from county sheriffs. They are not enforcing customers to wear masks. Reporter as for marin county the job of enforcing masks landed on the desk of rebecca ing. Since july she has received some 200 complaints. How many have you followed up on . Not that many. Reporter blame bureaucracy, to have 31 cities and towns on the same page is much the same as herding cats. Here and elsewhere expect disconnects on questions about how to enforce or how to. Appeal. I hope for voluntary compliance. Reporter they do not expect it to happen overnight. The threat is a barring of those teeth, the bite, that comes later. Youre rigr right not to weak isnt more important than my mothers right to not be coughed on because shes at risk. Reporter in the north bay, wayne freedman, abc news 7. Owners of Small Businesses in the bay area say they are facing failure unless they get help from the government quickly. Talks between the administration and democratic leadership in washington for a new round of stimulus grants collapsed and no plans for future meetings o talks about this. And this comes as a cloud continues to hang over the ppe loan Program Designed to save Small Businesses suffering in this pandemic. Reporter the owner of this franchise in san jose pays 10,000 in rent and overhead per month. Survival will depend on a second round of ppe loans. Our people will not be able to survive. We really need this kind of a life line. Reporter 44 of Small Business owners say they expect to fail in the next six months. 35 have tapped their retirement account to stay open. 16 have considered filing for bankruptcy. The survey was done by the group Small Business majority. Small Business Advocates complain they cant measure the success of a 310 billion program because the Small Business administration wont release names of companies that. People have a right to know whether its worked and whether it has served the people it was supposed to benefit. Reporter a freedom of information act suit has been filed in San Francisco to get the complete list on behalf of the bay areas american Small Business lien. You can only withhold information that meets one of certain criteria exemptions. And this information does not qualify legally under any of those exemptions. Reporter we contacted the sba. The sba does not comment on pending litigation. Some have argued names of smaller ppe loan recipients should be shielded for competitive reasons. But i would like to see data on how many minority businesses got loans and where they were located. An estimated 120 billion in ppe loan money is unspent. David louie, abc 7 news. In Santa Clara County a grand jury has indicted four people connected to sheriff laurie smith for allegedly arranging political bribes in exchange for concealed gun permits. Reporter this afternoon an investigation into allegations of paytoplay politics in Santa Clara County involving sheriff laurie smiths inner circle. District attorney jeff rosen announcing multiple charges in connection to a scandal over the long time sheriffs 2018 reelection bid. The mission of the District Attorneys Office is to vigorously pursue justice in a way that is fair and treats everyone equally under the law and with respect. Reporter named christopher shoom, Michael Nichols and captain james general son who once oversaw the carry application program. The charges include bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery. And in the case of jensen falsifying public records. He faces up to 11 years in prison. The others face up to four. The d. A. s office is continuing to investigate more crimes and more individuals related to sheriff smiths issuance of ccw licenses. The investigation is active and ongoing. We will follow the evidence where it leads. Reporter prosecutors say jensen worked with the defendants as well as seattlebased executive security contractor a. S. Solution to secure a number of hard to come by ccw permits in exchange for 90,000 in donations to the Santa Clara CountyPublic Safety alliance, an independent Expenditure Committee supporting smiths most recent reelection. A Sheriffs Office spokesperson said jensen will be placed on administrative leave and they would continue to monitor the situation and have no further information to provide at this tme. The sheriff, who has not been charged with a crime, also declined to comment. However, abc 7 news did speak to her opponent in the 2018 election, former under sheriff who called it a sad day for the department. She made us certain assurances and promises during the campaign to make the department more transparent, to change the culture in a positive manner. That needed to start at the top. Reporter all members of the county board of supervisors turned down request for interviews. The four defendants will be arraigned at the hall of justice at the end of the month. In san jose, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. A chp officer got hurt in this motorcycle crash on interstate 880. That officer is at the hospital now being treated. Theres a heavy backup through san leandro and into east oakland because of the crash. Drivers using the shoulder to go around the scene south of marina boulevard. The crash happened just after 4 00 p. M. So about an hour ago. No word yet on the motorcycle officers condition. Developing news in alameda where gunfire broke out on santa clara avenue this our cameraman found a woman and her daughter who was in a car hit by a bullet. They were shaken but otherwise okay. One person was hit by flying glass and got a minor injury. A lot more to come. Still ahead anxiety but also excitement. Bay area teachers sound off on the start of the school year. And later, 7 on your sides Michael Finney is here with the Electronics Best for for spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Rewarded get a free delivery perk when you order. [group] grubhub. An army family who is always at the ready. So when they got a little surprise. Two . They didnt panic. They got a bigger car for their soontobebigger family. After shopping around for insurance, they called usaa who helped find the right coverage for them and even some muchneeded savings. That was the easy part. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it easy. The first day of Distance Learning, school for oakland schools, begins monday but now it appears talks between the district and the Teachers Union are breaking down. The two sides have been negotiating for weeks. Still, they cant find agreement over the number of hours in a work day, the amount of prep time, or professional development. Today Union Officials say district officials were a no show to a recent meeting scheduled for midnight. District officials have not returned our call for clarification but they said earlier today they couldnt comment on the negotiations. Across the bay the Teachers Union reached a tentative deal with the School District on what Distance Learning will look like. It guarantees two hours of live oneonone instruction per day, key for parents. Teachers would have the discretion to offer more if they would like to. Union members will begin voting on the agreement starting at 6 00 tonight. As School Begins next week at several large bay area School Districts we wanted to find out what teachers are expecting from the Upcoming School year. Take a listen. My home is not my classroom. Yes, i would love to go back to the classroom this fall. However, as a parent, i would have to say no. Ive had a lot of years to work on my craft and everything ive known about school is different. Meeting my kids and checking in with them every day is everything. For me teaching to a blank screen is going to be a real challenge, right . And so its finding ways to engage and to build a community with kids that ive never met before. This will be new for teachers and new for students to start off the school year not having established relationships. I am excited to make sure that our students actually have a fun time learning considering whats been going on. Im hoping they have cameras on, just because i need to know whos who. I need to know what they look like. I need to know whos on the other end. I would say that im probably most worried we might try to rush in person interaction too quickly. I would hate to see a student pass an illness to another student or to someone in that students family, and it could be entirely preventible. I am worried about the future of Public School education with continued budget cuts as well as families wanting to unenroll their child from school. Im worried about the potential increase in the achievement gap of our black and brown students. In the spring we called it crisis teaching. We left school due to the closures and we did the very best we can and i feel that now we are in a better place to embark on this journey of teaching every day from home in the same way i would try to do it if i was in the classroom. Last spring was able to have intentional, intensal groups with students or oneonone groups and really push my students reading, which couldnt actually happen in the classroom because of all the distractions that happened. I think once we get families reestablished, and have all the devices and wifi, we can have some deeper learning than in the spring. From a students perspective last year ended with an opportunity without a whole lot of accountability for learning. And so when we go back kids are going to have to learn that school is real now and School Counts and the expectation is that you show up prepared to learn and assignments get turned in. Just terrific to hear from so many of our wonderful teachers who are so committed. Now education has been a tomorrowic weve addressed all weeklong. We started with preschools and elementary school, middle and high school. Teachers we focused on today. You can watch the conversations of backtoschool week on abc7news. Com, on the abc 7 news app and anywhere you stream. Next up the weekend forecast. Foggy here at the golden gate bridge. Abc 7 inflammation in your eye might be to blame. Ck, looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes overthecounter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. Ha these drops probably wont touch me. Xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. What is that . Xiidra, noooo it can provide lasting relief. Xiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. One drop in each eye, twice a day. Dont use if youre allergic to xiidra. Common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. Dont touch container tip to your eye or any surface. After using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. Got any room in your eye . Talk to an eye doctor about twicedaily xiidra. I prefer you didnt xiidra. Not today, dry eye. Happy friday, everyone. Lets take a look at the satellite picture this afternoon and evening. We saw some of that fog just pull away, and that was a result of this circulation that formed off the coastline. So everyone enjoy the sun today, but the fog is rolling back in and well continue to see it right near the beaches in the overnight hours. Sierra nevada seeing the thunderstorms flaring up as we expect around this time of year, and those storms will remain in the forecast for the weekend for the tahoe area. A live look from our santa cruz area, people enjoying the beach, fog and sun. The temperatures 65 in the city. 73 in oakland. In the 80s around san jose, mountain view, gilroy, 78 degrees. From our san jose camera seeing sunshine over the shark tank. Low 80s around santa rosa and petaluma. It managed to get up into the 90s around fairfield. 89 in concord. From our sutro tower camera you can see the buildups in the mountains in the sierra from our sutro camera am limited fog in the morning. Dense in patches. Watch out if you have early plans. Warmer weather this weekend and then the heat eases early next week. Our forecast shows you that fog will be very much confined to the coast and a little bit over the bay. And notice that it just pulls away briefly only to hang around there in the usual spots well into the afternoon and the evening hours. Temperatures anywhere from the 50s to the 60s out the door tomorrow morning. If youre going out for taking the dog out for a walk or just doing a nice bike ride or a hike, beautiful weather. In the south bay 87 in san jose. 91 in gilroy. Up to 83 in sunnyvale. On the peninsula, 84 in redwood city. 65 degrees pacifica. Downtown San Francisco, 69. Similar to today. 64 degrees in daley city. North bay, 84 in san rafael. Youll need the sunscreen. 82 in napa. And just a Beautiful Day in the east bay. Blue skits. Head inland and itll be hot but no extremes are expected. 93 concord. 91 san ramon. Here is your accuweather sevenday forecast. Turning up the heat just a little bit on sunday. Mid90s inland. Temperatures will moderate as we start off a new workweek. Low 90s inland. Low to mid60s. And then by thursday those temperatures will come down into the 80s. I think its one good looking forecast for summer so enjoy. Completely agree with you. Thanks, sandhya. Still ahead, a look at the best buys on School Coming up at 6 00, the i team digs deeper into the pay to play allegations at the Santa Clara CountySheriffs Office and why several say laurie smith should be looking over her shoulder. Also we condition wait for other people to beable to engage in that conversation. We continue this weeks focus on education with a look at how issues of race and social justice could play out in the classroom all coming up in half an hour on abc 7 news at 6 00. Finally tonight some advice if you are shopping for backtoschool stuff. Its different this year. Michael finney is here with that story.