Can see the gates are closed, closed, closed. Everything my kids are so desperate, trying to go back to tlgay area sud it you to listen to something. It is so quiet out here. You can actually hear the birds. Reporter work went remote. Traffic disappeared. Small businesses suffered. Whether its today, whether its tomorrow, whether its friday, im eventually not going to have it. Im going to be unemployed. One day we had over 1 million in cancelations. Its basically our entire business and all my lifes savings. And all my employees jobs. Californias edd processed more unemployment claims in a month than all of last year. By may, protesters wanted an end to the shelter in place rules. People need to go back to work. Reporter a week later, california entered stage 2, allowing businesses to offer curbside pickup. Soon, counties were getting state approval to open up dinein restaurants and shopping malls. The state moved into stage 3 just after memorial day, allowing us to get haircuts again. They had at me. It was a family effort to remove what was described by my wife as, forgive me, a mullet. Sheltering in place paid off. Flattening the curve of new coronavirus cases in the bay area. In june, that curve changed shape. Case counts climbed. Reopenings at both the state and county level were revised and sometimes reversed. Our plans to reopen a number of businesses will be. Out pause. It is a heavy blow. We were able to suppress the spread of this virus. We were going to knock down the growth of this in the beginning. Were going to do that again. Reporter but we didnt. A big decision was made in midjuly. Most students wouldnt go back to class when School Started in the fall. Feel extremely relieved that safety and health seem to be the number one consideration. But there isnt consideration for what working parents are going to do. Working parents cant teach and elementary kids cant be on zoom for six hours a day by themselves. Reporter the state used a watch list, then changed to a colorcoded system to determine which businesses can resume. More coronavirus activity means more restrictions. Fewer businesses open, greater struggles that hit home here in the bay area every day. We need to reopen. I dont know how else to say it. I have barbers that are behind on rent, barbers that have family members, kids that they have to feed, including myself. Its sad to see so many placplace s clothed. Im scared theyre going to evict me. I have a 16yearold daughter, husband, my husbands mom. It is very confusing. Things change overnight. Were going day by day just trying to survive. I may relocate my businesses, i may run for mayor, i dont know. Ive been through hell this past six months. It has been a really tough time for so many people. Thats why weve recommitted ourselves to building a better bay area with a focus on five core areas. Our changing workplaces, education, racial, and social justice, our health, and the economy. Building a better bay area is about looking for solutions and improvements to the issues we all face. When it comes to the economy, there is help on the way for clifornias essential workers. Today Governor Newsom signed two pieces of legislation that expand rules to help keep workers safe from covid19 and assist them if they do get it. Senate bill 1159 by peninsula democrat jerry hill provides full hospital, surgical, medical, disability, and indemnity benefits to essential workers who are presumed to have contracted covid19 on the job. What we did is focused on what was right and just, rather than what is popular and easy. And thats something that california always does. The governor also signed Assembly Bill 685, which makes surthat workers are informed if theres been a workplace exposure to covid19. Numbers released today show a slight decline in the number of newly filed unemployment claims. 860,000 in the past week. We have to put that in perspective. Before the pandemic hit, that number had never exceeded 700,000, even in the depths of the Great Recession back in 08. The u. S. Labor Department Says 12. 6 Million People are collecting traditional Unemployment Benefits compared with 1. 7 million a year ago. Filing for Unemployment Benefits doesnt actually mean you get them. 7 on your side has spent months helping californians cut through the red tape at edd, and Michael Finney will join us later tonight with that part of the story. From the economy to education, another area where the pandemics impact is palpable. Today the Largest School district in santa clara county, santa fe unified, announced Online Learning will continue the rest of the year. A lot of kids in the classroom, even if we went 12, that is an indoor gathering. And we dont think thats safe. Reporter School Districts around the bay area are grappling with how and when to reopen. Union negotiations play a large role. If youre unified district, thats hard because the unions may take the position, whats good for one is good for all, whats not good for one is not good for all, therefore, thats a harder negotiation to make. Abc news was told the unions Bargaining Team is preparing for thre meetiext week with the School District. The oakland education association, on the other hand, informed us it hasnt negotiated with the School District and no talks around schools reopening are scheduled. Imagine a school where elementary kids and teachers could be together, but mostly outside, safely distanced, with masks, except when eating. Abc 7 News ReporterLaura Anthony shows us the reality. Reporter the law ground made of natural features and tree stumps serve as outdoor desks. Its a small Nonprofit School i for the bay area and beyond. Were trying to help schools think about Outdoor Learning as plan a. Reporter berkeley bay green doors america is partnering with the Lawrence Hall of science and others to create the national covid19 Outdoor Learning initiative. Instead of coming back into session online or inside, were trying to help them think about how they could be outside as a first priority. Reporter at the golistan school, younger students are in classrooms designed to be as much outdoor as indoor. Older, elementaryage kids spend their day almost entirely outside. Number one was to create a protocol that prioritizes safety of teachers first, then by default, the children are safe as well. Weve been bringing in districts in groups of 12 or less in working groups for them to see firsthand what this can look like. Reporter bay area designers areths t pahenitiative to oer schools. In the past weve been able to design outdoor spaces, maybe an Assembly Space or breakout zone for individual classrooms. This is the first time weve had to try to consider social distancing. Reporter much of what was set up here was temporary, meant to deal with the pandemic. The hope is going forward, it becomes a permanent part of the future. We hope that schools that are coming outside right now will find themselves so comfortable that theyll want to stay. Reporter in el cerrito, laurie anthony, abc 7 news. We spent a week focused on education issues during the pandemic, those stories on abc7news. Com and our connected tv apps on apple tv, android tv, fire tv, and roku. We started to shelter in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus and protect our health. How did we do . The numbers then versus now, next. Normality in 2018, most people lost it in 2020. A covid19 survivor with a remarkable perspective. We had bluer skies and cleaner air today. Theres more of that on the way. Ill have the accuweather rest abc 7 has partnered with the red cross and more than a dozen abc stations to raise money for wildfire evacuees. We just got new numbers in for our day of giving. So far, 446,407. Donate online or over the phone. Its made for this guy a veteran who honorably served and its made for her shes serving now we made it for all branches and all ranks whether they served one tour or made a career of it. We also made usaa for military spouses and their kids usaa is easy to work with and can save you money on auto, home and renters insurance. Become a member today. Get an insurance quote at usaa. Com quote usaa. What youre made of were made for building a better area focusing on health. Six months since we started to shelter in place, we are seeing improvement. The numbers released by the state show a continual decline in the number of new cases reported each day, as you can see. Coronavirus claimed the lives of 106 californians recently. Fewer patients are in the hospital. That number has been dropping steadily since midjuly. The test positivity rate, the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive, continues to drop. The 14day average is at a new low of 3. 5 . We started to shelter in place to slow the spread of coronavirus. How did the numbers compare, then versus now . Abc 7 news anchor ka maussy aaron gives us perspective. Reporter on day one, march 17th, there were 375 diagnosed cases of coronavirus in the bay area. We were averaging 56 new cases per day. The day we locked down, there were 6,000 cases nationwide. The virus was in all 50 states with West Virginia the last state to announce its first case. At that point, the death toll in america had just cleared 100. Around the world, there were fewer than 200,000 diagnosed cases and 8,000 people had died. Today, the worldwide case total is approaching 30 million. Covid19 has climbed more than 900,000 lives globally, including nearly 200,000 in the united states, which is more than any other country. In america, a total of 6. 6 million cases have been diagnosed. Here in the bay area, were approaching 100,000 cases. At an average of 536 new cases diagnosed per day, nearly 10 times the rate for march. Our perspective has changed a lot in the time weve had to deal with this vis. Checn k ou t had back when i asked our abc 7 special correspondent, dr. Alok patel, how long this pandemic and the shelter in place might last. With regards to public health, i could see it being the larger part of this year. This year . We really have to slow things down. Do i think were just gambling on large television. Do i think well have a shutdown of schools for all this . I dont. Okay. Do of but i think well have a change in the way we look at transmission and disease. Dr. Patel showed this graph, showing protective measures. The goal was to flatten the curve. To keep the number of cases within our Health Care Systems capacity. We spoke with dr. Patel again today and asked him about his predictions for the next six months. There are some unknowns were heading into the next six months. We have no idea what winter is going to do to the coronavirus. We dont know whats going to happen when people are more likely to congregate indoors or what viral transmission will look like in that colder, drier air. What could possibly happen with influenza, rsv, other respiratory viruses coming into contact in the same body as coronavirus. We dont know what this is going to mean. It makes me think of books we used to read in the 80s and 90s, choose your own adventure. One thing everyone has to Pay Attention to is we are literally choosing our own adventure in the next six months. It could either be towards less cases and more reopenings or towards disaster. Or it could be both. Ama, coming up on 200,000 deaths in the u. S. I never would have imagined that number when we spoke with the doctor six months ago. I know, its so sad. I was shocked seeing the two of you sitting at the same table in the same space. Thats how much life has changed, that that seems weird to me. Look at us now. Youre in studio, im at home, and spencers at his home. Its just crazy, larry. Yeah. This is our new normal. Spencer, your thoughts before you get into the weather . Yeahwell, i was about to same the same, this is our new normal. We dont know how much even this phase of normal is going to change over the next six months going into next year. Were doing all we can to and maisanity sarea, swhatoing on r uer cleghl indicating good air quality, which is wonderful, we havent had that for a while. Thanks to this onshore flow, the air is a lot cleaner. Weve had a fairly substantial marine layer. Its giving us surface winds right now from 15 to over 20 Miles Per Hour in spots. It has had a refreshing effect, no doubt. Tomorrow, we expect good to moderate air quality again. Theres a little advisory here that due to smoke impacts from some smoke is likely to return to the bay area. 24hour temperature change shows most locations are a few degrees cooler than they were at this time yesterday. Heres a look at our cse. 82 gilroy. 63 at half moon bay. Looking back toward the city from emeryville, 79 right now north of santa rosa. Novato 71. 87 fairfield. Yeah concord. 78 livermore. As we get a view across the embarcadero, morning fog and patchy drizzle again tomorrow morning. Cooler and breezier tomorrow afternoon. Smoky and warmer over the weekend. Forecast animation shows the advance of that marine layer across the bay, locally inland overnight. You can see little patches of green there. There will be scattered areas of drizzle during the overnight and Early Morning hours tomorrow. And overnight lows will be generally in the low 60s. Still a bit mild even though our daytime weather is cooler. Highs tomorrow from mid60s at the coast to low 70s around the bay to low 80s in the warmest inland spots. The smoke forecast, greens and yellows indicating moderate to good air quality. The purple on saturday and sunday as smoke from our north will probably be pulled back down into the bay arereio be prepared for some decline in air quality over the weekend. Not calling for a spare the air day yet, but were under an advisory. The accuweather sevenday forecast, cooldown tomorrow. Possible morning drizzle. Hazy and warmer on saturday. We expect to see some of that smoke return to the bay area. Smokier on sunday and warmer on sunday with inland highs around 90 on sunday. Upper 70s around the bay shoreline. Upper 60s at the coast. The last day of summer will bring cooler weather on monday, appropriately enough, as we go into the first day of fall on tuesday. The autumnal equinox 6 31 a. M. On tuesday. Well have cooler weather by a few degrees as fall arrives. Then it will warm up a bit more on wednesday and thursday of next week. First day of fall, cools down. The next two days, more like summer. Basically it looks like a nice week ahead. You talk about the fires, the smoke, plus the pandemic. We will never forget 2020, for all the wrong reasons. No, we wont. Thank you, spencer. I was one of the very first cases. Not only in california, but in the nation. She survived covid19, including weeks of selfquarantine. Compared to what else shes been for people with Heart Failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. Entresto helped people stay alive and out of the hospital. Dont take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if youve had angioedema with an ace or arb. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low Blood Pressure kidney problems, or high blood potassium. Ask your doctor about entresto. During the pandemic, we created an Ongoing Limited Series we call the covid19 diaries. Our most recent episode brings us back to a San Francisco woman who was one of the first diagnosed coronavirus cases. My first name is maria laticia, last name is gomez. I started having symptoms three days after i went iphone shopping. I was one of the very first cases, not only in california but in the nation. Friday night as i was driving home from work, i got a text from my wife. It simply said, i have a fever. Im trying to maintain a distance from her. I barely go into our bedroom, just to drop off food for her. Shes going nuts staying in the bedroom. I want to get out. You have now tested positive. I have been very private about a very difficult Cancer Treatment that i finished. I was home bound for a year and a half. Now im isolated in this bedroom. It kind of sends me back to those days. Those are days i want to forget. I totally lost my sense of smell and taste because of covid19. For a moment there i thought my brain tumor was growing. Ready to come out . Yes. How was it, being in isolation for so long . It was hard. I feel a bit like crying right now. Everything went back to normal about a month, month and a half after my diagnosis. I was very tired for quite a while. But i think i recuperated without any problems. I dont think i have any remnants or any symptoms, longterm, that im aware of. I was diagnosed in june of 2018. And less than two years later those two years, i was home, home bound, most of the time. Right when i was regaining my strength, my energy, and i was cleared to go back out in the world, this hit. And im kind of locked back in the house. But this time around with everyone else. Its just rough. I really yearned for normality, whatever that is. I lost normality in 2018. Most people just lost it in 2020. But i hope that all of us get to find a new way of living that well get to enjoy again. Lets hope so. What a story, huh . You can see all of the covid19 diaries limited series episodes right now at abc7news. Com and wherever you find the abc 7 news app. The coronavirus pandemic has brought back memories of the aids crisis. The politicians may be different but the struggles are the same, and they could make a lifeanddeath difference. Im wayne freedman. Movie theaters are opening again, but are people coming back . Join us tonight for abc 7 news at 11 00. Ferlgty fraud. An east bay woman alleges her doctor used his own sperm to impregnate her. Disturbing new details about the case. In san jose, delivering minus the threat of covid19 and bad air quality. At your shoulder seems to be healing nicely. Well, dr. Farrell, it feels really good. Thats good. And. Im sorry. Baby, dont touch that. I dont want you to play with that. singing twinkle, twinkle little star. How i wonder what you are. still singing up above