In the bay area alone. Thanks for joining us tonight, im ken way and i pale more here is a look at the bay area broken down county by county right now Alameda County continues to lead with more than 11,000 cases of covid19 Santa Clara County not far behind with nearly 10,000 cases. Tonight, San Francisco county has more than 6,000 reported cases of the disease and city officials are preparing for a surge in hospitalization to get ahead of the curve these cities building a new temporary hospital to try to free up beds for Covid Patients. The new hospital will open for non Covid Patients who need shortterm medical care or observations kron fours tips aqui joins us now live from. Georgias avenue in the presidio where the new facility will be located taylor. Well the citys Health Director isnt sugarcoating things today. He said we are in a major surge of coronavirus cases. And thats exactly why they are opening this site here to be proactive rather than reactive now. The city says that this site will open with 20 patients, but has a capacity of up to 93 people. San francisco is opening a temporary hospital in the presidio. All in preparation for a major surge in critical coronavirus cases thats likely to send more people to the hospitals. Let me be clear. We are in a major surge of covid19. The virus is moving fast and more people are getting seriously ill doctor grant colfax San Franciscos director of health puts it bluntly cases in San Francisco are rising at alarming rates. The city currently has 6,423 people with covid19. The surge in april put 94 people in the hospital that number dipped to 26 6 weeks ago and as of thursday, 107 patients are now in the hospital a quarter of them in intensive care. Right now we are seeing close to a 100 new cases of covid19 every day in San Francisco. That puts us in the red zone continues to put us in the red zone of one of our Key Health Indicators and we have been there for over a month has hospitals expect to see more coronavirus patients. The city will use this new facility off koreas avenue to care for non Covid Patients and the short term medical states this new low acuity medical center. Is an inpatient facility. The patients staying here will receive treatment at this location in new of hospital care or they will have been transferred from a hospital the facility will treat up to 93 patients to free up beds for Covid Patients in other hospitals, something peter chin, hong an Infectious Disease specialist at ucsf is applauding for the citys proactive steps pink. The move of building Hospital Capacity proactively before we actually need is in step with what this style is and is definitely a good move. And a very prescient move. Chan hong says the move is a wakeup call to again wear a mask wash your hands and be aware of social distancing as for an opening date for the site the city has not released an official date yet, but we expect to see moves pretty shortly here for now live in San FranciscoTaylor Bisacky kron 4 news sailors. Hank you that for built in response to hospitalizations of covid19 positive patients in San Francisco, reaching an alltime high and the need to care for covid positive patients has grown at a rate of 15 each week during the month of july which is a major concern. Well for Justine Waltman in our newsroom now with a closer look at the numbers and the reason the Health Department believes these numbers are spiking just days well, pam and ken the San FranciscoHealth Director saying that the city is experiencing a major surge of covid19 at the moment, lets take a look now at the numbers you can see. The number of people in the hospital has gone up since april on april 11th. There were 94 patients in the hospital that number dropped to just 29 on june 18th but in the past 6 weeks you can see now that upward trend. There are now 107 people in the hospital about a quarter of them are in intensive care. San francisco currently has more than 6400 coronavirus cases cases and 57 people have died. According to doctor grant colfax large social gatherings happening in the city are contributing to the search. But we have to understand that with more virus in the community now than ever before you saw how quickly we went from 5,000 to 6,000 cases, the odds of somebody being infected and wineries gatherings has increased dramatically over the next over the last few weeks. Please please dont gather. Doctor colfax also saying the virus is moving fast and more people are getting ill and if things continue at the current rates. The Health Department is estimating that on average San Francisco will have more than 750 people in the hospital by midoctober live tonight in the newsroom, im Justine Waldman kron 4 news that steve thank you for that now to the south bay Santa Clara CountyHealth Officials investigating 4 clusters of coronavirus cases all of them a costco store kron fours rob fladeboe is in san jose with whats being done to try to keep customers and workers safe. Here in san jose the county Health Department confirming this afternoon that it is now investigating for new clusters of covid19 across the county all 4 at Costco Stores in Mountain View sunnyvale san jose and gilroy lets take a look at the video. The Health Department on wednesday confirming that it had 9 confirmed cases of covid19 at the costco in sunnyvale. Kron 4 news viewer said that there are also a handful of cases in gilroy that turned out to be true. The Health Department late this afternoon confirming that there are a total of 33 cases at these for Costco Stores. The first one showing up in mount of you back in july 15th, running through the 27th for a total of 6 cases. The center road store in san jose has confirmed 8 cases from july 17 to the 22nd. In sunnyvale now a total of 13 cases from july 23rd through the 26th and finally 6 cases in gilroy between july 24th and the 30th. A cluster constitutes 3 or more cases over a 2 week period more now. From doctor Marty Fenstersheib with the Health Department. Theres no indication at this point the investigation is still going on its you know were just into it now it looks like most of these cases came through their regular day to day activities getting infected outside as opposed to getting infected inside or infecting each other. No were not done with that investigation. So thats not the last word on this, but thats the way it looks doctor fresher shop says that so long as the stores are following guidance about distancing masks and sanitation and so far it looks as though they are doing just that. That there is no extra risk to customers other costco locations in Santa Clara County have so far not confirmed any other clusters of covid19. The Health Department says that costco is cooperating fully with the investigation in san jose rob fladeboe kron 4 news. Tonight President Trump says he does not want novembers election delayed despite floating that very idea on twitter this in the tweet earlier today, the president claimed quote 2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history. But he did not provide any evidence to support that claim and he went on to call for congress to quote delay the election until people can properly securely and safely vote. Later in the day, he said mail in voting could cause uncertainty of the election. I dont want to delay. I want to have the election. But i also dont want to have to wait for 3 months and then find out that the ballots are all missing. And the election doesnt mean anything. This was going to happen she does common sense. The general election and the United States has been on the first tuesday after the first monday in november since 1845 and according to the u. S. Constitution congress not the president has the power to move the election date reaction to the president s Early Morning tweet about potentially postponing the election was swift. And significant across the board including from Bay Area Congress member has called for us to resist asio reports they all said no matter what the election in november is a go. It tells you a lot about where trumps brain is right now he is this is the right rev chilean brand its all about selfpreservation is beginning to worry about an election that shaping to potentially be a landslide defeat for him. House representative Jared Huffman sounding off about the president who fired off this tweet thursday morning questioning the accuracy and legitimacy of absentee and mail in voting. Adding quote, it will be a great embarrassment to the u. S. Delay the election until people can properly securely and safely vote. Question mark question mark question mark and quote. I dont think that most americans are going to let him get away with that. I dont think the congress and the Supreme Court and others will let him get away with that and i think if we do our work and when this election with the numbers that that i think are probably coming our way it just want to be a credible play for him representative hofmann not alone but you know its interesting. You know california, i just did an experiment in the 26th congressional district, a couple weeks ago in a special election where everyone was able to vote. From home and a republican won the congressional race, and you didnt hear a word after that race from the president , but that outcome was freshman representative Eric Swalwell doubling down saying that the president is trying to deflect. And she is as seriously in a polling deficit right now is and he doesnt have the power to delay of Congress Sets the election receives the electoral votes in the states set the process so he is powerless, but this is just an effort to deceive. The American People think that it is dangerous representative anna eshoo adding that it is wrong to put forth any doubts about whether the final Election Results in the president ial election would be an accurate and the vote is chain bridge. Well, mean its a great john lewis was willing to die for it. So many have march 2 change in. So that more access to it. And here we have a president thats going in another direction. That was theresa reporting also important to note tonight it was not just democrats speaking out several republican leaders, including Southern California is Kevin Mccarthy minority leader in the house said the election will go on as planned on november, 3rd and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said the election date is set in stone that is even though both men are strong trump supporters. Here in california all voters will be given a mail in ballot just in case that is how they choose to vote so how does that process work kron fours dan kerman has the answer. Voting this november is going to look a lot different than in past years at least in most parts of california. First every registered voter will receive a ballot in the mail. If you dont know if youre registered or if you have the current address on file go to your countys election website and check in San Francisco voters should start seeing their ballots in the mail on october 5th. Well we plan to drop on the post that friday. Its the friday before. That weekend before the deaths once you get your ballot youll have a little less than a month to fill it out and get a turned in so it can be counted. The most obvious way is putting it in the mailbox the Postal Service recommends doing that at least a week in advance. But there are other options right track with the message out this election at the polling places in the city are also drop me a ballot drop off locations not only can San Francisco voters drop off their ballots at those 588 polling locations but they want to they can vote in person there. They can also drop off their ballot or vote in person outside the bill graham civic auditorium, where theyll have an outdoor Voting Center starting october 5th. Our motto here is more days in more ways. In San Mateo County they started allmail voting back in 2015 vote by the deal. Is perhaps one of the safest and secures methods of voting in the state and San Mateo CountyOfficials Say theyll have plenty of options to get your ballot in by election day. People can drop off their ballots at one of our ballot dropoff locations or they can come to a vote center and have in person voting opportunities to actually cast their ballot. A drop off the conditionally registered to vote correct the imbalance issues that they may have one of the change in San Francisco, instead of the ballots being counted at city hall the be counted here at the bill graham civic auditorium. Its larger and more allow for more social distancing for election workers in San Francisco. Dan kerman kron 4 news. Coming up a one on one with President Trump how he says his administration is preparing to fight covid19 this fall, hundreds of San Francisco restaurants are struggling to survive the pandemic the latest challenges, Business Owners are facing to try to stay open plus could face shields become mandatory why the nations top disease experts are were living in uncertain times, but as californians well get through this together. If your income has been reduced or youve lost your job or your Health Insurance, covered california is here. We can help you find the Health Insurance you need to protect you and your loved ones. And, you may even get financial help to pay for your Health Insurance. So, if you or someone you know is without coverage, visit coveredca. Com to learn more or enroll today. The nations top coronavirus experts are recommending face shields or goggles to try to prevent the spread of coronavirus the push for added protection comes from doctors deborah birx and Anthony Fauci weve been leading voices during this pandemic cut kron fours Maureen Kelly reports wearing this extra layer of protection does not mean you can skip wearing a mask. This is a Pandemic Response area right now close Variety Store in San Franciscos castro carries a lot of different face masks and hand sanitizers. But only one kind of face shield for now i have seen an increasing number of people wearing them so i dont know whether. Thats going to be something that will really catch on sales might pick up now that doctors fauci and berks are calling attention. To this additional layer of protection which is common ppe for frontline medical workers, the idea is if someone else costs or sneezes. Wearing a face shield or goggles to help keep those particles from getting into your eyes. It might also help you remember not to touch or rub your eyes, i spoke to an Infectious Disease expert who says the virus gets into our bodies through receptors found in the nose and throat. But those same receptors are also found on the external surface parts of the i know we have a proven yet the eyes of portal but theres every reason to think it could be. And so why not shield your cells from the virus if you can ive got less or great you know and that offers a pretty good shell but not really certainly a shield to come down over my face or goggles went on for their shield. It does add another layer of protection. It does. We replace the mass by any stretch of the imagination the masters, critically cover your nose and mouth. That doctor says the most important thing to prevent the spread of the virus is social distancing because if youre far enough away the risk of transmission dropped sharply but if its a choice between wearing a mask or wearing a face shield he cheese the mask. But if youre in a situation where youre near people and the virus could transmit wearing a face shield goggles or even glasses could help. As long as youre wearing the mask as well Maureen Kelly kron 4 news. In the north face noma county has seen a spike in coronavirus related deaths this week alone, 7 people have died. Bringing the countys death toll to 31 the recent deaths involved pe