Oracle park. We finally have our giants back. We have some normalcy in the city. Some normalcy but far from your typical game. Tonight the fans who found a way to enjoy the action on the field even if they couldnt sit in the stands. Good evening. For some the crack of the bat is irresistible and comforting during this pamndemic. The San Francisco giants played at an empty oracle ballpark tonight. But as jean elle shows us, the game is filling a void. Reporter giants fans arent allowed inside the ballpark. The outfield viewing gate is mostly covered up so its not easy to see inside. But some fans say none of that matters. What matters is being here like they are every year. Whoo reporter kayakers cant contain their excitement. The giants are back on the field playing the bay bridge series against the oakland as. Im beyond excited. Right on. Reporter dave says during a pandemic, its just what the doctor ordered. Baseball is our favorite sport, and being out here and kind of participating in the game in the cove is therapy for us. And if its not therapy for us, its therapy for our wives to get us out of the house. Reporter some fans stopped to try to catch a glimpse of the action through the back fen. Josh mcdonald came from mountain view. Baseball, you know, its the greatest thing in the world. I grew up on baseball. Thats why were here. We love it. Reporter Colleen Mejia and her family came to pay tribute to her father, honoring papa eds love of the game that provides this family comfort. Not worried about, you know, the unfortunate times were in right now. You know, we had a moment where we justsuort, right . Reporter there are no big crowds, but enthusiastic fans are more than welcome at area bars and restaurants. Its our direct lifeline to any sort of business and any sort of foot traffic, so to have them back in any capacity is super important to us. Reporter jean elle, nbc bay area news. Now, it was a good night for the giants. Coming up in sports, Anthony Flores has highlights from tonights game. The number is sobering. More than 400,000 cases. California has the second highest covid case count in the nation. The state now on track to pass new york, which has 414,000 cases. Now, while our case count is nearing new yorks, you can see significantly fewer californians have died from the virus. Now, the bay area had 976 new cases today. 254 of them in Santa Clara County. Contra costa county reported 200 new infections. As cases surge here in the bay area, Santa Clara CountyHealth Officer dr. Sara cody is criticizing how california has reopened. She says the reopening was rushed and resulted in cases across the state skyrocketing. Now, more californians are getting tested for the virus, but the percentage of people who have tested positive over the past two weeks is also going up. Its now 7. 5 . Hospitalizations also climbing, up 2. 5 from yesterday. And the sevenday average of new cases is up almost 1,000 from last week. So what is the forecast . How long are we expected to be in this heightened stage . The state Health Secretary says we could see cases continue to rise another four weeks despite this round of closures. That two to threeweek period may not be long enough. It may take up to three, four, even five weeks to feel the full impact of some of those changes that youve seen in the past couple of weeks. Some of those changes include the shutdown of bars and other indoor activities across the state. The governor ordering those in response to a surge of cases in a dozen california counties. Dr. Californians to continue to social distance and to wear a mask. A mask is especially important ealth care workers. Tonight bay area nurses are mourning the death of one of their own, who apparently died of covid19. And due to what many nurses say is a lack of ppe. And some fear they could be next. Nbc bay areas shicheryl hurd h more. Reporter she worked here at Summit Medical center in oakland for over two decades, most recently on the sixth floor. Now jeanines family, coworkers, and friends are mourning her death. This is the hardest and ultimate loss to our family. None of us had signed up for this. Reporter the nurses union says she died of covid19 four days ago. She was an amazing woman, a real warrior, and yet a whopping 5 feet, i think. Reporter its not clear exactly how she got sick, but her coworkers say while theyre at work treating patients, theyre putting their own health and safety at risk. We all need to be forceful about what we need to protect us and protect our patients. Reporter nurses here say they arent given the proper personal protective equipment. You cant be telling the nurses to take the n95 and put them in a garbage bag so you can recycle them for later use. Reporter a Sutter Health spokesperson says when nurses are caring for suspected or known covid19 positive patients, staff are supplied with new n95 masks along with other appropriate ppe. Nurses here tonight worry that they could be exposed to the virus. Theyre concerned that they could be next. A lot of us have kids at home and families at home, and were worried because theres no guarantee. Reporter in oakland, cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. Well, the debate is intensifying whether or not to reopen schools. Some parents and some lawyers are now trying to force inclassroom learning. Theyre calling for the courts to overturn Governor Newsoms order which prevents School Districts on his watch list from starting the school year in the classroom. You pursue an injunction in court to prevent the governor from destroying the Academic Year and beyond for these families and their kids. Educators argue that classrooms filled with students isnt the right option right now. Instead they want to focus on providing more training and tools for teachers. A change in plans for uc berkeley. The university now says the fall semester will be completely online. You may remember campus leaders originally said that cal would hold limited inperson classes. The school says it is making the move because of the surge in cases in the campus community. Well, new at 11 00 tonight, weve heard that wearing a mask helps protect the people around you. But new research out of ucsf shows that wearing a Face Covering actually protects you as well. It has to do with blocking the amount of virus that can get into your body. Nbc bay areas ian cull spoke with the doctor in charge of that study. Reporter until now, most research on the coronavirus has shown wearing a mask helps the people around you. But new findings from ucsf doctors reveal it helps the person wearing it too. So were seeing these rates of not getting sick being driven up in places that mask, and thats why its important to message that masks help you. They help your family, and thats why we all have to wear masks. Dr. Monica ghandi is an Infectious Disease physician and led the team of doctors. They gathered data from multiple studies to come to this conclusion. If you are wearing a mask, youre getting less of a viral dose. Youre unlikely to get the infection. But if you do get the infection, youre more likely to get asymptomatic infection, having no symptoms or not getting sick. Reporter they also studied multiple outbreaks at workplaces that were using Face Coverings. There was an outbreak in an oregon seafood processing plant. Everyone had been wearing masks. 95 , asymptomatic. Reporter this comes as President Trump acknowledged today he thinks masks have a purpose. I have no problem with the masks. I view it this way. Anything that potentially can help and that certainly can potentially help is a good thing. Reporter the ucsf doctors findings will be published in the journal of general internal medicine next week. Population level masking is whats gotten many countries quickly through the pandemic. We are not getting through it quickly. We have to get through it quickly. Reporter the doctor says its important to get a mask that is comfortable and one you can actually breathe through, even a thin cotton one like mine, because it still serves as a barrier. In san jose, ian cull, nbc bay area news. Well, another downfall of not wearing a mask, getting fined. Today marin county approved a series of fines. First offense is a warning with some education. After that, you could be subject to fines of at least 25. Commercial businesses would be fined a minimum of 250. County officials are getting 60 complaints a day about people not wearing masks, mostly having to do with businesses. Well, we mentioned earlier that california is on track to pass new york in the total number of cases even though the death toll here is much lower. But lets take a closer look at how californias curb compares to new yorks. This graph shows new cases. The white line is new york. Back in april the state saw a huge surge in cases but since then theres been a constant decline. Now take at california, the blue line. We started low but our numbers continued to climb each month. So what can we do now to flatten the curve again . What is up to us to do is to really come together as a community again, be patient about the dimming switch, and be kind to each other. Easier said than done, of course. Were so tired. We wish this had all been behind us, but we have to look forward to the future. Dr. Chinhong says we also need to address outbreaks in factories, nursing homes, and prisons to help stop the spread of the virus. Ahead, what went wrong . We investigate the massive outbreak of covid19 at san quentin. Plus breaking news, the mystery surrounding this latenight fire at the chinese consulate in houston. Im chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. Ill show you why the weather has been cooler than average and how long this trend will last coming up in about eight minutes. We made usaa insurance for veterans like liz and mike. 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. Breaking this hour, a fire at the chinese consulate in houston. Police say they received dozens of calls about documents being burned in the courtyard. Smoke could be seen from outside. But when firefighters arrived, they were not let onto the property. Olice say the consulate and a evicted by friday. Inmates are dying. Thousands infected. Communications stifled. That is the situation at san quentin. So what went wrong, and how are they going to fix it . Our Investigative Unit has been reporting on the outbreak at the prison since it started. Tonight Investigative ReporterCandice Nguyen takes a deeper look. Reporter last week the prison took away phone access to prisoners. Officials are now being accused of systematically suppressing information. But before they took away that phone access, we spoke to more than a dozen prisoners and Staff Members to find out whats going on in san quentin. This call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded. Eight hours later they found him dead in his cell. Reporter the calls have come in for weeks. The conditions that they have us in at this present time are deplorable. Reporter from men locked up at san quentin, home to one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in california. I see in the next couple weeks that theres going to be a lot of deaths here. Reporter from north block depression starts to set in. You start to sleep more. Reporter to death row. Theyre treating us like caged animals as if we dont have rights. Reporter since june, more than 2,000 men have been infected. For perspective, thats half of all the cases in marin county. 13 inmates have died. Im very upset with cdcrs response because they were not one, but maybe two or three steps behind. Reporter robert cole caught covid inside the prison and survived. He was recently released and is now quarantined in an oakland motel. I was starving when i left. Reporter and filthy, he said. I didnt shower for my last seven days there. Reporter prisoners say theyre quarantined in small cells all day. Meals until recently have been served cold. Many blame state prison officials and Governor Newsom for moving too slowly when the virus was im actually shocked rd working, how theyre responding. Reporter a prison nurse agreed to speak to us anonymously, saying the biggest untold story in san quentin is about the health care provided to infected prisoners. But the nurse says theyre fighting an impossible battle that went wrong from the start with a prisoner transfer from chino. At the time, chino was going through its own covid outbreak when prison officials wanted to move medically fragile prisoners to a safer place. But some hadnt been tested for weeks before the move and were positive when they arrived at san quentin. Im told literally there is, on the road, heading towards san quentin, 125 inmates from one of the most covidinfested prisons in the state. They moved all the inmates. Its like the keystone cops thing. Theyre trying to isolate it. Their reaction was to move people around even more. And the more you move people around, they just spread it all over the prison. Reporter prisoners have used phones, some illegally smuggled, to shed light on the conditions inside. Weve talked to more than a dozen men. But just last week, officials cut off access to prisonauthorized phones for everyone incarcerated, saying it was to help prevent transmission. Marvin mutch is skeptical. The best way to keep the public from knowing whats going on is to cut off all communication. Reporter he knows what its like inside. He spent four decades in prison after he said he was wrongfully convicted at 18 years old. He was released in 2016 and now advocates for the men he got to know so well. You have the Governors Office has decided theyre going to release 8,000 people. Too little, too late. Its not like the house is on fire. The house has already burned down. Reporter nbc bay area has requested interviews with the governor, san quentins warden, and state prison officials. They all declined. In a statement, the states Corrections Department said the department is working tirelessly to implement measures to protect staff, the incarcerated population, and the community at large. Governor newsom talked about the issue during a press conference earlier this month. There has not been one week in the last two months where we have not focused with laser intensity on whats going on in congregate facilities, including corrections. Reporter as the death toll rises, mutch says how we treat those behind bars is a reflection of ourselves. Theyre locked in their cells with death lurking down the tier. Every time we allow somebody to die chained to a bed, were shedding pieces of our humanity. Reporter the governor and state prison Officials Say they are offering housing to the thousands of men they plan to release early. The parolees we spoke to say as far as they know, there is no Candice Nguyen, nbc bay area news. If you have a story for candice or anyone in the Investigative Unit, call 888996tips or visit our website, nbcbayarea. Com investigations. Lets turn our attention to the weather. Our jeff ranieri, chief meteorologist, is home where youve been for months now. It felt muggy outside today, jeff. Yeah, just a little bit of humidity moving in from the south. But, you know, the good part is these temperatures have been so, so comfortable the past couple of days, and i really think were going to see more of that as we head throughout the next two to three days in the forecast. Let me go ahead and show you why. Its all about this cooler than average system moving off to the north. We also have the fog at the immediate coastline. Both of these things helping to keep some of that hottest air we usually see in july well away from us. So there is the good news on that. Its also going to bring back another round of low clouds as you move through tomorrow morning. Pretty extensive here up to the wl h bay and peninsula. Also be possible right near the immediatend also some clouds. Better chance of clouds down towards south san jose and also right there for gilroy. Then we will have that sunshine as we move through tomorrow afternoon, and thats really whats going to make it pretty spectacular for tomorrow. Temperatures will be cool to start. Weve been used to this lately. I have 56 in the south bay. Peninsula 57. The trivalley at 55. And another round here of 50s for the east bay, San Francisco, and the north bay. Our afternoon temperatures, my forecast here, it just doesnt change too much. Were below average for the south bay. It puts us at 78 in san jose. A little bit of a breeze coming out of the west at 14 miles per hour. That will make it more enjoyable. Its that cooler westerly wind. Right here for the east bay, probably some of the best weather over towards vallejo at 71 degrees. It does get warmer down to antioch and livermore and pleasanton with low and mid80s. The peninsula, 74 in redwood city. San francisco, its going to be chilly as were used to. 57 in the outer sunset. 65 in the mission. Head away from San Francisco into the north bay, and we have some warmer 70s for novato, sonoma, and napa. My extended forecast continues to keep it dry in San Francisco with some morning fog next several days and 60s. And right here for the inland valleys, we have 80s on wednesday, thursday, friday, and saturday. Then once we hit sunday and monday, we will see some warmer 90s return, but thankfully its not going to be too hot. And you cant see it right now, jess, but lucy came into the room right now. I think she heard your voice. Oh, yay and she wanted to come chill in the living room. There you go. Lucy, there you are. Shes ready for tomorrow when its lucy wednesday. Exactly. I had to show you. Thank you. Love it. She came right in. Thank you, jeff. Coming up, starbucks called out for its mask policy. The loophole that one employee says could be leaving workers exposed. Happening now, costco appears to be bringing back its popular custom size half sheet cakes. Last month costco pulled the cakes and said it had no plans to bring them back. Customers took to social media, petitioning the company to make the cakes again. It did. Our Consumer Team spotted the cakeordering stations at warehouses in the south bay. The price for a halfsheet of cake, 19. 95. Were back in a moment. Layed 201 summer games. Tomorrow morning from 4 30 to 7. Lebron james proving to be a momma s boy. The lakers superstar says the hardest part of motorcycle riders love the open road. And geico loves helping riders get to where theyre going, so to help even more, geico is giving new and current customers a fifteen percent credit on their motorcycle policies with the geico giveback. And because were committed for the long haul, the credit lasts your full policy term. The geico giveback. Helping riders focus on the road ahead. The geico giveback. We know these are challenging times. Rest assured, you are not alone. Weve all had to adapt. And with summer here, your energy bills might go up with rising temperatures. Together, we can save energy and money. Try closing your shades during the day. Setting your ac to 78 or higher. Or cooling off with a fan when you can. United we are always stronger. Stay well, california, and keep it golden. Bringing their anger right to her home. Vandals spray painted messages on the home of oakland mayor libby schaaf. A neighbor tells us around 2 00 in the morning, she saw 20 people wearing masks, dressed in dark clothing, surrounding the mayors home. The neighbor said she heard the people chant wake up libby as they set off fireworks and spray painted the home with messages. The mayor lives there with her husband and two kids. Mayor schaaf says she supports passionate protests but does not support tactics meant to harm or terrorize others. A brush fire came close to homes in the hill above san joses alum rock neighborhood. It started just before 1 00 this afternoon theyre lariat lane. About four acres burns. One outbuilding was destroyed but thankfully no homes. It is a california order. Everyone has to wear a mask while at a store or when theyre within six feet of others outside. What about when youre at the drivethrough. East bay starbucks said the company doesnt make it a requirement. The barista tells us most customers are not. Its emotionally exhausting to go into work every day and fear for, you know, what if todays the day that i get it . If youre close enough that i can hand you something, you know, you should be wearing a mask. The notice, she says, is posted on her stores employ bulletin board. It says we will not enforce this requirement at the drivethrough unless locally mandated. It also instructs kuif a custom refuses to wear masks inside the store, tell them they can go throughout the drivethrough instead. Californias department of health responds, if employees and customers at any business are unable to keep six feet distance from each other during a transaction, then they should wear masks to protect themselves and others. Up next, were going to take you to oracle park and show you how the final tuneup for the giants and the as went tonight. You spoke. We listened. Tiny tacos are back for good grab a box of 15 or try them loaded. Get em now with no contact delivery. Welcome back. Im Anthony Flores at oracle park in San Francisco. For the second night in a row, the giants make headlines before the first pitch. The giants taking on the as in game two of an exhibition series. Manager gabe kapler kneeling for the national anthem. He was joined by several players, including Fan Favorites hunter pence and pablo sandoval. Now to the game. Bottom two, as lead it 21. Alex dickerson with an oppositefield home run. Its a solo shot, tying the game at two. The giants would add a run in the fourth and seventh innings on sac flies. San francisco beats oakland 42. The giants sweep the twogame exhibition series. After the game, kapler talked about taking a knee during the anthem and said the team will decide what theyre going to do before each game during the regular season. Im making an agreement as a group that were going to support any decision our players make. Im personally going to support any decisions that our staff makes, and were going to continue to express ourselvin. Reporter so now it gets real. The giants open the season on the road thursday in los angeles. The as host the angels on friday. At oracle park in San Francisco, Anthony Flores, nbc bay area. More news after the break. Feel like youve watched all the things . Now theres more to love with xfinity x1, the ultimate entertainment experience. Like live sports. Theyre back with the best way to watch. And more streaming apps all in one place. More classics. More premiers. Plus, more to easily find using just your voice. Hello, more. Where have you been all my life . Find your favorites and more all in one place with x1. Plus, get speed, coverage and security with the xfi gateway. Xfinity. The future of awesome. 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. This thursday marks one year until the Opening Ceremony of the postponed Olympic Games in tokyo. Now, despite an uptick of covid19 cases, the governor there says shell do everything she can to keep the games on schedule. In an interview with cnbc, the governor said the 2020 summer games can become a symbol of how the world has united to overcome the hardship and how humanity has strengthened its bnds. When asked about a rumored plan to put on a slimmed down version of the games or scale back spectators, the governor declined to comment. You can catch all the thrilling action of the 2020 tokyo games being played in 2021 right here on nbc bay area. Fingers crossed, let us have those games. Thats going to do it for us this evening. Thanks for watching. Well see you tomorrow and stay healthy