Biden with 306 electorial votes, mr. Trump with 232. More on the biden transition. We have rain in some areas and others are cloudy and a bit gloomy. Mary lee joins us with the timing. Watching this strong cold front pushing across the bay area and with it, some showers pushing through. Already starting to see that on high def doppler right now. You see showers pushing across the north bay. Some wet weather for parts of clover dale, hills burg, bodega bay, santa rosa, a few showers over sonoma as well as inverness. This is going to push south into the rest of the area. The bulk of the action in Crescent City and eureka. As we go through the rest of today, i will time it out on futurecast. There we go at 4 00 p. M. With the wet weather pushing across the bay area and then into 7 00 p. M. To the south bay. Looking at the afternoon and evening for that rain wrapping up by 10 00 p. M. And looking at a great weekend ahead. Lets go to a News Conference thats in progress. A little bit about the data, the numbers, the surge we are seeing. I was asked if we are in the middle of a surge. Absolutely. Surge doesnt have a clear definition of what connotates a surge but certainly cases are on the rise in california and we are concerned. As i say to my patients often, when i am worried, i will tell you so you can worry with me. Were there. So with that, bring out dr. Pond and go over our current case numbers. Good afternoon. Thank you very much, doctor. For todays case numbers we are 6,893 cases in california. This is higher than our seven day average which was 6,773 cases. Total tests are 136,428 and test Positivity Rate over 14 days is 4. 0 . When you compare that to a couple weeks ago on october 29, test Positivity Rate is one point higher. It is 4. 0 as of today, a point higher than two weeks ago. Hospitalizations are also increasing. Theyve increased over 34. 6 over the last two weeks. It is at 3399. Icu hospitalizations have increased, over a third in the last two weeks, at 931 icu hospitalizations. We wanted to reintroduce you again to this epidemic curve. We showed you this tuesday. This is how we look at epidemiologists and Public Health officials at what is happening. This is what is happening in california and where we have been. Our slow stringent approach has allowed us to gradually reopen a significant number of counties over the past months. You see here that the number of new cases per day has increased dramatically since beginning of november. You see the right of rise we saw in june and that was 39. 2 increase. Since beginning of november in the same one week period, its been a 47. 1 increase. This is almost a 20 faster rate of rise and fastest rate of rise we have seen in california. When cases are increasing at this pace, it is really important for us to act quickly. Every day makes a difference. We need to remember the basics and keep cases low. As i mentioned now, our hospitalizations are increasing and we did see a peak in july and our concern with the rapid rate of rise is the peak can be higher if we dont act soon. Our blueprint has been working well. We can restrict. We are actively discussing with local Health Officials and counties internally to determine what we can do about this rapid rate of rise and how we can potentially consider the emergency brakes we have built into this framework from the very beginning. With that, i will turn it over. Thanks, doctor. Certainly we always hope to have positive news and this isnt really positive news. These case numbers are surging. I will punctuate a point that the doctor made which is as we look at this rapid rate of rise in cases, nearly 20 faster rate than we had originally. What we know about cases is about two weeks after a set of cases are reported, we see about 12 of the cases end up in the hospital. When you look at a high number of cases day over day and thats sustained, that is exactly what we worry about in terms of overwhelming our Hospital System, making sure the Hospital System is available to take care of not just people sick with covid, people sick with the flu, but also individuals who might have other routine health needs, other emergency healthcare needs. We need to make sure our system is ready for that part of our population as well. This is an important, immediate situation as the doctor mentioned, our emergency break, this concept within our blueprint that says even though we move slow and stringent forward, if there are signs and signals in data a move back with expediency, with decisiveness, with partnership in our county, local leaders, local health jurisdictions, Health Leaders across the state, we will look at that closely and we have been and well continue to not just during the week but over the weekend as well. I want to also come to the concept of of what is a high risk situation. We talked tuesday that there are certain characteristics of activities and events that are higher risk than others. Just by way of reminder now, activities where it is difficult to mask the entire time. For example, when eating and drinking. That creates a higher risk situation. Activities where you see people who you havent seen recently, people outside of your household, creates a higher risk situation. I will punctuate this later. This idea that because we are personally close to someone, a family member, a really close friend whom we havent seen in a while, that doesnt create comfort when it comes to covid. We may put our guard down, take our guard down, take our mask off, get closer than we should and thats the condition that creates spread and transmission of covid19. Activities where it is difficult to keep distance, it is important to try to avoid those, multiple people at a small table for a meal, for a board game, all these things can create additional risks, activities of longer duration are important, activities that dont allow for plenty fresh air to circulate. We have been emphasizing being outdoors, being in maybe covered canopy situations outdoors with as many sides open as possible. Even if indoors windows, doors open, getting as much of the outside air circulating as possible helps reduce risk of transmission. So how is all of this relevant . I will talk about the travel advisory joining oregon and washington to do the same and then update our gatherings guidance. As it comes to travel advisory, we have been talking about this for many days. We have looked and seen what other parts of the nation have done. We have talked to partners in washington and oregon. We have discussed with many Public Health leaders across the state. There is consensus that having others travel to your home could potentially cause increased transmission. With that in mind, we have put out this travel advisory. It isnt a ban. It isnt a restriction. This is an advisory. We chose to go for advisory because for many, many months we have recognized that the partnership with all californians to choose to do things that we know reduce spread is an important one, that together with this advice on what to do as it comes to travel, that that sector of personal responsibility i have talked about before, this is an added element. We are encouraging californians to stay close to home, to avoid nonessential travel to other states, other countries, and frankly across the state if that is avoidable. People arriving in california from other states or other countries should self quarantine for 14 days. This is not a new concept. This is something we ask people to do early on with our partnership with local health jurisdictions. You have seen this across other states across the country. We believe that this is exactly how we can add to our tool kit to reduce spread in california. This is especially important as we have seen test positivity and case rates surge even higher than what we are experiencing in california in other parts of the state. The idea here is with the self quarantine for 14 days, it should be limited to interactions with immediate household and not mixing with households that theyve come to california to visit. This carries forward for people who leave california to visit someone. Maybe it is over the holidays. Maybe it is another winter event coming up. When they arrive back in the state, the recommendation is for self quarantine of 14 days. The other element i said we would discuss today are small gatherings guidance. We know as the weather has turned colder, many of us have covid fatigue. I even think about resentment towards covid. It is important that we give you the tools and knowledge of how to reduce risk. The safest gatherings remain, those that happen at home with members of your household. We encourage californians to gather virtually whenever possible. When you are gathering with others, to have it outdoors as much as possible because we know that significantly reduces the risk. So we have been talking more and more about providing relate able messages, messages that are public partners, all of you in your homes and your communities cannot just understand but can imagine implementing in your own lives on a day to day basis. Really it boils down to these seven things that you see by each check box. First we ask you to check your local Public Health websites for restrictions. Not every county, not every area of california is experiencing covid in the same way. You may have local restrictions that are tighter than where the state is. We of course always start with wear your mask. This is very important especially as you consider not just gathering outdoors but how to reduce risk indoors. We advise you to keep your mask on as much of the time as possible. The urge to take it off towards the end of gathering that maybe comes during the time where you are sharing the meal, sharing food, sharing drink, we urge you to as much as possible keep the mask on so we reduce the amount and exposure of potential air droplets with covid. Keep your distance and spread things out. Some of us have Additional Space maybe having people spend time in rooms that arent just your living room or your dining room. That could be an important strategy to keep people spread out. This is important not just as we travel outside of our home but even while we are at home, if there is any chance that you will be spending time indoors with people you havent seen in quite sometime. We ask you to keep it small. We have talked about this three household concept outside that really we are asking you to consider doing that indoors as well. Minimizing the opportunity for different people mixing and interacting not only keeps your gathering small but it reduces likelihood that you will be mixing with somebody who was themselves exposed to covid outside. Keep things short as well. The shorter, the better. We have emphasized that. Instead of having a three or four hour gathering, consider keeping it 60 or 90 minutes. It is still enough time to see people that maybe you havent seen in sometime but short enough to make sure that we dont take our guard down throughout any part of the short gathering. Keep windows open. I mentioned this. I know it is cold outside in many parts of california. But keeping the windows open and outside air circulating is important key to reducing likelihood of transmission of covid. This is not least, this is one of the most important, protecting our older and at risk friends and family. We know there is a strong urge to meet with grandparents and aunts and uncles we havent seen often or at all over the last many months, but this is exactly the time to keep your guard up. We urge you not to invite those who are older and high risk to gatherings. If you must, try to discuss ways to protect the family members. Ensure that they have the right mask. Make sure you have talked to all the participants in the gathering to do all you can to protect that person or those people so we dont increase the risk of not just transmission but transmission in the population that we know is at higher risk. I will remind you in california that just over 10 of our cases have individuals over 65. Yet that group over age 65 makes up nearly 75 of the deaths in california from covid. Punctuating the point that we need to protect those who are most at risk. By way of some reminders here, as i was saying, the people highest risk for severe illness or death are those who are older with underlying medical conditions. We strongly urge to not to attend gatherings, especially indoor gatherings. If you gather with older individuals and people with chronic conditions, make sure they wear a surgical mask. A cloth Face Covering is sufficient in many settings and for many individuals but having that added protection of a surgical mask can make a difference. It is also safest, i will remind you to celebrate holidays with people you already live with. But if you invite others, please keep it at a maximum of two other households so we reduce the number of individuals in a setting but also that we reduce the chance of having covid spread from household to household. Before we get to the routine common end of presentation slide with all our reminders to tell us that travel increases your chance of getting and spreading virus, incoming travelers from out of state should self quarantine before mixing with others, those who leave california for travel and then return should do exactly the same. Before we turn it over and take reporter questions, i will remind you to keep your mask on. Maintain the six feet of distance. Wash your hands 20 seconds with warm water and soap, an important added step. Minimize mixing as much as you can. Stay home when you are sick. If you havent already, get your flu shot. It is an important protection of not just you, not just your family, not just your community but it is something for Hospital Systems, Healthcare Delivery systems, and all of those healthcare warriors working in ers, icus, hospital wards, First Responders who need you to help protect them during this critical time. With that, i will turn it to reporters for questions. Knx news radio. I have a couple questions. Schools prepare for possibility of another complete shut down and whether you think thats a necessary step. My last question is given the fact that another surge and eating and drinking is a high risk situation, what do you think about the fact that the governor last week attended a Birthday Party with people from several households and the message that might send to residents . Thank you. Let me go to your last question first. The governor put out a statement, and i will point you to that statement. Of course my focus is on ensuring that we deal with the reality of surging cases, that the guidance i have provided today and we have been working on with local Health Partners around activities where you might gather indoors to reduce risk is really the message that we want to get out to our public. Really pushing that is important. That is part of the reason why i am back today on a friday as opposed to the normal tuesdays. As it relates to the emergency break, thank you for that question. We have always said in our blueprint that we could see things have to shift more quickly. We left that as a characteristic of the blueprint. We havent hid behind that in any way. Now may be the time where counties move back a little sooner than just waiting two weeks. Maybe one week is enough, that the data is so compelling, transmission rates, the rate of rise mentioned county by county could be compelling elenough to not just cause counties to move back faster. We have had counties move back one tier at a time. That may not be appropriate to get the response we need to blunt the rate of rise that you saw. Then of course we have allowed counties to wait a full three days before reverting back to the more restrictive tier they are asked to move to. Even that might need to be reconsidered. Those are a few things. We will be working with local partners to understand what the conditions are, make sure that we do something that is appropriate for each county, for each region, and those are the elements that we may put in place. Its not inconsistent with the current blueprint. It was always there. Now may be the opportunity where we have to use those tools. As it goes for l. A. And the schools, we have made schools an important priority. We are working with, despite surge in cases, making sure we emphasize all protective factors, things we provided schools at the state and local level to be able to reduce risk, things like appropriate ppe, things like access to testing, guidance on how to set up classrooms and campuses in a lower risk way, knowing that we will always have and continue to have Distance Learning as an option when schools or cohorts in a school need to sort of go back to Distance Learning. We continue to push forward with all of those preparatory arrangements. But if a district in a county or if a county in its entirety decides that the transmission rate is too high for a number of reasons, we will work with the counties including l. A. To be ready for when transmission rates come down again so that schools can come back and students who depend on in Person Learning to get level of education and the development that they need with teachers and staff who are prepared as well, that we are ready to go as soon as it is deemed to be appropriate to return. Ron lynn, los angeles times. Hi dr. Ghaly, thanks for speaking with us and taking our questions. Counties like l. A. Are in the most restricted tier. What closures do you think might be needed. Do you think we need to do another statewide stayathome order . Do you have any recommendations for black friday . Should we avoid going and shopping in person on black friday . Thanks so much. You are asking both questions are critical. Purple is most restrictive. Many counties are already in purple. Others are moving there. We will be working with the counties. We have better information about where spread is occurring in each county. We also know more than we did in march. The sorts of activities as i walked you through in previous slides, some of the characteristics of high risk activities. Well be looking at those and if additional changes to purple tier are required well be working with local partners to determine whats there. First and foremost we will continue to use the blue print to be that tool that restricts as we have always said. Its a tool, not just to loosen but to tighten restrictions as well. We believe that its helped so far and we will continue to count on it now. We are not looking today at a statewide stayathome order. We know that many californians are fatigued and tired and that we are continuing to work with our partners, all 40 million partners acrossacross the state really adopt those practices of continuing to wear your mask, minimize mixing, keep your distance, and a number of others that i remind you of on a regular basis to really be the tools at the moment. All that said, this is a quickly rapidly evolving situation. We will do whatever it takes to make sure we appropriately protect the Public Health of california. Hi dr. Ghali. Hello. Can you talk a little bit on the statewide travel advisory, why the state chose to make it just an ask and not a tell like new york, alaska, hawaii, other states around the country . We have for many weeks understood that the most important asset we have with californians is working along with california. Putting out an advisory, a strong urge guidance on what to do when traveling but first and foremost to avoid it as much as possible, that that is going to be an approach and a commitment to californians to do with a we believe is the right thing. That is going to help us along the way throughout this entire pandemic and really taking some of the sense of enforcement and ability to knock on every door, pick up every phone, hard to do in any state, certainly hard to do in a state of 40 million. You have been watching an update from the state health secretary, california seeing a dramatic rapid surge in daily coronavirus cases. With that the number of people in the hospital or icu has also gone up. Health Officials Say this is the fastest state of rise theyve seen during the pandemic. Theyre urging everyone to take steps to reduce the risk of spread. With the holidays the state is issuing a travel advisory urging people to stay close do home and avoid nonessential travel. People who travel here from other states should self quarantine for 14 days and dr. Ghaly emphasized this is not a restriction or ban, simply an advisory, an ask at this time. Our next newscast is at 5 00. Have a great afternoon and a great weekend. [ smoke alarm beeping ] zoe wait, should we see if we can help . Zende carters on it. Its probably just a false alarm. Hopefully its nothing too serious. [ smoke alarm continues ] you two sure seem to be. Marriage . Thats a big step. Zoe yeah, i mean, its huge, if i decide to take it. Zende if . What do you mean, if . Youre not actually wearing the ring. Does that mean. Did you accept carters proposal or not . Quinn oh. Dont mind me. Ill just go hide in my room. Flo what . No, no, no, no. Dont be silly, u