Virus, you can still depend on the mail to come on time, but some workers say thats not necessarily the case. Here is nbc bay areas melissa colorado. Reporter this video posted to twitter last week shows an empty post office in berkley. It was really strange. It was a little bit like like this government building with nobody in it. Reporter last week dee said the same thing happened to her when she stopped by berkleys Main Post Office to send a package. A spokesperson for the u. S. Postal Service Confirms there wasnt enough staff last month to man all of berkleys post offices, forcing some to close. Today all offices are back to normal, but now there is concerns that covid19 infections among postal workers and a new rule by the post master general is slowing down mail delivery that could have dire consequences in november. Yeah, i mean im really worried. I have been registered as an ab tennessee voter forever. Reporter Shirley Taylor with the American Postal Workers Union says post offices are understaffed because a hand full of workers have come down with covid19. Weve had two to five in berkley. Weve had them in martinez. Weve had them in pittsburg. Reporter the virus is not the only thing causing delays says taylor. President trump named top gop donor to be his new post master general. Taylor says he put in place these new costcutting rules including one that reads extra trips to deliver mail are no longer allowed. It is going to back up the mail. It is going to cause problems when the election comes because voting by mail is a sacred thing. Reporter some voters we spoke with questioned whether this is more about politics than policy. Im just like imagining, like weeks and weeks of contention and debate and the president saying it was rigged. Reporter a spokesperson for the u. S. Postal service says they are seeing a huge volume in packages and that is due to the overwhelming number of people ordering essential items online. In albany, melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. For the first time in a week Governor Newsom gave an inperson briefing and it came with a healthy dose of what he called, quote, early good news. After ramping up restrictions several weeks ago, he says numbers are starting to head in the correct in the right direction. You can see here new cases are down 21 , hospitalizations down 10 , and icu admissions are down 5 , and the 14day Positivity Rate this is a big one down to 7 . Still, he stressed we have to stay diligent. Encouraging signs, but one week does not make a kind of trend that gives us confidence to generate headlines. We are looking forward to that and well need to see another few weeks of this kind of data to come in to feel more confident. The governor adds the drop in new cases is because more people are Wearing Masks and social distancing and because of the recent business closures. He warned it could be quite a while before many of these businesses will be allowed to reopen. Raj, take a closer look at the slight decline. This is the number of new cases added each day in our state since april. The blue line shows the 14day average. You can see lots of peaks here starting from june 24th to midjuly. We had nearly 12,000 on july 7th, nearly 13,000 on july 21st, but the number you can see since then trending downward. Yesterday reported 5,700 new cases, well below the twoweek average of 8,800 cases. Now, the percentage of people testing positive for the virus is also dropping. Thats what we call the Positivity Rate. You know, the 14day average now at 7 . You can see in april here it was really high, it was 40 . Thats because there were so few tests given out and the people that were tested were basically sick, they had symptoms. Look at this week. As you can see, it is going down slightly right here at 7 . Last week we were at 7. 5 consistently. Now, we dont want to get above 8 . That is the jelyellow line. Thats the state threshold. If we get above that the governor may shut down more businesses. The ultimate goal is to get the Positivity Rate below 5 . Look at where things stand here in the bay area. Tonight more than 54,000 confirmed cases. Alameda county right here continues to be the hot spot in the bay area. It reported 322 new infections today. A San Mateo County supervisor is doubling down to stop the rapid spread of the virus. He wants to implement a fine if you dont wear a mask. Tomorrow the supervisor will introduce a new ordinance aimed at anyone who violates health orders. Under this ordinance people not wearing a mask in public can be fined from 100 to 500 depending on the number of previous infractions. Businesses can be fined anywhere between 250 to 3,000 per violation. Last week San Mateo County became the last bay area county to be added to the states watch list. Well, a major shakeup in the bay areas biggest city. An unexpected announcement. San joses police chief is retiring. Chief eddie garcia just made that announcement about an hour ago. Our own Damian Trujillo broke the story earlier today on twitter tweeting the chiefs statement about his time in san jose. He grew up in snl. Nbc bay areas marianne favreau is at Police Headquarters with the big announcement. Reporter ed rhee garcia is a local success story. As you mentioned he grew up here in san jose and started at the department as a Patrol Officer more than 28 years ago. Since then he has worked his way through the ranks. He has become a narcotics officer, a homicide investigator and ultimately the police chief. Today mayor sam liccardo praised him for his commitment to the community. After more than 28 years on the force and four years as its chief, san joses top cop, eddie garcia, says he is retiring. In a statement he told nbc bay area news, i came to san jose as a young boy from puerto rico, learned how to speak english here and ultimately became chief of the tenth largest city in the country. I will forever be grateful to this city and this department. Theres nobody who cares more about the city and this police force than eddie garcia. He gave his heart and soul to the city and to the community, and he has done so much to help rebuild the department that was really in desperate straits when he took over. Reporter desperate straits because garcia took over after pension reform sank morale and triggered a mass exodus that saw the department shrink to about 800 active duty officers. Most importantly, he has helped to build the faith that officers in themselves and their own mission. Reporter while garcia has faced criticism over how his department has responded to some of the recent black lives matter protests, the chief said he made the decision to retire months ago and it had nothing to do with the protests or covid19. In a statement, the San Jose PoliceOfficers Association said, chief garcia never forgot what it was like to push papa troll car through the streets of san jose and what a difficult job Police Officers have in trying to keep our residents and businesses safe. Chief garcia tells us that he will step down from the job in december, and mayor sam liccardo says that there will be a nationwide search to find his replacement. Reporting live in san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. Marianne, thank you. It is a big issue here. School starts in a few weeks for so many kids and it is an uneasy time for parents, students and teachers. A lot of us just unsure how to prep our kids. Lets bring in jessica aguirre. He spoke with a woman trying to make things as easy as possible for a lot of us. We need to listen to her because we need help and guidance here. Even when we didnt have covid, navigating the School System is super complicated and getting sometimes the resources that you need is super hard. But imagine not speaking english and trying to navigate now with covid or not having the money that you need to be able to provide the resources for your children. This pandemic is making it really, really difficult, but there is a woman who has a plan. I spoke to her today. And she is the executive director of an Organization Called bay area plan. It is based in oakland and it has a plan to empower parents so that they feel safe addressing issues in their childrens school. They act as an advocate. It also tries bringing School Districts and parents together so that any changes that have to happen are heard and then implemented. We bring together a very diverse multi Cultural Network of families across the bay area. We have some amazing arabic moms in san jose and oakland supporting each other, latino moms who are speakers of spanish. We are leaning to learning from families from multiple backgrounds and figuring out ways they can provide peer support to each other. Explain to me. What is it exactly like . Now when school starts, what will it look like with the families you are working with . So what it looks like for us is really ensuring in the next seven days that we have every districts information and that we have clarity about what parents should be expecting across every district. It looks like us really leaning into reading the opening plans, figuring out ways to give districts advice, connecting them with the family leaders we have in our network and making sure that things are transparent. Reporter yeah, which is really tough, raj. You know, you have been getting the emails from the School District telling you the Different Things that are happen. It is hard enough for, you know, anyone to follow those, but imagine if you dont know the language. With this organization, not only are they doing that but giving peer support. They are helping with the digital divide. Theyre really trying to grab the whole holistic plan if you will about giving the families access to the information they need. Every parent wants to feel they are a part of their childs education and theyre helping and now we all need a little help more than ever. The plan, they have a plan. Thats a good organization. Yes, it is overwhelming for so many of us. Thank you, jessica. Reporter yes. With kids separated from their classmates there are no easy answers as to how to make school feel like school again. Tech companies are trying to bridge the gap between Distance Learning to make things feel a little more normal, but even the most Successful Technology has a challenge reaching everybody. Our business and tech recorder scott budman has the tech angle to this pandemic education. So this tied of the color wheel often represents what type of color . Warm. Reporter this is a peek into out school, a bay area startup that recognizes were out of school. I dont really know what this is. Reporter and online. Out school, where teachers work with a small time is one of Man Companies usinghnology to help parents, teachers and students make sense of education during the pandemic. Anything that we can do to help make the series really feel more like school. Reporter sococo was originally a business app. Think of a mix between slack and second life. But now school is sococos hot spot, creating virtual classrooms. And it just feels like you are going into mrs. Smiths class and period one, period two, you are running into your friends in the hallways, you are having conversations. All of these things are what really makes school great. And how do you recreate that in a Virtual World . It has classrooms, meeting rooms, it has a kitchen, a cafe. Reporter professor chris jones showed Us Summer School at san joses American Institute of mathematics. We met him virtually inside his office. They feel like going the pod is something that they can see who else is engaged. It is not just like, you know, two times a day they have a zoom meeting with somebody. Theyre actually going somewhere. Going to talk about hers first. Go ahead, scout. Reporter theyre using technology to take an extremely tough situation and make it a little more human. Now, even as those companies catch on, there are costs to be paid, both by the School District and the parents for the technology, but also the technology itself. Even here in the heart of silicon valley, there are still tens of thousands of people who dont have access to broadband. And while inclusion funds are trying to bridge that digital divide, even they admit it wont be anything near an even Playing Field by the Time School Starts up again. In san jose, scott budman, nbc bay area news. Lots to think about. Thank you, scott up next, more than 20,000 acres have burned and it is still raging. Investigators say they do know now what started this destructive fire that is burning in Southern California. Im chief meteorologist jeff ranieri tracking a much cooler system for august. Well show you how much those temperatures drop, and a look at the hurricane on the east coast in about seven minutes. This could be a teenagers dream job, send messages out on social media and get paid for it. Contra costa county is recruiting teens to share the importance of Wearing Masks. Nbc bay area Jodi Hernandez with more on the new approach. Reporter like most teenagers, 16yearold elissa spends a lot of time on social reporter Contra Costa County hopes to tap into the captive and creative audience. Theyre creating youth ambassadors to share facts and impacts of covid19 by posting their experiences on social media. Peertopeer conversation is what is important and social media is where theyre at and they listen to each other. Reporter Contra Costa CountyHealth Services says more than 550 youth applied. The county says their creativity and influence can drive home the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing. It tells the Public Health department that we have to really gauge and harness the power of young people, and it really tells us that young people are just so, so ready to be able to understand this virus and think want to do something about it. Being able to look at people that are our age and we can relate to our peers. Reporter alyssa says she thinks the approach is a great idea. She says she is much more likely to Pay Attention to a peer and thinks yu thinks youth ambassadors can make a difference. I hope people understand the pandemic were going through. I mean it is something that will be in the history books, like so it is really important that everyone understand the effect. Reporter the county will select the youth ambassadors this week. They will get a 525 stipend for their social media posts through the end of the year. In Contra Costa County, Jodi Hernandez, nbc bay area news. A wildfire, the sites fire is 40 contained as of this morning. It has burned more than 500 acres since it started yesterday. No structures have burn and no word on the cause. Another fire were following in Southern California, in riverside and San Bernardino counties. Investigators say a diesel vehicle malfunctioned and sparked this fire. It has burned now more than 26,000 acres, about 8,000 people have been forced to leave this area since the fire erupted last friday. It is only about 5 contained at this hour. Temperatures not helping that situation. It is really warm in Southern California. Yes. In the 90s, but hopefully we have some relief soon this week, jeff. Yes, i think, you know, once we get to thursday and fridays forecast there will be some relief in Southern California for that fire, the apple fire, burning in the San BernardinoNational Forest just north of banning. So, again, next two days tough, 20 to 50mileperhour wind gusts, 80s and 90s, but by thursday and friday we should start to see it cool down. Now, talk about some cooling, we have a lot of that coming our way as we head through the next two days. Check it out. We have this colder system dropping down across Northern California. It is going to help to drop our temperatures and also pick up the wind. So lets get a look at tomorrow. Im seeing a 3 to 6degree drop for us. It will put us to 64 in San Francisco. 85, concord. 78, san jose. Look at my extended forecast. By wednesday i have down to 76 degrees. Thats 10 to 15 degrees below our average, even the chance here of some spotty drizzle. Now, dont worry. We will have more on that coming up. I wanted to also get you the latest on this hurricane towards the eastern seaboard. This will continue up over washington, new york, even impacts into boston as we head through tomorrow. Winds of 50 to 65 Miles Per Hour and rain of 1 to 4 inches. Coming up in 25 minutes, well take a look at my longrange forecast, the chances of la nina and historically what that has meant for our rainfall season. A lot still to come. Again, i will see you in about 25 minutes. Okay. Thank you, jeff. Up next, an east bay winery is taking a stand. The reason it is changing one of its most popular products. Yep, that bottle of wine right there and how it relates to the black community. Jessica rejoins us next. Were living in uncertain times, but