i m terry mcsweeney. i m anousha rasta. another pivotal hurdle has been cleared. today the cdc is recommending the use of the pfizer vaccine. governor newsom tweeted that a medical safety group formed by several western states was meeting today to set up plans. the group met as a check on the federal review process and is expected to green light the distribution as well. thousands of the doses will head here to the bay area. this all happens as cases in the bay area are at an all time high. today san francisco reported a record 2300 new cases. chris pollone has the latest on the race to get the vaccine to the front line. the fda authorized for emergency use the pfizer bioen tech vaccine. right now, boxes are being packed and loaded with vaccine with emphasis on quality control. reporter: the first shipments will be arriving at medical centers monday morning. i won t probably live in my career to see another day like this. that s how monumental it is. reporter: d
now. good evening, everyone. thanks for joining. cases are surging and counties are taking action. today is the first day that indoor dining is once again off-limits in san francisco. another blow for restaurants already struggling during the pandemic. not just san francisco. several bay area counties taking action to slow the spread of the virus. all tightening restrictions starting next week. nbc bay area s christy smith has a look at how restaurants are dealing with this latest setback. reporter: a number of restaurants we spoke with today say they re working hard to try and make diners feel even more comfortable being outside. it s a stressful time, they say where, and there is so much to consider in rolling back. for restaurants right now it s very stressful. reporter: at water bar they re no longer able to offer any indoor dining but there is space to dine outside with a view. we re probably 50% of what we would have been on a night where we could have indoo
we begin with a flurry of new announcements in the past five hours that affect millions of people here in the bay area. san francisco and san mateo counties slid back into the most restrictive tier. you can see here every county is in the purple tier except for marin county, which is one tier away in red. this is why restrictions are tightening. this shows the average number of cases in the bay area. the newest numbers all the way on the right, nearly as high as our summer surge. but this time hospitals are also dealing with the beginning of the flu season. the situation facing hospitaling in the south bay is so serious, that it led to a rare weekend news conference from county leaders who announced further restrictions. nbc bay area s marianne favro is in san jose with us for more on this serious message from the county s top doctors. reporter: it s definitely concerning, at a press conference here, the public health officer announced that the covid cases are spiking. ther
it opened 15 years ago and was one of the first in the world to begin operations. but couldn t survive the pandemic. owners tried adapting to the changing guidelines and mandates by the city and the county, but the bills kept stacking up. they say overhead remained the same while loss of membership and limits placed pop them were just too difficult to overcome. it s been part of our lives for so long. we ve met so many friends and created such a strong community here. so it just felt like the bedrock of our life for 15 years, and it s just such a heartbreaking loss. the gym held one final workout today, then hosted an open house for people to come and say goodbye. we could know in a couple of day it is san francisco is moving a step closer towards welcoming students back to classrooms. on tuesday, the san francisco unified school district will discuss that idea. three board members are pushing for students in first grade or younger, as well as those with disabilities, t
the key is to attack fire relatively small. strike teams were also in place. the immediate response was helpful for early evacuations. we knew the vent was coming. abl a lot of notice. reporter: strike teams could be disbanded saturday but not likely with record winds expected to return sunday. hot, dry wind is probably the biggest problem with wildfires. clearly the temperatures have come down but the wind combined with the dry fuels that we still have could present a very big problem for us. reporter: the strike teams will have a lot of help from cal fire in covering all this territory. cal fire has already got extra staffing and equipment ready for this windy weekend. live in san jose, robert honda, nbc bay area news. thank you, robert. we re getting our first look at the east bay yous have them to help on the front lines. the chopper became fully certified to battle flames from the sky. it s already helped crews fight several fires over the past few weeks.