♪ that's "nightline" for this evening. you can watch all our full episodes on hulu. see you right back here same time next week. thanks for the company, america. good night.

five bay area counties are enacting stay at home orders

early. in san francisco we spoke to people rushing to get the last minute errands done. >> reporter: in san mateo they won't be implementing the early lock down but why one lawmaker says they need to act early or they might regret it. >> now from abc 7, live breaking news. >> and that breaking news is new numbers from the state just released an hour ago showing icu capacity in the san joaquin valley region dipped below 15%. >> if the numbers remain the same, the regions have 24 hours to implement the stay at home orders. bay area is down to 21.2% from 23% just yesterday. >> the dark covid winter we feared would come has arrived in the bay area. >> reporter: millions of people

in the bay area will be under strict new stay at home orders. >> gatherings with people outside your household are no longer allowed. >> struggling business owners left reeling from the changes. >> this could be the nail in the coffin for a lot of restaurants. >> five bay area counties agreed to enact the order preemptively going into effect 10:00 p.m. sunday. health officers in the county say if they wait until the state enacts it order it will be too late. >> here is a closer look at what is going to change. >> we must act swiftly to save as many lives as we can. >> the new stay at home order prohibits outdoor dining. any meal service can only operate for takeout and delivery. nail salons must close

completely. hotels can only accept reservations from essential workers. all retail stores can remain open but at 20% capacity. outdoor gym activities and fitness classes can continue with restrictions. private gatherings of any size are banned. health officers are encouraging everyone to stay home and only interact people they live with and not socializing outdoors even with precautions like a mask. it is expected to remain in effect until january 4th. abc 7 news is in san francisco tonight. several people were running last minute errands before the order goes into effect sunday night. >> it has been super busy. i think people are preparing. >> reporter: one of many preparing tonight is michael duranzo. >> stocking up on basics, bread, eggs. >> reporter: the city's public health director projects we

could run out of icu beds by december 26th. >> if we wait one or two more weeks to have the restrictions placed on us, it will mean our numbers will be higher and harder to bring down. >> reporter: under the order all retail stores can stay open but limit capacity to 20%. hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, gyms and other personal care services have to close. devastating news for many business owners who are holding on by a thread as they plan to survive the next five weeks. >> i would say about 25 people call in for an appointment tomorrow. >> reporter: we will see the changes on sunday when parks like this will be empty. restaurants only will be able to do delivery or takeout. >> we knew it was coming. the more difficult part was not knowing. >> reporter: these restrictions

last until january 4th, 2021. some say they needed more time to prepare. >> we have limitations on how i can access different places. just seems like a very quick turnaround. we ask ed why he thinks the counties pulled the trigger early. >> it may be an optimistic hope on some of the counties part, but they might think it might allow them to come out before three weeks. if they manage it to keep it from hitting the 15 mark they can say we can come out of this. >> you can read phil's column in the "san francisco chronicle" on sundays and wednesdays. >> not all the bay area counties are implementing the preemptive

orders. but one san mateo officials thinks the wait and see approach will back fire. >> the numbers might be different here but remember, the virus does not know the difference between county lines. >> reporter: he says he disagrees on the public health department's decision, urging them to join in with the other five counties. >> we must take a pause and have to take a pause. that will require additional sacrifice. >> reporter: san mateo county health officer dr. morrow wrote the measures we are taking emphasize individual and collective responsibility. with the vaccine coming soon, now more than ever is a critical time to stay focused on the key behaviors that protect our communities. here in san carlos, their business will be able to stay open a little bit longer, but it is already drastically impacted.

normally the large event space would be full with an event and now the owner worries if they lose their outdoor wine tasting. >> trying to keep the losses as low as possible. just by staying open. >> reporter: the owner says that the next few weeks are usually some of the busiest of the year. while he is grateful he does not have to shut down by sunday night, he knows the news could come any day. >> like waiting for a shoe to drop. >> matt boone, abc 7 news. tonight the cdc is out with a warning that the u.s. entered a new phase of high level transmission. the nation's hospitals, including ones here in the bay area fear they will be overwhelmed. >> tonight, bracing for the worst of the pandemic, the cdc warning in a new report the u.s. entered a phase of high level transmission. >> we have not yet seen the post

thanksgiving peak. that is the concerning thing. the numbers, in and of themselves are alarming. >> that impact coming right before christmas after daily covid cases nearly doubled in just over a month, from 100,000 on october 30th to 196,000 on december 2nd. many hospitals on the brink. >> you can have a huge hospital, but if you don't have the manpower, i cannot save your life. >> reporter: a nurse manager in santa clara county worries there are not enough doctors, nurses or beds to treat the sick. >> we are running out of icu beds. we know once you go to icu your chances are minimal. you will remember this moving photo, embracing a covid patient alone on thanksgiving and now that man is out of the hospital. >> he is doing fantastic, discharged yesterday morning to the care of his wife. >> reporter: a new warning

urging universal mask use, always wearing a mask indoors, whenever you leave your home and in your own home if someone there may have been exposed. >> pg&e is worried about shut offs because of high fire danger. >> more than 8,500 customers in the bay area could be affected and roughly 6,800 in napa county and sonoma county. >> for a look at the dangerous conditions we are expects let's turn to sandhya. >> the reason we are facing the danger is that we are going to see the offshore winds developing as an area of low pressure to the north starts to

slide down. high pressure builds in behind it. a combination of the gusty winds that will bring us the high fire danger, especially since we have record dry fuels. hour-by-hour wind forecast. 11:00 p.m. going to 5:00 a.m.m.. there is good reason for the power shut offs. wind gusts as we head into 9:00 a.m., strong winds will dry out the atmosphere more and then we will continue with pockets of gusty winds. dry december and november. we are running so behind in the rainfall that it is not surprising we are dealing with this. i will be back with a look at the forecast including the accuweather seven-day coming up. >> sandhya, thank you. more to come here. growing frustration over the decision to close playgrounds. some bay area lawmakers are

taking action. >> local zoos prepare for the hardship of another shut down. >> operation santa is now underway, speaking of positive attitude. the impressive response this year to the postal service annual program. >> first a look at what is coming up tonight on "jimmy kimmel live." >> thanks dan and ama. i have been cooking this all day for you. >> i said you do it that fast?

welcome to 15 days of saving up to $500 on fast, reliable internet and... mobile with nationwide 5g on the most reliable network.

welcome to family-connecting, holiday-shopping, black friday awesome. because, for a limited time, when you get xfinity internet and mobile together... ...you can get a $200 prepaid card... ...and up to $300 off select mobile phones... ...for up to $500 in savings. this sale won't last, so click, call, or visit a store today! public playgrounds will shut down in five counties over the new stay at home order. they say a playground might be the only opportunity for some families to get outdoors as advised for physical and for

mental health. >> the new stay at home orders mean two local zoos will have to close for a month. the oklahoma and the san francisco zoos opened to a limited number of visitors now both zoos still face the cost of caring for their animals. the head of the oakland zoo supports the new shut down. >> it is just that things are so severe, we are just caught up in it. >> the oakland zoo, both nights are sold out but it will delay dates for the holiday light show until january. kids wishes for santa are a bit different because of the pandemic. >> here is how the post office is going digital to make most of

those wishes come true. >> reporter: as we spoke to kids about what gifts they are asking santa for this christmas, their answers ran the gamut. >> chocolate. he likes chocolate. >> i think that is a magnet toy, but we asked kids to read letters, sent to the north pole and collected by the usps as part of operation santa. >> i would like 20 feet above ground pool with a four seater bat mobile. >> reporter: for 108 years the usps has been gathering the letters and the letters are available for adoption. this year as the program goes nationwide and all digital, the

requests are a bit different. add in the pandemic and we saw many like this one, reading things haven't been great and my family hasn't been able to afford to buy me things. >> certainly this year i expect families are really going to be impacted because they could really use the extra attention. >> reporter: that christmas wish came true, by midday the operation santa website showed all of the letters were adopted. more will be added each day until december 15th. here are our favorite requests for the man in red. >> if we work together we can make the world a better place. let's put our mouasks over the mouth and a nose. >> i would like a gaming headset and really like for the pandemic to end. >> i think we all would. back to the question mark item, clearly she was saying magnet

tiles. you can build things like frozen castles. >> fun. >> it is a perfect rainy day activities if only we had rainy days. >> i guess you have done that with your daughter. too cool. >> yes. >> if we have any rainy days, we will use that. sandhya, nothing on the near horizon, right. >> no. dan and ama, i wish i could tell you yes. we are talking about fire danger in december. we are closer to winter. closer to christmas it. gusts, 35 to 45 miles per hour. 50 in the hills. this is sunday night late, going in to monday with record fire danger extremely elevated around this time of the year. take a look at the hour-by-hour winds. you will notice over 40 miles per hour winds, still strong and

downsloping which will dry out the atmosphere more going into monday afternoon and going into the evening pockets of gusty winds. when you have a northeasterly wind, it really tends to dry out the atmosphere. when you look here at the humidity values plunging, they are in the teens. 16% in napa and 18% in fairfield. a big concern is that the fire danger will be elevated for this time period. on doppler 7 we should be seeing rain. not quite and the temperatures are falling. mostly in the 30s and the 40s right now and tomorrow morning it will be a chilly start. a spare the air alert, the first of the season. that is because of the poor air quality we are expecting. today you might have noticed the air quality was impacted by the wood burning. wood burning is banned during the time period. san francisco, looking good. very festive.

increasing clouds with the possibility of sprinkles. dry, gusty offshore winds and we are looking at warm weather for december early next week and may see records. keep that in mind. here is your front. for the rest of us it will be more clouds, a little cooler and maybe sprinkles. sunday, it will start to clear out for the afternoon, except near the coast where fog will linger. tomorrow clear, couple of patches of fog off of the coast. temperatures middle 30s to the lower 50s. it will be a cloudier day. 66 in fairfield. 63 palo alto. 58 degrees in half moon bay. sunday, clouds to sunday.

sunday to monday, fire danger goes up. the winds are coming up. look at the temperatures rising with low 70s. hopefully a major shift in the pattern is all that i can say. until then, enjoy the weather and stay safe when the winds

on the most reliable network with xfinity mobile. in a land not so far away. people are saving hundreds they can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. and choose the data option that's right for them. they even get nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and since they are on the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfation, they live happily ever after. again, again! xfinity mobile. your wireless. your rules. your way to stay closer together. click, call, or visit an xfinity store today.

>> five, four, three, two, one.. in the south bay, because of the pandemic the santa clara mayor led a virtual celebration to light the city's official holiday tree in central park. tonight's ceremony marks the 110th year santa clara ushered in the

sports on abc 7 sponsored by your local toyota dealers. >> the warriors, they will be featured in big national tv games including several right here on abc 7. some of the highlights include starting at brooklyn. christmas day game in milwaukee on abc 7. the dubs visit lebron james and the lakers on mlk day january

18th and back-to-back saturday night abc primetime games at dallas and will host kevin durant and the brooklyn nets in february. these games, they are a long time coming. >> we love to play basketball. all of the athletes in the league. you know, we kept it a happy place. i think basketball brings a smile to some peoples' faces. i am blessed to be a part of this great league. >> the mustangs banned outdoor performance there. he had a game-high 18. buries the triple there. second half, slams it home. they are now 4-2 overall. the 49ers host the buffalo bills from arizona on monday night. you will see it here on abc 7. the defensive coordinator robert

stall will be one of the top head coaching candidate this is off-season and has a vote from a michigan group of legislatures. the detroit job is open as the team fired matt patricia. they sent a letter to the lions owner urging them to hire. the defense is starting to get healthy after sunday's win over the rams and called jimmie ward one of the best safeties in all of the nfl. sherman had a pick and ward forced two fumbles in the game. listen to jimmie ward. he is ready for game time. >> that is how i play too. i play like i talk. i talk how i play. it all starts in practice. i don't know. even just thinking about football right now, i am starting to feel that fire inside of me. other than that getting to the

next question. it is feeling

>> all right. that is it for tonight. thank you for watching. >> we appreciate your time and

hope you have a great weekend. george clooney is ♪ >> hey, bay area, it's time to share some amazing stories and feel good. we could all use some inspiration right now, and you've come to the right place. this show is all about good food, good people, and good living. ♪ today, meals that heal. >> we're really excited to be feeding people who are local and

people who are helping everyone in our neighborhood and neighborhoods beyond. >> and i'll take two margarita hand sanitizers, please. >> smells like you're sitting on the beach down in jamaica somewhere. >> then, story time has never been more fun. >> now thousands of kids from around the world are tuning in, and we hang out and read books. >> and painting the void. artists are adding life and beauty to communities. >> it's a way for us as artists and also the organizations to communicate with the people and make sure they know we're there for them. >> plus, coyote sightings in san francisco. >> coyotes are still going about their usual day, but now they're looking out and going, "ooh! there's nobody here." ♪ >> feeding the front line is important because some hospitals are not keeping their full cafeteria crew on board. and they're also working nonstop, and so they can't go out in the middle of the night and get food. and there's a lot of places that are not even open anymore. we just thought this would be

a great opportunity to revive restaurants. and the front line needs the food and the restaurants need the business, and so this is just a great win-win. >> we feel really excited to be feeding people who are local and people who are helping everyone in our neighborhood and neighborhoods beyond. they're healthcare heroes. they are working so hard and sacrificing so much that we feel great that we can nourish them a little bit and feed them a little bit to get through their day. >> we are incredibly grateful for everyone on the front line. the front-line responders are who are doing the hardest jobs right now. and so we want to thank everyone. this group of friends and i are right behind you guys and trying to get you as much food as possible. i'm dre madden, and i'm really excited to bring meal to heal to the bay area. meal to heal is a nonprofit project that a few of my friends and i started based on the fact that my cousin started this a little while ago in los angeles, and it was a huge success. and what it is, is it helps feed front-line workers

while reviving restaurants. so we're connecting the two. and what you do is you call up the restaurant directly. you go to mealtoheal.org, and you call the restaurant on any of the restaurants that you love. you say, "i'd like to buy a meal to heal." it's $20 and the money goes straight to the restaurant in order to make a meal and send it right over to the to the hospitals in the area. truly, it feels phenomenal. and i'm getting a lot out of it. and i know my friends who have helped start this with me are, too. and i hope everybody that contributes to meal to heal also feel this direct benefit. so, giorgio's is our first restaurant that we've decided to partner with. >> giorgio's has been around for over 40 years. it's been here for a long time. we get people coming in who have been coming here for years, who have grown up here, see kids now that are adults and have their own kids. it's really neat. well, it was very challenging at first to get the news that our dining room needs to close. it's a big part of our business.

we are very fortunate, though, that we already have takeout and delivery in place here. so we shut down our dining room. unfortunately, we did have to let a chunk of our staff go right now, but we are trying to do as much takeout and delivery as we can to feed our neighborhood. today, we prepared 65 pizzas for our local hospitals, and we're really looking forward to delivering them. >> since we started this, we've been getting calls from restaurants in the area. and so up next, we have 3rd cousin. we have proposition chicken. we have bun mee, and we have rt rotisserie, and a few more are coming. so a great way for you to be a part of this is to go onto our website, mealtoheal.org, and go and look at all the restaurants that we're helping partner with and call the restaurant directly, say "i want to buy a meal to heal." it's $20. the money goes straight to a meal that goes straight -- li