giant wave of new cases. >> rather than focus on the sector-by-sector restrictions, the top of our message is as much as you can stay at home, we know that it works, we know that we can bring transition rates down and move back into the blueprint for a safer economy th than we've been using for the large part of the last three months. >> cases are continuing to rise across the bay area. today marin county moved into the purple tier. that means all of our nine local counties are now in that most restrictive purple tier. >> so, hospital beds continue to fill up. tonight we've learned that one hospital in san jose is already at capacity. >> let's take a look at how many icu beds are available in the bay area. san francisco and alameda county have 37% of their beds available. contra costa county is at 27% availability. it's worth noting again that these counties have not dipped

to 15%, yet they are still opting to shut down. on the other hand, santa clara county is down to 15%, which equals 31 empty icu beds remaining in the south bay. >> marianne favro is in san jose to see how hospitals are handling the covid surge. >> reporter: regional medical center of san jose is now at capacity, but it continues to accept new patients here in the emergency department. there are at least 66 covid patients at regional medical center, and the surge is straining hospital resources. >> we are at capacity. there's essentially no more beds in the hospital to rapidly put the patients into their inpatient unit. >> reporter: the hospital continues to perform surgery and accept emergency patients. but elective surgeries have been put on hold. the medical center is also using beds in the post-acute care unit to accommodate additional patients. but it won't be using the

pandemic tents set up in the parking lot back in april. >> we think it's going to be better to circle the wagon, have our team together and use the space that we have to the best of our ability and forego the pandemic pinning. >> the covid surge is taxing hospital intensive care units across santa clara county. and the situation is getting worse every day. >> as of noon today, i am sad to report we are down to 31 beds. and this is 95% of our capacity. it is the worse we have seen. >> reporter: now the county is looking into diverting patients to hospitals with more available beds and even using the depaul health center in morgan hill to accommodate 36 subacute patients. in san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> as we told you, marin county enacted new covid restriction ts which includes the stay-at-home order. alameda, contra costa, and santa

clara are following similar guidelines. that means for marin no more indoor or outdoor dining. carryout and delivery only. businesser owners say it has been tough and they are making just a portion of what they used to. >> cold weather, rainy season is coming. with outdoor seating, it's going to be really hard for us. >> it's a survival game now. personal care services like nail and hair salons will have to close as well. museums, zoos, family entertainment centers, all of that off limits. restrictions stay in place until january 4th. >> religious freedom or public safety concern. a local pastor was in court for repeatedly breaking covid restrictions on his indoor services. hundreds of people gathered outside the county courthouse. you can see them there. they want to hear the outcome. these are supporters and members of the congregation there at

cavalry church. very few wearing masks. the judge ruling to hold the pastor of that church in contempt of court. damian trujillo is at the courthouse with this religious stand off. >> reporter: it appears this is far from over. today the judge told the pastor, that, quote, science matters. it appears services will go on as scheduled at the church's sanctuary in san jose. outside, this was taking place. hundreds of people gathered outside the courthouse. only a small handful, as you mentioned, were wearing masks. that's part of the problem, the judge addressed, the lack of mask wearing during services. the church fined the church $2,500 for every day it held services, coming to about $55,000. but the pastor was not arrested for being in contempt. his lawyer says that was an

option, but it was never brought up in court. even with all the sanctions and the court losses, the pastor made it clear services will go on. >> i respect the judge. i understand what the laws are, but there's a bigger law, you know, and i have to get told you've got to follow god or you have to follow man. i have to follow what god's word says. >> what happens next? attorneys for the church say they will appeal today's decision. and on december 17th, they will be in federal court asking the feds to take over this case. so, this fight is far from over. and by the way, the pastor admitted he did wear a mask in front of the judge -- inside the courthouse as is required. i'm damian trujillo. >> that's a fascinating story. thank you. we've been reporting for weeks this is the biggest surge yet of covid. but we want to show you just how much. the peak was back in july,

12,000 new daily cases. right here. 12,807. that's statewide. now where are we? in december, 30,000 per day, more than double. these numbers, just in december, five of the days have numbers of more than 10,000 -- excuse me, more than 20,000. december is now on track to be the worse month of this pandemic yet and we still don't know what's around the corner, jessica, for january or february. >> those numbers are sobering for sure. in our series this week "race for a vaccine" we're nearing the finishline. the fda made an announcement about the rollout today. >> reporter: jessica, first today we want to let you know the fda released this review of the pfizer biontech vaccine and it's safe and effective in preventing you from getting coronavirus. in the document, the report

shows there's some protection after receiving the first shot, but after taking the second shot 28 days later, it provides nearly full protection at 95%. the report shows the vaccine is effective across all age groups and racial and ethnic groups. in the united kingdom, the pfizer vaccine has been approved. a 90-year-old british grandmother and a long line of patients followed her. >> completely all right. no problem. i don't even feel that i had the injection. >> now, there may be some mild side effects like fever, nausea and joint pain, but those resolve within a day or two. and over all the shot seems to be safe and effective. >> a key fda advisory panel meets later this week and will recommend if the vaccine should get emergency use authorization. if the vaccine does, pfizer will roll it out the very next day. 300,000 doses initially to california next week with more than 2 million total of pfizer

and moderna's vaccine, if that's approved, by the end of the month. pfizer's ceo spoke today saying the vaccine is safe, no corners cut. the company said it does the same testing, maybe even to huer standards because of all the scrutiny surrounding the coronavirus vaccine. pfizer does not yet have any data on the vaccine's efficacy when it comes to pregnant women or people with compromised immune systems. those groups have not been tested yet, but they are testing the vaccine on kids. and that data should be coming out in the next couple of months. raj and jessica. >> thank you, janelle. we have created a special race for a vaccine section on our website. we're posting all our stories there. go to nbcbayarea.com/vaccine. >> here's some of the beauty and daunger of where we live, huge waves along our coast, our sky ranger in pacifica.

be careful if you're near the water. this morning big waves dragged a man through the water at beach boulevard and paolo ma avenue. that man hopped the railing against the sea wall, a wave knocked him down and pulled him into the surf. people tried to save him with a long rope, but they were unsuccessful. the water washed over him, and he was pulled farther away from shore. rescue crews spent most of the day -- you can see the helicopters there -- most of the day looking for the man. so far they have not found him. >> did he say anything when he was in the water? was he able to communicate? >> i can't swim. flailing and i can't swim. >> it's not a good proposition for someone who doesn't know how to swim. even a strong swimmer would be struggling in these kind of waters. >> even if you can swim, stay away from these waves. the pacifica pier is closed today as city officials try to protect more people from these waves. these are perfect conditions for the daredevil big wave surfers.

rescue boats were on hand today to make sure surfers that flock to the area were safe. look at the boats and surfers in the water. pretty amazing to see. volunteers fill the boats to keep a close eye on the surfers. a lot of people showed up just to watch the surfers. parking tickets were issued for these cars that parked here in the fire lane. look at that guy riding 15, 20, 30 foot waves. the surfers were in heaven. >> all the big names are out there. there's a good crew in the channel of boats and jet skis. and everyone's being cordial and good etiquette. good time. >> people from across the west coast coming here just to maximize these waves. you can see from our sky ranger the waves. as you heard from that guy there, the biggest waves in surfing, some of them, were at maverick's today. i'm meteorologist jeff

raniere and that high surfboarding, that expires at 9:00 p.m. tonight. those waves will be calming over the next few days. i'm tracking rain chances. what i'm seeing about the next 15 to 20 days in our rain outlook. i'll see you in about nine minutes. i never got to say i'm really sorry that this happened. >> lori loughlin's daughter speaking about the college admission scandal that spent both of her parents to prison. what she says she's learned since. a handwritten plea from a preschooler to help find his favorite toy. workers at a waste water treatment plant banned together to track it down. we welcome our west coast viewers and nbc news investigation and prescriptions by mail, improper shipping and handling putting patients at risk. the fbi warning about home security cameras being hacked and exploited with potentially deadly consequences. more tonight on "nightly news."

we know them well here, and now the country will get to know him. javier becerra formally introduced today as a cabinet nominee for president-elect joe biden. although the covid vaccines will likely be given under the biden administration, president trump today invited no one from the transition team to today's vaccine summit. it celebrated this week's expected approval of the first covid vaccine here in the u.s. president-elect biden introduced the nominees for his health team. first up becerra as health and human services secretary. >> you know it takes hard work. we know we must do it together. we know it will be key to building critical momentum and

support for the prevention and treatment of the coronavirus. >> president trump also signed an executive order today prioritizing americans get access to covid vaccines before other countries. that follows the news that the administration passed on locking down 100 million more doses of pfizer's vaccine when it had the chance to over the summer. in her first interview since her parents went to prison olivia jade is talking publicly about the college admissions scandal. she chose jada pinkett smith's show to stick out. on her youtube channel before the scandal broke, she expressed ruc tans to attend usc classes but looked forward to the parties. mother didn't hide her scorn and grilled her on her white privilege. >> i didn't come on here to try and win people over and i really

need people to like me. >> right. >> i just want to apologize for contributing to the social inequalities. >> yeah. >> even though i didn't realize it at that time, coming here and recognizing that i'm aware. >> her mother, lori loughlin is serving two months and her father is serving five months. she hasn't spoken to them because of the pandemic. not quite a christmas miracle, but it may feel that way for a 5-year-old boy in san mateo. he lost something important to him, and he just wanted it back. >> thanks to caring adults, he got his toy back. as garvin thomas shows us, the rest of us get a lesson in kindness. >> reporter: it is the one time of year kids these days actually sit down to write letters. almost all, of course, to the very same place. this story, though, isn't about a letter to the north pole. it's to somewhere much closer to home, a place that doesn't smell

anything like ginger bread. gina cooper is the city of san mateo waste water treatment plant administrative assistant. she's the one who opens the mail and recently got a letter unlike any other. it was from a boy named kenzo who lost his lego down the bathroom drain and asked if they could send it back. he included a picture of it. >> it's just this painting. i thought, oh, my god, this is the best day ever. we never get action like this. it was awesome. >> reporter: so, did the staff go to work scouring the treatment plant for kenzo's lost lego? of course not. >> no. it doesn't quite work that way. >> reporter: brad underwood is the public works director. >> the plant is a huge plant. it's difficult to find things. it would be like a needle in a

hay stack. we don't really search for things like that. >> reporter: what they did do though was bring a smile to his face. >> it made our day. >> reporter: they invited him to the treatment plant for a tour. >> this is a little lego set for you -- >> reporter: and to give kenzo new legos. >> we all got a kick out of the letter. it's just something that brightened our day in this time when we're all struggling and dealing with different things. >> it kind of transformed everything. it kind of gave us a reset button. >> reporter: the moral of the story is not that the san mateo public works will replace what goes down the drain. it's that in a year dominated by the grinch, santa can show up in the most unexpected places. garvin thomas. >> that's good. we need a reason to smile. and we got one today from our weather. it was not just warm.

it was hot in parts of the bay area today, jeff. >> well, my your standards, low 70s, hot, definitely warm out there. really beautiful with all of our shelter-at-home restrictions in place. if we get this blue sky, it definitely makes a difference. i did want to start off with something different tonight though, give you a broad perspective of what i see happenings over the next couple of weeks. this is when we usually see the rainfall averages beginning to pick up. and we have just not seen a lot of rainfall the past couple of weeks. so, let's bring into this overall look here. as i mentioned, it's been very, very dry. this area of high pressure really has been taking these storm systems that develop in the pacific and pushing them off to the north. the result of that is we're now 2.5 to 6 inches behind for the rainfall season with the stubborn area of high pressure. what am i seeing happening? next several days, few shower chances as we head into the weekend.

w as we move to the 16th through the 31st, i'm seeing a 70% chance of at least one storm producing a quarter to half inch. that's what i'm predicting right now. it looks better for us. not exactly what we need to get us out of our current situation, but things do look to be turning in the other direction. la nina is developing, which can bring long periods of drying. that's the current state we're in. there's hope in that forecast. let's bring into weather headlines. we'll get you ready to go. patchy fog near the coast. cold 30s and 40s. few clouds for the afternoon. i'm tracking quick mountain wind and showers. for tomorrow morning, start with the chill i talk about, down to 38 for the tri-valley, south bay at 40, also 39 for the east bay and the north bay at 38. temperatures overall do drop off a couple degrees tomorrow. that will take us from the widespread 70s in the south bay

and will drop off to 66 in cupertino and morgan hill. more of the mid to upper 60s through the east bay and that would continue over the peninsula with sunshine for the afternoon and light winds, 64 in redwood city. san francisco also 60s here from the marina to the outer sun set. and for the north bay we're going with mill valley at 64 and sonoma at 67. calm tomorrow. once we hit thursday afternoon and evening, i'm seeing a quick burst of wind from this area of low pressure. a very short lived event, we'll have to watch for the fire danger. by sunday and monday, we'll see the shower chances and 50s in san francisco. doesn't look like a big system, but again also dropping temperatures inland down to the 50s with clouds on saturday and showers on sunday and monday. trace amounts to about .15 of an inch. the bottom line we're heading in

the right direction. would i like to see more rainfall? yes. but at this point we've got to take what we can get, you guys. >> we have to be happy with what we get. >> you know why i was hot today? i was doing yard work. that's why. >> i was like 70s is warm, it's not too hot. but if you're raking, i can see it. >> i was raking. i was pulling a jeff raniere. thanks a lot buddy. coming up, delivery fees during the pandemic. santa clara county putting a limit on how much apps can charj. charj. charj. rcharj. gcharj. . . ♪

we have the power to harness california's abundant solar and wind energy, but it's not available all day long. use less energy from 4 to 9 pm

for a cleaner california. it's a move some are calling price gouging. santa clara board of supervisors

unanimously voted to put a temporary cap on fees charged by delivery services like door dash and grubhub. the food delivery apps have been charging up to 30% of the price of the food. and up to 50% if they order through the app and pick up themselves. it's becoming more difficult for those living in our most vulnerable communities to simply make it in the bay. glide memorial church is preparing for the annual grocery bag give away. the need is greater than ever this year. normally thousands of people would wait in line to pick up a bag filled with all the fixings for a traditional holiday meal. you see here volunteers packing these bags to be dropped off to families and organizations across the city. the drop off will happen tomorrow. the church prepared 5,300 meals. that's about 1,000 more than normal. the city council wants to rename an elementary school for

its most favorite graduate, vice president-elect kamala harris. during the campaign thousand oaks students supported her candidacy. her face is on the mural at the front entrance of the school. what the school is renamed won't be decided school. the district is busy renaming other schools because president thomas jefferson was a slaveholder. they will consider renaming jefferson elementary. we showed you big waves. right now a rescue happening. this year, xfinity internet gives you more options than a holiday dinner table. pick the speed that's right for you, with options faster than gig. and get reliable internet with top-notch coverage. plus, help keep your data safe

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we've been talking about the high surf. we're now following some more breaking news. a rescue underway right now at san francisco's ocean beach. firefighters you see there trying to reach two surfers in distress near the stairwell. this is video posted to the citizen app. we're going to continue to follow the story and update you on our 6:00 news cast. this is san francisco's ocean beach, two surfers in distress. coming up at 6:00, the housing market remains hot, but the rental market not so much. the reason property owners are dropping prices in the bay area. we'll have that story at 6:00.

that's it for us at 5:00. we'll send it to new york and join lester holt with "nightly news." tonight, the moment the world has been waiting for the first shots given of a clinically approved covid vaccine. a 90-year-old grandmother making history. the very first person to receive pfizer's vaccine. inside the hospital for what the uk is calling v-day. health care workers lining up there as the u.s. still awaits emergency use approval but could that approval come this week the countdown and the fda's first report on pfizer's vaccine the effectiveness after just the first of two shots and how the white house is responding to a report it turned down an offer to buy millions more doses hospitals at the breaking point as the u.s. tops 15 million cases.