doctor leading the johnson & johnson trial in the bay area. here is christie smith. >> i think the most important thing is people end up getting vaccinated as soon as it's available. >> reporter: dr. phillip grant is leading a stanford clinical trial on the vaccine and noted this looks more like the vaccines we are used to. >> this would be something that would be like most vaccines are given in the united states. >> reporter: a single dose that wouldn't require special handling or deep cold storage, and an advantage in getting shots into arms quickly. >> i think by far the most important thing is to prevent one's self from getting seriously ill from covid, ending up in the hospital or worse. and this vaccine is very effective at that. >> reporter: the company says current trials show it was 72% effective against moderate and severe covid-19 infections in the u.s. compared to efficacy rates in the 90% range for

pfizer and moderna, but medical experts say that's more than effective enough, and johnson & johnson's head of pharmaceutical research and development notes the vaccine proved nearly 100% effective in preventing severe cases of the disease. >> even if you were to get covid, some moderate form of covid on our vaccine, what we found is that the data tell us you have a much milder course. >> reporter: the company will now apply for emergency use authorization from the fda and if all goes well could begin shipping in a matter of weeks. >> whatever vaccine is available, it's going to be the best in terms of getting herd immunity. >> reporter: christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> right now what's available is moderna and pfizer. so far, in san francisco 97,000 have been administered. if you break it down more, 8% of people in san francisco have gotten their first dose and 2% have gotten their seconddose, meaning they are fully

vaccinated. in the south bay and santa clara county, it's administered 185,000 doses so far. 65% of its allotment. right now 8% of the county's population has received at least one shot. >> and we have been hearing this for weeks. the vaccine rollout is problematic. in the north bay health leaders don't have enough. next week they say they will only have 500 doses per day. other local counties having trouble getting enough shots. this afternoon congressman jared huffman and health leaders hosted a virtual town hall to give an update on the rollout. >> our goal is that the pace we are able to move is determined almost entirely by the doses we receive. we have 800 ready to go as volunteers. we have multiple sites set up, teed up, ready to move. >> despite the setbacks, the key says the majority of the health care workers and 10% of people living in marin county have gotten at least one dose.

we are going move to our storm coverage now. one of the most astonishing videos coming out this week. this is highway 1, what's left of it, south of big sur. this section has crumbled into the pacific ocean. this is drone video from earlier today showing how massive this mudslide is. this collapse actually happened yesterday afternoon at mile marker 30 near big creek bridge. the central coast got hammered the hardest this week. thankfully, no one as on the highway at this section. the area is still unstable, chunks are still sliding into the open. this is where this mudslide is. it's rat creek just north of the small town of lucia. it's about an hour and a half south of carmel. this is actually the second slide to happen along this stretch of highway 1 in recent years. you may remember back in 2017 this massive slide right here, it was so big it changed the shape of the coastline. it took more than a year to shore up that cliff. reconstruction of the section of

highway 1 and get that highway section back open. now this section of highway 1 shut down again. no word from caltrans on how long it will take to make repairs from the latest slide. the agency says this stretch of highway 1 closed until further notice. now from the coastline, let's go to the sierra. plenty of fresh powder, highway 50 in el dorado county. parts of the sierra got around six feet of snow. look at the banks. if you are thinking about heading to tahoe travel is not recommended. this is 80 at soda springs. it's open but caltrans says there will be sunshine tomorrow and sunday that will melt more of the snow. this is highway 50 at ski run in south lake tahoe. the drive very sluchchy in south shore. similar in olympic valley on highway 89 near squaw valley. no chain control in effect, but you can see it's quite a treacherous drive. >> a lot of traffic as people

are getting up the slopes. at home, yesterday's rain and cloudy skies replaced with some sun. this is a comparison of the coions yesterday and today along the coast. let's bring in jeff ranieri to look at the impact here, the rent rcen and snow had on our drought conditions. hay friday, jeff. >>hey, you guys,oo. t from the work from hometudio we are starting to get some sun coming through the windows. it is very nice to see a little bit of that blue sky. and as we start off look at stormranger, mobile doppler radar we have seen that heavy rainfall moving out. there is a little moisture left in the mid levels. you can see some of that green and a spew spotty showers mere mt. hamilton. that is it. morgan hill 6.54, one of our highest top lower elevation totals. santa cruz mountains over 7.5 inches. so in three days we picked up one month's worth of rain. incredible. so far for the season despite

the dent we made in everything yesterday, we are still running 4 to close to 12 inches behind across the bay area. so we have a lot of headway, unfortunately, to make up for. when it comes to snowpack, latest numbers are in and it's good for the central sierra which includes lake tahoe. 71% of normal. that range to 3 to 7 feet. coming up in about 15 minutes i will talk more about new storm systems and what is different about this one and how much rainfall we will get out of this and the timing particulars. see you in about ten minutes. >> thank you, jeff. a stunning accusation now in the south bay. a sheriffs deputy is accused of staging an attack. nbc bay area's damian trujillo broke the story on twitter this afternoon. detectives arrested deputy sukhdeep gill saying that he made up the attack. last january gill called for help saying someone shot him on a road near uvas reservoir.

the bullets hit his patrol car and body camera. at the time the sheriff called it a possible hate crime because the deputy is seikh. in october they put him on leave while they took a closer look at the shooting. gill's story fell apart. governor newsom took a step today, signing a new bill that officially extends the state's eviction moratorium through june. just days before it was set to expire. jodi hernandez is in oakland with more. >> when i start thinking about it, it just gets so depressing. i get so discouraged. >> reporter: that's how ryan feels about the mountain of back rent he owes. he hasn't been able to pay his $2,000 a month rent for his one-bedroom oakland apartment since his wife lost her job at the part of the pandemic frm our income was cut in half last year. since then it's been really difficult. >> reporter: he says his

landlord has been unwilling to work with him and has threatened to take him to court. but help could soon be on the way. >> our hope is that no tenant is either evicted or goes into significant long-term rental debt because of this situation. >> reporter: assembly member david chu helped craft an extension to the state's eviction moratorium as it was set to expire. measure signed by the governor today creates a program to distribute $2.6 billion in rental assistance to low-income tenants. >> our goal is to ensure that during this pandemic we are not seeing a wave of massive evictions. would be catastrophic for holgersonness and spread covid-19 because people will be forced to live in unsafe, crowded, dense housing. >> reporter: under the program landlords will receive 80% of the rent if they agree to forgive 20%. if landlords decline, tenants will get 25% of back rent, which will prevent them from getting

evicted. >> if the landlord holds the power here, you know tenants have to wait and see what happens. >> reporter: he hopes his landlord agrees to take the deal so he is not left with huge debt. for now he is relieved he and other tenants are at least not at risk of eviction. >> that relief is nice. at least knowing that a lot of evictions will be stopped. >> reporter: in the east bay, jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. they have reached a boiling point. frustrated coaches, parents, and athletes want high school and youth sports to get back on track. tonight a full-court press. they are suing. nbc bay area's robert handa in santa clara county with the details. robert. >> reporter: well, if you remember the state did say that sports with lower risk exposure could resume. that's not satisfying the groups behind the lawsuit that are demanding the governor lift all

restrictions on high school sports immediately so that everyone can get back in the game. santa clara county is allowing light contact sports and says it will follow state guidelines, but groups, including the golden state football coaches community and let them play california, are upset those state guidelines have not been made clear. today the groups made a plea it state leaders and agencies to work together to lift the ban on high school sports implemented near the start of the pandemic. >> so many young people are struggling right now with the fact that they can't go outside and play. >> reporter: the statewide virtual news conference included some coaches and athletes from the bay area. some coaches say the ban has led to youth frustration and even violence. >> never seen them join other brother hoods that aren't social, which we call gangs, right? i am losing my boys and every school in oakland is dealing with it. >> reporter: the participating athletes say they trust the

athletic system to watch out for them. >> i trust my coaches, i trust my community, i trust, you know, whoever is it is to just make it safe for us. >> reporter: now, the governor's office and other state agencies did respond to my inquiries today saying that they had not been served with the lawsuit yet, and so declined to comment except to say they will continue to make decisions based on the health and safety of all californians. live in san jose, robert handa, nbc bay area news. >> thank you so much, robert. still to come, gyms across the bay area allowed to reopen, but only outside. we are going to show you what to expect if you want to get a workout. plus. >> took me out for about two and a half weeks. >> our morning news anchor marcus washington opens up about his battle with covid and the hardships he is facing while recovering. it won't be all sunshine this weekend. i think we will get a break on

some of the rain for some of us. i'll explain and talk about our next storm system in about seven minutes. when we welcome our west coast viewers, we will tell you about johnson & johnson's new covid vaccine, what the company says about its effectiveness, especially against the dangerous new south africa variant. also speaking to dr. fauci about what it means for speeding up vaccinations when we see you on "nightly news" news.

oh, you think ththis is justt a commmmunity centnter? no. it's w way more ththan th. cacause when y you hook our cocommunity upup wiwith the intnternet... boomom! look a at ariana,, crushingng virtual c class. jamol, chahasing thatt collegege dream. michaeael, doing s something c. this i is the placace where wen shshow the wororld what wewe c. comcast t is partnerering wih 1000 comommunity cenenters toto create wiwifi-enabledd liftft zones, so s students frfrom lolow-income f families can n get the totools they nd to be readady for anytythin. oh we're r ready. ♪ ♪ our nbc news room is not em mun from the coronavirus. one of our friends and colleagues is now recovering from his battle with covid. marcus washington, who anchors our morning newscast, was diagnosed nearly a month ago,

and today shared his experience. >> it was a mild case, but, you know, it took me out for about 2 1/2 weeks. i had chills. i had a constant headache. my fever got as high as 102. and that was for a couple of days. that scared me a little bit. >> that scared us a little bit, as well. marcus says the last time he was this sick was in high school with the flu. you know who he thanked? his co-anchor laura for going into mama bear mode and keeping him in touch. >> if you know someone battling coronavirus, the best thing to do is really check on them. just a text message will do. it means a lo lot because you are alone. >> marcus is still in quarantine. we expect him back on the air shortly and his big smile, as well. >> we wish him a full, full recovery. gyms can now reopen outdoors only. 24 hour fitness reopened the outdoor workout spaces today at

dozens of locations. san ramon is the headquarters there. you can see the work out equipment under the tent with enough room for social distancing. >> i am excited to serve the community members, excited to have the team members back supporting and working and it's something we love to do. for us it's all about really serving the community during this time. >> counties are now following the tiered system. contra costa county like the rest of the bay area is in the purple tier, the most restrictive. under the purple purple some services can reopen outdoors under strict guidelines. nail and hair salons can open indoors over a roller coaster ten months. the personal service care industry has had to completely shut down more than any other industry. asian americans make up a large part of that industry and that group is among the hardest hit in terms of unemployment. a study showed out of -- out of san francisco state showed that

the unemployment rate in asians is higher than the national average. it's proposal leapt in california because of the high asian population. the state had some of the toughest covid-19 restrictions. i spoke to the co-author of the report about the study. >> some of the reasons include asian americans being employed in certain types of industries. three industries highly affected by the pandemic, the hospitality and leisure industries. retail industry and what we call other services industry. other service industries include such things as hair salons, fix-it shops p these types of things, nail salons quite prominent in san jose if you want to think about it like that, and we know that one out of four asians are employed in these industries and they had much higher rates of unemployment than other industries in the united states. >> professor mark says after the

asian community the latino community hit the hardest in terms of unemployment. many of them in essential work and in the service industry. he hopes the study will influence more help from local leaders in terms of unemployment benefits and assistance to small businesses. back to our weather. we head into the weekend, snow-capped mountains in many parts of the bay area. i love this. our sky ranger at mt. hamilton in the south bay. the south storm bringing in several inches of snow. but it does come with danger. you see that car right there? left side of your screen? perched on the side of the road pointed down the mountain. you've got to be careful if you are driving on these roads with snow because of spin-outs. just take your time and, ideally, try not to even drive. a lot of cars spinning out. that car on the edge of the road there. >> yikes. icy conditions. we are drying out. the sun is melting some of the snow and we got to get ready for the next one, right, jeff? >> yeah, another one coming in.

you know, all the early stuff i am seeing on this next storm system as we hit monday and tuesday, it doesn't look nearly as strong, but we definitely will see some spots getting up over one inch. let's get you that microclimate forecas it was really nice today. we had some cloud cover that is filtering back in. you can see it on the walnut creek camera here looking through downtown right up towards mount diablo. and currently we are checking in with 54 degrees and it is jacket weather tonight. going to the grocery store to stock up for this weekend? getting all kinds of snacks, you want to be lazy, hang out. so you are getting ready for that tonight, heading to the grocery store, make sure to have your jacket. temperatures in the chilly 40s. we have cleared out from the heavy rain. a few isolated showers near the coast and also mount hamilton, but we are done with the major activity. santa cruz mountains 6 to 8 1/2

inches two the three day rain total. one month's of rain for most of us in three day's time. tomorrow morning it also remains jacket weather. starting off chilly here with a mix of some sun and clouds. 46 in the south bay. peninsula 47. tri-valley down to 43. also coming in with more 40s here through the east bay and the north bay, san francisco will be at 50. daytime highs as we roll through tomorrow, i have to up to the mid-and-upper 50s here through morgan hill, right into san jose 58, concord 57, going up to napa 56 and santa rosa at 53. mid-50s through san francisco and half moon bay. notice we have a chance here of a spotty north bay shower. let me explain. we will take a look at what's coming our way. you can see by tomorrow morning we are dealing with some clouds and possibly some sundown there for the south bay and you will see our next storm, this is it, lining up offshore by tomorrow

morning. now, don't get too concerned. it doesn't look extremely wet this weekend. we might get a few spotty showers into the north bay saturday afternoon. this is not going to start to move in until monday and tuesday and that's when we do see some totals over one inch. you will see that best possibility for the higher totals in the one to two inch range. the rest of us 0.5 inch to 0.75 inch. on the extended forecast if you want a lot of sun, next wednesday, thursday and friday looks really good for that, and right here across the inland valleys temperatures similar, up to 63 on sunday, 61 on monday's forecast with that rain once again monday and tuesday. so i'm ready for that sunshine next week. i wish all of that was here to stay for the next several days, but we got to wait for it. it's like a two sided thing. we need the rain but we are

feeling waterlogged right now. >> it looks like a good weekend forecast. thank you, jeff. up next, the san francisco shevonne "the kelly clarkson show" and he gets a big surprise. we'll show you. johnson & johnson's new covid vaccine and what the company says about its effectiveness, especially against the dangerous new south africa variant. also i will be talking to dr. fauci about what it t all means and spepeeding up p vaccinatioi "n"nightly newews."

evacuation orders in santa cruz and san mateo counties are now classified as advisories. that means people can return home, but they still must be prepared to leave again if needed. cal fire says that there is still potential for debris flows, but there is no longer an immediate danger in the area. a lot happening at yosemite as well. no people, just a lot of mother nature. high winds took down sequoias

and heavy snow damaged trees and buildings. the ongoing cleanup will allow the park to reopen on monday, but the following week starting february 8 lt yosemite will require reservations. rangers say if you visit before february 8, no reservations needed. the south entrance from highway 41 is closed. the pandemic devastating impact on restaurants is inspiring some stunning creativity. san francisco chef anthony strong close the his restaurant prairie in august and went camping and he showed talk show host kelly clarkson today he came back with a new dining model which he operates out of his camper van he calls stella. >> it's like glamping. >> what are you and stella serving up today? >> well, back there in the kitchen my mobile kitchen with the charcoal grill we're doing a roasted artichoke soup. >> sounds so good. instead of customers coming to chef strong, he goes to them,

providing private pandemic safe dining on wheels. kelly gave him a surprise, a donation of $5,000 to keep following his passion. >> we have to bring him to the back parking lot at nbc. >> that would be nice. it is that time of year. heart statues going up around san francisco. we will tell you why. stay with us.

tonight at 6th pandemic and the heavy rain. it's a bad mixture in the south bay. how the two forces are leading to flooding problems and a major river. that stors and more on our 6:00 newscast. finally at 5, when is valentine's day? >> february 14th, raj. >> san francisco is getting ready for love. >> yes, check it out. six giant heart sculptures installed outside union square. the hearts represent the city, the community and how we have all been pulling together this past year. >> kind of like emotional because, like, this is a year we have been having. it's amazing and incredible. it's, like, i will be reading about this in a few years in textbooks or something. this is awesome. >> the hearts in san francisco project started back in 2004. i have seen them around the city. it's nice to see them. it's put on by the san francisco general hospital foundation.

it helps patients get the best care regardless if they can afford it. >> thanks for joining us. lester holt is next. >> bye. tonight new hope in the battle against covid, the first one shot vaccine, johnson and johnson announcing its vaccine is 72% effective of preventing covid in the u.s., not as high as pfizer or moderna but it does only require single dose and does not need cold storage how will it work against the south africavariant in the u.s? my one-on-one with dr. anthony fafauci of hisis message w worrs that johnson & johnson vaccine is not effective enough. will