>> reporter: covid-19 soon got the world's attention. wome, except for o staff now dr. kahn. but in december, the office kicked into high gear as they rushed to verify the alert. chinese officials were secretive about what was happening. but blue dot's computer doesn't rely on official statements. their algorithm was churning through data including medical bulletins, even livestock reports, to predict where the virus would go next. it was also scanning the ticket data from 4,000 airports. >> and just draw right over the city of wuhan, and it will reveal the locations of airports. >> reporter: blue dot wasn't just tracking flights, but calculating the cities at greatest risk. on december 31st, there were more than 800,000 travelers leaving wuhan, some likely carrying the disease.

>> so these yellow lines reflect the nonstop flights going out of wuhan, and then the blue circles reflect the final destinations of travelers. the larger the circle, the larger number of travelers going to that location. these were many of the first cities that received cases of covid-19 as it spread out of mainland china. >> reporter: you can do that in a matter of seconds? >> we can analyze and visualize all this information across the globe in just a few seconds. >> reporter: the virus wasn't just spreading to east asia. thousands of travelers were heading to the united states, too. >> most of the travel came into california and san francisco and los angeles. also into new york city. and we analyzed that way back on december 31st. our surveillance system that picked up the outbreak of wuhan automatically talks to the system that is looking at how travelers might go to various airports around wuhan. >> reporter: so when you see that map, you don't just see flight patterns. >> if you think of an outbreak a bit like a fire and embers

flying off, these are like embers flying off into different locations. >> reporter: so in this case, that ember landed in dry brush in new york and started a wildfire. >> absolutely. >> reporter: dr. kahn told us he had spent the better part of a year persuading the airlines to share their flight data for public health. nobody had ever asked that before. but he saw it as information gold. >> how is it that someone knows 16 b, that seat is available, but 14 a has been taken? there clearly must be some kind of information system. >> reporter: why is that so important? >> there are over 4 billion of us that board commercial flights and travel around the world every year, and so that is why understanding population movements becomes so important in anticipating how diseases spread. >> reporter: the virus spread across asia with a vengeance. blue dot has licensed access to the anonymized location data from millions of cell phones.

and with that data, it identified 12 of the 20 cities that would suffer first. >> what we're looking at here are mobile devices that were in wuhan in the previous 14 days and where are they now across east asia. places like tokyo have a lot of devices. seoul and south korea. >> reporter: so you're following those devices from wuhan to these other cities? >> that's correct. i do want to point out these are also anonymized data, but they allow us to understand population movements. that is how we can understand how this virus will spread. >> reporter: to build their algorithm, dr. kahn told us he deliberately hired an eclectic mix, engineers, ecologists, gee og ra fers, veterinarians all under one roof. they spent a year teaching the computer to detect 150 deadly pathogens. >> we can ultimately train the machine to be reading through all the text and picking out

components that this is talking about an outbreak of anthrax and this is talking about the heavy metal band anthrax. and as you do this, thousands and thousands and thousands of times, machine starts to get smarter and smarter. >> reporter: and how many different languages does the computer understand? >> so, it's reading this currently in 65 languages and processing this information every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, so it's a lot of data to go through. >> reporter: within two hours of detecting the outbreak on december 31st, blue dot had sent a warning of the potential threat to its clients. public health officials in 12 countries. airlines a front-line hospitals will humboldt river in toronto. >> we've been able to really make a lot of decisions, i think a little bit earlier, because i kind of feel like we had a bit of an inside scoop here. >> reporter: one of canada's top infectious disease physicians, dr. michael gardham, told us it was like getting real-time intelligence.

what did you do when you got that information from blue dot? >> getting that intel allowed me to kind of be the canary in the cole mine to stand up and say we need to stand up and pay attention to this and to start thinking about it, start thinking about supplies, start thinking about how busy we might be. now, at this point, everybody knows about covid-19, but it's not so much now. now you pretty much bought whatever p.p.e. you can buy. it's very hard to buy that any more. it's what did you do a month and a half ago that was so important? so none of this is any surprise to us whatsoever, and yet you see countries around the world where this has been a surprise. >> reporter: blue dot had no clients in the u.s. so what dr. guardham's hospital was making plans in january, president trump as late as a march was still assuring americans that everything was under control. >> we're prepared and we're doing a great job with it. it will go away. just stay calm. >> reporter: california wasn't

so sure and braced for the worst. in march, it became the first state in the country to lock down its cities. mickey mouse suddenly looked lonely. drivers had only dreamed of such empty freeways. but the lockdown bought time. despite having its first case of covid-19 five weeks before new york, california dodged the hurricane of infection that slammed into new york city. at his daily teleconference in sacramento, governor gavin newsom made no secret where heed gotten his edge. outbreak science. >> it's not a gross exaggeration when i say this. the old modelling is literally pen to paper in some cases, and then you put it into some modest little computer program and it spits a piece of paper out. this is a whole 'nother level of sophistication and data collection. >> and you can see the full "60 minutes" report on our website cbsnews.com. the overnight news will be right back. did you know that feeling sluggish or weighed down

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♪ ♪ ♪ the calming scent of lavender by downy infusions calm. laundry isn't done until it's done with downy. around the world, law enforcement agencies are turning to drones to monitor public spaces and enforce social distancing rules.

here in the u.s., 1600 federal, state and local agencies have drones at their disposal, but so do a lot of private drone pilots. some who have taken it upon themselves to help enforce local guidelines. errol barnett has that story. >> covid-19 volunteer drone task force. >> reporter: onlookers were perplexed when cbs news captured this drone buzzing above a new york city park this month at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. it wasn't the work of new york police, but instead, this frustrated drone enthusiast from queens. >> i couldn't believe my eyes. >> reporter: xavier arthur was so angry at people not following guidelines to stay home, he offered what he describes as a public service. >> it's like, okay, i'm just going to make sure that the message gets out loud and clear. maybe someone will listen. >> reporter: arthur's effort may not have been official. but his plan mimics those of

some public safety organizations nationwide. >> we're not telling people to get out. we're not enforcing as far as them having to go. we're making the announcement for public safety reasons. >> reporter: sergeant tim aaron covers police department in daytona beach, florida, is one of 43 agencies in 22 states to receive a donation from d.j.i., the drone manufacturer gave away 100 devices as part of its disaster relief program. aaron coffer has also tested, but not deployed, other drone-backed technologies like measuring body temperature. >> it's equipped with a flare, the infrared camera which can detect hetty temperatures. >> reporter: that was meant to be deployed in connecticut where the westport police department planned to pilot a drone that monitored heat signatures and tracked distances between people. it can even recognize if someone coughed. but it was pulled over residents' privacy concerns. and privacy advocates in the u.s. are warning of the

potential for abuse. >> you can add the ability to do facial recognition or the ability to do license plate reading. thermal imaging cameras can see through walls. >> reporter: jeremy scott is senior counsel at the electronic privacy information center. >> some people might say, look, these extreme measures are just for use during this pandemic. why should we worry? >> then there should be no issue with stating that and providing certain protections saying this information is only being used in response to the public health issue and will not be used for other purposes. >> reporter: but aaron coffer points out his drones are limited to public spaces. do you still have the faa and local laws that guide us. >> it doesn't matter if i'm using a drone, telescoping antenna. i don't have a right to look in your backyard without a search warrant. >> and that was errol barnett on drone patrol. the faa, by the way, requires every drone to be registered before it takes flight.

as for collecting data with your personal drone, there is currently no federal law or even guideline on what's allowed.

when a tiger in new york city's bronx zoo tested positive for kind, people took notice. jamie yuccas has what's being done to keep the animals and their handlers safe. >> reporter: the los angeles zoo delivered this special bundle a few months ago. keepers take extra precautions with apes, especially vulnerable to coronavirus. >> so many of us really don't know what's going to happen next. and that's because this is a brand-new virus for us. >> reporter: dominique keller is chief veterinarian. >> we're calling this an extremely extraordinary and fluid situation. we discuss what's going on at our location as well as other institutions just to make sure we're up on what the best standard of care should be now.

>> reporter: gorillas share ofit humans are susceptiblewi ionnown as valley fever. he'll likely need medication the rest of his life. >> if a vaccine comes out for covid-19, will you vaccinate the animals for that? > absolutely if a vaccine comes out and proves effective, we would certainly vaccinate what we consider the most susceptible animals such as our great apes. >> reporter: to maintain social distancing and prevent disease transmission, all non-emergency procedures have been postponed. >> we have to limit our face time with each other. we're doing the best we can toe. >> reporter: animal care includes mental well-being. keepers everywhere are coming up with innovated ways to keep animals stimulated without human visitors. zoos and aquariums have become play grounds. penguins waddle through the flower garden at minnesota's

park zoo and conservancy. while the gorillas eye keepers doing yoga. when camels are taken out for a walk, other beasts take notice. at the l.a. zoo, keepersay some animals are acting more social. >> if you walk by now in a public space, they come over and they vocalize at you. it's almost like they're like, ooh look, a person. where did everybody go? >> reporter: animal isolation can lead to abnormal animal behavior so enrichment activities are vital. >> how are you? >> reporter: many zoos are putting behind the scenes footage online. viewership of animal camsave so. that gave them wild ideas, to ask for donations along with your clicks to help offset lost revenue caused by the pandemic. if that's not possible for some, there is still a hope. >> that a positive move towards looking at how we interact with the natural world is one of the ngz that comes out of it. >> reporter: jamie yuccas, los angeles.

>> and that is the overnight news for this thursday. reporting from the cbs news st ios in washington, i'm jeff pegues. ♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs >> o'donnell: tonight, could it be a medical breakthrough? america's top infectious disease doctor praises a possible treatment for coronavirus as a new hope. >> because what it has proven is that a drug can block this virus. this is very optimistic. >> o'donnell: will the f.d.a. fast track its use for hospitalized patients? the news sent the stock market soaring. but there are still big economic worries. the u.s. economy shrinks as consumer spending plummets, and it may only get worse. across america, food lines stretch, stimulus checks stolen from mailboxes, and why some ske more money by staying on unemployment than going back to work. massive crowds: the mayor of new