and ford. we go further, so you can. >> vladimir putin's main political rival is recovering from an assassination attempt by poisoning. we traveled to germany, where he is under state protection to find out who he thinks did it and why. >> i think for putin-- why he's using this chemical weapon to do-- do both, kill me and, you know, terrify others. and putin is enjoying it. >> you have said you think that mr. putin is responsible. >> i don't think. i'm sure that he is responsible.

( ticking ) >> dr. anthony fauci has received death threats and is now under the protection of federal agents. we talked to him about that, the recent spike in coronavirus cases, prospects for a vaccine, and pandemic politics. how bad would things have to get for you to advocate a national lockdown? >> they'd have to get really, really bad. first of all, the country is fatigued with restrictions. ( ticking ) >> someone described it as a flight from hell. >> he's talking about the evacuation of sick americans after a covid outbreak on a european cruise. it was the beginning of the pandemic. and as you'll hear tonight, passengers on that flight from hell were surprised how their own government responded. >> and all of a sudden, this man comes walking up. he's heading like he's going to the bathroom. and he just starts, like, a weeble-wobble. and he just hits his head on the wall. and he falls to the ground. ( ticking )

>> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." ( ticking ) i was covered from head to toe with it. it really hurt. then i started cosentyx. okay, thanks... that was four years ago. how are you? see me. cosentyx works fast to give you clear skin that can last. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. i look and feel better. ask your dermatologist if cosentyx could help you move past the pain of psoriasis.

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we first met alexey navalny three years ago, when he was running for president against putin. now navalny is recuperating in berlin, where we went this past week after germany granted us special permission to travel there despite covid restrictions. wen we sat down with navalny, he told us he was on an airplane on august 20 when he began to feel strange, and then very, very sick. >> alexey navalny: i said to the flight attendant, and i kind of shocked him with my statement, "well, i was poisoned and i'm going to die." and i immediately lay down on-- onto his feet. >> stahl: alexey navalny was on a flight to moscow from siberia where he had been campaigning against putin's party in a local election, when he collapsed with no pain, but knowing he was dying. >> alexey navalny: actually, every cell of your body just are telling you that, "body, we are done." >> stahl: one of the other

passengers turned on his phone and captured navalny moaning in anguish. the pilot made an emergency landing in omsk, where medics, thinking navalny must be a drug addict, administered the usual treatment for an overdose and rushed him to a local hospital, where they said he wasn't poisoned but wouldn't let him leave for days. >> alexey navalny: well, it was a big fight. they thought that after 48 hours, this poison would be untraceable. and they just keep me there until this 48 hours will be gone. >> stahl: navalny is under constant surveillance. his wife yulia says government agents were at the hospital, controlling access to her husband, and she believes calling the shots. at the time, navalny was in a coma, unaware that his wife yulia was waging a public campaign to encourage western diplomatic pressure. and-- did you write a letter to

putin? >> yulia navalny: yeah, i did it. >> stahl: "dear mr. putin, free my husband." >> yulia navalny: i wrote, like, "i insist that he should do it." >> stahl: "i demand you free my husband." >> yulia navalny: yeah. >> alexey navalny: it was an online campaign: "let him out!" and putin thought it would be safe for him-- just let me out after the 48 hours. >> stahl: so after 48 hours, the russian government allowed him to be flown by air ambulance to a hospital in berlin known for its experience with victims of poison attacks. and i gather they suspected poison right away? >> alexey navalny: yes, of course. >> stahl: meanwhile, his team in siberia searched his hotel room, collecting things navalny may have touched, like this water bottle, which the doctors in berlin sent along with a blood sample to a german military lab to see exactly what the poison was. and, the answer was novichok. >> alexey navalny: they discover

novichok, this nerve agent, in my blood, inside of body, on my body and on this bottle from the hotel. so, that's why we now we know that i was poisoned in the hotel. because i-- well, it's-- again, it's just pure speculation, because no one knows what-- what-- what happened, exactly. but i think that when i was-- maybe put some clothes with these-- with this poison on me, i touch it with the hand, and then i sip from the bottle. so this nerve agent was not inside of a bottle, but on the bottle. >> stahl: novichok is a highly- toxic nerve agent said to be ten times more potent than sarin gas. labs in france and sweden corroborated the finding: there's no doubt it was military-grade novichok. >> alexey navalny: it's maybe, it's the most toxic agent invented by the humans. so it's new type of novichok, which proves that,

unfortunately, putin have-- developing new program of these chemical weapon, which is forbidden. >> stahl: the russians have said that they destroyed all these chemical weapons. >> alexey navalny: that's why, actually, they deny everything. because it means that they still have this novichok. so it means they're not just violating with keeping it. they are continue to improve it. >> stahl: and there's no doubt that russia is the only place where that could have come from? >> alexey navalny: this is absolutely correct. >> stahl: it's a banned substance. >> alexey navalny: it's a banned substance. i think for putin-- why he's using this chemical weapon to do-- do both, kill me and, you know, terrify others. it's something really scary, where the people just drop dead without-- there are no gun. there are no shots. and in a couple of hours, you-- you'll be dead, and without any traces on your body. it's something terrifying. and putin is enjoying it. >> stahl: you have said you think that mr. putin's

responsible. >> alexey navalny: i don't think. i'm sure that he is responsible. >> stahl: putin spokesman dmitry peskov says the charge is" completely baseless and unacceptable." but angela merkle of germany and emmanuel macron of france have persuaded the european union to impose sanctions over this. well, all these leaders have signed on, except donald trump. and-- >> alexey navalny: yes, i-- i have noticed it. ( laughs ) >> stahl: is it important to you that he condemn this action? >> alexey navalny: so, i think it's extremely important that everyone, of course, including and maybe in the first of all, president of united states, to be very against using chemical weapons in the 21st century. >> stahl: but why would putin want to poison alexey navalny? when we first met navalny three years ago, he was running against putin for president. he had made a name for himself

by getting his hands on incriminating internal financial documents related to high-level officials and posting them on a blog. did these documents that you got prove corruption? >> alexey navalny: absolutely. i work as a whistle blower. and i'm not afraid to announce the names. >> stahl: he says he found that the kremlin's inner circle was accumulating vast amounts of wealth and published pictures of multiple homes and yachts. he moved on to airing documentaries on youtube, with video of the officials' lavish lifestyle. >> alexey navalny: and, it's-- it's something very special about mr. putin, that he's crazy about money. personal money, about his family being rich. his friends-- like, all his people who was-- served him-- with him-- with him-- in the k.g.b., all of them, they are billionaires. that's why fighting corruption means for him that he's fighting me. >> stahl: you know, i'm smiling because, here you are.

you have survived the most potent nerve agent there is, and you are as fiery and worked up about your-- about putin and what's going on in this country as you were when i met you a couple years ago. >> alexey navalny: well, i'm glad. ( laughs ) i'm glad that i survived. >> stahl: his blog enflamed so much outrage in 2017 that tens of thousands of russians took to the streets against putin. when navalny called for a second round of protests three months later, he was arrested before he even left his apartment building. he's been jailed so many times, he's lost count. he's been beaten, had green dye with acid splashed in his face, and now he can add poisoning to his resume, and blame president putin. now how can you say that? why wouldn't it be one of the oligarchs whom you've embarrassed by, as you say, exposing their corruption? >> alexey navalny: even for an oligarch, it's impossible to get

this novichok. it's not something you can buy in the store, even if you have millions of the-- billions of dollars. maybe more important, you cannot use it. you will kill yourself and everyone around. because it's very difficult to, you know-- >> stahl: contain it. yes, yes. >> alexey navalny: yes. and then, this huge cover up operation. there is no criminal investigation so far. if-- if putin is not responsible, why there is no investigation? and look what they're doing right now. like, putin with a conversation with the french president macron, he said, "well, navalny poisoned himself." seriously? >> stahl: mr. putin told the president of france that you poisoned yourself? >> alexey navalny: yes. it was just to, you know, annoy him. >> stahl: putin is contending with rounds of protests in the far eastern part of the country, with people taking to the streets for the past three months. navalny thinks the attempt on his life is connected. >> alexey navalny: despite his

controlling police, judges, courts, media, and everything, still he's like, he understand that he is surrounded by protest. and it's increasing. so that's why his-- they decided to, you know, exfod-- extreme measures. >> stahl: this is what he looked like just a month ago, soon after his doctors brought him out of an induced coma. rail-thin, with a sickly pallor. this photo was taken the first day he saw his children after being taken off a ventilator. so you were in a coma. and then you woke up and what happened? >> alexey navalny: after this coma, i just jump to the long period of kind of crazy hallucinations. and several, you know, steps of realizing where i am, who i am. i could not speak and i could not write. >> stahl: well, how has this affected your family? >> alexey navalny: well, it was a difficult situation.

but they stand it. >> stahl: including your children? >> alexey navalny: including children-- >> stahl: you have-- your son is 12 and your daughter is in college. >> alexey navalny: right. >> stahl: those are tough ages to realize that your father came close to being assassinated. did they say to you, "pop, dad, you have to stop"? >> alexey navalny: absolutely not. no. absolutely not. my-- i am very lucky man because i have all support from my family. >> stahl: you'd almost have to at this point. >> alexey navalny: yeah. >> stahl: navalny, his wife, his bodyguard and i went out for a walk in front of the brandenburg gate in berlin and a phalanx of police showed up. you certainly travel with a lot of protection. >> alexey navalny: yes, i have a lot of security. >> stahl: he is under the protection of the german government because there's concern he could be the target of another poisoning. and yet, he said he's determined to return to moscow in a couple of months, as soon as he is

100%, and resume his work where he left off, campaigning against vladimir putin. you know, you used to be known as the man who had no fear. but what about your family? do you ever think that you are you're putting them in danger? >> alexey navalny: that is a toughest part, yes. i don't feel any fear, but children what is kind of really a horrible thought, if they will try to use this novichok somewhere around my apartment, where my children is come. and, like, you know, this door or something, but everyone can touch it. well-- ( sighs ) but anyway, we should fight these people because they will never stop. they will poison someone else. they will poison more people. >> stahl: well, how do you feel now? are you back? totally back? you seem to be. >> alexey navalny: i still need some time to recover. and i'm working on it. >> stahl: but you do go to rehab.

do you go every day? >> alexey navalny: yes, to learn from the scratch how to move, how to do some things. they-- interesting that-- i feel kind of a bit of wooden or tin man, like from the "wizard of oz," because the body lost all flexibility at all. interesting how it's work. i have no idea. it's-- now it's difficult move is for me, for example, pick something from the ground. >> stahl: what about the psychological effect of having-- knowing that somebody tried to kill you, came that close? >> alexey navalny: you know, i think it's a good thing. it's very useful for politician, maybe facing death once, because it's change you a bit. so maybe ironically, i became kind of more human after this, facing death. ( ticking ) so what's going on?

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>> stahl: now, dr. jon lapook on assignment for "60 minutes." >> dr. jon lapook: this weekend americans face another surge in the covid-19 pandemic. infections have passed the eight million mark and are rising rapidly. there are more than 218,000 dead. during the course of the pandemic, dr. anthony fauci has been the physician most americans have relied upon for their information. but now, instead of worrying solely about developing vaccines or therapeutics, dr. fauci finds himself unhappily caught up in presidential politics, under protection from death threats, and forced to defend science itself. with 16 days until the election, we began our conversation with a question many have been asking. are you planning to vote in person? >> dr. anthony fauci: i'm gonna

try to vote in person. i like the-- the atmosphere of going and voting. >> lapook: i think a lot of people want to vote in person, but they are afraid. >> fauci: if someone asked me," i'm 75 years old, i have hypertension and i'm a little bit concerned," alleviate your anxiety, do an absentee ballot, no problem. >> lapook: but they could vote in person if they were careful. >> fauci: right, yes. >> lapook: dr. anthony fauci has been a voice of logic and stability since the pandemic began. and right now, he's worried we're heading in the wrong direction. worldwide, the number of new cases is surging at an alarming rate, as seen in this map by johns hopkins university. this week, russia reported a record number of infections, and cases are spiking in the u.k., france, and italy. >> fauci: when you have a million deaths and over 30 million infections globally, you can not say that we're on the road to essentially getting out of this. so quite frankly, i don't know

where we are. it's impossible to say. >> lapook: what dr. fauci knows for sure is, here in the united states, infections are beginning to rise as the weather gets colder and people congregate indoors. over the last two weeks new cases have gone up in at least 38 states. how bad would things have to get for you to advocate a national lockdown? >> fauci: they'd have to get really, really bad. first of all, the country is fatigued with restrictions. so we want to use public health measures not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy. so instead of having an opposition, open up the economy, get jobs back, or shut down. no. put shut down away and say," we're gonna use public health measures to help us safely get to where we want to go." >> lapook: those measures were not in place last month in the rose garden when president trump

announced the nomination of amy coney barrett to the supreme court. were you surprised that president trump got sick? >> fauci: absolutely not. i was worried that he was going to get sick when i saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. when i saw that on tv, i said, "oh my goodness. nothing good can come out of that, that's got to be a problem." and then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event. >> lapook: after three days in the hospital with covid-19, president trump returned to the white house and soon started holding political rallies. >> trump: i'm in such great shape. >> lapook: earlier this month, the trump campaign released this television ad. it features what appears to be a glowing remark from dr. fauci on president trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. >> fauci: i can't imagine that anybody could be doing more.

stunning. >> lapook: fauci says his words were taken out of context. but this week the ad continued to run in key battleground states. >> fauci: i do not and nor will i ever, publicly endorse any political candidate. and here i am, they're sticking me right in the middle of a campaign ad. which i thought was outrageous. i was referring to something entirely different. i was referring to the grueling work of the task force that," god, we were knocking ourselves out seven days a week. i don't think we could have possibly have done any more than that." >> lapook: did the steam start to come out of your ears? >> fauci: no, it did, quite frankly. i got really ticked off. >> lapook: dr. fauci has become the most visible doctor in america, yet he says his ability to communicate with the public is not always under his control. during this pandemic, has the white house been controlling when you can speak with the media? >> fauci: you know, i think you'd have to be honest and say yes. i certainly have not been allowed to go on many, many,

many shows that have asked for me. >> lapook: one of the most trusted voices in america, and yet, you're not there, you're not allowed to talk with us. so, can you understand the frustration that maybe there's been a restriction on the flow of information and on the transparency-- >> fauci: you know, i think there has been a restriction, jon, but-- but it doesn't, it-- it-- it isn't consistent. >> lapook: another point of contention between dr. fauci and the white house has to do with masks. >> trump: dr. fauci said the opposite. >> biden: he did not say the opposite. >> trump: he said very strongly: masks are not good. then he changed his mind. he said masks are good. i'm okay with masks. >> lapook: at the beginning of the outbreak, dr. fauci recommended against routinely wearing masks, partly because he was concerned there would be a shortage of surgical masks for healthcare workers. but a month later, fauci reversed course after, he says, it turned out people without symptoms were a significant source of spread. and masks, even homemade ones, could help stop transmission. >> fauci: so let's see if we could put this to rest once and

for all. it became clear that cloth coverings things like this here, and not necessarily a surgical mask or an n-95, cloth coverings, work. so now there's no longer a shortage of masks. number two, metanalysis studies show that, contrary to what we thought, masks really do work in preventing infection. >> lapook: no doubt. >> fauci: so, no doubt. >> lapook: so when you find out you were wrong, you don't double down? >> fauci: no. when you find out you're wrong, it's a manifestation of your honesty to say, "hey, i was wrong. i did subsequent experiments and now it's this way." >> lapook: the benefit of masks has been supported by evidence that, under certain conditions, the virus can travel more than the six feet suggested by social distancing guidelines. as seen in this video, tiny, aerosolized droplets can float, like cigarette smoke, across a

room. over time, without good ventilation, they can build up and pose a risk of infection. research shows a mask can reduce that risk. dr. fauci says he's optimistic about the early use of experimental therapies like remdesivir and the monoclonal antibodies given to president trump. do you find it at all ironic that the president, who has not always consistently followed the advice of public health officials and scientists, seems to have been made better by science? >> fauci: well, i don't think it's ironic. i think it's fortunate that the president of the united states benefited from science. you know, i think deep down, he believes in science. if he didn't, he would not have entrusted his health to the very competent physicians at the walter reed army medical center. >> lapook: but at the same time he hasn't worn masks consistently-- >> fauci: yeah, but that-- >> lapook: he's pushed back against things you've said. >> fauci: see i-- i think that's less an anti-science than it's more a statement. >> lapook: what kind of a statement? >> fauci: you know, a statement of strength, like, we're strong,

we don't need-- we don't need a mask, that kind of thing. >> lapook: is that-- >> fauci: you know, he sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness. >> lapook: does that make sense to you? >> fauci: no it doesn't. of course not. >> lapook: do you have a feeling that there is sometimes an all- out war against science? >> fauci: oh yeah. i mean, particularly over the last few years. there's an anti-authority feeling in the world. and science has an air of authority to it. so people who want to push back on authority tend to, as a sidebar, push back on science. >> lapook: dr. fauci is married to dr. christine grady, a bioethicist at the national institutes of health. we first met her back in 2016 during a rare, relaxed evening of homemade rigatoni with italian sausage. >> salut. >> lapook: she prefers to stay out of the spotlight, but agreed to sit down with us. this pandemic has been rough on families all across america.

what about yours? >> dr. christine grady: yeah, it's been rough on ours in-- in a way that i think is similar to many other families. we haven't been able to see our children very often. i can't see my mom very often. >> lapook: how old's your mom? >> grady: she's 96. >> fauci: and she got covid. >> grady: and she got covid. >> lapook: really? >> grady: and she's in an assisted living facility. and-- and so they understandably have very restricted visiting. and so all of those kinds of things are really have been hard for us just like they have been for many, many families. >> lapook: you get to see a tony fauci that the rest of us don't see. what frustrates him? >> grady: the fact that, you know, the same message has to sort of be reiterated over and over again because either people don't hear it, or they don't believe it, or they don't adopt it. >> lapook: once an avid runner, at 79, dr. fauci now power walks, flanked by federal agents. what's that all about? >> fauci: that's sad. the very fact that a public

health message to save lives triggers such venom and animosity to me that it results in real and credible threats to my life and my safety. but it bothers me less than the hassling of my wife and my children. >> lapook: they've been threatened? >> fauci: yes. i mean, like, give me a break. >> lapook: have there been death threats against... >> fauci: yes. >> lapook: ...you and your family? >> fauci: yes. >> lapook: all of you? >> fauci: no, just me. >> grady: mostly him. >> fauci: mostly me. but hassling. >> grady: harassment against all of us. >> fauci: against the rest of the family. >> lapook: as the director of infectious disease research for the government, dr. fauci told us not one pathogen he's studied, from h.i.v./aids to h1n1 to ebola, has been as puzzling as sars-cov-2, the virus that causes covid-19. he says we need to figure out how common it is for people who've had the virus to be re- infected, and study the long term effects of the disease. >> fauci: if you talk to a significant number of people, they will tell you that, for

anywhere from weeks to months and possibly longer, that they have symptoms that are characterized by fatigue and a thing that they refer to as brain fog, which really means the difficulty concentrating. the other thing that we're seeing that's a bit disturbing is that the degree of cardiovascular abnormalities by scans and by other diagnostics tests. it may be insignificant, but i don't know that now. >> lapook: in 2016, during an outbreak of the zika virus, dr. fauci showed us around the vaccine research center he helped create, where for 20 years he has led a team of scientists developing vaccines for emerging viruses. a full four years before covid- 19 caused worldwide devastation, dr. fauci told us his greatest fear. >> fauci: an influenza-like respiratory-borne virus that's easily transmittable to which the population of the world has very little if any immunity

against and that has a high degree of morbidity and mortality. something similar to the very tragic pandemic flu of 1918. >> lapook: not only did dr. fauci foresee this kind of pandemic, scientists at the n.i.h. have spent years preparing for it. in january, before a single case of covid-19 was confirmed in the u.s., chinese scientists posted the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus. based on their prior work on other coronaviruses, n.i.h. researchers edited that code so it could be used to make a vaccine. they sent the modifications to the biotech company moderna, which was able to manufacture the vaccine and start a phase 1 clinical trial within two months, a process that used to take years. that vaccine and three others in the u.s. are now in phase three clinical trials to see if they are safe and effective. if the f.d.a. says, "it's okay to take the vaccine," are you gonna take it? >> fauci: i'm gonna look at the

data upon which the f.d.a. makes that decision. i trust the permanent professionals in the f.d.a. the director, the commissioner of the f.d.a., has been very public that he will not let politics interfere. we have an advisory committee to the f.d.a. who are made up of independent people who i trust. put all those things together, if the final outcome is that the f.d.a. approves it, i will take it. ( ticking ) >> what might the next year of living with the pandemic look like? dr. fauci explains at 60minutesovertime.com. tomorrow holds the course of your financial future. which is why it's good to know exactly how you'll get there. for more than 150 years, generations have trusted the strength and stability of pacific life to protect their tomorrows. because protecting those you care about with life insurance and retirement

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235 americans boarded the "costa luminosa" cruise ship headed for europe. they left fort lauderdale on march 5th. at that time, there were only about 200 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the united states. but as they were crossing the atlantic, word spread that three passengers who left the ship during port calls in the caribbean tested positive for covid. and one had died. this is the story of what happened next. a flight back home, that had all the ingredients of a super- spreading event and how the agency tasked with controlling such outbreaks, the centers for disease control and prevention, knew about it and did not stop it. by the time the "costa luminosa" was halfway across the atlantic, passengers we spoke to say it seemed like everyone was coughing. it was supposed to be a 20 day cruise from florida to italy.

bob and sue anderson were travelling to visit family in europe. those early days in march, you know, covid was starting. but you made a decision that you were gonna go on a cruise. >> anderson: we wanted to travel to see our granddaughter. we didn't really worry about it. >> and it wasn't until we got on the ship and two or three days into the cruise where everything then blew up. >> alfonsi: at what point did you start feeling sick? >> anderson: oh, probably a week into the trip. it was fatigue. i just didn't feel like doing anything. and then i got a tightness in the chest, lost my sense of taste, my sense of smell. >> i told bob, i said i feel like i'm in the petri dish of the covid. >> alfonsi: kelly edge had been travelling with her husband woody. he had been sick in bed for five days when everyone on board was ordered to quarantine in their cabins. >> edge: we are captive. >> alfonsi: captive. >> edge: you can't come in with a helicopter.

we're in the middle of the ocean. and my husband's burning up. >> alfonsi: passengers began to call home asking for help from members of congress, reporters and family. >> edge: there was a-- conversations from people from the-- the states that were contacting all government agencies. you know? they had very sick family members on the ship. and they knew that-- that they needed to get their family off a.s.a.p. >> alfonsi: the state department got involved and on day 13 of the cruise passengers learned they would be allowed off the ship in marseille. france had just started a nationwide lockdown. the americans had to gather in this ship lounge to be checked by french medics before they were allowed to board buses for the airport. >> edge: this is where, in my opinion, it became criminal. >> alfonsi: criminal she says because the passengers, many in their 70s and showing symptoms of covid, waited in the locked

buses for five hours while paperwork was sorted out by u.s. diplomats. it was midnight when they finally got on the jet hired by the cruise line. >> jenny catron: so as you can hear, everybody's coughing. >> alfonsi: this is jenny catron. she hoped the worst was behind them as she settled into seat 26d. >> catron: here we go. we are hoping that when we get back to the united states, that these people will be able to get some medical help, finally. >> alfonsi: the jet took off for atlanta at 2:00 a.m. it wasn't lost on many that their destination, atlanta, is the home of the centers for disease control and prevention. the atlanta airport is also one of 20 quarantine stations the c.d.c. has around the country to screen ill travelers. did you expect that when that plane landed in atlanta, that you would be taken to quarantine? >> edge: 100%. >> alfonsi: while at sea,

passengers saw news reports about covid outbreaks on other cruise ships including the "diamond princess" in japan and the "grand princess" in california. in both cases, the c.d.c. ordered hundreds of those passengers to quarantine at u.s. military bases. what was the scene on the plane like? >> anderson: someone described it as a flight from hell. >> alfonsi: did it feel like that? >> anderson: yes. i kept looking at the man and woman to my left coughing, and coughing and coughing. >> alfonsi: it became nine and a half hours of misery. the andersons were in row 32. kelly and woody edge were in the middle of the plane. >> edge: and then it-- and then it happened. it was behind me about ten rows. and a man started to collapse. and his wife was, like, "help. help. please help. we need a doctor." >> alfonsi: jenny catron was several rows behind her. the experienced red cross volunteer who attended nursing school was already trying to

help. >> catron: he was glowing: he had so much sweat-- he was pale, pale-ish green >> alfonsi: you didn't think, "oh, my gosh: this guy might have covid" right away? >> catron: i was pretty sure that, at that point, that we all had covid. >> alfonsi: kelly edge noticed jenny was on her own and got up to help too. >> edge: and then, on the other side of me to the right, and behind me about two rows, this man started going into some kind of respiratory distress. so, i say to jenny, "i think you need to go for this man. i can-- what-- what's going on here, and i can do this." and she said, "just-- just hold his hand, just reassure him." and all of a sudden, this man comes walking up. he's heading like he's going to the bathroom. and he just starts, like, a weeble-wobble. and he just hits his head on the wall. and he falls to the ground. >> alfonsi: so, it's one, two, three, four. >> edge: they're going, like-- they're going, like, fast now. we're laying them out-- >> alfonsi: in the aisles? or...

>> edge: in the like bulk heads. you know. >> alfonsi: where are the flight attendants? >> edge: in the back. they just didn't know what to do either, you know. they were very scared. >> catron: the captain comes out, and we start discussing whether or not to divert the flight, we still had another four hours to atlanta. and if we had landed in bermuda they could have still been sitting on the plane for another six hours where they debate whether or not they're gonna let people into the hospitals there. so the flight continued to atlanta. >> alfonsi: but when the plane carrying the sick and exhausted passengers landed at 6:43 in the morning, the doors stayed closed. >> edge: and then we finally hear from the pilot that-- "well, apparently nobody knew we were coming. nobody was prepared." >> alfonsi: does that make any sense? based on the calls you guys are making from the ship? you guys are waving flags, calling the media... >> edge: the atlanta news was there at the airport to meet us. >> lori, you know i can't even

imagine what it must have been like to be on that plane. >> alfonsi: so where was the help? "60 minutes" spoke with the state department, customs and border protection and the c.d.c. on background. we were told the c.d.c. knew the plane was coming but didn't make plans to quarantine passengers. instead the decision was made to treat them like any other americans returning from europe in march, by having them fill out a health questionnaire. but about an hour before the plane was to touch down, the c.d.c.'s plan blew up. remember earlier when we told you about those french medics who screened the passengers in the ship lounge? it turns out the french tested four americans for covid, and three were positive, and on the plane. that news surprised the c.d.c. they had to scramble together a team to go to the jet. jenny catron got sick of waiting. >> catron: and at that point i just get on the phone and i called 9-1-1. >> alfonsi: you called 9-1-1 from the plane? >> catron: yes. >> atlanta airport 911. >> catron: my name is jennifer catron.

i am on a plane that we just came over from france. >> hm-hm. >> catron: i have nine medical emergencies that i had to handle on this plane from france over to here. >> hm-hm. >> catron: we are waiting for the c.d.c. because we have possible coronavirus cases on board. >> hm-hm. >> catron: i have people passing out. >> alfonsi: three more hours passed before the doors finally opened. who are the first people to board the plane? >> catron: there were two or three different girls. they said that they were from the c.d.c. they were dressed in plastic-- they're like, "okay, well, we need these three people that had tested positive in marseilles. so they get those three people off. and she goes, "okay, now i need the people that have fevers and coughs." and the steward looks at them she goes, "honey, they're all sick." >> alfonsi: the three positive passengers were taken to a hotel. everybody else went to a cargo building where they were checked by the c.d.c. for fever, and filled out a short questionnaire.

nobody was given a covid test. and some passengers told us they saw people with symptoms get through. >> edge: there were people get this, their temperature was too high, so the c.d.c. had them sit in chairs and wait and see if it got lower. >> catron: so i'm trying really hard not to, like, second-guess. and i was so-- >> alfonsi: you're thinking, "this is the c.d.c. they've got this"-- >> catron: that's what i'm trying to tell myself. >> alfonsi: --"and it's in their hands now." >> catron: i'm trying to tell myself that. >> alfonsi: but your mind is saying what? >> catron: "you're not doing it right." >> alfonsi: passengers were then loaded onto buses for a short drive to baggage claim. and that was that. they were all free to go wherever they wanted. >> edge: like, half of it was the walking wounded and i watched them all leave. >> alfonsi: this plane comes in, people are sick, they're fainting, they're coughing and then they're let into the main terminal of one of the busiest airports in america. >> anderson: it was crazy. >> alfonsi: was it lost on

anybody? or were you guys kind of looking at each other like, "i can't believe they let us go?" >> anderson: exactly. those are the exact feelings we had. utter surprise and bewilderment. >> alfonsi: some passengers removed their masks. others hit the food court. within hours, more than 200 of them exposed to covid or already sick with it, boarded commercial flights to 17 states and canada, including the andersons. >> anderson: we felt guilty. we had our masks. we had our gloves. and we sat down. and the seat next to me was empty. and i said, "please don't let anybody sit next to me." >> alfonsi: bob anderson tested positive for covid after he flew home to utah. kelly edge's husband tested positive after he took a flight to miami. three people on the plane were put on ventilators days later. and two other passengers who flew home-- tom sheehan, who was in seat 24j, and herman boehm who was in 10a, both died nine

days later. we wanted to know what the c.d.c. was thinking, but they declined our request for an interview. we did obtain 160 pages of emails from the agency about the operation through the freedom of information act, but all the sections about decision making were redacted. how does this happen? >> dr. ali khan: undoubtedly you know i would say this sort of constitutes public health malpractice. that you have individuals who you know are exposed, potentially multiple people infected within that group, and then you put them in the busiest airport in the world. >> alfonsi: dr. ali khan is the dean of the university of nebraska school of public health. he is a former director of the c.d.c.'s office of public health preparedness and response. should any of those passengers been allowed to get on commercial flights at that point? >> khan: so those individuals definitely should have stayed in atlanta and been appropriately isolated or quarantined based on

their circumstances. >> alfonsi: we knew enough at that point to know that was a bad decision. >> khan: oh no, not only did we know enough at that point, we had already acted on that knowledge multiple times. we know that what was the right thing to do was with the "grand princess" and other cruise ships, that those individuals need to get off the ship, needed to be monitored separately-- in quarantine before they could go out and about their way. >> alfonsi: the cruise line would not share the passenger list with us. but we were able to track down 64 of the americans. and of those 64, 45 of them told us they tested positive for covid soon after coming home. >> khan: this is what the agency plans for day in and day out on how to do this. i mean, this should've been second nature of how to make this happen. >> alfonsi: the c.d.c. alerted state health departments. but some passengers told us, their states never followed up with them and didn't do any contact tracing. the lack of a unified response means nobody knows exactly how

many passengers from that flight from hell brought home the coronavirus, or how many unsuspecting people they infected with covid along the way. ( ticking ) >> cbs sports. presented by progressive insurance. i'm james brown with the source of the the nfl today. the first shutout today. and on the road. the giants get their elusive win of the first season. and after holding off a late rally. >> for 24/7 news and highlights go to cbs news h 2, >> for 24/7 news and highlights go to cbs news h 2, .com.

one more game of backgammon? o you say? [ chuckles ] not on your life. [ laughs ] ♪ when the lights go down we don't work paycheck to paycheck, we live shift to shift, but we were ordered to shut down on march 16. we're just a tiny bar. am i even gonna have a job to come back to? we're struggling because trump didn't do his job. this president claims that he's the jobs president and yet so many jobs are so unstable right now, including mine. this is his economy, and it's failing us. joe biden's the one who actually has a plan to get us through this. everybody wants to reopen, but things can't get back to normal until we get the virus under control.

biden's plan will keep small businesses like the one i work at from going under. we need a better plan. we need better leadership. we need joe biden. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message. this was the theater i came to quite often. the support we've had over the last few months has been amazing. it's not just a work environment. everyone here is family. if you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. we thought for sure that we were done. and this town said: not today. ♪

>> stahl: next sunday on "60 minutes:" the candidates. in what has become a quadrennial tradition, we'll have revealing, provocative conversations with the two major party candidates for president. as the campaign trail winds to its end, i'll be at the white house with questions for president trump.

and norah o'donnell interviews former vice president joe biden in delaware. we'll also have some time with their running mates, vice president mike pence and senator kamala harris. i'm lesley stahl. we'll be back next week with this election edition of "60 minutes." ( ticking ) like the "visit a doctor anywhere our rv takes us" plan. the "zero copays means more money for rumba lessons" plan. and the "visit my doctor while eating pancakes" plan. unitedhealthcare is the #1 medicare plan provider, so you're sure to find the right plan for you. including the only plans with the aarp name. get medicare with more.

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