who now he fears a second wave worse than the first. i am worried that it is exploding again and the body count is going to climb he says. the government is now forced to lock down five high risk red zones. non-essential businesses, closed. movement outside your hometown, forbidden. crucial measures to contain the spread in italy says the prime minister. just as italy was a warning to the u.s. of worst to come, health officials caution the latest wave could be another omen of what is ahead. new covid restrictions kick in but it may be too little, too late. the entire country risks running out of icu beds within a month. >> closer to home the pandemic is threatening to overwhelm hospitals in several states and as the pandemic is growing it is

prompting new efforts to better deal with the new realities. michele miller reports. >> reporter: hospitals were always designed to treat the ill. but battling covid-19 over the last seven months pushed many to their limits. >> the assumption if you get sick we willor you is a false assumption. >> reporter: hospitals like chicago's rush medical center have began to spring into action. >> we created a command center to bring together all of the people in the organization that represent all of the potential landmines and unmet needs that we may have. >> reporter: president and ceo at rush. >> then we just took a giant board and we wrote down how do we physically change the hospital to take care of larger numbers of people. >> the process started eight

years ago, long before the pandemic when rush added a new wing to their hospital. >> when you build something for the future of health care, you try to add something with flexibility or agility in it and we built an 830,000 square foot building in the city that has the ability to change air flow and the ability to double rooms and surge to 133%s it capacity. >> it is pretty intensive. >> reporter: brenda smith is a health care designer with the architectual firm that worked on the rush project. >> we had phases where we were trying to create a list of all of the kinds of functional spaces they need. you look at the flow of people both staff and patients and you look of the flow of equipment and all of the things that are required to operate in that space and some of that has been rethought with covid. >> reporter: also front line health care workers, many of

whom had to make hospitals their homes. >> people stay sometimes 15, 20, 24, 36 hours with little breaks in between. we need to make sure we provide areas where they can rest. >> reporter: something else, emergency conversions transforming everything from city parks to convention centers. >> we had to move very fast. >> reporter: back in april the director of health with hks took on the task of converting detroit's convention center. >> we have to convert non-health buildings into health buildings. that is where i think we begin to perhaps look at a diminish standard of care which may not give us the best outcomes. >> reporter: still the task of repurposing spaces is nothing new. >> they did temporary hospitals in the 1918 pandemic. >> reporter: this historian says that the flu presenteds it own challenges and solutions. >> most of the hospitals are

built along with the big open wards and are rapidly overwhelmed. after the pandemic there is a shift to having smaller rooms oo and one patient per room or what they call one unit or one disease. they can have patients with the same disease and put them in the same room. >> if today's architects learn anything from their 20th century peers it will be to take the lessons of this pandemic forward by improving our ability to respond to the next one. >> the big lesson. >> hospitals must be designed to respond more rapidly and think of creating a pandemic preparedness in flexibility, scheduling and the ability to compartmenalize hot spots within hospitals. it will be important to maintain normal services during a crisis.

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whistleblower speaking exclusively with cbs news says one v.a. hospital under diagnosed leaving decorated veterans to be denied treatment with tragic results. jim axelrod reports. >> reporter: the v.a. medical center we are focussed on this morning is in new orleans where a whistleblower worked that is speaking out for the first time telling cbs news from 2009-2019 doctors at the southeast louisiana veterans health care system failed to properly assess hundreds of combat veterans for traumatic brain injuries. on the front porch of this home in louisiana daniel murphy decided he could take the pain no longer and on august 21st, 2017 the 32-year-old retired army sergeant who did five decorated combat tours in afghanistan and iraq hanged himself. do you blame the v.a. for what happened to your brother? >> absolutely.

>> reporter: jim murphy was daniel's older brother. >> i have been fighting this for a long time to get closure and to hold someone responsible. my brother should be here. >> reporter: his combat mission was detonating explosives. he suffered symptoms of the post-traumatic stress disorder, a feeling that the enemy was lurking nearby. jim murphy said there were signs of brain damage like memory loss. >> he is like are you sure. >> reporter: he couldn't remember basic stories of your childhood. >> not at all. he knew something was wrong with himself. >> reporter: until last month the doctor and the family mental health program at the new orleans v.a., a psychologist with three decades treating vets with ptsd. he grew suspicious in 2017 about

the quality of care where he worked. >> i noticed many were having headaches, memory problems, things of that nature. >> reporter: many of his patients with ptsd were also presenting symptoms of a tbi, a physical wound but had not been diagnosed or treated for one. >> i said to myself that there is a problem. >> reporter: department protocol requires all to undergo a simple four question screening for tbi and a positive screening leads to more evaluation. according to internal documents 60 to 80% of vets who screened positive nationwide are ultimately diagnosed with tbi. when dr. sauter dug into the data he was alarmed. the number at the new orleans v.a., 18%. i thought i should just turn the

computer off. look away. i couldn't do it. >> reporter: instead sauter compiled a list of vets who first screened possible for a positive tbi but never got the v.a. mandated follow-up. >> these are people that need to be identified and they need to be brought into the v.a., evaluated. it has to be explained to them what the problem is and what the risks are and they need to receive special treatment from the v.a. >> reporter: nearly 600 had further evaluation conducted by this guy. sauter says that dr. mendoza diagnosed tbi at a rate of 9%. lower than the v.a. nationwide and in new orleans. three veterans told us dr. mendoza told them he didn't believe in traumatic brain injury. how can you have doctors at the v.a. believe in something the

dod calls a signature wound. >> says something bad about the v.a. >> he hated that place. hated the v.a. and the doctors. >> why? >> reporter: daniel murphy reported he had been diagnosed with a tbi years before when his humvee hit an ied and that murphy complained of memory loss and that while dr. mendoza diagnosed ptsd and depression wrote nothing presented to suggest possible tbi. without a tbi diagnosis, no tbi treatment. six weeks later danny murphy took his own life. >> last thing my brother texted is hope to talk to you later. it was that evening he hung himself. it is haunting. >> reporter: i see the pain. >> yeah. i miss him. >> that was jim axelrod reporting. the v.a. declined our request

for an interview but said that it is committed to safe, well coordinated care for those that sacrificed for our (announcer) america's veterans have always stepped up. but with the covid-19 crisis, many veterans are struggling - to make ends meet or get the care they need. dav has helped ill and injured veterans for one hundred years, but today, the need is greater than ever. give to the dav covid-19 relief fund - and help provide critical assistance to veterans in need. go to dav.org/helpvets

or call now. your donation will make a real difference. or call now. (drumsticks rattle, feedback hums) (door closes in distance) ♪ (overlapping voices): we are producers, engineers, singers, songwriters, musicians, tour and live production crews, and thousands more of us. (male voice): without us, the music stops. (overlapping voices): we need your help (female voice): to keep the music playing. (male voice): support those impacted today at: musicares.org. we're still hard at work, because vulnerable students who already struggle with poverty, hunger and trauma, need our support more than ever. at communities in schools, we do whatever it takes. and just checking in. in schools, in communities and in times of crisis

providing kids a community of support. to learn more, visit communities in schools dot org. >> they held a contest in japan to have artists design the public restroom of the future. you may be surprised with the winner. >> reporter: tokyo's hottest new destination is not a swanky new restaurant, nightclub or museum. set in local parks the cubes are tan

tangerine and pink and green. >> these are no ordinary plate glass windows but smart glass used for privac in hotels and offices. when the door is unlocked an electric current unfogs the window. dreamed up by this prize winning architect. visibility is one fix for public toilets which have a reputation for filth and criminal activity. >> you need privacy inside. but when you are outside, you have to find out is it clean and safe, right. it should be transparent. >> reporter: three times a day cleaners in designer uniforms ensure the dazzling cubes pass the white glove test. the tokyo toilet project is unveiling aozen d

bathrooms but none like these. his reaction to the see-through restroom. >> i was super surprised to be honest. never see a transparent toilet. >> reporter: after operating for just a few weeks users say that using is believing. you can tell right away whether the stall is occupied or not. i really like that. going in, i was nervous, scared even. but it was fine. i recommend it. the architect decided not to copyright his minimalist design and is hoping to spark a transparent toilet wave around the world. and that is the overnight news for this thursday. for some the news continues and others, check back later for cbs this morning and follow us online any time at cbsnews.com.

it's thursday november 12, 2020. this is cbs morning news. surging pandemic. coronavirus cases and hospitalizations reach record levels as some states issue new restrictions to try to stop the spread. moving forward, president-elect joe biden continues to make progress building his administration. the major position he just filled. and eta takes aim. a return trip to florida, lashing with strong winds and heavy rain. >> good morning. good to be with