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tv   60 Minutes  CBS  October 29, 2023 7:00pm-8:30pm PDT

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during these challenging times, vice president kamala harris talks to "60 minutes" about her role in the biden administration. >> how often do you meet with him? >> multiple times a day. >> you consider yourselves partners? >> absolutely. >> and concerns among democrats about whether the biden/harris ticket can win re-election. >> that is a concern. and -- and a legitimate concern. >> our democracy is on the line, bill.
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and i, frain not have time for parlor games. what happens if vladimir putin enters another country -- besides ukraine -- by force? he already has, 15 years ago russia invaded neighboring georgia, it has military stationed there and controls 20% of the country. what's next? >> the russians are buying apartments here in every 33 minutes. and they're registering a business in every 26 minutes. so we are on the brink of very dangerous situation here in georgia. i thought, wow, this is even worse than i thought. >> that's what happens with our exhaled breath. >> it may be the biggest takeaway from the pandemic, our indoor air needs to be ventilated and filtered at a much higher level. >> think about the public health gains we've made over the past hundred years. where has indoor air been in that conversation? it's totally forgotten about.
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and the pandemic showed what a glaring mistake that was. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm jon wertheim. >> i'm cecilia vega. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and more on this special 90-minute edition of "60 minutes." are you guys watching? this is my favorite part. you're watching? are you're watching? hank, shh! okay, time to get your own bed, hank. chewy has great prices. spoiler, his father's half man, half cyborg. hank! i'm just happy we're watching a movie instead of a baking show. shh! hope you like plaid. i do. who wants popcorn? not it. not it. pets aren't just pets. they're more. he's going to miss the best part. shop and get a $30 egift card through november 5th. at chewy. get more cheer from your morning routine. savor the season
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israel has begun what prime minister benjamin netanyahu calls the second stage of the war by expanding its military ground operations in gaza. we spoke with vice president kamala harris this past week as
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the biden administration was trying to balance israel's need to retaliate against hamas with the urgent need to get relief to the palestinian people. vice president harris told us she is also involved in the administration's efforts on the war in ukraine, as well as countless intractable problems including gun violence at home. but with the middle east on a razor's edge, we started our conversation there. how close is this to becoming a regional conflict that could draw in u.s. troops? >> we have absolutely no intention. nor do we have any plans to send combat troops into israel or gaza, period. >> vice president harris told us the u.s. is not telling israel what to do, but is providing advice, equipment, and diplomatic support. >> a terrorist organization, hamas, slaughtered hundreds of young people at a concert.
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by most estimates, at least 1,400 israelis are dead. israel, without any question, has a right to defend itself. that being said, it is very important that there be no conflation between hamas and the palestinians. the palestinians deserve equal measures of safety and security, self-determination and dignity, and we have been very clear that the rules of war must be adhered to. and that there be humanitarian aid that flows. >> she told us the u.s. wants to keep the conflict from escalating, but that's proving difficult. in the last two weeks, hezbollah in lebanon and the houthis of yemen have launched missiles, rockets and drones against israel. and iranian-backed militias have fired on u.s. troops stationed in iraq and syria.
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in response, the u.s. launched airstrikes against iranian weapons facilities in syria. if that weren't enough of a signal to iran and other adversaries, the pentagon has also deployed two imposing aircraft carrier strike cavity carriers to the region. >> what's the message to iran? >> don't. >> as president biden said, don't. >> one word, pretty straightforward. >> since the hamas attack on israel, the vice president says she has spoken with president isaac herzog of israel and joined president biden on calls with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas. president joe biden told us in a statement, this is as high stakes and complex a situation as it gets, and kamala is my partner in all of it. he told us harris' advice and counsel are invaluable.
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>> when he was vice president, mr. biden famously said that he wanted to be the last person in the room with president obama. do you have that relationship with president biden? >> i do. and i take that responsibility quite seriously. >> how often do you meet with him? >> multiple times a day, quite often, unless he or i are traveling. >> they're in total agreement the u.s. must stand with israel and ukraine, two democracies under attack. >> we are as committed to ukraine as we've always been to authorize additional aid to defend itself against russia's unprovoked aggression. that is not going to waiver. >> does this put ukraine on a back burner? >> no, it does not put them on a back burner at all. >> vice president harris has visited 19 countries, and met
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with more than 100 world leaders. but lately, she has been the administration's point person on domestic priorities, traveling the country talking up the democrats' key issues before the 2024 election, issues she hopes will fire up the base but are bound to enflame the gop. she went to north carolina to mark the anniversary of the supreme court overturning roe v. wade. >> how dare they attack our fundamental rights. how dare they attack our freedom. >> in virginia, it was guns. >> our nation is being torn apart by gun violence. >> we joined the vice president and second gentleman, doug emhoff, on air force two for a trip to las vegas. it was five days after the terror attack on israel. >> welcome on board. >> while in the air, the vice
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president joined a secure video call with the president and their national security teams to discuss measures to keep the homeland safe. once on the ground in las vegas, vice president harris went to the college of southern nevada, the eighth stop on her fight for our freedoms college tour. >> because you voted, joe biden is president of the united states, and i am vice president of the united states. [ applause ] because you voted. >> but nationally, the biden/harris administration is not generating the kind of enthusiasm she's seeing on her tour. >> a recent cbs poll found that at the beginning of president biden's term, 70% of young people, people under 30, said he was doing a good job. now it's less than 50%. why is that, what's going on? >> if you poll how young people feel about the climate and the
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warming of our planet, it polls as one of their top concerns. when we talk about what we are doing with student loan debt, polls very high. the challenge that we have as an administration is we got to let people know who brung it to them. that's our challenge. but it is not that the work we are doing is not very, very popular with a lot of people. >> she blames the disconnect, in part, on lack of media coverage. still, the vice president herself is not very popular now, just 41% of adults told cbs news they approve of the job she's doing. about the same for president biden. we talked to her the day before the carnage in maine. but she did told us issues like mass shootings are more important than poll numbers. >> you have a portfolio that includes gun violence, the root cause of migration. these are some of the most intractable issues facing the country. >> we've done some of the most
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significant gun safety laws in 30 years. but we still need an assault weapons ban. it doesn't have to be this way. there was an assault weapons ban at one time. it expired. let's renew it. >> most americans say that they don't think you're doing a good job on the border. you and the administration. the number of people trying to cross the u.s. southern border is at an all-time high. >> it's no secret that we have a broken immigration system. short term, we need a safe, orderly, and humane border policy. and long term, we need to invest in the root causes of migration. but, the bottom line, congress needs to act. come on, participate in the solution instead of political gamesmanship. >> if politics is a game, kamala harris has proven herself to be a savvy player, forging a career that has gone from one first to another.
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the child of an indian mother and a jamaican father, she was the first woman district attorney for san francisco, the first woman to serve as california's attorney general, the first woman of color elected senator from california. >> so help me god. >> and the first woman and woman of color to be elected vice president of the united states. >> being in that unique position, being that first, does that bring added pressure? >> no doubt, no doubt. you know, my mother, she would say, kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you're not the last. and among the responsibilities that i carry and maybe imposed on myself, that is one of them. so, this was -- >> she showed us around the vice president's ceremonial office. >> i brought in this bust of thurgood marshall. i always have him over my right shoulder. >> reporter: the desk where previous vice presidents left
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their signatures. >> al gore, quayle, cheney, harry truman. >> some of these men went on to become president. but kamala harris told us she is focused on getting the biden/harris ticket re-elected next year. the gop is using her low poll numbers and president biden's age as a battering ram. and some democrats are growing worried. >> we were talking to some democratic donors, and they have told us that, should something befall president biden, and he is not able to run, that there would be a free for all for who would run as president. you are in the spot that that would be a natural for you to step up. but we're hearing from donors that they would not naturally fall into line. why is that? >> well, first of all, i'm not going to engage in that hypothetical because joe biden is very much alive and running for re-election.
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>> but you do know -- i mean, that is a concern, and a legitimate concern, i would say. >> i hear from a lot of different people a lot of different things. but let me just tell you, i'm focused on the job. i truly am. our democracy is on the line, bill. and i, frankly, in my head do not have time for parlor games. when we have a president who is running for re-election. that's it. >> conventional wisdom is that most presidential elections are won or lost on the economy. and while inflation has been coming down, prices for basics like food and shelter remain staggeringly high. >> we came into office during the height of a pandemic. record unemployment. and because of our economic policies, we now are reducing inflation. we have created over 14 million new jobs.
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we've created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs. wages are up. and so we've seen great progress. >> considering what you are laying out as your achievements, you have the current frontrunner for the gop, donald trump, facing, what, 91 criminal charges? >> i've lost count. >> yet, the biden/harris ticket is running neck and neck with donald trump. why are you not 30 points ahead? >> well, i'm not a political pundit. so i'm not going to speak to that. but what i will say is this. when the american people are able to take a close look at election time on their options, i think the choice is going to be clear. bill, we're going to win. let me just tell you that. we're going to win. and i'm not saying it's going to be easy. but we will win. >> you say that with such conviction. >> i have no doubt, but i also
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have no doubt it's going to be a lot of work. and everyone's going to have to participate. this is a democracy. >> democracy, she said that word often during our interview. despite the criticism and low poll numbers, former prosecutor kamala harris told us she's prepared to trust the verdict of the american people. do you have to ask yourself why are people seeming not to hear our message? >> i look at it more as let's keep getting out there. and, as with any election, we got to make our case to the american people, that's part of our responsibility. and that's this process. and that's what it is. and that's a fair process.
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the day russia invaded one of its neighbors, waged a bloody war and seized a fifth of that neighbor's territory, fear and shock rippled throughout the region. we are not talking about russia's invasion of ukraine,
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rather, the small country of georgia. that invasion was more than 15 years ago. vladimir putin's playbook hasn't changed much. today, georgia -- which shares a 556-mile border with russia -- is still trying to remove the grip of the kremlin. days after russia invaded ukraine, georgia submitted an application to become part of the european union with hopes of gaining a western insurance policy to protect it. tonight, you will hear from the president of georgia, salome zourabichvili, the daughter of georgian refugees, raised in paris she says that vladimir putin has launched a quiet invasion of georgia in an attempt to extend russia's reach. >> the war in ukraine is now moving into its third year. how is the war there impacting life here? >> it is, of course, a reminder of everything that this country has gone through.
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and of the fact that it's always an immediate danger and threat. it's already part of the reality that russia is testing the ground. >> you think the russians are testing the ground right now in georgia? >> right now. >> how so? >> here their way, their easy way is the hybrid war. >> a hybrid war that has included online and televised disinformation campaigns and anti-western propaganda pumped into georgia -- a favorite tactic of the kremlin. georgians have seen it before. in 2008, three weeks before russia launched its first airstrike in georgia, moscow hit the country with a series of cyberattacks. the five day, bloody battle that followed ended with russia seizing 20% of georgia's land. president zourabichvili says the mostly muted international reaction to that war laid the groundwork for russia's invasion
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of ukraine and vladimir putin's plan to bring former soviet republics back into the russian fold. today, a fifth of georgia is occupied by the russian military and an estimated 8,000 russian troops are inside the georgian border. we traveled with georgian security forces 37 miles outside the capital of tbilisi into the tiny village of khurvaleti. today, it is a rural no-mans land. across a rickety bridge, we found an abandoned stretch of farmland... choked off by barbed wire, warning signs to stay out and a defiant 87-year-old valya vanishvili. >> translator: the russians have told me, "this is our land." and i said, "no, your land is in russia. this is our land, not yours. you have no rights here." >> how long have you been
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surrounded by the barbed wire? >> translator: for 15 years. >> in 2008, her land was seized by russian troops. the grandmother of four still refuses to surrender her home. cut off from family, she relies on outsiders and a stick to deliver food and the medicine she needs. she whispered to us, that the russians were watching us...from over that hill. >> are you afraid of the russians? >> translator: yes, i'm afraid of them. what if they take me and detain me? nobody can help me. i'm alone. when it's only couple of them, i can always answer them and fight back. but when it's a lot of them, there's nothing i can do. >> georgia is bordered on the north by russia, the east by azerbaijan, and the south by armenia and turkey. the bridge between the black and caspian sea -- an important route for natural gas and oil. high up in the mountains of
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georgia, we saw another reason the small country of nearly 4 million is crucial to the kremlin. a long line of trucks, many of them carrying european cargo across the border into russia. united nations data shows that since the war began everything from cars to chemicals have rolled into russia through georgia -- some in violation of western sanctions -- a lifeline for putin's regime. there is traffic coming in to georgia too. thousands of russian nationals entering the country in cars and on foot. extending for miles and arriving in waves, first at the beginning of the ukraine war in 2022 and again last september when fighting-age men fled russia's mandated military service. but some georgians worry putin loyalists could be entering the country too, laying the groundwork for russia's next move. when vladimir putin invaded ukraine in 2022, he said it was
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to, among other things, protect the russians living there. president zourabichvili fears putin could launch a similar campaign in georgia. since the war, georgia has become home to 100,000 russians. >> it's very unnerving when in your own country you have people that are talking the language of the enemy. and that believe that they're at home. >> the russians believe that they are at home. >> they're behaving and believing that they are very much at home. so there is a fine line. and that line has to be kept so that we do not have incidents in the future that would allow russia to use their favorite doctrine of protecting russian-speaking citizens. >> so why doesn't georgia just say, no more russians through our border? >> that is a question for the authorities. >> aren't you the authority? >> no. i don't have the executive powers, unfortunately. >> the executive power to
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control georgia's borders is squarely in the hands of its prime minister -- irakli garibashvili. publicly, he's said that he supports the country's bid to move away from neighboring russia and join the european union. but his actions and inactions tell a different story. since the ukraine invasion, prime minister garibashvili agreed to resume flights between tbilisi and moscow for the first time in almost five years. he's also failed to adopt strong sanctions against russia. critics of the prime minister accuse him of being in the pocket of a georgian oligarch, bidzina ivanshivilli, a billionaire who helped get him elected. the 67-year-old oligarch made his fortune in russia and served a brief stint as georgia's prime minister. his $50 million home looms over tbilisi, a reminder of his wealth and power. last summer, european lawmakers called for sanctions against the oligarch for his, quote, links
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to the kremlin -- a connection that could undermine georgia's e.u. bid. >> we're going in with a government that's completely corrupt, a government that's pro-russian, clearly anti-western, clearly does not really care about what the majority of the population wants and needs. >> ana tavadze and dachi imedadze are members of the shame movement -- a group with thousands of young followers working towards georgia's entry into the european union. >> if russia wins, it means a loss of freedom, loss of everything that we fought for in the past 30 years basically. it's a fight for values. it's a fight for where you want to stand in this big fight for democracy. >> as soon as the west, in any form, be it the u.s. partnership, be it the european union is not represented in this country, russia will fill the void right away. >> they say the influx of russians is already changing the
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face of georgia. >> what are they doing, if we look at it? they're buying apartments. they're buying private property. they are opening up businesses. their actions changed georgian economy. >> the russians are buying apartments here in every 33 minutes. they're purchasing a piece of land in every 27 minutes. and they're registering a business in every 26 minutes. so, i think we are on the brink of very dangerous situation here in georgia. >> according to public records, russians have registered 21,000 businesses in georgia over the last 18 months. and launched five new russian-only schools, none of which are licensed by georgia's department of education. russians have driven rent up nearly 130%, prices for everything from food to cars have gone up 7%. over 100,000 georgians have left the country because many of them can't afford to live here anymore. >> i've heard this described as
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a quiet invasion. >> quiet invasion, yeah. there is a risk of the economic diversions. there is a risk of military intervention. and there's a risk of georgia's statehood being destroyed. >> emmanuil lisnif, george smorgulenko and pavel bakhadov don't look like much of a threat. all russians in their twenties, they fled their country for fear of being drafted or imprisoned for speaking out against putin. they now live in georgia and work at this russian-owned comedy club in tbilisi. >> i try and said i'm against the war in russia. i was beaten. and after that going to prison three times. >> so three times you went to jail? >> yes, yes, three times. >> i believe and i know that russians actually against the war. >> you think that most russians are against the war? >> yeah, just scared, really scared. >> have any of you had any aggression towards you because you're russian?
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>> actually, i have a big writing on the wall. it's the biggest thing i see from my window, just big "russians go home." >> there is no subtlety in spray paint...anti-russian graffiti blankets the city along with support for ukraine. on crumbling walls, the georgian flag is joined with those of the european union, the u.s. and nato. over 80% of the georgian public backs entry into the e.u., as does georgian president zourabichvili. but her position has become increasingly ceremonial as the country moves towards a parliamentary government. after she went to europe to try and pave the way for georgia's e.u. bid, prime minister irakli garibashvili accused her of violating the constitution, banned her from traveling to europe, and tried but failed to impeach her. president zourabichvili has defiantly continued to fly to europe to meet with leaders on her own dime. >> it doesn't seem like the prime minister is interested in
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joining the e.u. >> well, that's a question that the whole population is asking, whether they really want it, or whether it's lip service. >> this is a critical time. do you feel like the west, particularly the u.s., has been responsive enough and supportive enough of georgia in this moment? >> i don't think so. and i will take one concrete example. i've been a president now for five years. and i've not managed to have any form of meeting at my level, which would be the president or the vice president even through a phone call. i understand that there are more urgent issues. but i think that some more public recognition is needed. >> recognition of? >> of the fact that united states is supporting our candidate status within the european union.
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i know that is the language that the u.s. has with our european partners but that being repeated by the highest level would be meaningful for the georgian population. >> the e.u. has laid out a list of requirements for georgia to become a candidate for membership. the conditions include tackling corruption and lessening the economic and political influence of domestic oligarchs. a decision is expected by the end of the year. >> what happens to georgia if the e.u. denies the bid? >> it will be a big victory for russia. >> a victory valya vanishvili refuses to give them. 87 years old, she says she is holding her ground, for herself and for georgia. cbs sports hq is presented by progressive insurance. i'm james brown with the scores from the nfl today.
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infections. it turns out, viruses like the one that causes covid-19 can travel through the air much farther than 6 feet, so public health advice focusing on social distancing, handwashing, and masking wasn't enough, air quality scientists say, from the start of the pandemic, it also should have focused on improving the air we all breathe indoors. now, some companies are doing just that -- for the health of their workers and the health of their bottom line. >> the original sin of the pandemic was the failure to recognize airborne transmission. >> professor joe allen of harvard's t.h. chan school of public health believes the rapid spread of covid in early 2020 was preventable. >> think about the public health gains we've made over the past hundred years. we've made improvements to water quality, outdoor air pollution, our food safety, we've made improvements to sanitation: absolute basics of public
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health. where has indoor air been in that conversation? it's totally forgotten about. and the pandemic showed what a glaring mistake that was. >> what do you think was lost because of that lag in understanding of how this was spread? >> tens of thousands of lives in the u.s., many more globally. it's not an exaggeration. >> it's also no exaggeration to say those early days of covid were unforgettable. in the u.s. by march 2020, the virus began taking its toll in places like the lifecare center nursing home in kirkland, washington. 60 miles away in mount vernon, washington, the skagit valley chorale held one of its weekly rehearsals in a church. half the members stayed away. but the other half showed up. among them were board members debbie amos, mark and ruth backlund, and coizie bettinger. >> we just thought hand sanitizer, wash your hands a
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lot, you know, don't hug each other, because that's touch. >> none of it was good enough. within a few days, chorale members began to get sick. in all, covid hit 53 of the 61 people there that night. two of them, both in their 80s, died. >> we were going, "this -- this has got to be spread some other way. because we were good, we were good. >> so covid was percolating and you thought you were doing everything you were supposed to do? >> yes. >> right. >> skagit county health officials said the rehearsal "could be considered a superspreading event" -- one of the earliest in the country -- and concluded that choir members had "an intense and prolonged exposure" to surfaces, droplets and possibly even microscopic airborne particles called "aerosols," containing the virus. that caught the attention of linsey marr, a virginia tech university professor specializing in aerosol science, and several of her fellow researchers. even though the medical community was focused on droplets, surfaces and
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handwashing, these researchers strongly believed covid was mostly an airborne disease, but needed more proof. so they launched their own analysis. >> i thought, wow, this is even worse than i thought. this has to be airborne. there's really no other explanation for it. some people are going to say, oh, they all touched the same doorknob. but, after the first few people touch that doorknob, there's no more virus left. >> that's what happens with our exhaled breath. >> professor marr used a portal fogger to help explain how so many choir members could have gotten sick. >> when they're singing, they are releasing virus particles into the air constantly, probably, like this. and those are going to drift around in the room. notice they're not just falling to the ground. and now as we continue to sing, there's more and more of them in the room. and you can see as they're drifting around they're reaching these other people nearby. and they were there for two and
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a half hours. and you can imagine that after that amount of time the other people would've breathed in enough of them to get sick themselves. >> especially if at night the hvac system was turned off. >> as far as we know, it wasn't running and so there were very -- there was very poor ventilation in that room when this was all happening. >> an hvac unit, short for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning, is the heart and lungs of any building. the researchers suspected the thermostat most likely shut off the hvac unit because the chorale members were generating enough heat on their own. >> and right now, there's no ventilation? >> very, very low. >> okay. >> and actually it's similar to what was in the church where the group was rehearsing. >> then, professor marr turned up the circulation to show us how better air flow could have helped remove aerosols and slow th spread of virus. >> instead of just drifting all over the room -- >> oh... >> you can actually see it, right, going up through there.
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>> i sure can. that is dramatic to see that. >> the analysis led to one of the most significant papers on the importance of ventilation published during the pandemic. then, last year, a study in italy went further. it found that by using a school's fans and air ducts to mechanically exchange indoor air with outdoor air five times an hour, the risk of covid-19 infections decreased by at least 80%. but, in the u.s., it took until this past may for the cdc to recommend an air exchange rate at all. >> if you look at the way we design and operate buildings, and i mean offices, schools, local coffee shops, we haven't designed for health. we have bare minimum standards. in schools the minimum air change, by design, is about three air changes per hour. remember, we want at least four to six. >> if we'd had these indoor air quality targets before the pandemic, how do you think the pandemic would have unfolded differently? >> we still would have had spread.
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this isn't an "end-the-pandemic" thing. we would have had a lot less of it, and we would have a lot less of these superspreading events. think about the early days of the pandemic, with "flatten the curve" -- "stay home." why wasn't "improve indoor air quality" part of "flatten the curve"? we had tools to protect ourselves. masking: great tool, it's a filter. but we ignored the building side of this. >> so, air in... >> buildings are allen's business. as the founder of harvard's healthy buildings program, he diagnoses problems in air quality systems and comes up with solutions for clients that include cbs' parent company, paramount, and commercial real-estate companies like beacon capital partners, with buildings like this one in downtown boston. and, he advised amazon before these new 22-story towers opened last may in arlington, virginia, where he gave us a tour. >> what does a state-of-the-art building look like in terms of air? >> we see a lot of the elements in this building.
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you have a dedicated outdoor air system that's delivering air above the minimum requirements. then it's going through two merv-13 filter banks, and you have highly filtered air. >> merv stands for minimum efficiency reporting value. a rating of 13 means it catches up to 90% of airborne particles...depending on their size...as the first line of defense not just against covid, but other airborne respiratory viruses like flu and rsv. >> this is the part of the building nobody ever sees. but this determines whether or not you're healthy or sick in the building, really, what happens in this space. >> you can just see the filters on the right here. >> at amazon's new offices, the top floor is a maze of motors, pipes, and air ducts. >> "this is the air intake..." >> part of a $2.5 million hvac system that begins with massive rooftop vents and dampers... >> right here, this is the whole air handling system. this is where the air comes into the building, it's filtered, it's cooled, and then delivered. this determines how much air actually reaches the office
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space where people are working, and how clean that air is. >> downstairs, each floor has a sensor that tells building engineers about the quality of the indoor air...such as levels of carbon dioxide, known as co2. >> we breathe out the carbon dioxide. >> that's right. >> the less carbon dioxide, the better the ventilation? >> really straightforward. high carbon dioxide means you're not getting enough outdoor air from that system we just looked at. if it's low, you're in good shape. then we also measure particles. that tells us things about, like, outdoor air pollution. >> the entire system can be monitored and controlled from the basement. >> remember we talked about carbon dioxide as an indicator for ventilation? well, i can see in this building all of these are under 800 parts per million. >> so that's good? >> that's great. and really important: if a lot of people went into a space, the co2 level would rise, this system would recognize it. the dampers would open up and bring in a lot more outdoor air. >> katie hughes, amazon's director of health and safety, pointed to the waves of wildfire smoke that have swept down from canada as the ultimate test of
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the indoor air quality system. >> not too long ago, washington and virginia were sort of smothered by this smoke coming down from canada. what happened in this building? >> you would expect the air quality within the facility to not be great. our buildings were performing very well. >> hughes says amazon has been updating many of its hvac systems, including in its warehouses. a recent survey of facility managers in the u.s. and canada found that since march 2020, roughly two-thirds of respondents have upgraded their merv filters and increased their air exchange rates. in new york city, jp morgan chase says its new headquarters will have state-of-the-art air quality controls. and this new sky scraper called 1 vanderbilt already runs a modern hvac system. >> covid shifted everybody's mindset in terms of air quality in terms of communicable or infectious diseases. >> are you finding that amazon
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is making a business decision partially by saying, "look, it's okay for you to come back to work, because we're telling you that the air inside this building is safe"? >> i think it's one of many reasons why we expect or would like people back in the office. that is a good thing to have, it's probably one of many things. >> a well-operating hvac system is not only good for the health of employees, it can be good for the health of companies, too, especially with people working remotely, leaving many commercial building owners looking for tenants. >> there's empty office space, in new york city and elsewhere. how do you think this new thinking might affect that in terms of people even wanting to come to work? >> the dynamic has changed. it's a total buyers' or tenants' market. all else equal, which building are you going to go to? you have your choice right now. this building that put in healthy building controls, or
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this building that's designed the way we've always designed buildings, and is prone to being a sick building? >> so it actually can help the bottom line in addition to, of course, improving health? >> yeah. >> what about retrofitting a building that's old? >> i think it's a misconception that old buildings can't be healthy buildings. some of these fixes don't take much. improving the level of filtration? that's easy, it's cheap, protects against covid-19, influenza, also protects against wildfire smoke and outdoor air pollution, protects against allergens. simple, absolute basic things that can be done. ♪ >> the skagit valley chorale rehearsals are now in a different church with a new hvac system. doors stay open to bring in fresh air, regardless of the season, and there are even portable carbon dioxide monitors to track ventilation. >> we've been through a traumatic experience. and we've tried to learn from
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that, and did help the science with the aerosol study. and now, we're moving on in a way that we can still sing, but in a more safe manner. >> do you worry that when the spotlight of the pandemic starts to fade, that people will forget and that they won't act the way they should, in terms of buildings? >> i'm a bit more optimistic than that. i think there are fundamental shifts that have happened. the scientific and medical literature's being rewritten. the government and standard setting bodies are setting new health-based standards. businesses are responding and won't forget what this meant to their employees' health, and their business. so, i don't think we're going to forget these lessons. we better not. what we know now about the effectiveness of masking. >> masks, even cloth masks, do something. >> at 60minutesovertime.com. r s. -no problem.
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the last minute of "60 minutes" is sponsored by united health care. there for what matters. this week, once again, "60 minutes" morphs to 90 minutes. and our jon wertheim celebrates "the blues," as he travels to the mississippi delta, where musicians like super chikan keep a musical tradition alive. ♪ turn my blues away ♪ >> even his fans don't fully grasp that he's still living the life he's singing about. >> we got a lot of blues seekers that's coming here, tourists coming here. they want the blues, you don't want the blues, you want the blues music. >> they want the sound, they don't want the underlying experience. >> that's right, that's right. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. we'll be right back with that -- and a young man who may be the
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muddy waters once sang: "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll." but it's more than rock. the blues makes a strong case
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for itself as the most influential sound in american music history -- foundational to soul and funk, country, jazz and hip-hop. we wanted to check in on the state of the blues, so we headed to, well, the state of the blues -- mississippi and, specifically, to the town of clarksdale, in the belly of the delta where the blues first flourished and where in recent years, there's been something of a renaissance...showing the world that the granddaddy of american music still has chords left to play. head up highway 49...and the mississippi delta thrums with the sound of the blues even before the music hits your ears. ♪ at the annual juke joint festival in clarksdale, thousands flood this town to experience the delta blues -- in perhaps the last place it's still thriving. they come for those familiar licks and wails...
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♪ well smokestack lightnin' ♪ >> songs of pain...and pride. ♪ take my blues for a doggone joke ♪ >> james johnson goes by the name super chikan, and if you're out to find the beating heart of the blues, he's a good person to get to know. ♪ who do the blues like that? ♪ >> i never studied music or had any music classes. i hear it and it sound good to me. and then i play because of the love of it. ♪ i said shake it sugar mama, shake it ♪ >> i make up my own sound, my own style. ♪ shake it 'til the cows come home ♪ ♪ well, when the sun rose this mornin' ♪ >> this is how the blues still lives in clarksdale... ...a cultural inheritance passed down through the generations. which is why this town of around 14,000 has surely produced more famous blues stars per capita
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than anywhere else on the planet. ♪ now when i was a young boy ♪ >> many of them, like muddy waters and john lee hooker, worked the surrounding plantations. super chikan, too...he brings his own kind of levity to those difficult memories. >> being a sharecropper, you have to have a rhythm to work to. and our favorite rhythm was the old choo-choo train. ♪ i tell the folks i grew up in a crack house. our house had so many cracks in the wall, we had to stuff cotton in the cracks to keep snow out. shoot that thang. ♪ >> you really lived that song? >> oh yeah. i mean, i sing about the life i live. >> when did you start working in the fields? >> until i was big enough to go to the field, like three and four, i took care of the chickens. five and six, i was in the
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cotton field, picking cotton, chopping cotton, what have you. >> experiences like these helped forge the blues in the delta...where places like clarksdale were built into boomtowns on the backs of slaves and later sharecroppers... ♪ >> the music was a vessel for the black experience what started as field songs and spirituals evolved into a new sound...mixing slide guitar with a howl to the human condition. ♪ i said i took off down the road ♪ >> blues houses -- juke joints -- opened up. and by the '20s and '30s, stars emerged...like robert johnson. ♪ i went to the crossroads ♪ >> who, per legend, went down to the crossroads outside of clarksdale...and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his guitar chops. a monument marks the spot where it happened...or not.
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>> aaahhh, i heard a different story. a guy named ike zimmerman taught robert johnson how to play. gave him a few licks to go on, something to start with. gave him a pattern to go on. >> super chikan johnson might have inside information...robert johnson, he tod us, was family. >> you realize robert johnson went to the crossroads, took guitar lessons from zimmerman -- >> ike zimmerman, yeah. >> little bit less mystical than he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for learning to play guitar. >> yeah. ♪ >> flavorful lore like this is what beckoned sean "bad" apple, when he came to clarksdale from scranton, pennsylvania, in the early '90s, and never left. ♪ >> he opened his own blues club here. >> two bud lights, two yinglings, two bud lights? >> where he serves as bartender, doorman, headliner and he lives backstage.
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clad on his...ornate stage clothes...he waxed nostalgic about the old blues scene. >> when you're in a juke joint, it's like, there's gambling in this corner, someone's making a baby in this corner, there's a chicken fight right over here. >> he says he's sharply aware that he wasn't born into this tradition, but tries to honor it as best he can, giving demonstrations on the blues' evolution. ♪ he showed us how the blues got repackaged for wider -- and, frankly, whiter -- audiences. >> and then these young kids growing up like mick jagger and paul mccartney, robert plant from led zeppelin all these bands were listening to his blues music. clapton's "i went to the crossroad." ♪ i went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride ♪ >> that's the cream... >> yeah, that's cream's version. but robert johnson, the blues man, that's his song, i went to the crossroads. ♪
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>> over the years, musical tastes changed. the local blues houses closed down, and farm work dried up. today, clarksdale sits in one of the poorest counties, in the poorest region of a stubbornly poor state. once vibrant, the downtown is crumbling. >> you've played all over the world. >> yeah. >> and a seasoned musician like super chikan, who's won awards, toured internationally and had a long recording career...has to supplement his income by building guitars...and driving a truck. >> i heard of a guy, though, who travels the world and he's got ten albums. and he still drives a truck. >> i know a fella like that. >> who's that? >> his name chikan. and i've been asked, "when you going to record a new album?" i said, "for what? i got ten of them out and they ain't not one of them done me nothing yet." ♪ turn my blues away ♪
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>> even his fans don't fully grasp that he's still living the life he's singing about. >> we got a lot of blues seekers that's coming here, tourists coming here. they want the blues, you don't want the blues, you want the blues music. >> they want the sound, they don't want the underlying experience. >> that's right, that's right. >> if someone says, "listen, i like the way you sound, i don't need to hear about the experience underneath it all," is that cool with you? >> yeah. but it's going to come out in the song. ♪ nobody seems to care ♪ >> but recently, clarksdale has been experiencing something of a resurgence. it's no nashville, but new shops and restaurants are opening up, and fresh fans and young musicians have been flocking to a place they see as the gravitational center of blues today. ♪ reap what you sow ♪ >> ghalia volt hails from brussels originally, and she is a fixture of the music scene here. >> how did you first get into this music? >> i guess from punk and rock and roll music.
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just digging. digging and digging, trying to find what's the real roots of the music i used to listen to until i got caught. ♪ fire with no embers...church with no...♪ >> when she first came here in 2014, she traveled the delta, absorbing blues truths from local masters, perhaps the closest this music gets to juil juilliard. >> i was just watching the guys play and learning from that. and trying, you know, in my room, so, "okay, how does that sound." you know, and, okay. and maybe i try to reproduce what they teach me. and they're like, "oh, but this sound, this actually sounds really good." >> the sound she's talking about? it cuts through the air at places like red's, a relic from the old juke joint days. here, modernity keeps its distance. >> if you're looking for a hand-crafted cocktail, this ain't the place.
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but the beer and the music flow in equal volume, late into the night under the watchful gaze of red, one of the last black blues club owners in clarksdale. >> just a few blocks away, literally, on the other side of the tracks... >> there you are. >> saturday night, ground zero. >> another venue...slightly more polished. we met the proprietor here, too. >> what's up my brother from another mother. >> you know who, you know what, you know why. >> yes, that's morgan freeman... ♪ hey brother, how are you? >> he spent his childhood in the delta, keeps a home near clarksdale and, 22 years ago, opened ground zero blues club as a place to showcase the vast local talent. that's anthony "big a" sherrod on guitar. ♪ >> can blues revive this town? >> it has. >> we met freeman for a drink,
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along with ground zero co-founder, howard stovall, whose family still owns the land muddy waters once worked as a laborer. >> when i was a little boy, 4, 5, these guys would come by, sit on my grandmother's porch on a saturday, drink gin, or hooch, or moonshine. >> moonshine. >> and play the blues. ♪ >> what is it about this music that has made it so durable, such a building block? what is it about the sound? >> can we use the term "soul" here? because i think this is the music that comes directly from the soul. it's just wrenched out of you.
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it's palpable that they're singing from deep. ♪ you say you love me baby ♪ >> but the blues is the blues. there are chords and licks that you got to do if you're going to play the blues. ♪ dow dow, dow, ding ding ding ♪ ♪ dang dang dang dang ♪ ♪ dow, dong dong, dong dong, ding ding ♪ ♪ dong dong dong, dong dong dong ♪ ♪ hard rocks is my pillow ♪ ♪ the highway is my home, so i might as well be dead ♪ ♪ i'm just walking and walking seems i have no place to go the blues ♪ >> the highest expression of clarksdale's blues resurgence? a guitar prodigy, likened to jimi hendrix and b.b. king. you'll meet kingfish, when we come back.
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as the delta town of clarksdale, mississippi, leans into its blues past, its birth has given rise to a new blues superstar. he has been updating the blues for this century. he's 24 years old and has already won a grammy. ladies and gentlemen, kingfish. ♪
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>> his real name is christone ingram. and he is the brightest blues star to come out of the delta in decades. he's opened for the rolling stones and tours the world as a headliner. and it's not just blues die-hards who come out to see him. his uncanny guitar chops draw packed crowds. and he draws frequent comparisons to hendrix, clapton, and, inevitably, another mississippi native... ♪ thrill is gone ♪ >> so, if i said i read you were the next b.b. king, i should probably keep that to myself? not let you get that going to your head? >> hey, no, not at all. plus, you know, i kind of think i, you know, i love mr. king's music, that's one of my favorite. but i kind of think i have my own thing going on as well. ♪
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i'm more rough around the edges, i like to say i feel like i'm b.b. if he -- >> if b.b. took off that suit? >> yeah, and put him on some jordans and, you know, put his hat backwards, you know? ♪ you know i love you...you know i want you ♪ >> kingfish was fresh off a grammy win last year for best contemporary blues album when we saw him perform before a spirited crowd in austin. ♪ it was 600 miles and a world away from where he started out, in his hometown of clarksdale. picking up gigs at the local blues clubs after school, starting at age 11. >> i think most people, you think of blues, and it's sort of an older, maybe a weathered guy who's had his share of struggles. where you do you get blues in your mid-20s?
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>> i haven't went through no divorce or anything like that, but i've definitely had my share of struggles. and, you know, anybody having struggles, that's the blues. blues is life. >> he was introduced to the blues by his parents and fell in love with the sound. kingfish told us his musical tastes, his generous talent, as well as his generous physique, set him apart in school. he found comfort in practice, obsessive practice, as we witnessed backstage. he works to master the old standards and also writes his own music. well aware that he is heir to a long line of blues greats from the mississippi delta. ♪ i was born down in clarksdale ♪ >> a rich history he weaves into his songs. ♪ well, there's magic in the music, must be something in the dirt ♪
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>> what is it about this region that produces so many talented musicians? how do you explain that? >> as i have a song, there's just something in the dirt, man. it's just something about, you know, how we had, you know, you know, old blues guys, and ancestors who was down here that, you know, we got all that from, you know? it came from them. >> spend time in the delta and it's easy to see why the place enchants so many. but the hardships jump out at you. 42% of clarksdale's residents live below the poverty line. this was once a seat of the civil rights movement, and the legacy of jim crow lingers here. that's the clarksdale kingfish knows well. >> this is the old neighborhood. >> yeah, man, this is oakhurst. i grew up here. >> when kingfish was growing up, his gigs brought in much-needed money. he and his mother were homeless for a time. >> this is where all the moments happened. me picking up a guitar, you know. as you can see, we still have some houses that are, you know,
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poverty stricken. you know, some parts of the city, you know, they don't put money into or whatever. so. >> still some struggle in the delta. >> yeah. >> you don't hide that in your music. >> no, not at all. >> why is that important to you? >> because for one that's also home. you know, that's home, and i have to write about home. and that's what we have to talk about today. we can't talk about, you know, "hoochie koochie man" forever. >> kingfish may be singing about the realities of black life in clarksdale, but he says that these truths don't always connect with the black community...difficult for him to miss when he looks out into the crowd at many of his performances. >> i come across a lot of, you know, people like me who say, "well, you know, man we shouldn't listen to that because that's, you know, you know, that music reminds us of our pain. and, you know, it's slave music." and i get that. but, you know, we need to let it be known like, "hey, man, this is a part of our culture. there wouldn't be no 50 cent, or
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lil' wayne if it wasn't for son house and robert johnson, and the list goes on and on." >> this is the family tree. >> yeah, this is a family tree so we need to embrace that. >> he got his first real introduction to that history at a program run by clarksdale's small blues museum. we accompanied him on a visit...his first time back in years. these after-school blues classes are where kingfish first learned the basics of his instrument. during a break in the music, we ran into one of the teachers. big a, remember him? his voice still hoarse from his weekend gig performing at morgan club. ♪ i pity the fool who fall in love with you ♪ >> kingfish was 6 when he first met big a. >> what was little kingfish like? >> he was bad. [ laughter ] >> he said that.
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>> but he kept at it. >> did you sense the talent early? >> i knew he was going to be something. >> for these kids, the program is about the music and the history. it's also, kingfish told us, about expanding their idea of opportunity, in a place where opportunity is not evenly distributed. >> we've seen a lot of new development here in clarksdale over this blues tourism. what's your opinion of that? [ laughter ] >> you're laughing. >> i hope i don't get in trouble. through the years, i've always seen, you know, money being put into that, and it's fine. i just wish more of the other neighborhoods would get some of that, you know, push and revitalization. when you step away from the actual "genre," you go across the track: that's the real blues. >> part of the appeal of kingfish, he's a thoroughly
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modern bluesman, updating the music and sound as well as subject matter. ♪ that's what you do for the blues ♪ >> just as elvis, clapton and hendrix borrowed liberally from the blues... ♪ i said, hey joe ♪ >> kingfish is turning the tables, borrowing back from them. he is a musical stew that mixes rock with funk, and jazz, plus muddy waters, b.b. king and stevie ray vaughan. >> what else do you draw on? >> gospel, i love gospel music. that was, like, kind of one of my first loves. hip-hop as well. you know, some of my favorite rappers were storytellers: biggie, you know, he could tell a story just like robert johnson. so, it's all relative. >> and kingfish marries his sonic storytelling with a natural showmanship.
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still, with blues on the musical margins, not exactly dominating spotify playlists...we wondered where this genre is heading. >> blues is always going to be around, you know. the genre may not be in the billboard top 200, but blues is always going to be here. >> you're not worried about the future? >> nah. not at all. there's always going to be a little kid somewhere that's listening to b.b., stevie, anybody else, so yeah. >> he's too modest to say it, so we'll say it for him...that little kid somewhere is also surely inspired by a bluesman from clarksdale. ♪ she called me kingfish... got me on the hook ♪ >> we'll let kingfish...take us out.
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♪ if i can't quit that woman, i do believe my fish is cooked ♪ rsv can be a dangerous virus [sneeze] for those 60 and older. it's not just a cold. and if you're 60 or older... you may be at increased risk of hospitalization from this highly contagious virus. not all dangers come with warning labels. talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting vaccinated against rsv today. rsv vaccines, including pfizer's, are now available. skin-carving next level hydration? new neutrogena hydro boost water cream. a vital boost of nine times more hydration* to boost your skin's barrier for quenched,
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>> i'm sharyn alfonsi. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes."
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[breathing heavily] [music] [screams echo]