♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, high stakes. in 2016, senate leadership plans to move forward with a vote for a supreme court nominee. we talk with republican senator john barrasso about the contentious fight ahead. then the virtual world stage,or covid-19s the united nations general assembly to convene remotely asio internl tensions over the pandemic remain. d testing ground colby college . in maine manag to safely resume in-person classes by testing students and faculty multiple times a week. >> some schools had alreadsent students back home so that

sort of understandablyaised my anxieties, but i knew that we were in good hands because ofgo the us testing program. judy: all that and moren tonight's pbs "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by. tric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor taylors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. me>> for 25 years, con cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. . we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumer

>> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. ♪ >> the john s and james l knight foundation, fosteringn and engaged communities. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs stion from viewers like you. thank you. judy: -- newshour west. stephanie sy with

we will return to judy woodruff anes the full program after headlines. . another prominent republican in a key swing state has endorsed former vice president joe biden. cindy t mccai widow of the late arizona senator john mccain, said in a tweet, "my husband lived by a code, country rst.we are republicans but americans for most of there's only one candidate who stands up for our values as a nation, joe biden." president trump disparaged senator mccain's military onservice on multiple occa mccain was the 2008 republican nominee for president. the u.s. senate republican majority has moved step closer to filling the vacancy on the u.s. supreme court left by the death of justice ruth bader nsburg friday. today, utah a republican mitt romney, a key hold out, announced he is prepared to vote before the election on placement for justice ginsburg.

av>>indicated that what i intend to do is proceed with a consideration process, and if a nominee actually reaches the floor, i will vote based upon the qualifications of that nominee. decision to proceed with a new nominee is also consistent with histo and pcedent and that's where i come out. stephanie: t of the 53 gop senators have come out against taking up a high court nomination before the election. that made romney's decision even more significant. but democrats, led by chuck schumer, again accused republicans of changing their previous positions. change the rules of t senate to pass supreme court justices on a majority vote, rush it through before an election. 'doesn' matter if you said the yearsopposite thing for ago, two years ago, or even for some senators, a few months ago. stephanie: psident trump said today he will announce his court nominee on saturday. we will look at all of this after the news summary.re the house of rntatives and the white house agreed to a

spending bill tonight. the bill drew wide bipartisan support in the house and now moves to the senate where it is expected to pass. the bill covers government spending through december 11. the united states has officially passed 200 thousand deaths in the covid-19 pandemic. johns hopkins university reported the number today. about two thirds othose who ha died were over 65, but young people are now driving increased infections in some states. restill,dent trump claimed last night that the virus afcts "virally nobody" in lower age groups. in britain, restrictions snapping back into place as a new wave of cases hits parts of europe. prime minister boris johnson warned the house of commo today that the curb might last six months. >> we have reached a perilous turning point. i wish i could reassate the house the growing number of cases is merely a function of moreti t, but a rising

proportion of the tests themselves are yielding a positive result. stephanie: for the first time, the united nations general assembly met virtually today as it marked the 75th anniversary. in video messages, president trump again attacked china and the president ofran attacked u.s. sanctions on hislountry. we w get t details later. a spreading inferno northeast of s angeles threatened more than 1000 homes today. the so-called bobcat fire is now larger than the city of denver ands advancing as muchtwo miles an hour. it is within striking distance of the mojave desert town of pair blossom. warnings for possible evacuation's have gone to pasadena, home of the annual rose bowl and parade. tropical storm beta weakened shday as it stalled over the texas coast, unl and heavy downpours. at least 14 inches of rain

touched off flashloods that stranded cars and closed highways. the storm came ashore overnight near port o'connor, south of houston. a new audit finds the university of california system improperly admitted at least 64 wealthy studts over six years. some were falsely designated a athletes.others had ties to rics and university staffhe and were hundreds of other questionable cases. the auditna followed a natio admissions scandal. still to come on the "newshour" senator discusses the supremecan court vacancy. covid-19 forces the united nations general assembly to nvene remotely. experts reconsider or early coronavirus studies that focused on surface transmission, and much more. announcer: this is the pbs "newshour" from weta studios in

washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: as president trump makes his supreme court timing more clear, there is still much to so out on capitol hill. oucapitol hill corresponde lisa desjardins joins me now. take us into thehinking of the republicans. what are they planning? lisa: a busy day. and i have to say, in the last 16 hours even, it is clear most senate republicans havmoved en masse toward a vote on the supreme court nominee. you can get into a discussion of their rationale now versus in 2016 and in some cases, ve but i think underlining all this,m it's clear flking to senate offices and hearingayhat senatorsrepublicans see a chance of getting a conservative nominee. they will takend it they are calculating they don't think they will suffer too much.

vulnerable republicans hope this helps them raise energy and money at the polls on electi day. judy: so we have not yet heard a teear timeline from the se jority leader. mitch mcconnell. but take us through, what with the process be in order for them day, which is just six weekstion away? lisa: today macconnell said he would defer to the senate judiciary chairman lindsey graham to start the process, lay out the beginning of the process. but i think it's important for viewers to be ready for the next very intense looking month. a i'm going to lay oume leon -- timeline here and this is just my best guest -- best guess, talking to sources about thwhat needs to happen an timeline. this has not been formally set in motion but one possible way this could go. let's look at a graphic here. th get the nominatio weekend. let's start with the weekth aftr . in the next two weeks, september

27th to ocber 10, that is a possible timeline to evaluate the nominee. the nominee would meet with senators, produce documents, do all of that research. senators and the nominee alike getting to know each other. not a lot of time. r afat is when you would see the next time period, the next two weeks in october, seeing a possible timeline for committee hearings. that could be one ek or more, and also a committee vote. democrats davsome ways of delaying things in the committee, but justk by one w and republicans can overrule them. all of that leads you to the final kind opotential vote in the senate itself. that is the last week of october. th of course is also the week before election day. this is an incredibly tight timeline, but as rep wlican source back the idea tommy, it is doable. judy: and it's also a time many of these senators have the own races to deal with in their own

home states. what arehi democratsing about how to handle this? lisa: this is important. first, democrats are openly raising the idea that should they gain control of the senate next year, they could consider all options, and that means, when you talk to them off the record or on background, about perhaps changing the number of seats on the supme crt itself so it changes the balance. they have not made the decision yet. they are also raising procedura hurdles ovewhat republicans em to be doing. today democratic leader chuck schumer took a rare tacc and delayed, actually blocked a hearingh we chief counterintelligence officer in this country. that was an intelligence hearing that was supposed to happen. schumer blocked it as a point of objection to how republicans are handling the supreme court to most people, those things are

interrelated, but schumer is t showing his bat he's really willing to root -- to throw punches. republicans furious over that. we expect to see a hearing tomorrow on election security. it's not clear what democrats will do. we will watch it closely. judy: so many divisions right now at the capital. lisa, thank you. senator john barrasso is the third-highest ranking republican in the senate a joins us now from capitol hill. senator, thank you for joigang us. we are just a few days away from the death of justice gin wurg and a fks away from the next presidential election. why are republicans so terested in moving this nomination to fill her seat right away? constitution, the ent nominates when there's a vacancy and 29 times it happened in ale presidentialion year and

29 times the president makes the nomination. if the senate is ofhe se party, that person is confirmed going back to the 1800s. if the senate is of a different party, that person isn't confirmed. we are just fulfillingalur constitutiuties. i eect president trump to alnominate a highly ied woman this saturday. judy: i know your point about 29 times, but i want to point this out. we went back and looked at the records. every supreme court justice who was confirmed in an election year, going back almost 130 c years, wfirmed more than 100 days, almost four months at least before the election. the last one to be confirmed even close to that was in 1892, under president benjamin harrison. so you want to do this just a couple weeks before the election. it seems unprecedented. sen. barrasso: i think judge ginsburg was right whe she was asked and said the president is the president from the first day

of the term toas theday of the term. she was very clear. sheas also clear on the kind of threats chuck schumer is making now about expanding the size of the supreme court from nine to 11 or 13. erruth binsburg should -- said no, you shouldn't do that, nine is the right number and if democrats do the things they are threatening to do, it would politicize the court. judy: she also said senator that her dying wish was to have this nomination wait until after the president, the next president is elected. sen. barrasso: she actually said a different presidenn office. she has been clear on her ns about president trump we are just fulfilling our constitutional spots abilities. . i'm looking foard to the president making a nomination this week and i'm expecting the democrats to do the same thing they did last time, a seek and destroy mission to go after someone's character, their edibility. their playbook is to go back to

your high school yearbook to find ws to discredit you. we are going toroceed with hearings. lindsey graham is calling for hearings after we have a chance to vet this nominee. . i think most likely this is ensomeone who has already vetted because it is likely someone who has already been sitting on one of the circuit courts as a judge. i expect to be able to move this through and clearly get it done judy: senator, you were asked four years ago when merrick gaand had been nominated by president obama, along with a number of otr republicans, about considering his nomination. t yous just a clip of w said.this was in march 2016. >> republicans have said that there should not be a bier political fight. we have called on the president best way to avoid the fight is to agree to t the people decide. hegiveeople a voice. let the next president put forth th nomination.

judy: senator, i know you are saying now it's ent because you have a president and a majority in the senate being the same party, but it looks to e american people, too many people as if the only thing party, that political partytical takes precedence over sen. barrasso: there is a weterialistic difference b 2016 and 2020. the president and nate is of the same party. then you take a look at what happened in 2018 when there wasn't a presidential election plays -- in place with tva ugh nomination and the meat grinder that the democrats put him through. what we saw afterrshat is the vo decided we needed more republicans in the senate and we picked up two seats. hoif thewhere on the other foot, the democrats would be now, if there was democrat senate and president, to fill this vacancy. judy: right now it is the choice of the republicans. looking at this, is as if,ople

ere washington goes again. it is all about political party n.er country. arrasso: that's not what i hear in wyoming. what i i heathree different communities was fill this vacancy, make sure you put somedy othe court who is somebodyro that realizes th of a justice is to apply the bench.ot legislate from the that's what we have tried to do with the last 200 judges in the last several years of this trump administration. i think we have been very successful at that. we want to put an end to the time of activist judges and we will continue to do that with what i assume will be a terrific nominee byresident trump. judy: i hear you saying activist judges. what is it that concerns you aboutaving a fourth judge, a i'm giving the hypothetical. dewhat if joe were to win

the election and a democrat in the whe house would appoint -- what is it about a five to four court versus a 63 court that matters souc sen. barrasso: first of all, the democrats have a war room and ah playbook o they plan to do if they win the presidency, the senate, and the house of representatives. zeit is to expand the f the court. it is to add liberal activist, partisan judges to thert c which ruth bader ginsburg said please don't do that. they want to expand the size of the senate as well but making -- by making dcaa state era we have seen a list o' horribls from them -- judy: we have not heard that from former vice president biden or senator schumer. sen. barrass i saw senator schumer in march standing outside the supreme court,

yelling at the building, saying lorsuch, kavanaugh, you w pay the price." this is something that came up in the debates through the presidency and throughout, t house of representativesas voted to make dcaa state, to give the democrats two more senate street -- to make d.c. a state. this to me as one of the main reasons we cannot allow joe biden to get elected president or the senate to go to democrats because they will continue this train going forward to the l less t. the driver of the train is not joe biden. i's bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, oh because you courthouse. those are the ones -- alexandria ocasio-cortez. those are the on. controlling when you have chuck schumer havingfe press cnce, this is a guy that doesn't like to share the microphone with anybody, but alexandria ocio-cortez is with him.

that tells you who is running the democrat party. judy: i think it's fair to saer that is yourective as a republican senator from the state of wyoming, it is not what the democrats would why or at leas i hear them saying. but we could continue this conversation another time. senator john barrasso, thank you. sen. barrasso: thank you. judy: united nations general assembly began today and with so much going on in the world nowa it ianged event this year. the normalnd buzz arhe east side of new york city and crush of delegations gave way to a virtual meeting. and as nick schifrin tells us, in the 75th year of the u.n., unity is in short supply. diplomatic stationorld wasst largely empty and calls for

mueralism were muted by bilateral tensions. >> we mu hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world, china. reporter: president trump called covid-19, which first emerged in wuhan, the china virus and accused the u.n. world health organization, which the u.s. is leg.ing, of aiding and abett g>> the chineernment and the world health organization, virtually controlled by china, falsely declared there was no evidence of human to human transmission. the united nations must ld train accountable. reporter: each country was allowed one representative, and china's u.n. ambassador responded. >> china resolutely rejects the baseless ausation against china. reporter: with a reference from

literature, the daydreaming night donkey hody attacking -- don quixote attacking enemies.le >> let us be clear, the world will never be turned to isolation and no one can sever the ties between countries. reporter: that summoning of confronts nearly one milliond covid deaths in the u.s. crossed >> we must be united. he seen when countries going their own direction, the virus goes in every direction. reporter: the secretary general call for multilateralism and warned the u.s. and china their confrontation, could become conflict. >> our world cannot afford a future wherewo the largest economies split the globe in a own trade and financial rules and artificial intelligence competits -- capacities.

porter: the u.s. and china so clashed over climate china is the world's largest polluter, but today pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2060. criticism of president trump came from adversaries including iranian president hassan rouhani, who used the death of george floyd to accuse the u.s. of failed dominance. >> we instantly recognize the feet kneeling on the neck as the feet of arrogance on the neck of independent nations. reporter: the u.s. recently declared it reimposed you and sanctions on iranian enrichment and weapon sales, ing for missile parts. but all other members of the security council rejected the us authority to snapback sanctions, since the trump administration left the 2015 iran nuclear deal. >>hiis a victory not just for iran, but for the global community. that an aspirant of hegemony is humiliated in such self-created isolation. reporter: french president

emmanuel macron reiterated, with thill not work u.s. on snapback. >>hi ts would undermine the unity of the security council and the integrity of decisions, and it would run the risk of further aggravating tensions in the region. >> san francisco california, a momentous conference begins. reporter: 75 years ago, the united nations was born from the horror of world war ii and another u.s. president gave a remote address. >> if we do not want to die together in war, we must learn to live together in peace. reporter: today, the trump administration argues the u.n. resists reform, lacks transparency, and is vulnerable p autocrats. and president trday reiterated his worldview. >> as president, i have rejected the failed approaches of the past -- and i am proudly putting america first, just as you should be puttinyour countries first. that's okay, that's what you should be doing. reporter: the u.n. has always reflected its membership. and

today countries are increasingly nationalist. guterres warned that wouldn't work for covid vaccines. reporter: we know some countries are reportedly making si deals exclusively for their own populations. such vaccinationalism is not only unfair, it is self-defeating. none of us is safe, until all of us are safe. reporter: multiple countries are working on dozens of vaccines, some in collaboration, some alone. scientists say russia has rushed its vaccine, but today president vladimir putin offered it to the world. e ready to share our experience, and coordinate with all states and international entities, including in supplying the russian vaccine, which is reliable, safe, and effective, to other countries. er repo yesterday, every country agreed there was no other global organizatth as much legitimacy, impact, and power to convene. but if the u.n. was designed to address global issues, this year, it couldn't even meet in person. d gutteres admitted that in the world day there's

a surplus of problems, and a deficit of solutions. for the pbs "newshour," i'm nick schifrin. judy: as we have beenme ntioning, the u.s. has passed yet another tragic marker in the pandemic. more than 200,000 people in this co9try have died from covid and related complications. that and a period of less than eight months is nearly twice as many americans who've been killed in ery major conflict since the korean war combined. our understanding of how the coronavirus spreading continues to evolve. we want to take this moment to clarify much of the latest scientific thinking. first a report from stephanie tisy, followed by a conver with william brangham. stephanie: the coravirus can

remain infectious on plastic and steel services for . to three da >> it has many people rried about shopping and other everyday tasks. >> you have to be putting disinfectant on groceries. stephanie: this was the sound of fear early in the pandemic after studies showed the novel surfaces for hours, even days and led to a furious wave of scrubbing, disincting, and sold-out cleaning supplies across the country. >> the problem with the experiences they did not relate to what a real-life scenario would be like. stephanie: that isr. emanuel goldman, a microbiologist at rutgers. in july, he published this article arguing that these early studies greatly exaggerated the amount of virus that could actually be found on surfaces in the real world. pointed out that the lowest amount of infectious particles researchers used to test surfaces in the lab was 10,000, huge amount.

>> you would need something like 100 people coughing or sezing and a same small surface area to get anywhere near the amount ofu vis that they used in these experienced -- experiments. reporter: he says these mistakef -- and a lack crutiny haveur siphoned limited resoces from everything from subway systems to schools for excessive deep cleaning that shows little evidence of helping prevent covid spread. >> our mothers taught us. you go to the bathroom, you wash your hands. you prepare food, you wash your hands. you touch somethindirty, you wash your hands. that's all you have to do. normal routiff hygiene is ient to protect against this virus. reporter: meanwhile, he adds, not enough money andeettention havepaid to what we now know is the primary way the virus travs -- the air. >> i got a teacher from a school system saying they were going to dashut down the schools ona week for deep cleaning and disinfection. wouldn't it be better to use it instead on ventilation systems or hiring more teachers so you could have fewer students per

class? >> you want to try to replicate the outside indoors in your space. stepnie: dr. shelly miller is an environmental engineer at the university of colorado boulder. for decades, she studied the way pollutants and infectious diseases spread in indoor spaces -- and over the summer helped her own university prepare for when students and faculty return toampus. >> you want to control the source of the contaminant. in this pandemic, the sources are the infectious people inside. so to control the releas virus, you want to wear a mask. you also want to be outside of their personal cloud. potentially leak into the ouenvinment and thenave to clean the environment, a the way to do that is the filtration and ventilatio stephanie: the simplest way to do that, she says -- open a door or window. but in many parts of the country where it's still too hot -- or becoming too cold -- to do

that, miller says there are different ways to increase a building's mechanical ventilation and filtration. here's a basic guide. buildingup to code should already be replacing the inside air with outside air three times an hour. but with coronavirus, that should be doubled -- t exchanges per hour, and ideally, to nine exchanges per hour. crucially the more people there , are contained in a space, the more exchanges are needed. hepa filters -- which stands for high efficiency particulate air -- should also be added to ventilation systems to increase protection. >> if i walk into a restaurant or a classroom,s there a way for me to personally tell if that is a safe place to be, if th?e's enough ventilati >> unfortunately at this point time, n that's why a lot of times i have said we really need to addss we need to give buildings and classrooms and other facilities resources so they can so they

can let the public know how they havettended to this. stephanie: she and others say the centers for disease control and prevention and the world health organization have been too slowo move away from early guidance on surface disinfection and towards daearer guie on preventing airborne transmission. last friday, the cdc did add language oits website about aerosols from talking or breathing spreading the virus and the need for ventilation, thenuddenly removed it. >> so the only rule of thumb i can say is if you walk into a space and feel hot and stuffy in -- smoke and youmellmall smell different odors, then it's probably not ventilated enough and you probably shouldn't spend very much time in there. stephanie: even portable air cleaners can help anhedr. miller ancolleagues have created a guide for schools on these, which you can find on our website. the bottom line. if you're thinking about going back to the gym, to a restaurant, your office or school -- keep w hands, keep wearing your mask, and keep social distancing.

but don't let those de cleans full you. ask what they've done about the air. >> the problem is that it's been out there for so long shakespeare said, at the best , what is done cannot be undone. it's going to be a long time to turn the ship around, if ever, because a lot of people stilon are operatinhese assumptions. stephanie: for the pbs ewshour," i'm stephanie sy in phoenix. >> for more on what we are learning about how thil coronavirus gets inside our bodies, i'm joined by a professor of civil and environmental engineeringht virginia t and her expertise is in the airborne transmission nice to have you on the newshour. uld you help us with this distinction over terminology?

people have been hearing about aerosols versus droplets. hiwhat do thosemean and why do we care about them? >> droplets and aerosols are opposite end of th spectrum. they really refer to the same liquid that comes out of your mouth and when it's really large anawe can see it, we call i droplet. it lastedik aira little cannonball and can land on someone who is cse to you. aerosols are mroscopic droplets and they come out of your mouth or nose. th are smart enough that they can remain floating the air for quite a while. and those, rather than flying through the air like many cannonballs, float around like cigarette smoke and just like that, you can breathe them i reporter: people have been hearing a lot of different kinds given what we are learning now, how should we be thinking about this virus, as it as it circulates in the air?: dr. ma we can think about it

like cigarette smoke. so the distancing really keeps you out of range oopthose big ts that fly through the air and then will fall to the they don't really fly more than six feet or so. but at the same time, for every one of those that you see, there's hundreds or thousands of the microscopic onese es we call aerosols. and those can stay in the air again, like cigarette smoke. so imagine you're interacting with a smoker, you want to stay as far away as possible from them, really to avoid breathing in the smoke. the smoke doesn't stop at six feet so six ft is a guideline and it keeps you kind of farther away from the most concentrated part of the smoke, the plume, but it doesn't guarantee that eyou're not going to osed. reporter:nd i guess, too, that's a useful way to think about it, if you're traveling in a car or inside a large room or sitting outside with someone, if to i'm directly nexou and you're having a cigarette, i'm going to be sharing in a lot of that, but if you're sittingstt a farther ce and it's breezy, that might lessen my exposure.

dr. marr: exactly. the cigarette smoke is a great way to think about different specific scenarios, whether you are indoors. do you want to be indoors with that smoker? or will you think about what affects that is the ventilation in them r, if the room is really well ventilated and there's lots of outdoor air coming in, then that smoke will be kind of pushed outside, but if the ventilation is poor, that smoke can build up, just like the virus, canlso build up in the air. and exactly as you suggested, if you're outdoors, you're really close to someone and you're right downwind of that and there's not much wind. you could end up breathing in a lot of thasmoke. but if you kind of move a little bit and it's really windy out, you you would greatly reduce your exposure to smoke. reporter: as we know, the cdc has been waffling ba forth about exposure, aerosols, droplets. for the lay person, does this going back and forth about their guidance have a re tangible, world effect?

dr. marr: the only thing it affects is the guidance on ventilation. tsso whether it's dropr masks.ls, we still want to wear we still want to maintain distance because mass and -- masks and distance help reduce our exposure to both the droplets and aerosols. ventilation is the one thing, though, that really onlyatters if aerosols are important because the large droplets are just fall out close to you, whether it whether you've got ventilation or not. but the smaller things, the aerosols, at's where ventilation really matters. reporter: help me understand something else. we've seen president trump has ecently holding some of these indoor rallies, very crowded, largely mask-less, an' hes been criticized for that. he and his supporters point to, these what about all o protests we saw, which were much bigger crowds, sometimes people wearing masks, but they're also

yelling and crowded together? f how do we know whichose things are risky? how do we measure the risk of those relative events? dr. marr: there are twodi importanerences between an indoor rally and the outdoor protests., the indoor ralrst of all, was indoors, where we know that virus can accumulate or build up in the air. there's less opportunity for dilutioncompared to being outdoors, for example, with the protests. the other important difference is that at the ralliesmany people are wearing masks. and so if someone there happens to be infeed, then they are releasing a lot of virus into the air, which can float around and other people can buildn.th he protests, almost everyone was wearing a mask. and so the mask prevents that virus from getting into the airt lso helps protect the wearer and reduces the amount to a virus they might breathe in from the air around them. a third difference, actually, is that at the rally, people are standing close together and

they're in the same place fe. a long t i think with the protests, in many cases, people are moving around. this creates more space between so that's another factor that would reduce the risk in the outdoor, masked event. nkporter: dr. linsey marr of virginia tech, tou so much for your help. dr. marr: thank you very much. judy: while many college classes across the country remain online only, others are seeing a spike in covid-19 cases after students returned to campus. inone school in is aiming to buck the trend. jeffreywn bas the report. this is produced in partnership with our pbs college -- cully. -- colleagues at maine public. reporter: move-in day at colby

college, with some 2000 students arriving from across the country and abroad to attend this private liberal arts school in central maine. >> everyone's very excited to inreturn. i thwe've all been cooped up, maybe getting a little tired of our families. reporter: after being sent home last march because of the pandemic, students were especiallyager to return. >> it is really good to be back on campus and, you know, thingsh feeling so normal. reporter: normal except for the masks and the covid tests they derwent. and several weeks later, on the glorious fall day we visited, with students tossing a frisbee, eating and talking togethe outdoors, it was almost normal, except for the extraordinary situation here, shaping up as a ngkind of test case for co with covid. >> there's no doubt that i wanted to bring students back because i know what we do in terms of teaching and learning is done best when peonle are in pe reporter: colby president david greene and his team put into place an ambitious and comprehensive plan that includes making testing as routine as going to classes. in a large tent, students, staff and faculty are tested constantly

three times a week at first, twice a week now. colby sends the tests to the ute, a research firm in cambridge, massachusetts, part of a special program colleges. e result cthin 24 hours. >> by now, most of us have had 10 or more tes and it's become ther routine. reporter: so you have had 10 or more? >> yes. reporter: faculty are able to opt-out of in-person teaching., but moke east asian studies professor ankeney weitz, have chosen to be on campus.>> although it's a crisis and it's difficult, there have been certain opportunities available inin terms of thinking, reng student needs and examining what is absolutely essential for what i'm doing. bahudodda, a biology major, returned to campus because she needed the hands-on lab time. >> a few days before coming to colby, i know there were reports that some schools had alreadyck sent students ome. so that's sort of, you know,

understandably raised my anxieties. but i knew that colby, like we fre in good hands because the rigorous testing program that i know a lot of other schools didn't have. >> i thought we would have more issues. reporter: ashley guevera, a student government president som houston, says students are accepting a sharse of responsibility, which includes limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people. >>ed the charge is beingy the seniors being like, don't ruin my senior year. reporter: that really works with students? i mean especially the new students coming in. it works to hold them to accountability? >> of course, there's always going to be people that might step out of line and that might, like, violate the rules. i believe in everybody else to be the people to stand up and ot wearingyou're your mask or, hey, let's not throw that party.rt re: colby's plan anticipates there will be cases of covid.d ere have. six students and three faculty tested positive to date. eight have recovered. one faculty member who tested positive last week continues to be monitored.

that's the key, says david greene, is identifying those infected, quickly quarantining them, and monitoring everyone else who's had contact. one case, he said, easily could have led to many more. >> we have a student who comes in, travels to campus, tests negative at first because the student was infected just before coming to campus.co le of days later, tests positive. his roommate becomes infected. we were able to by contact tracing, no everybody he's taen in c with over the last few days. he's the only person in this case who was infected because we were able toklsolate him qu quarantine others. reporter: stop the spread. >> stop the spread. reporter: quarantining takes place in special housing the college rented colby is also building a new hotel in downtown waterville, now used to more safely house students off-campus.al in an effort to avoid one

worst-casecenario an outbreak starting at colby and spreading to this town of 16,000. >> understanding that if it came into my household, it could be fatal for several of my family members, means you take it incredibly seriously. reporter: hilary koch, a former now running for state senate, lives near the campus. one of her sons is high risk for so is her husband, a colbytes. professor teaching remotely, who was recently diagnosed with a heart condition. >> we were concerned that if there were communal spread and the college had to shut down, e.students could be sent h but residents, and the town would be left to sort of pick up the pieces. and i don't know if our hospitals and if our city was really prepared for that kind of response reporter: so far, koch says she's pleased with what she's seen. >> i see students everywhere

with masks on. here, that makes m really,ent really good. reporter: college officials say contingency plans to furtht limit studtivities are in place if the number of cases rises. will it all work? colby has several cl advantages. a small campus in the middle of a sparsely populated with relatively few covid-19 cases, engaged students and faculty, the funds for frequent testing and a willingness to spend them. campus authorities tell us it will cost some $10 million this semester. harvard epidemiologist bill hanage is one outside expert tracking this carefully. >> i think the colby experiment may well tell us something about how possible it is to truly limit the troduction to a comparatively closed small community, which is monitored extremely cafully. now very important. that's reporter: but, he cautions -- >> the problem with colby as

being a representative of erything else is that it's not necessarily going to have this large number of social events which are happening in a sort of uncontrolled fashion outside the school because it's relatively confined.g that's a fference from a lot of places. reporter: colby president david greene insists his campus won't let down its guard. and he knows others are watching. how much is th a model for other places in the country? >> well, i think it . let'face it. this should have been one of the first priorities for what our government should have been doing from the beginning, and they dn't do it. d so places like colby and others are picking it up and saying, we are going to figure it out ourselves. we will get this done. and that'really important to show that there is a way forward on this when as a country, we haven't been able to do that reporter: and there's one more factor to watch, of course, even on a gorgeous september day of outdoor classes.s thisine and winter is coming. the real test, here and

elsewhere, may be on its way. for the pbs "newshour," i'm jeffreyrown at colby college in waterville, maine. judy:ll the cge of police confroing someone in the midst of a full-blownta millness episode was on stark display in rochester, new york this summe when it was revealed police killed a black man there and protests erupted for several days. this is an issue that our colleagues at rocky mount and public television have reported in theirni own com. elaworcement officers are often in the front lines of dealing with mental illness and the criminal justice system is the path for access to treatment. a call basically of a man with a weapon. reporter: it happens thousands of times a yearol across cado

and across the country. police are called about a person in a mental health crisis that wants to harm themselves or others. >> put your hweds up. put thon down. reporter: as officer richard nes walks up, he sees the man turned toward him with a gun in hand. jones has his own gun out and ready. >> put the weapon down! put the weapon down! reporter: the man is wearing a sweatshirt, indicating he's a veteran. immediately he tries to use his precious -- crisis intervention training. >> i'm a vet. drop the weapon! don't do it to another vet! don't do it to me. reporter: after nearly 11 lenutes of having his gun le at the veteran, the tense standoff ends. at that moment, the relief of

ngnot havi to shoot the man was overwhelming. after gathering mself best as he could, he went to the fellow vet and hugged him. >>m i'ing to get you some hear. we will stright now. we are going to get you to parkview and get it taken care of ok? >> love you, bro. >> wdeal with a lot of these cases and we get a lot that have weapons with them. there's days that we'e one after her, after the other. this is normal. it is part of our job, but i pcan't do a burglary gress patient or party having a bad day after another. reporter: and jones, like soic many other os, is frustrated that his efforts seem to make little difference. there's been numerous times that i've been finished. i've left this patient with, with the mental health station, finished erwork,the come bk out, and the patient's walking down the stree front of me. reporter: no place to put them?

>> no. reporter: jones' frustration ess to care, and placing people on a 72-hour mental health hold only to see hethey are getting little lp, is borne out by the numbers. in 2018, there were more than 33,000 mental health holds inst colorado, executed by law enforcement. about 5000 people were detain more than once. >> there's no guarantee in our current safety net system that the individuals will get served with the level of services they need. reporter: robert werthwein is the director of colorado's o offibehavioral health, tasked with overseeing the state's mental health system. >> t i'd like a modt doesn't require the law enforcement system to be an integral part of it. reporter: werthwein says the only way to break the cycle of jailing people with mental illness is to provide more and varied levels of serviross the state. >> the are a lot of people who need inpatient level of care, but there are a lot of people who need community-based intens. ca sometimes it requires having a social worker drop in daily saying, did you take your meds today?bu do you havtokens to get to where you need to get to? i'm times it takes thatuch.

>> i would spend hours googling on how to get help where i could go, and i just couldn't find anything. utey would start talking a insurance.i'm like, well, i done that. so what am i going to do? reporter: kstin lipskey works two jobs and has worked hard to overcome mental illness. >> when i was 14, i did get admitted to a mental health hospital and i was diagnosed wi depression. reporter: a year later, when she pot, things only gse.oking the counselor, uh,lly rehab that assaulted me. after that happened, um, i would say i went on a downwaral. i started using drugs i had never used before. rtrepoer: it was a day, omree-and-a-half years ago, she was coming down high. a day she threatened her mother with a knife. that deputies were called. >> sheriff's office! reporter: it is clear, that both peaking, and the deputies armed

with a taser and a gun.were unsure what was going to happen. >> are you military? >> we are the sheri's office. reporter: the deputies had no idea they just knew she was incoherent and saw the shotgun over the fireptice. and krisn was moving closer to it. finally they tased her. >>[screaming] >> she's got the gun! reporter: she stabbed one officer with a knife she had in her pocket subdued her without serious injury. >> i just had a knife. >> that you used. >> because everybody rapes me. reporter: once in custody, kristin was given mental health treatment and medication to stabilize her. she then spent tilee months in efore posting bond to begin daily treatment. she pled guilty to a felony in the incident and was sentenc to eight years in custody, in a half-way house. now, she is getting mental health treatment she couldn't get before being arrested. in fact, in colorado, a primary gateway to mental health care is the criminal justice system.

>> you have to decide what your philosophy is going to be. reporter: boulder countyco, rado sheriff joe pelle is a long time proponent of providing almeealth servicesn jail. >> if it is warehousing and necurity this problem'r , going to get solved. population receiving mental health services has grown from 13% in 2002 when he became sheriff, to now on certain days, 60%. lot of people would say you are not in the jail business anymore, you are in the mental health business. >> yes. reporter: commander tim oliveira, who heads the jail programs and support servites, helps inmas get specific mental health services.re >> jails aecoming these mental health institutions because ople don't have anywhere else to go. reporter: but in boulder county, jail services are only the beginning. sed, there are ongoing support services to ensure the person does t continue the cycle of mental health crisis leading toncarceration with no hope of success.

>> we've put the probation officer, mtal health provider, community health, public health provider, a and a case manager alunder one roof. so that they're not just leaving our jail without access to medication or withoucess to support. reporter: the program is focused on offenders like joowski. >> a couple of years ago, i was a mess. i was into drugs. i have a mental illness. reporter: he hasrd bipolar di and schizophrenia. if you if you hadn't gone through the boulder county jail and gotten the services, where do you think you'd be now? >> dead. reporter: matt jaekel is manager of the boulder county program. it serves more than 100 people annually. >> our entire team knows who you are. you see them daily. we build relationships. reporter: jaekel acknowledges the upfront costs are expensive, but contends, treatment forpa ents like dankowski vs. jail, is a bargain for taxpayers

>> it costs more to put a person in jail and keep them there per day than it does to utilize our serves. reporter: but for most counties, with far less funding, mentals health progr jails are simply not feasible. and that means those in need of service languish behind bars, waiting and often getting worse. >> we have a safety net system. safety net being the behavioral health system, that guarantees services, right? ices.doesn't guarantee se and that's, that's a problem. reporter: the state is failing ese people. >> we can do more. we will do more. report: colorado's governor appointed a mental health task force to figure out how tohe reformystem and to pay for the services people need without relying on police. but the coronavirus crisis has now ravaged the state budget and plans for incr health services. that means the daily struggle continues for both l enforcement and the who find themselves in a mental health. cris four pbs "newshour", i'm john

ferrugia in denver. judy: that was filmed before the pandemic. and that is the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us here, please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by -- >> when the complicad, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, dedicated wealth advisor tailor advice to your life. that is fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. hnjon & johnson. bnsf railway. financial services firm raymond james. carnegie corporation of new rk, supporting innovations in

education, democratic advancement and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. pois program was made possible by the ction for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viethrs like you. k you. this is pbs "newshour" west. fromdi weta s in washington and from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. [captioning performed by the national captiing institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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