captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, a grim reality: covid kills more in the u.s. in a single day than ever before, as infections and hospitalizations continue to skyrocket. then, the history making moment of kamala harris' election as vice president and pressure on the incoming biden white house to choose a diverse staff. and, forced labor in china-- how beijing's economic rise comes with a human cost. >> if not a genocide, something close to it going on in xinjiang. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> woodruff: the surge of covid infections and illness is pushing much of the country to its worst point since the pandemic began. more than one hundred thousand people are hospitalized, nearly double the highest point of the spring. the u.s. has had 14 million cases so far, more than any other country in the world, four million of them over the past month. deaths are climbing. more than 2800 were reported yesterday, again a single-day record. the death toll is approaching 275,000. doctor robert redfield, the director of the centers for disease control, warned yesterday the winter could be even worse.

>> the reality is december and january and february are going to be rough times. i actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation, largely because of the stress that it's gonna put on our health care system. the mortality concerns are real and i do think unfortunately before we see february, we cou be close to 450,000 americans have died from this virus, but you know that's not a fait accompli. >> woodruff: this is putting an enormous strain on hospitals and health care workers on the front lines. president-elect biden side he will call on his inauguration for everyone to wear masks during the next 100 days. the growing covid case load around the u.s. is putting an enormous strain on hospitals and healthcare workers. let's hear more now from dr. amy

let's hear more from doctor amy compton-phillips, executive vice president and chief clinical officer of providence, a health care system operating 51 hospitals and more than 1,000 clinics across seven states. dr. compton phillips thank you very much for being with us. briefly, tell us what kind of services you provide an what are you seeing in your facilities? >> we provide the wide range of any service you need in healthcare. we have everything from primary care office visits through acute care hospitalizations through rehappen services afterwards, and we are seeing what the rest of the country is seeing, and that's this huge uptick in people who've acquired the infection, and then, therefore, a couple of weeks after they get the infection, the demand for healthcare, and, so, our i.c.u.s and hospitals are filling up rapidly with people who need acute care for this

really dangerous germ. >> woodruff: and, so, do you have adequate space? how are you dealing with the space issue, first of all, bed space? >> yeah, so the physical bed space is probably the easiest part to solve because we have been able to work on that now for ten month and, so, we've figured out how do we flex up and down as we get more and more patients in, how do we convert leftover, old storage rooms into i.c.u.s, how do we create negative pressure rooms, right, so we can solve for the space. the thing that's much harder to solve for because to have the broad ways base of the pandemic now across the country is for people to operate the newly added beds. we don't have the i.c.u. staff, the skilled nurses, the equipment, people who can manage things like ventilators and high-flow oxygen to take care of all those beds that we're opening up and that is really the hardest part about where we are today. >> woodruff: so where do you go for those skilled workers?

where do you fin them? how do you find them? >> everything from seeing if people who've recently retired are willing come back in. you know, even the traveler nurses, so the folks that go around and help out where w need bump-ups temporarily for new infections, right, they're all taken. we don't have those anymore, so we're turning to people who've retired, who previously worked outside an i.c.u. setting and rapidly getting them skilled and trained to work in an i.c.u. setting. we're using tele-health services to make it so the i.c.u. doctors who are in short supply can cover for other doctors, for orthopedists who are covering i.c.u. beds now with consultation using tele-health monitoring and i.c.u.s. so which bibi hook and crook we're trying to rapidly scale up the human beings we need to take care of all these patients. exactly what you said in your opening, what we're worried

about is if this coinues, we're going to run out, and it is painful, as a clinician, you don't want to let people die for things that are preventable because you didn't have enough of something. this is really outside the bounds of what we're used to experiencing in the u.s. >> woodruff: what sort of strains is this putting on your people, the people who work for you who take care of these patients? >> enormous strains. we've had several of our own caregivers, and it's hard tossen talk ab, commit suicide. we've had six people commit suicide in the past three months because to have the stress and the strain, never had anything remotely like that in the past. we just finished surveying all our people who work with us, and the rates of burnout are going up dramatically because of the workload, not only the workload but because to have the incredible challenges of seeing so many sick people in there that don't need to be there. we've offered services to help

our own employees, everything from, you know, meditation apps all the way up through on-demand mental health care, on-demand counseling with our behavioral health concierge, and the thing, we've had over 15,000 offour employees take advantage of the services, over half of whom need telespiritual health because this has been a shock to the soul. people go into healthcare because they care about other human beings, and the fact we're seeing so much suffering right now is tearing at the people who are caring for the patients. >> woodruff: so hard to hear this. doctor, compton-phillips, what do you need to get through this? clearly, you need people to try to avoid getting sick, to the extent that they can, but what do you need to support the demand that's coming? >> we need people to help. dr. redfield just said, on your earlier opening segment, that we

do not have to get to the worst-case scenario and the way we avoid that worst-case scenario is people doing the things they are so sick and tired of doing, wearing the masks, minimizing social contact outside your bubble, staying home, staying apart, and, right now, over the holidays, just like we saw at thanksgiving where people chucked the mask and went traveling, christmas is coming, right, we a used to being around family and loved ones and, if we do what we've always done around the holidays, this is going to get so much worse. we need people to stay home. we need people to do everything they can just for a few more months, and then we can start having burn the mask parties next summer. but for now, please stay home because your life depends on it. >> woodruff: dr. amy compton-phillips, chief medical officer with the providence healthcare system, thank you and we wish you the very best, you

and all your colleagues. thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, new unemployment numbers underscored, again, the pandemic's economic damage. another 712,000 people filed for jobless benefits last week. that was down from the week before, but it's still triple the average total before the virus hit. momentum is building for a new, economic relief measure in washington, before congress quits for the year. president trump said today he would support a bill. and, democratic leaders in the u.s. house of representatives voiced optimism. the bipartisan "problem solvers" group in the house, including virginia democrat abigail spanberger, urged action now.

>> congress damn well better come together and deliver the relief that is so necessary. frankly relief that was necessary weeks and months ago. but today is just as good a day as any to actually see it through. >> woodruff: congress' top mocrat, house speaker nancy pelosi, and the senate's republican majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke today about a stimulus bill. and, several more republican senators came out for a bipartisan, $900 billion measure. we will speak with utah republican senator mitt romney in a few minutes. the nation's foremost infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, says he will stay on at the national institutes of health. he held his first substantive discussions with the biden transition team, today. and, president-elect biden named brian deese to head the national economic council. deese worked in the obama administration, and helped craft

the auto industry bailout. president trump refused to say today if attorney general wlliam barr still has his confidence. instead, he told a reporter: "ask me in a number of weeks". on tuesday, barr said there's been no evidence of widespread election fraud, as the president claims. today, mr. trump said barr needs to keep searching. >> they haven't looked very hard which is a disappointment to be honest because it's massive fraud. this is not civil he thought it was civil. this is not civil, this is criminal stuff. this is very bad criminal stuff. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the wisconsin supreme court refused to hear the president's challenge to 220,000 ballots. he lost the state by just under 21,000 votes. the trump campaign is pursuing a similar lawsuit in federal court. china and the united states clashed today on two fronts. on travel, the u.s. state department imposed tough new

restrictions on chinese mmunist party members and their families coming to the u.s. for extended stays. beijing blamed what it called "extreme anti-china forces." china also denounced a u.s. ban on cotton goods from a major producer in xinjiang province, over allegations of forced labor. the foreign ministry denied that thousands of uighur muslims in xinjiang are being forced to work inside detention camps. we'll explore this further, later in the program. back in this country, the u.s. supreme court ordered a lower court to reconsider covid-19 curbs on religious services in california. it could lead to throwing out the restrictions. last week, the high court ruled against similar limits in new york state. the u.s. senate today confirmed christopher waller for the federal reserve's board of governors. his approval means president trump has now chosen four of the six fed governors.

and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 85 points to close at 29,969. the nasdaq rose 27 points, and the s&p 500 slipped two points. still to come on the newour: senator mitt romney on a final push to pass more covid economic relief. how kamala harris is making history as madame vice president. the human cost of china's economic rise. and much more. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, with weeks left in the year, support is growing in congress for a nearly trillion- dollar covid relief bill.

if passed, it would extend aid for small businesses, unemployment benefits and provide extra funding for state and local governments. utah repubcan mitt romney is one of the senators backing the bipartisan negotiations, and he joins me now. senator, thank you so much for being here. before i get to that, i do want to ask you about these grim new numbers about covid, off the charts in terms of number of cases, hospitalizations, number of deaths. what should have been done at the very top of the federal government to keep things from getting this bad? >> well, it would have helped if there had been a communication from the very beginning that this was very, very serious and that we should take every action we possibly could to reduce the spread, including wearing masks, and the idea that that became political where some republicans or red states felt that they shouldn't wear a mask because it was impinging on their liberty, that was the wrong way to go, and that was one of the things that's contributed to the extraordinarily record number of

deaths and hospitalizations that the you're seeing today. >> woodruff: and president trump, from the beginning, did not send a clear signal about what people should do. >> well, i think that was unfortunate. i don't know what i would have done in that situation, but i can surely tell you the communication has been mixed, it has been unclear. i think people have been confused, and the result of that has been a number of folks have taken actions which have spread the virus and the result is we're seeing record numbers of hospitalizations an deaths and number of new cases. it's reay just inexcusable. >> woodruff: senator, given how bad things are, a lot of everybody is looking to congress to see if there will be economic relief around all this. has there been serious progress on these bipartisan negotiations? do you think legislation will pass? >> i think there will be a relief measure. i can't tell you exactly what it will look like. democrats and republicans have worked together and negotiated a packe down to $908 billion.

as you know, nancy pelosi, just a couple of weeks ago, was saying it's trillion or nothing but we're down to $908 billion on a bipartisan basis. either that bill will pass or portions will be taken by speaker pelosi and mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer and others and put together in a final omnibus package. but i think you're going to see relief for the p.p.e., the small business program, for unemployment insurance. vaccine distribution, food security has to be provided, these are part of the package and i think will ultimately make ut through congress. >> woodruff: speaker pelosi and senator schumer say they're on board with this bipartisan plan and they are prepared to negotiate from it. what about majority leader mcconnell who has not indicated he is on board yet. >> i can't speak for the majority leader, of course, but he asked us to come into his office today and we skee de scribed our measure in come detail, and whether he accepts

it in whole or instead negotiators with the speaker and the minority leader to select certain portions of that and include that in an omnibus bill, that's for him to decide, but we've clearly negotiated a measure which does address the challenges that many americans are feeling, and i think, given the number of people suffering from covid right now, it's important that we certainly move before the end of the yar. >> woodruff: what is the majority leader pushing for? we know he's very concerned about liability protections for business owners. is that worth holding up agreement on this over? >> well, i think the republican side, not just the leader but the republicans generally, are very concerned about sending a bunch of money to states and localities that might use that money ineffectively, inefficiently, and, at the same time, they want to make sure that schools aren't suited, that hospitals aren't sued, that universities, small businesses aren't sued because people get covid. so there is a trade here which is, okay, we're going to give

some help to cities and states, but, at the same time, you've got to give us some protection for all those entities which otherwise are going to get held up in lawsuits and slow down the economy for heaven knows how long. >> woodruff: so as we wait to see what happens and as we know congress is supposed to go home in another a little over a week, congress has this to get done, also look at funding the government, defense authorization bill, an yethe senate has gone home. shouldn't the senate be back in session to get this done? >> well, negotiations are ongoing. we've already met several times today, we're going to meet again tomorrow, we're going to meet over the weekend, so officially, votes are not being taken, but senators are working on this compromise day and night and our staff is working, putting together language that reflects the agreements that we're coming to, because we're going through some of the detail on the overall package, precisely what are the liability protections going to look like, how do we

decide which loabilities are eligible for which funds, and likewise with small businesses. so all these details are being negotiated. as they are, we're drafting language. we're going full-speed ahead. there's nothing slowing down because votes aren't being head on the floor. when we're ready for a vote, we'll get one. >> woodruff: different subject. as you know very well, president trump continues to insist the election was stolen from him, that there was massive fraud. he has continued to state that today. yesterday, we heard in the last couple of days elections officials in the state of georgia plead with the president to stop this because we now see threats being made on election officials at every level in different parts of the country. he also said republicans who don't stand up to the president on this are complicit. is he right? >> well, i think it's very important that the rhetoric be tuned down, and i said from the beginning that it's totally

appropriate for the president to seek legal recourse and to present what evidence he has, but, so far, every courtas said there's nothing there, an even the attorney general said there's nothing there. of course there are going to be irregularities and mistakes made and those things get corrected, but there's nothing of the scale to suggest that the president won, and for him to communicate time and again that the election was rigged or stolen, that there was massive fraud, without presenting evidence of the same, i think it's really unfortunate for democracy here as well as for people around the world that look to america as the example of democracy and the proof that democracy could work. look, china and russia are smiling ear to ear, saying, look how we can show that democracy doesn't work. even in the united states of america, the president is saying it's rigged. i think that's very, very unfortunate. >> woodruff: senator, you're saying it's unfortunate, but this election official and others, i mean, he's a republican, is saying it's undermining american democracy.

>> i've said the same thing. i mean, as you know, i put a message out and i said the same thing. it does, it strikes at the very foundation of democracy here and around the world. it's a very dangerous development and, you know, again, it's one thing to pursue legal recourse, but legal recourse hasn't yet shown any evidence that has convinced a judge that there's a case to be made, and the attorney general and the fib can't find a case. so continue together allege massive fraud -- so continuing to aless massive fraud when there's no evidence of that is very damming to democracy here and abroad. >> woodruff: senator, with all due respect, most of your republican colleagues or at least many of them have nod been prepared to say that, including the majority leader. >> everybody makes their own decision as to what they say. i can't begin to criticize my fellow colleagues, they have their own perspectives, i express mine and as you know i'm kind of out there from time to time. >> woodruff: we are very glad to have you joining us tonight on the "newshour". senator mitt romney, thank you

very much. >> thanks again, judy. good to be with you. >> woodruff: it was exactly one year ago today that california senator kamala harris announced she was dropping out of the presidential race, citing a lack of funds. now, the vice-president-elect is poised to break barriers on multiple fronts, inspiring many along the way. yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: in her victory speech, vice president-elect kamala harris spoke to the historic nature of her election. >> while i may be the first woman in this office, i will not be the last. because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. >> alcindor: harris represents many firsts: the first woman, first black american and first

south asian american vice president-elect. she's the daughter of immigrants from jamaica and india. she proudly emphasized her roots with fellow indian-american mindy kaling, cooking dosa during her own presidential primary campaign. she is also a graduate of howard university and is a member of the nation's first black sorority, alpha kappa alpha. today, she often celebrates her connection to historically black colleges and universities, sometimes dancing with marching bands on the trail. it's a milestone that inspired many. we invited viewers to weigh in on what her historic inauguration will mean to them. hundreds of people responded. >> i was only able to vote in this election as i became a citizen last year. so to be a part of something and then to see myself up there, it's just amazing. >> i feel like i can breathe because i feel like i can be hopeful for the first time in a very long time. i'm proud to see someone who

represents so many different facets of who we are, sitting at the table. >> for the indian community its very exciting that we feel more accepted as immigrants. >> i think we have an opportunity on so many issues: civil rights, climate, coronavirus, the economy, to actually help people. >> alcindor: and across social media, young girls dressed up as harris, including her signature converse sneakers. tonya vivian's daughter, ophelia, was one of them. >> she's two years old. she has no idea what's going on, and i can't wait to share with her as she gets older. this definitely resonates differently as a black woman, it really means everything. it means that anything is truly possible for her. and i just am excited about the future, you know, and that's just something i haven't felt in so long. >> alcindor: even before this moment, harris had broken many barriers. she was the first black woman to serve as attorney general of

california. she was only the second black woman to serve as a united states senator. the first was carol moseley braun, who told me it's hard to express how excited she is about harris's election. >> frankly, for me, on a personal level, it really is a matter of coming to grips with the fact that i really was more of a role model and not an object lesson. i mean, right now there are more women in the united states congress than ever before. and i think that's just going to continue. >> alcindor: yet even in her excitement, braun added that harris should ready herself for an onslaught of criticism and perhaps unfair expectations. >> we will not have really arrived until kamala harris gets treated like any other vice president in history, like dan quayle, mike pence, you name it, and not have to rise to the occasion of being something unusual. and we haven't gotten there yet, but we will. and she's setting the setting the table to make it happen. >> alcindor: in harris's august

speech, after her selection was announced, she paid tribute to the women who came before her. >> these women inspired us to pick up the torch and fight on. women like my church terrell. mary bethune, fannie lou hamer and diane nash, constance baker motley, and the great shirley chisholm, we're not often taught their stories. but as americans, we all stand on their shoulders. >> alcindor: democrats in philadelphia, celebrated the win. but representation isn't all thatatters says local organizer candice mckinley. >> it's nice to have people that look like me. you might have family members that look like mine, but if they're not actually fighting for my community and like for policies and laws that will actually help my community, then that doesn't mean much to me.

>> alcindor: eddie glaude jr. is the james s. mcdonnell distinguished university professor of african american studies at princeton university. >> i think black women need to claim this victory and in doing so, insist on having and wielding actual power. and so this representational moment is important. the symbolic significance of a black woman being the vice president of the united states is important. but what we need in our communities right now are policies that will address the suffering that engulfs our communities today. >> alcindor: that's something harris has promised to do. and as she looks toward the inauguration, she's already acknowledging the tough road ahead. >> as i said the night we won this election: now is when the real work begins. the necessary work. the good work. of getting this virus under control, saving lives, beating this pandemic, and opening our economy responsibly while

rebuilding it so it works for working people. >> alcindor: it's a tough road being paved for the first time. we turn now to explore the diversity of the rest of the biden team with representative karen bass, democrat of california, and chair of the congressional black caucus. thank you so much for being here. there are reports that the congressional black caucus is not happy with the diversity of the biden-harris pics so far and there are also reports you're pushing for the secretary of defense or attorney general to be a person of color, an african-american. how concerneis the c.d.c. about the diversity of the pics now and are you concerned at all that maybe the pics are not diverse enough? >> first of all, let me tell you what process the cbc is using as a caucus. there are 59 members of the congressional black caucus and, so, with a caucus of 59, you are definitely going to have people who have different opinions. so we have formed a biden-harris

100-day task force where we are collecting names and making recommendations of individuals that we feel should serve in the administration. we are in regular contact with the administration and, so, we feel that the communication has been strong. we are absolutely elated that two of our members have already been tapped for the administration. first and foremost of course is my senator from california who will be sworn in as the vice president in less than 50 days, and then cedric richmond, who was a former chair of the congressional black caucus who is going to be serving in a very senior way within the administration. we do believe that the diversity, so far, has been terrific. linda thomas-greenfield is the ambassador to the u.n., and then the individual that will be on the economic council who will be elevated to a cabinet position. of course, we would like to see other african-americans

appointed to key positions such the attorney general or the defense secretary, but to say that the congressional black caucus is unhappy with the diversity so far, i believe, is an overstatement. i don't believe that is true. there are many more appointments that need to be made and, already,e have seen african-americans in very significant roles. >> reporte you talked through some of the diverse cabinet pics there. there are civil rights groups, like the naacp, the urban league, who are saying that they have requested a meeting with president-elect biden, they have not gott one. they're saying they're not getting a seat at the table the way they should. what do you make of that? >> well, what i have heard as of yesterday is that meeting is being planned, that meeting will take place. maybe that meeting should have taken place, already, an it hasn't. the civil rights groups are doing what they feel is correct, and i think that that is just fine, and know that they will have a seat at the table and that they will be speaking with

the president-elect soon. >> reporter: so when the civil rights groups say he's not listening to them enough, that he's maybe not putting enough black people in high-level senior positions, your point is give him some time? >> well, my point is two things, my point is the congressional black caucus is separate from the civil rights community. we have regular contact with the administration, weekly meetings in our task force where we are looking at making recommendations and i believe that the civil rights community has not connected with the administration, they absolutely should and it's something that should have happened, already. the fact that it hasn't, i think i mentioned that i believe a meeting is getting set up now. >> reporter: are you concerned about any names floated out there? there's rahm emanuel that the naacp is taking issue with saying he has a problematic past

with police shootings. is there anyone like that you are looking at. >> we're viewing it with a proactive stance. i know many to have the civil rights groups feel that way and, again, what the civil rights groups are doing, i think, is fine. what the congressional black caucus is doing is different. we have a very specific process. >> reporter: there are reports that you're being considered for the housing and urban development secretary and that you fill the senate seat being view cade by senator hari sreenivasan. can you tell us whether or not you're being considered for the positions especially considering the senate will have no black women when senator harris leaves office? >> i find it interesting because i see in the paper i'm being considered for all sorts of things. i absolutely think there needs to be an african-american come in the senate. i mean, the idea that, in the u.s. senate, right now, there are three african-americans,

soon to be just two, and when senator harris, soon to be vice president harris, leaves, there will be one african-american democrat in the senate. and, of course, i think that's something that should be addressed. as to whether or not i'm under consideration, know that i am interested and willing to serve in whatever area in which i'm tapped. so i want to get in there. whether it's in the house, the administration, senate, whatever, i am more than willing to continue to serve. >> reporter: well, thank you so much, congresswoman bass, chair of the congressional black caucus. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: this week, the trump administration took one of its most aggressive steps yet

against what it calls modern day slavery in china. the u.s. accuses beijing of moving ethnic uyghurs, a muslim minority who live mostly in western china, into forced labor. nick schifrin reports on how uyghurs end up as workers, and the larger campaign that has ripped uyghur lives and families apart. >> schifrin: inside a massive network of detention, within a government campaign the u.s. calls "close to genocide," one man is chained to a bed. he can't talk because of a guard outside his door. but his video speaks loudly about the conditions of his captivity, and the fate of muslim uyghurs. merdan ghappar was a 31-year-old uyghur model in southern china. his flashy ads targeted han chinese, the country's majority ethnic group. but in january chinese authorities detained him in a xinjiang detention facility full of ethnic minority uyghurs, whom the chinese government calls

disloyal. pro-beijing messages play from a loudspeaker. he secretly filmed and sent the video to his uncle, ablikim ghappar, who now lives in amsterdam. >> ( translated ): when i saw the video clip, i really felt sorrow for my nephew. >> schifrin: merdan sent text messages describing the conditions of his initial detention, in a police station. he wrote, "the cop just shouted fiercely at me: ¡if you lift that hood again i [will] beat you to death!'" merdan adds"i don't want to die." >> ( translated ): in the detention center, they were tortured. the cell was very small and very crowded, more than 50 or 60 people. every night, some people slept, while some people needed to stand. a hood was on eir heads. they're always handcuffed, and their feet were chained. >> schifrin: merdan's video, which was first reported by the bbc, is one of the first visual testimonies from what the trump administration calls the human rights stain of the century. hundreds of detention facilities and camps, that the u.s. says are filled with more than one

million uyghurs. national security advisor robert o'brien: >>f not a genocide, something close to it going on in xinjiang. >> schifrin: in xinjiang and a neighboring province, residents say the government has partially or completely destroyed at least a dozen mosques. a communist party program forcibly inserts han chinese into uyghur families. and china has banned uyghur language and music. the chinese government calls some uyghurs separatists and terrorists. it cites a 2009 riot, and a 2013 tiananmen square attack claimed by uyghurs who argue xinjiang is an independent country. the chinese government says it built camps to reeducate and deradicalize separatists. today the government claims the camps have closed. and in september president xi jinping shrugged off international criticism, as read by a chinese state tv anchor. >> ( translated ): the party's strategy of governing xinjiang in the new era is completely correct and must be adhered to for a long time.

>> schifrin: but the australian strategic policy institute found since 2019, at least 61 camps and detention facilities have expanded, or are newly constructed. and now international researchers say uyghur detention has evolved, into uighur forced labor. >> the patterns of mass detention in xinjiang are actually very closely linked to forced labor that we're seeing there. >> schifrin: amy lehr is with the center for international and strategic studies. >> there's an idea that you can reform people's minds and cut off their connection to their culture and religion by putting them to work in factory jobs. they're taking these detainees and either within the detention facilities or moving them into guarded dormitories, requiring them to work in factories in the region. >> schifrin: the chinese government calls it poverty alleviation. ethnic minorities and prisoners get low-skilled factory and agricultural work, to improve their lives. xi jinping talked about it in september: >> president xi jinping says

unprecedented achievements have been made in xinjiang's economic and social development. xi says the sense of happiness and security has increased among all ethnic groups. >> schifrin: but what beijing calls security, the u.s. calls forced labor as business and governing model, that profits beijing $150 billion. beijing's central planners pay companies in eastern china to open factories in xinjiang and train uyghur workers. and the xinjinag local government, gets paid to build factories near uighur detention camps. >> i actually interviewed a number of former detainees. their communications were monitored. they were paid in a year what they should have been paid in a month. the kind of treatment that these workers received when they are detained continues when they're working. you see that pattern of trying to decrease their connection to their own culture and increase their loyalty to the c.p, within the system of work. >> schifrin: the chinese government denies that. >> ( translated ): there is no so-called 'forced labor'

problem. some anti-china forces try to use this made-up topic to smear china's image and seek their own political interests. >> schifrin: but it's a policy decades in the making. in the 1950s the chinese government formed the x.p.c.c., or xinjiang production and construction corps. and it guaranteed xinjiang became more han chinese, and less uyghur. today, the u.s. says the x.p.c.c. runs the detention camps and xinjiang's textiles industry. x.p.c.c. created and owns many cotton fields, owns some gins where cotton is spun into yarn, and allegedly owns many of the cotton cut and sew factories. xinjiang alone produces more than 20% of the world's cotton. and china is the world's largest exporter. that global supply chain, makes it hard for companies, to trace whether their product, was made with forced labor. >> we're working with all of these companies to help them really do that incredible detective work that they need to do to penetrate the deeper layers of the supply chain. >> schifrin: sharon waxman is

the president of the fair labor association, a group of organizations and companies dedicated to protecting workers' rights around the world. she says because uyghur works are too scared to tell the truth about their labor conditions, western companies can't figure out who exactly is creating their products. >> it could happen on the cotton field. it could happen when the when the cotton is ginned, right? so the risk of forced labor is cut across all the different rungs of the ladder. >> schifrin: several clothing companies have promised to cut ties with xinjiang factories, and have taken steps to do so, but now the possibility of forced labor is harder to track: in 2018, the chinese government moved 62,000 ethnic minorities out of xinjiang to work across china. the chinese government claims the workers move, to follow higher salaries. >> if you're focusing only on xinjiang, you know, you have one region. and then if you're looking at all workers in factories all

over china, you know, it takes it to a whole other level. >> schifrin: the trump administration has recently punished china for uyghur forced labor. x.p.c.c. and xinjiang party leaders, have been sanctioned for "serious human rights abuses." the department of homeland security banned all x.p.c.c. products it says are made with forced labor, and customs and border protection has seized uighur hair extensions, and women's gloves. and in congress, the u.s. house of representatives passed a bill that would block all xinjiang cotton, co-sponsored by massachusetts democrat jim mcgovern. >> the evidence of systematic and widespread forced labor in xinjiang is astounding and irfutable. >> schifrin: but under xi jinping, external pressure may be incapable of changing chinese policy. >> the government is making the decisions about these really these horrendous abuses against uighurs in xinjiang. it's part of a concerted policy and only the government can change that.

>> schifrin: and there's no evidence china has any intention of changing its policy, as family members of the detained know all too well. >> ( translated ): china does not want to educate uighur people. they want to destroy them. they will put you in jail just because you are uyghur. >> schifrin: after merdan ghappar filmed and sent this video to his uncle, he hasn't been seen since. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: stay with us for a moving story of a mother and daughter. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: if you are a healer, where do you find comfort? in the case of a number of

doctors across the u.s., the answer is music. as part of a new series focusing on the connection between arts and health, jeffrey brown went to newton, massachusetts this summer to see how medical professionals are regenerating their spirits, and becoming this encore presentation is part of our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> brown: it's called the "national virtual medical orchestra"-- 60 medical professionals and students from around the country, musicians all, who come together to perform in the way that is suddenly the new normal: in the digital world. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ but on a recent day, eight of them, led by conductor john masko, were live and in person for us, playing parts of works by several composers at a socially-distanced backyard gathering. this is a rare chance to hear live music, of course, and for these medical musicians to play

together. for some of them, the music is also a kind of healing in a time of trauma. one was violist dr. michael cho, who's been on the frontlinesf the pandemic. >> i saw a lot of really, really sick people. my specialty is seeing sick people. that part of it, i was used to. just the-- the number of people in that condition, i think that was just-- it was just, you know, mind-boggling. >> brown: a pulmonary and critical care physician at brigham and women's hospital in boston, cho has been caring for patients most in need of ventilators to help them breathe. >> there is a lot of tragedy. there is a lot of-- i can remember, for example, one of the worst things i think about the pandemic is seeing family members, right? so, husband and wife both come in. a woman and her nephew, sick at the same time. and maybe they both succumb to the illness. i mean, those kinds of things are just horrible to think about. and, to have my colleagues and my co-workers and my friends and

my family and music is what keeps me resilient through all this. ♪ ♪ >> brown: for many medical professionals like michael cho, music came before medicine, and continues to play an enormous role in their lives. the past decade has seen a steady rise in the number of so-called "medical orchestras" all over the country-- now numbering more than 20, non- professional but very high quality. ♪ ♪ one of the oldest, founded in 1984 by members of the harvard medical school, is the longwood symphony orchestra in boston. ♪ ♪ pediatrician lisa wong has served as its president, and violinist. i think the attention to detail and our training for lookg for beauty and working hard to make that happen is the same between being a musician and being a doctor. there's the act of close "listening"-- to the strings of a fellow musician, or the murmur of a patient's heart. there's the need for

concentration and striving for excellence in both. there's even neurological connectivity, she says. playing music in childhood helps wire an "information highway" in the brain. >> once those highways are established, you can put science through that, you can put medici through that, you know, you develop the brain differently. so what the neuro-scientists are finding is, the brain of a musician looks different than a brain of someone who hasn't played music. ♪ ♪ >> brown: thers also a growing effort to use their music to help patients directly. during the pandemic, longwood members have performed outside a number of local hospitals. ♪ ♪ and wong helped form the "boston hope" hospital music project-- medical and other musicians peorming for covid patients. now, she says, the group wants to find even more ways to help fellow frontline medical workers, including offering music lessons and performances.

>> brown: for now, the national virtual medical orchestra is providing a select group from around the country a place to heal and connect with some larger purpose. >> when you work with a medical orchestra, you really get that perspective that we are here for spiritual fulfillment and we're here to enjoy ourselves. >> brown: you feel that? >> i feel that because they feel that, yes. ♪ ♪ >> brown: it was started this spring by 28-year-old john masko, the son of two physicians but not one himself, who's worked with medical musicians as music director of the providence medical orchestra. it, like arts groups everywhere, shut down in the pandemic. >> i started to hear very quickly from people about how it was simultaneously happening that their stress levels were rising astronomically in their professional lives, and that the vital outlet they had for, you know, relieving that, and for using a different part of their brain, was now gone.

masko has found a new way into producing in virtual space: he sends musicians a video of himself conducting a piece. the individuals record themselves, send in their video, and then re-work their parts based on masko's email notes. then, the 60 individual "voices" are put together by professional audio and video producers. >> groups like ours are really positioned to lead the way in innovating this new style of music-making, which, even when we get back to performing regular live music, can feed back into that and, you know, expand the sphere of music- making. >> brown: raise your hand if you're happy to be playing music with fellow human beings? >> two hands up! >> it's hard and it's necessary >> brown: for now, these musicians are left with this kind of distanced gathering, along with a deep understanding of the connections between art and medicine-- including when it's the healers themselves in need. >> it's hard and it's necessary

to know that you need to heal. it's necessary to be ae to become revitalized so that you have enough energy to go back out. and that's the whole thing about the arts-- that will revitalize you, restore faith in humanity, opportunity to really appreciate beauty. and once that's filled, then you can-- can give it back. >> brown: you're alive again, in a sense. >> absolutely. >> brown: and there is nothing like live music for that. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in newton, massachusetts. >> woodruff: when beth papanastasiou's daughter bella was born, she was diagnosed with a rare, degenerative genetic disorder and given 18 months to live. in tonight's emotional brief but

spectacular, we meet mother and daughter four years into their journey, a journey on which papanastasious says palliative care is key to making the most of her daughter bella's life. >> my daughter, bella is four and a half years old now. about seven hours after she was born, she was transferred to children's national, after about two weeks in the n.i.c.u., they informed us that bella had a very rare genetic disorder called panto cerebellar hypoplasia type six. and at that time only about 12 cases had been reported in the world. and they did let us know that in most of those cases, the children did not live past infancy. and that was truly the start of, of our journey and our life with bella. when we first brought her home every day, i felt like, well, today could be the day that we lose her. the panda team at children's

national is the palliative care team that works with families who have children with terminal conditions or just other very serious conditions. they have been through it and they've been through it with other families. the hardest decisions that we make with the palliative care team are deciding at what point bella is still fighting to be with us. and at what point do we know that bella is tired. having the support of the panda team is crucial to my ability to care for bella, the best way possible, and just give us the support and the hope, and also the strength that we need to get through living with a child who, you know, will likely pass before you do. to be a little bit different for

bella. what you want for your child. and what i want for her is that she reaches the potential that she is capable of. what i want for bella is that she knows that she's loved that she knows that we are here for her and we'll fight for her and that she experiences life in the way that she can. she gives me hope. she keeps me going, because if i stop, there's no one for bella, and i have to get up every day and i have to take care of her. and i have to struggle with her and laugh with her. and if i'm not there to be that person, then i'm letting her down and she doesn't have enough time to be let down. my name is beth papanastasiou, and this is my brief, but spectacular take on my daughter bella. >> woodruff: it is so clear that bela is loved and we thank you to the family for sharing

bela's story with us. and you can find all of our brief but spectacular segments online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

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