start to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, taliban takeover-- the militant group orders an end to all protests as they finally allow the departure of some two hundred american citizens. then, covid cases surging-- the virus overwhelms hospitals with unvaccinated patients. we talk with doctor anthony fauci about the difficult path ahead. and, 20 years later-- 9/11 first responders reflect on the trauma of that day, and how it compares to the stresses of the current pandemic. >> this pandemic is this generation's 9/11. the stress is overwhelming.

the seeing death in many levels, it's the same type of experience. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has bn provided by: >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing

restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of intertional peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: president biden is ordering up to 100 million americans to get vaccinated for covid-19, or get tested weekly. his plan, announced this evening, is a bid to stem the surging delta variant. it affects private employers with more than 100 workers. it also mandates that federal employees and contractors get shots, with no testing option. the president had sharp words for the unvaccinated. >> we've made vaccinations free safe and convenient. has f.d.a. approval. over 200 million americans have gotten at least one shot. we've been patient, but patience is wearing thin and your refusal has cost all of us. just do the right thing. >> woodruff: we'll talk to the president's top infectious disease adviser, dr. anthony fauci, later in the program.

separately, today, the los angeles school board considered a vaccine mandate for students 12 and older who return to classrooms. it's one of the most aggressive measures yet in a major school district. republicans in the u.s. house of representatives are asking the supreme court to end proxy voting during the pandemic. minority leader kevin mccarthy said today it's not right that lawmakers stay home, and get paid, while other americans have returned to offices. democrats say proxy voting limits the spread of covid. in afghanistan, the taliban today allowed the first large- scale departure since last month's mass evacuations. an estimated 200 foreigners flew to qatar from kabul, including an undetermined number of americans. u.s. officials said they expect another flight tomorrow. we'll look at this, after the news summary. back in this country, the u.s. justice department sued texas

over a new law banning most abortions. it takes effect around six weeks into pregnancy, and lets private citizens sue anyone who helps in obtaining an abortion. attorney general merrick garland said it's a dangerous precedent. >> this kind of scheme to nullify the constitution of the united states is one that all americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear. if it prevails, it may become a model for action in other areas by other states and with respect to other constitutional rights anjudicial precedents. >> woodruff: the texas law is the most sweeping restriction since the u.s. supreme court upheld abortion rights in 1973. a federal judge in florida tay struck down a republican-backed law that targets violent protests. governor ron desantis championed the statute.

it says peaceful protesters may face criminal charges if there's violence during a demonstration. the dge called it an assault on constitutional rights. extremely hot,ry conditions have returned to much of california, raising the risk of new wildfires. a fire weather watch covers parts of the state through tomorrow. nearly 15,000 firefighters are already battling 14 major fires across the state. in the southeast, the problem is too much water. remains of tropical storm "mindy" poured rain over georgia and south carolina today, in areas already soaked by previous storms. in the pacific, hurricane "olaf" headed toward mexico's los cabos resort region with winds of 80 miles an hour. the u.s. food and drug administration banned sales today of nearly 950,000 vaping products. it cited their potential appeal to teenagers. but the f.d.a. allowed the best-

selling juul brand to stay on the market for now. the agency said it needs more time to complete its reviews. and, on wall street, worries aout the covid surge pushed stocks lower again. the dow jones industrial average lost 151 points to close at 34,879. the nasdaq fell 38 points. the s&p 500 slipped 20. still to come on the newshour: many louisianans still struggle without power and water in the wake of hurricane ida. the biden administration we talk to doctor anthony fauci about the latest surge of covid hospitalizations. plus much more.

>> woodruff: returning to afghanistan, and the first international commercial flight from the kabul airport since the taliban seized the country. the biden administration said americans and legal residents of the u.s. were on the plane, but they leave behind a country in a humanitarian crisis. ali rogin has the story. >> reporter: in kabul today, two hundred more people began a new chapter in their lives. they're heading to doha, qatar, and onward to a host country in the first large-scale departure since last month's withdrawal of foreign forces. but they leave behind an afghanistan on the brink of collapse. today the u.n. refugee chief called for substantial humanitarian support for the afghan people. >> there will be big issues the development assistance has been suspended and if you neglect them, the humanitarian crisis will increase and then you have big flows of people that make it out of the country.

>> reporter: this week the u.n. appealed for almost $200 million dollars in extra funding. the world health organization says 90% of clinics in afghanistan could soon close. medics have not received salaries in months, and hospitals are beginning to run out of medicine. >> this country is facing a severe, severe humanitarian crisis and the taliban don't have the answers for them for how to alleviate the suffering. >> reporter: ali mustafa is a reporter with trt world, that's turkey's national broadcaster, and is in kabul. he says afghanistan needs hard cash to address the humanitarian crisis. >> there is desperation on the streets. there are families that are arving. people haven't eaten for weeks now because they haven't been paid for months now. >> reporter: this week taliban spokesperson zabihullah mujahid announced a new interim government; an attempt to project normalcy.

it's now the taliban that must ensure stability, and security nationwide. in kuwait today, secretary of defense lloyd austin warned that al-qaeda could reemerge in afghanistan. >> i think the whole community is kind of watching to see what happens and whether or not al- qaida has the ability to regenerate in ghanistan. you know, we put the taliban on notice that that we expect for them to not allow that to happen. >> reporter: still, on the streets of kabul, afghan women continue to lead protests against the taliban takeover. yesterday in kabul, a taliban member used a whip to beat a woman during a demonstration. today two journalists said they were tortured by the taliban after covering the protests. >> ( translated ): when they treat journalists like this, it's possible that journalism will stop in afghanistan within a few months. it will be destroyed.

>> reporter: this week, a taliban spokesperson told australian tv that women's sports would be banned. >> ( translated ): islam and the islamic emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed. >> reporter: mustafa says the taliban is balancing a need to appeal to western governments, with the reality that many in its ranks remain conservative. >> if they come across as too moderate, half of their people will revolt against them because they were with the movement for 20 years based on certain action, certain principles, >> reporter: for now, the afghan people must live in that uneasy balance. for the pbs newshour, i'm ali rogin. >> woodruff: power is now restored to most of new orleans. but several hundred thousand people in southeast louisiana are still without.

consequently, the death toll has been rising. local officials say nine more people in new orleans have died of excessive heat, bringing the overall death toll in louisiana to 26. our community correspondent in new orleans, roby chavez, has been reporting on the difficult living conditions in some of these parishes. roby, good to see you again. thank you for being there and reporting. you were telling us yesterday you were in the community of lafitte, where they are still digging out. tell us a little of what you saw. >> today we're in st. charles parish, where hurricane ida, its eye came here, it sat for a couple of hours, and look at the damage. you can see these huge r.v.s flipped on their side. one fell on the red truck on the side here. we've seen this kind of damage along the coast where the wind and the surge has been great. we went to lafitte, a small village outside of norms, one of the best places you'll ever go.

it is still hurting. the folks are still trying to recover in that area. some of the power has come back on, the water, not all of it has receded yet, the national guard has brought in these huge pumps to try to get some of that water off of the roads, out of people's yards, and back into the bayou where it came. the weather has been a big issue. when it's not hot, it is just pouring down rain outside. we sat through a thunderstorm yesterday and just watched the water rise all over again. as we drove through lafitte, you can see the damage of the tidal surge. many of the homes were washed away. there were bulldozers scooping feet of mud and muck off of the road to get it out of the way so emergency crews can get through. we also saw that with folks, people trying to do their best, minding their homes, minding their driveways, shoveling it out just as you would do from a snowstorm, but inches of this thick, thick, mud. i have told you about the

cemeteries damaged in hurricane ida, a grisly scene seeing these damaged coffins laying in people's homes, in their front yards and under their carports. and people are gutting their homes. everything that belongs to them tornl and ripped out of the house, and put on the side of the road for garbage. those folks, they're just trying to take it day by day. >> just pick the pieces up and move on, you know. it's the first time in 18 years that i've been here that we actually got it like this, you know. obviously, you know, we just ripped everything. we just gutted the house. mold is starting to take off in the house. so, i mean, i'm fortunate enough to be able to, you know, go finance me a trailer-- i mean, an r.v., and put it in front of the house. that's all we can do. >> judy, so tough for so many people. i have to tell you, as we walked ound you couldn't get around without sinking in the mud up to your knees. >> woodruff: it's one community after another. you told us today you have been in lafache parish.

>> we saw a lot of damage there. the word of the day today is "power," trying to get as much power back on as possible. so far, only a trickle. nearly half of the homes are either uninhabitable or deemed that no one can live in there anymore. some apartment complexes have issued eviction notices. we also passed near the hospital, where there's a triage unit out in front of the hospital. the e.r. is still open, but operating in a parking lot under a tent. we went through one of the high schools that was damaged. those schools will be out for quite some time. we did notice a lot of power crews trying to put power back on in the early. nearly 2,000 people brought on. housing, clearly going to be an issue. so many people can't go back to their homes. today, the parish was tlking about rigging boats to the bayou there so folks can live on barges and in boats. >> woodruff: it's just stunning how much work still has to be done in that part of the state. robby chavez, again, thank you so much for your reporting. >> thank you, judy.

>> woodruff: the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives, or the a.t.f., is the federal government's leading agency for regulatinguns and for addressing gun violence. but it has been extremely hard, historically, to get the senate to confirm a permanent chief. today, president biden withdrew his nominee for the job. william brangham looks at what's behind that, and what's at stake. >> brangham: judy, this spring, the president nominated david chipman to head the bureau. chipman worked at the a.t.f. for 25 years before retiring in 2012. he then advised groups tha advocate for gun control, like everytown, and the giffords law center, which was started by gabby giffords. gabby giffords, the congresswoman from arizona who was shot in 2011. and when it and when it came to confirming

chipman, those affiliations were a problem for all of the republicans in the senate. even some moderate democrats expressed reservations. now, president biden must find a new nominee, and the bureau remains leaderless. alain stephens has long covered these issue for the website, the trace, which focuses specifically on guns in america. he joins me now. alain, great to have you on the newshour. david chipman, this is someone who spent a quarter century inside the a.t.f., and then advised these gun-safety groups. on paper, that seems like a natural nominee for a democratic president. and, yet, he's out. can you explain the specific resistance to him? >> so, part of this is jus because it's a very controversial position. in 2006, the national rifle association had successfully lobbied to remove the a.t.f. director from a presidential appointment and one that required congressional confirmation. since then, they've been in a

near-perpetual cycle of acting directors with only one confirmed director in the last 15 years in the form of b. todd jones under the obama administration. because of this, the the g.o.p. and its allies have been able to really kind of hamper any sort of director from getting confirmed time and time again. so it's already a controversial position. and so when you look athis and anyone who has covered the a.t.f. for some time, that is kind of par for the course to see this level of resistance. what was particularly interesting with biden's pick, however, was because the position is so controversial, historically, there's a tendency to pick safer candidates. and in this case, biden felt he was very confident to try to push forward one that has some strong and vocal gun-control support and for many democrats and independent congress members who are in gun-friendly state, that was just a bridge too far.

>> brangham: so the a.t.f. is, as you're saying, it's not unusual that it's been leaderless for a long time. but can you explain, practically speaking, from a policy perspective, what does it mean that the a.t.f. doesn't have a leader? >> right, so when you talk to the agents on the ground, you know, the issue that they kind of talk about is how they're an agency that's held hostage. and that's very unique for a federal law enforcement agency that, you know, because they are up for so much krocial public scrutiny, congressional public scrutiny, comparer baited due to the political polarization rur sounding guns, they're unable to advocate successfully for resources without a confirmed director. when you look at other federal law enforcement entities, like want f.b.i., they are able to artic lapt long-term plans, right. "we're going to tackle terrorism." we're going to tackle the cartels. for the a.t.f., they're not able to really do that. they're not able to articulate these kind of over-arcing public

safety issues and how they're going to address them. instead, they're very much in kind of a reactive cycle. and that really hurts them. that keeps them down on their number of agents, inspectors, and it's very hard for them to get a lot of resources and assets to even compete with their federal law enforcement counterparts. >> brangham: i know that u and your colleagues at the trace did some investigation into the a.t.f.'s inspection of gun stores around the country. what did you find in that investigation? >> we found a microcosm of exactly what we were just talking about here, that due to the political polarization and the la of resources because they've been leaderless and pretty much thout an advocate, that they were essentially afraid. they're afraid to come down on bad gun stores that they knew had failed inspections. they're very lethargic with that. going back to how this ties into an appointment of an a.t.f.

leader, actually, in 2007, right after this position bece a congressional appointed, or krocial confirmation position, the first people to essentially ri up and advocate to their congressmen to block bush's appointee were aually gun stores who had failed an inspection because their guns had been showing up in crimes. they had their license revoked. and they were able to kind of reach out, get their local congressman to raise issues about the potential a.t.f. leader, and actually, they created that cycle. and when you see this-- this confirmation go on, you actually see a lot of the same tactics being used, gun store owners and stuff like that, raising concerns. you know, and that is kind of just something that has historically gone on for, like i said, almost 15 years. >> brangham: i mean you and others have pointed out that the united states is unique in this ongoing epidemic we have of gun

violence in this country-- murders, suicides, mass shootings. and, yet, here we have the primary agency responsible for addressing that is essentially hamstrung. >> right. i mean, when i talk to people about just gun violence in america, one of the things that i kind of say is that, you know, we see a mass shooting, a major mass shooting in this country almost every other week. and on scene, we hear from, you know, the police chiefs. we hear from sheriff's departments. we hear from the f.b.i. but we don't hear from the a.t.f., and it's not because they're not on scene. they are. but it's because that fear of political scrutiny. and, again, tied to the political polarization around firearms in this country keeps them in a reactive state. and i think it's particularly interesting when you have a fedel law enforcement entity that is more afraid of congress, you know, essentially battling them or special interest

lobbying than they are about faing their fundamental public safety mission. >> brangham: alain stephens of the trace. thank you very much for being here. thanks for your reporting. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: as the country struggles with a surge of covid, the president is significantly ramping up his efforts to get more americans vaccinated. the plan he announced today would essentially require two- third of american workers to either get vaccinated or face weekly testing. the department of labor will draft new rules requiring that for all businesses with 100 workers or more. additionally, most federal employees will now have to be vaccinated. the president said he make testing more widely available and use the defense production act to do so.

and he called on governors to require teachers and staff to get vaccinated. mr. biden said covid's spread had left him little choice. >> the unvaccinated overcrowd our hospitals, are overrunning emergency rooms and intensive care units, leaving no room for someone with a heart attack or pan kritis or cancer. listen to the voices of unvaccinated americans who are lying in hospital beds, taking their final breath saying, "if only i'd knotten vaccinated. if only." 's a tragedy. please don't let it become yours. >> woodruff: with us once again is dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, and president biden's chief medical adviser. dr. fauci, welcome back to the newshour. it sounds as if president biden

is growing exasperated with people who are not vaccinated. is he? >> yes, he is, and i think that was very well manifested and expressed in his speech today. i mean, no doubt, we really do need to get more people vaccinated. and what he said is i think a good roadway to getting there. that's going to, you know, involve in total over 100 million people. so i myself am quite favorably impressed by that and feel strongly that that is what we should be doing. i mean, we've tried everything we can worry to get people vaccinated. we have the solution within our grasp, within our power. we just need to implement it, and that is what the president has said tonight in his speech, that we are going to implement that. and if that means more man dates, so be it. >> woodruff: these are some ambitious steps the president announced. i'll be candid, dr. fauci, i'm

already hearing from people saying wait a minute, we're already in the middle of this surge of the delta variant. hospitals-- some hospitals running out of space. shouldn't this have come earlier? what do you say to that? >> well, you know, judy i sayeús that is good, somebody's going to say, "why didn't you do it earlier?" it isn't as if we have not been pushing hard to get people vaccinated, making it easier. it's safe. it's easy. it's convenient. it's free. we've done all those things. we've used trusted messages to get out there. it isn't as if we've been sitting back thinking that things were going to happen spontaneously. so i would respectfully object to that particular appreciation or interpretation of this as being too late. it isn't. it's something that is important, and i'm very glad that the president did it when

he did it. >> woodruff: well, let me ask you about a number of the specifics in what the president announced. one part of this is to ask the labor department to draw up regulations. in essence, asking or demanding that employers with over 100 employees require the people who work for them to be vaccinated. how do you make sure that happens? >> well, i mean, you're-- coming from the president, you know, the department of lab makes these types of-- i wouldn't say pronouncements, but makes it very clear that through the department of labor-- i don't know, quite frankly, judy, how you enforce these pronouncements from the department of labor. but i'm sure that there is a way of doing that. i'm not privy to exactly how they're going to enforce it. but i'm sure there are going to be ways to do that. >> woodruff: and we'll watch and see what comes up on the of the labor department.

dr. fauci, even before today's announcement, we're already hearing from some republican political leaders who were saying that these kinds of moves, they were anticipating president biden making are "authoritarian, undermining confidence in vaccines." we heard from congresswoman kathy mcmorris rogers from washington state today, saying the president is using fear, control, and mdates, failing to put science first. >> well, judy, i totally disagree with that statement. that doesn't make any sense. failing to put-- science is the reason why you need to get vaccinated. so this is, in fact, putting science first. if you listen to the science, the science overwhelmingly indicates that you should get vaccinated. so anything that the president does to see that we do get vaccinated is following the science. so with allue respect to the people who are saying that, i

totally disagree with it. >> woodruff: let me ask you about another part of what the president discussed, and that is calling on the governors of all the states to require teachers and staff in the public schools to be vaccinated. do we know if th president has the authority-- or can he make the governors do this? how does that work? >> no, he cannot. and that's exactly why he worded it that way. he is encouraging the governors and the local authorities to get the people in the school system to get vaccinated. he doesn't exert an authority to do that. he's using the power of persuasion and his office as president to do that. and it was very clear from the wording of that, that that's exactly what he was doing. >> woodruff: and in your your-- i mean, you hear about this every single day. is there more that could be done right now? we are watching school systems around the country struggling with this, whether to stay open,

whether to close, whether to go to virtual, whether to be hybrid. ishere more that you think could be done right now? >> well, i think what we saw with the president's speech this evening, judy, was a big step in the direction of doing a lot. this was pretty clearly more than just incremental. this was saying-- and you heard the frustration in his voice-- enough is enough. we've got to get people vaccinated. we have within our grasp the capability and the tools to do it. so i think that this speech and what it represents is a very strong step forward in the direction of getting this done. >> woodruff: booster shots. the administration has talked about this. you've talked about it. we're now hearing complaints that the signals coming from the administration are confusing. at first it was we don't need boosters.

then it was, yes, we're going to have boosters september 20. and then it was only pfizer. where does that stand right now? >> well, we will have boosters. i'm-- i'm virtually certain of that. if you look at the evidence that's evolving, the cohort studies that the c.d.c. is following, to the very clear evidence we're getting from our israeli colleagues that the immunity, particularly against infection but in the israeli data, certainly also against severe disease, is waning, including in the context of the delta variant. we are also seeing they are boosting people. the boosting is highly successful in increasing dramatically the protection that one gets against serious disease and against infection. so as the time goes by and these

data roll out, i would be very surprised, judy, if you're not going to hear a very crisp, clear message about boosting. >> woodruff: and when do you think that will come? >> you know, it's-- on you know as the president said, and we all agree, it's going to be up to the f.d.a. to gather the data that's accumulated, both in our own country and from israel, to look at it and to make a regulatory determination as to the appropriateness and timing timingof a booster. then the advisory committee on immunization practices will look at that and make recommendations. and as soon as the data becomes available,s i'm certain that those agencies will act as expeditiously as possible. hopefully that will be very soon because this is something we want to see get implemented if in fact the decision is made. >>oodruff: as you know, dr. fauci, another aspect of the

booster issue is what the world health organization has been saying andleading and now, frankly, criticizing the united states and other nations for planning to move ahead with boosters. just yesterday, the head of the w.h.o., dr. tedrous-- and i'm quoting him. he said, "i will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers." in other words, why can't the rich-- richer countries wait until the poorer countries have more people vaccinated? because, after all, that's how the delta variant is spreading. >> well, judy, let's just take a look at what we in the united states are doing. we believe that we can do both, that we can get doses to the developing world, the low- and middle-income countries, tame as we implement a booster program here in the united states.

so let's take a look at what we're doing simultaneously. you and i are now talking about the program that will likely roll out to do boosts, the third shot, super-imposed on the shots. we're doing that. what we're simultaneously doing is we have given 130 million doses to 90 countries. we are giving a half a billion doses, 200 million of which will be given before the end of the year, 300 million will be given in the first half of 2022. we've given $4 billion, and the president is already talking about increasing the capacity of the countries-- excuse me, of the companies to make doses so that we can give them to the low- and middle-income companies. so if it was only doing it for ourselves with boosters, you would have a very good case that the w.h.o. is correct.

we shouldn't be doing that. but when we're doing the boosters at the same time as we are significantly increasing the number of doses to the low- and middle-income countries, that's proof that you can do both. i'm very sensitive, as all of my colleagues are, to the needs of low- and middle-income countries. but if you do both at the same time, then there's not an argument there. and that's exactly what's happening. >> woodruff: dr. fauci, you are working on this issue every day and for long hours. but i do have to ask you about more criticisms that we're hearing out there that the administration stopped doing-- providing enough testing. i know the presidentaddressed that today, said that's going to be ramped up. but there's been a big lag with regard to testing. there's also been a lag with regard to following the cases, breakthrough cases. the u.s. is depending on israel and other countries for their research. do you acknowledge that the

u.s.-- that this administration could have done a better job in these areas, in these critical last several months? >> judy, the one thing i've learned through many, many years of dealing with outbreak, and specifically for the last 20 months with this outbreak, any administration upon, under any circumstances, always could have done better. i don't think you can ever say that one did it absolutely perfectly. so you're talking about doing the tracing of people who have asymptomatic infections. yes, it could have been done better. you're talking about testing. of course it could have been done better. but you're seeing, 99 evening in the president's speech, addressing many of those things. if it can be you can do better and you don't pay any attention to that, that's bad. but if you realize you can do better, and you take the steps

to do better, that's a good thing. and i think that'shat you're seeing now. >> woodruff: dr. anthony fauci. we thank you as always for joining us. thank u. >> good to be with you, judy. thank you for having me. >> woodruff: as we continue to report on the human toll of the covid-19 pandemic, we're also marking e 20th anniversary of a very different kind of mass trauma: the septemr 11 attacks. john yang spoke to first responders and medical workers who have lived and worked through both, in the city that was the epicenter of both: new york. >> good morning handsome! >> what's up beautiful. >> yang: the door of jack delaney's long island home is always open. they share an unbreakable bond, forged in the smoke and flames

of the world trade center. >> this photo was taken about 30 seconds before tower 2 collapsed. in the front there leading the way is jack, and i would be back here. >> yang: 20 years later, the memories are still vivid. >> when i got back from ground zero, that was actually in my jacket pocket. >> yang: they were among the new york presbyterian hospital paramedics who raced downtown from manhattan's upper east side. >> it seemed like the top of the building kind of tilted, but then the entire sky went gray and there's just a moment where we all kind of looked at each other and kind of gave each other permission to do whatever we needed to do to survive. >> we ran for our lives as the buildings were coming down. tremendous dust you couldn't see in front of your face, but we were trying to find, i was trying to find the rest of my staff. >> yang: the remains of two of them were not found for months:

mario santoro and keith fairben. both delaney and episcopo nearly lost their lives as well, injured as the debris of the collapsing towers rained down on them. after freeing themselves, neither wanted to leave. >> during the day people were like, dude, you got to get out of here, you're hurt. and but then two of my guys actually physically removed. you gave me gave me no alternative and remove me from the pile and took me by ambulance back to cornell. >> we could see it and then we heard it. >> yang: a few blocks away, dr. antonio dajer and his team were told to prepare for mass casualties, but couldn't begin to imagine how many or how serious they would prove to be. dajer was the attending e.r. physician at this hospital that bright blue september morning. he was expecting nothi more than a routine tuesday. then a nurse ran in with the news that changed everything:

just a few blocks away, a plane had flown into one of the twin towers. >> the first badly injured patient i remember was a young woman who came in flying solo in a stretcher that i thought it was that i was seeing wrong. but as soon as i saw her, i knew we were in for mass trauma, that >> yang: and when the first tower collapsed... >> this vivid memory of a 10 story high dust cloud barrelg towards me. >> yang: the chaos eventually gave way to silence. >> so many families were coming around with posters and fliers for their loved ones. and that was a sacred moment of, you just needed to absorb it. u just needed to be quiet and try to bring them in and do what you could for them. >> yang: so busy doing what they could for their patients and the families of victims, dajer and his colleagues hadn't begun to process their own emotions. >> coming out of that was probably more traumatic for me, but seeing it on tv and seeing the worldwide reaction was, it was the first time i broke into tears.

coming out of that isolation or that sense of intensity of this one place with these people that i'm with and then reentering the world. >> yang: the first responders at ground zero reentered the world as changed people. >> i had to remain the rock. so i literally took my emotions and put them to the side and i had to be there to talk to staff that wanted to talk, i had to interact with the families. and i didn't realize how deeply i pushed my emotions away. >> yang: jack delaney's physical injuries forced his retirement, and both he and john episcopo still deal with the mental impacts of from that day. >> i used to have the dreams on a consistent basis, flashbacks, different parts. i woke up a couple of times with the smell.

>> yang: for episcopo and some other first responders, seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress wasn't easy. >> speaking to a therapist that's not in the business is difficult because there's certain it's like talking in a different language. i have to explain everything. but it definitely helped it kind of gave me the permission to not. to feel the emotions that that i felt . at least with 9/11, i think the stigma behind the mental health has been diminished. >> yang: new york-presbyterian hospital psychologist dr. joann difede has worked with 9/11 survivors to overcome that stigma. in september 2001, she was treating burn patients with p.t.s.d. after 9-11, her work became all the more urgent. difede pioneered using virtual reality therapy to transport her patients back to the sights and sounds of that day.

>> many people will tell you even to this day on a september day, and the sky gets a certain blue cast to it. they'll think if the world trade center, they learned that the blue sky was associated with a terrorist attack and something horrific and unimaginable. >> yang: by confronting their trauma, they were able to overcome it. >> so the process of learning the whole idea in these trauma simulations is you go over your trauma as if it were happening again in the present tense so that your brain starts to learn, you know, it's a september day. it's not it's not 9/11, 2001. >> yang: for many, the pandemic has meant a new kind of mental stress-- trauma that can be especially acute for frontline health care workers. >> 9/11 was such a short event, at least for us. it didn't test our endurance the way covid has. >> yang: as a paramedic on long island, episcopo has seen that fatigue first-hand. >> this pandemic is this generation's 9/11.

the stress is overwhelming, the scene, death in many levels, it's the same type of experience. there's no doubt in my mind that the rkers of mine and friends that were in the high working the street of the pandemic will end up developing p.t.s.d. >> yang: difede is working on a virtual reality program to treat frontline medical workers' trauma. >> the enemy was invisible, unlike the world trade center, where it was at least in one element, more visible. if youhink about our health care worker, some of my colleagues worked around the clock seven days a week for a very, very long time take. care of people who were gravely ill, many of whom died, they saw death more frequently than they had ever seen in their entire career. >> yang: episcopo and delaney

have lasting physical ailments from 9/11 and its aftermath: breathing in the toxic dust, smoke and fumes at ground zero puts them at higher risk of severe illness if they get covid-19. but they say that the threat of isolation during the pandemic was just as debilitating as the threat of the virus itself. >> the interaction is key to the mental health of the responder. that's what, at least for me, has what has helped me deal with and live through the aftermath of september. >> yang: and as much as the last 18 months have stressed health care workers, dr. antonio dajer says he's now seen another mass trauma event bring out the best in doctors, nurses and paramedics, and the city. >> you felt that sense of community again for that period when it happened that. they did have your back. they were getting food, i mean, there was there was a community

spirit that mimicked 9/11 to some extent, that this really was everybody in it together. >> yang: as they struggle through a different kind of calamity-- one whose memorials are yet to be built. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in new york. >> woodruff: our broadcast studio is just a few milesrom the pentagon here in washington. on 9/11, that iconic structure designed to project american military might was struck clear out of the blue, just like the twin towers. 184 people died both in the building and on american flight 77, excluding the hijackers. there are many more who escaped, and now we hear from one of them, whose story was brought to us by the warhorse, a non-profit newsroom focused on coverage of veterans and the military.

robert hogue worked for the marine corps, and he made it out after the plane crashed just below his office. >> starts out like any other day. marine corps, where i was working, of course, startsery early. i was the deputy counsel for the commandant at that time, a senior executive position, one of the very few civilians working on the senior marine staff. and it was also my one year anniversary. i was a little bit i was happy and kind of goofing around, you know, i called up my boss, you can't fire me now. i've made my probationary period, you know. but when i came into his office, he was talking to another attorney and they had new york on tv. and so it made things suddenly serious. but also there was a lot of confusion. nobody really knew what was going on. i was in and out of the office for the next almost hour, it seemed like. and then i happened to be in his office when the second plane flew in, hit the second

and then it's just... hard to describe, but i would just say that in a moment you knew that you were a nation at war. and i don't think anybody had any real idea who we were at war with. i had an administrator, chief and admin chief, a young corporal named tim garafola. he was a marine. i asked him to get the security status of the pentagon, thinking, hey, we're in the flight pattern for national airport. seems like a good idea. he called down in the security office and in the midst of all the running around, comes back into my office and reports the threat condition is normal, threatcon normal. and i said, that's obviously a mistake. you need to check like every five minutes, report back to me. and about 9:30 he came into my office and this is how many times it is. he showed up every five minutes and he says threat conditions still normal. and i jumped up from my desk.

and i just started to rant. you know, we're in the flight pattern for national airport, for christ's sake, you know? and i left my office, were in an interior suite. the office runs parallel to the west wall. and i turned to go to my office, my boss office, peter murphy. and right about time i got to the door, it was just, boom. the experience of being blown up is more like a lost time experience. i'm walking and then i'm over there, waking up on the floor kind of thing. i was very fortunate. i had been on the south side of the building and blown to the north side. i started to pick myself up. i reognized i'm looking through my boss' windows through a distance. i can see a tumbling cloud going up the other side of the windows. it's the-- it's a fireball. i say to corporal garafola...

"get us out of here." when the plane exploded, it pushed the fuel out into every crack it could find, of course. and because it had opened up a very large hole in the bottom of the building, it had plenty of oxygen to fuel the fire. our windows didn't blow out. the pentagon had just the pentagon had just been reconstructed and it had these blast proof windows put in. and god bless the guys who put those in. that saved our lives. i mean, the plane went into the building right under us. we were on the south side of the building, the side that's collapsing. we have to jump the crack to get to the other side, which we do. and then we gather ourselves there, and as this is happening, the floor continues to pull away. the south side, in which direction is the fourth corridor, which is the closest way out, but in order to but in order to get there, you have to run down this crumbling hallway. it looked a bit like a shooting gallery. it was not very inviting.

to the north side, which is the only other-- and that part of the pentagon, you can only go in these two directions, north or so south is not good. to the north side is the construction entrance. you see these tan pants appear ( laughs ) in the construction. tan pants appearing in the construction area and tan pants, the navy, navy chief probably, i'm thinking, and he starts to yell and even i can hear this. he's yelling as loud as he can. if you can hear my voice, you know, come this way, there's a way out. so now we know we can escape. and it occurred to me at that moment that we can't just run, even though i desperately, desperately want to run. but i said, no, we're going to search these offices. and i sent corporal garafola

into the first office. as soon as he left, you know, it's like a piece of me got carved out. i just felt like i was just a terribleistake. but he went in and i counted the ten and at ten i started in and practically ran into him coming out and he had found someone under a desk. so that is tim garofola saving a life. i had a pretty significant brain injury. and i was starting to struggle from the pressure inside my head and all the things that a massive concussion does to you. it starts to crowd out your thinking and-- anyway. we finally get ourselves out of the building, long story short. and joe baker had his phone with him, and he was trying to call his wife and he couldn't get her. i said, "let me try. i'll call cheryl." i called and she picked up. and i said, "we made it out.

we're in the parking lot we're we're safe. we're going to come home. and planning for the war started really the next day in a conference room at the navy annex. and i took a call from a guy named robert barrow, who was a former marine, as he told it. and he was volunteering. he was a very old and he was volunteering to carry a rifle. and i thought, wow. you know, where do you get these guys? as it turns out, barrow was a former commandant who was very elderly and infirm and i think very sincerely was oering to do one more thing for his country.

well, i had the privilege of serving alongside marines for almost two decades. and i think what i'd want people to know is it's not what it seems. it's not what it seems like in the press. it's not what it seems like on tv. it sure as heck is not what it seems like in the movies. the corps-- and i think all the services-- are trying to prepare themselves to do an awful mission that everybody hopes they never have to do. it's an organization, imperfect, trying to do a very hard thing. and they need help. and they need understanding. they need time and the patience of the public. and i think the gratitude of the public as well. >> woodruff: and robert hogue, we're going to let your words speak for themselves. we are so grateful to you and

everyone who represented the united states on that terrible, terrible day. 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 we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> architect. bee-keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

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