jon lapook on assignment for "60 minutes." >> lapook: 20 years ago, scientists stunned the world whenthey had decoded the genes that make up a human being. they hoped to use that genetic blueprint to advance something called gene therapy which locates and fixes the genes responsible for different diseases. as we first reported last year, a clinical trial at the national institutes of health is doing exactly that, in an attempt to cure sickle cell anemia-- a devastating genetic disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year. for 15 months, we followed the scientists, and patients, who are ushering in a genetic revolution. >> jennelle stephenson: i'm excited. >> ray stephenson: today is the big day. >> lapook: it's the day after christmas, 2017, and 27-year-old jennelle stephenson has come with her father and brother from florida to the national institutes of health, just outside washington, d.c. >> jennelle stephenson: good morning. >> dr. john tisdale: good morning. >> lapook: she's one of a small group of patients to receive an infusion containing alte

jon lapook continues our series, "racing to a cure." >> reporter: it is the >> it is the governm t on the rac biggest bet yet on the race to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. as part of the u.s. government's operation warp speed program, novavax is getting $1.6 billion to manufacture 100 million doses. but with a vaccine still if trial, there is no guarantee it

jon lapook continues our series, "racing to a cure." >> reporter: it is the >> it is the governm t on rac biggest bet yet on the race to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. as part of the u.s. government's operation warp speed program, novavax is getting $1.6 billion to manufacture 100 million doses. but with a vaccine still if trial, there is no guarantee it will work. a> if one of those vaccines doesn't turn out to be safe and effective, you have to throw out all of those doses that were made. >> the risk we are taking is to gain months so we will be able to have it ready. and if we lose that, we are only aysing money. >> reporter: dr. anthony fauci says this is not like a measles vaccine, which usually lasts for many years. >> we may need a boost to continue the protection, but right now we do not know how long it lasts. >> reporter: vaccines stimulate the body to make infection- fighting proteins called ns called ant another approach is to create eategner antibodies in the lab. designer antibodies in the la >> they're just trying to make very functional antibody that neutralizes t

jon lapook, cbs news, south chatsbiry, vermont. >> o'donnell: president trump's campaign will stronglyncourage masks at the president's next event, an outdoor rally set for saturday at portsmouth, new hampshire. this after two highly charged holiday speeches where the president attacked racial justice protestors and today defended the confederate flag. cbs's ben tracy is at the white house tonight. good evening, ben. >> reporter: norah, president trump declared via tweet today that schools must reopen in the fall despite the surge in new coronavirus cases across the country. he's also increasingly making race-based appeals to his supporters. instead of focusing on the increasingly dire rise in coronavirus infections, president trump went after nascar's only full time african- american driver, bubba wallace today. demanding he apologize in falsely accusing him of perpetuating a hoax when as into was found in his garage last month, it was later determined wallace was not being targeted. >> this was not a hate crime and he believes it would go a long way if bubba came out and acknowledged

lapook and dr. fauci should say, be kind, wear a mask.in the morning and you say to yourself you want to -- you want to treat people the way you want them to treat you and i want people to be kind to you because i am a kind person. >> what comes around, goes around. >> i agree with you. but i think jon lapook had the best line of the movie -- the best line of the morning when he said #dontkillgrandma. maybe that says a lot about who we are as a people. we don't need that hashtag. >>> moving on, "hamilton" star david diggs is asking americans to look at independence day through a different lens. he narrates a new video "knockout" written by a group of black writers called "what to my people is the fourth of july." >> what to my people is the fourth of july. my people who are failed every day by every country, sleepless in the long nights terrorized by fireworks, we have cried salt baths for our kin. look at all we have borne for you, arms, asweetest fruits, children, we are on the front lines. help me, tell me, what do we tell the children

jon lapook joins us now. we're so hung up on six feet, six feet, six feet.ay the particles can go 30 feet. does that mean if somebody is 30 feet away from me that i can get it from 30 feet out now? >> potentially. the aerosolization process itself with the tiny, you know, five micron particles floating out, drying out. it's rough on the virus but we have seen instances where it looks like that happens. for example, in superspreader events. remember the choir in washington state where one person looks like they infected 52 others. and it doesn't look like it could have been totally on the basis of just droplet, within 6 to 8 feet. >> yes, i also heard the scientist say it doesn't just stay -- drop to the ground that it can linger in the air. how are we supposed to move in the world? what are we supposed to do? >> i think, you know, the scientists i spoke to like kim prather said, don't be afraid of this. this is an opportunity. now that we know there's an issue, we can try to listen to it. for example, in buildings, we need to make them healthier. improve the

jon lapook. >> what was interesting about this study is that, even given the fact that so many people have likely had covid 19 without having any symptoms or without having any diagnosis officially made, still, it implies that the vast majority of americans have still not been infected. >> reporter: and while a new study found effective social distancing with masks and hand washing could stop large outbreaks. big pharma companies continue their race toward a vaccine. executives from astrazeneca and pfizer predicted millions of doses could be delivered by the end of the year. >> we have a line of sight on a clear, critical path to be able to deliver up to 100 million doses of commercial-scale vaccine products in 2020, and up to 1.3 billion doses of our vaccine in 2021. >> meanwhile, california just passed 400,000 covid cases and the city of los angeles is bracing for the possibility of another stay-at-home order. mireya villarreal, cbs news, dallas. >> reporter: i'm manuel bojorquez in florida where the debate over reopening schools continues. >> i understand many parents are against i

jon lapook. >> the science is clear.ear a mask, practice social distancing, and in general, outdoors is safer than indoors, because outdoors there's improved ventilation for and less opportunity for viruses to be spread through the air. >> reporter: for businesses like this galveston restaurant, it won't be the weekend it usually is, and the owner is fine with that. what do you think of the beaches being closed? >> well the beacheveer got open, noense to the outsiders or tourists. >> reporter: los angeles, san francisco and dallas are a the cities that have canceled fireworks. new york has been doing smaller displays throughout the week. one fireworks company that haually does 30 shows on the 4th, this year has six. margaret. >> brennan: janet shamlian. if you celebrate, celebrate safely. thank you. there is new outrage tonight in aurora, colorado. three police officers there have been fired and a fourth resigned after they posed for photos mocking a deadly chokehold procedure on a black man. cbs's jamie yuccas tonight w

jon lapook. >> let's talk about face masks.e learned that people with few or no symptoms could shed coronavirus and infect others. that meant we could no longer rely on the simple advice to stay home if you're sick. so health officials advised wearing face masks to prevent people with covid-19 from spreading it to others. but many have close 7 not wear masks for a variety of reasons, including people not realizing, or not caring, that they might get infected and be fine, but they could spread the virus to somebody else who could die. and earing a mask became entwined with politics, rejected by many as an infringement on their rights. >> here is the science that explains why wearing a mask is so important. when we cough or sneeze, larger airborne droplets containing virus can travel, usually up to about six feet. but we now know smaller particles can be emitted simply by talking or singing and can go much farther and linger in the air for hours. >> the center force disease control says respiratory spread of coronavirus between p

lapook. >>> ahead, we'll talk to one of john lewis' closest friends.tory >>> this morning's yip opener at 8:00 is spongered by the capital one walmart rewards card. what's in your wallet? wallet? >>> we have much more news ahead. from selma to montgomery, bill plant was a young cbs news reporter sent to alabama in 1965 to cover john lewis and the march. >> what happened that day in selma registered very sharply the conscience of the nation. >> coming up in a special reporter's notebook, plant looks back at the lasting influence of the civil rights legend whom he covered for more than five decades. you're watching cbs this morning. he may be the one getting the test, but we both live with the results. [announcer] you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit now. ♪ five dollar. ♪ five dollar footlong. ♪ piled high with veggies. the new barbecue rib, or any footlong, is just 5 dollars when you buy 2. only in the subway® app. my father my grandmother my brothers and sisters my friends for going back to school the bbq the lake the beach my place for my neig

jon lapook, sent us this video clip of carl reiner greeting lear at a party in 2000. >> it's stranget's a gem that little bit of photography of him hugging me, because that, in a sense, is the essence of carl also. >> reporter: it sounds like he loved being with his friends. >> there was never a better friend. "the l.a. times" obit talked about pure joy, and that's what he brought to everything -- pure joy. the sun is pretty incredible. it makes lipton green tea better. and these lemons better. which makes this taste better. you definitely need the sun for that. and that... with antioxidant vitamin c and 50% fewer calories. choose lipton green tea today. w♪when you have nausea,n c ♪upset stomach, diarrheaon,♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief and now, get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with new pepto bismol chews. sounds like a really good deal- jake, from state farm at 3 in the morning? who is this? its jake, from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? -uh-khakis. like a good neighbor, state farm is there. neuriva has clinically

jon lapook. >> there's been mixed messaging about the need to wear face masks. think the default on a national level should be to wear a face mask. >> you can't let your guard down. it takes that one slip-up to not wear your mask, not wash your hands. >> reporter: michelle zymet says she and her four children and husband all tested positive for coronavirus. her 21-year-old son likely brought the virus home after getting together with some friends who were lax about wearing masks. her husband john is now on a ventilator. >> i know your 21-year-old son feels a lot of guilt. what do you tell him? >> i mean, his dad loves him very much. we all love him. it's not that we're blaming him. we could have caught it anywhere. he's got to pull through. there's no other way because i'm not going to tell his 6-year-old daughter that her daddy is not coming home. it's just not going to happen. >> reporter: this is the 19th morning that john is in the icu fighting for his life. florida remains a state where the governor refuses to institute a national mandate for masks statewid