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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Midmorning With Aundrea - June 9, 2020 (Part 1)

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Midmorning With Aundrea - June 9, 2020 (Part 1)
Midmorning With Aundrea - June 9, 2020 (Part 1)

(Part 1 of 2) The U.S. Digital Service is at the center for the response to COVID-19.

We'll discuss how it works.

And robots are taking over the workplace to help disinfect hospitals and airports.And we meet young activists who have thrown their support behind the protest movement.

For"t "the u-s digit service" is on government program you may not of heard about.

But it's at the center of the response to covid- 19.

The service has embedded experts in technology throughout federal agencies.

Major garrett got a rare inside look at how it works.

I just want to show you a couple of additional slides when top white house officials need statistics from the coronavirus taskforce&the number crunching starts in one of washington's least known agencies often times that data is derived from or even prepared by the us digital service matt cutts, administrator of the us-ds, leads a team of software and data specialists who track everything from infection rates to face masks we've got folks slotting in at all kinds of places from the va to cms, the center for medicare and medicaid services.

We visited the usds offices, just steps from the white house, during the earliest days of the pandemic...to witness how government techies can speed up federal action.

12:15:10 it might be everything from figuring out how we can enable remote work, // to-- trying to help with procurement,/// we even had somebody who was at the cdc during ebola, and so he's trying to figure out how we can figure out a little bit about, you know, hospital bed capacity.

President obama founded usd's after his healthcare website kept crashing.

Even before coronavirus, the trump white house embraced the initiative.

This is the obama agency the president loves.

You know, i view us as nonpartisan.

/// and our mission is pretty simple: try to do the most good for the most people who need it the most.

And we're bringing technology to bear to help that happen.

Cutts was employee 71 at google...there are now more than 120,000.

In 2016 he chucked seniority and stock options for a stint in public service& i signed up for a three to six month tour and i'm coming up on four years at this point.

Now he recruits from the digital world's biggest companies.

So i meet you and i'm working at company x and i have a salary // and you say, "you know the thing you really wanna do is come to washington and work in a bureaucracy /// major, have you ever considered a tour of public service?

Right, okay, that's it.

That's where it starts.

That's where it starts, /// you can ask if they have a mom or a dad or if they are a veteran.

You can ask whether they've ever had student loans and need help tryin' to figure out how to repay them.

// we all need to make the federal government work well.

That resonated with david holmes... who saw work on a student loan wizard change the life of someone in his own family.

200311óusdsódavi d holmes a cam i sent it to them and they did it and then they found out they qualified for loan rehabilitiation, they were able to get out of student loan default, and then that shot up their credit they were able to get a car and a better job, usds has modernized medicare systems currently stressed by surging user demands during the pandemic.

The system that pays out $2 billion a day for medicare-- runs on a mainframe that's 40 years old, and there's something like 14 million lines of cobol involved in that.

/// that sounds like a problem to me-- well-- it could be better.

/// like, we have an issue where cobol programmers aren't just retiring, some of them are dying.

Gina maini is working on that project with cms& i think of a world where my elderly father isn't bombarded with a million bills while his wife is dying... and it's personal& i think after my mom died and i was so frustrated with medicare, it really... it was a real world experience you had with it.

Yeah, i think it refocused my passion to be here at a time when the agency is modernizing /// /// is this job sort of like painting the golden gate bridge?

It is a little bit /// right now in the federal government, there are systems that are 20, 30, 40 years old.

So if we can get the 40 year old system replaced with a five year old system, i would be happy to be in a golden gate mode.

/// and is your team basically drinking out of a firehose every day?/ there is a lot for technologists to do in government right now.

The coronavirus pandemic shutdown thousands of businesses.

Now that places are re-opening companies are trying to figure out how to do it safely and some are embracing the latest technology.

Nichelle medina reports.

These drones could be a valuable player when sports fans eventually return to the stands.

The eaglehawk company developed the flying machine to spray covid killing disinfectant around stadiums and arenas in just a couple of hours.

"doing it with th drone, having the drone carry the spray equipment is much more efficient, so we can cover large sections of seats very quickly."

A number of business are embracing technology to keep coronavirus at bay.

This robot at hong kong international airport sprays disinfectant and uses u-v light to kill viruses.

At pittsburgh international airport this self driving cleaning machine is equipped with u-v technology.

So is this robot that a company in belgium is developing.

It can disinfect a hospital room in a matter of minutes.

"this robot i really unique on the market.there's no other - as far as we know - concept that is similar that brings both the uv-c light together with the robot that drives itself in a room."

This mall in thailand has a robot that monitors shoppers by taking their temperature.

And in south korea smart machines are serving coffee.

Customers order at a kiosk.

The robot barista can create some 60 different kinds of drinks.

Tables are placed at a distance and an autonomous cart is used to deliver the order.... no human workers required.

The business behind the hi-tech brew plans to open another 30 cafes in south korea in the coming months.

Nichelle medina, cbs news, san diego.

With masks the new norm in many areas..

You're probably aware they are not always comfortable and can irritate your skin.

Naomi ruchim has advice on how to keep your skin healthy.

Across the country - front line health care workers are sharing photos like these& showing what can happen after wearing a mask for hours at a time.

Kelly: these little bumps all around their mouth or they have breakouts on their chins.

Mandy: constantly washing my face, constantly.

Jill: the itchiness, the redness.

Some nurses have coined the term "co-zits"& othe are calling it "maskney.

I love that word because it's so true.

I would have little breakouts around my mouth, which never really happened, so it was kind of weird, but i knew that's exactly what it had to be from.

With many areas now encouraging people to cover their faces in public, many of us are also dealing with skin irritation.

Dermatologist dr. rajani katta at baylor college of medicine says when selecting a mask, it's important to choose the right material for your skin type.

If you're prone to acne, you might want to stay away from things like polyester that traps wet and that might lead to acne outbreaks.

On the other hand, if you've got sensitive skin or if you have a tendency to eczema, then you might want to think about softer fabrics, maybe something more like cotton.

Washing those reusable masks regularly is critical because they collect sweat and microbes from your skin.

:i'm recommending fragrance free laundry detergent for all of my patients with sensitive skin.

And even for some of them that don't have sensitive skin because fragrance could be irritating.

Use hot water to wash and high heat to dry& to kill off all those germs. and dr. katta reminds that washing your face and using a good moisturizer is key for healthy skin.

Naomi ruchim, cbs news.

Dr. katta also recommends avoiding applying thick makeup under a mask if possible and, if you're not prone to acne, use a thick lotion to create a barrier between your skin and the mask.

It's a new generation there is a new generation of civil rights activists-- committed to picking up the torch.

Cbs's jim axelrod spoke with two young men about their work-- and their hopes for the future.

In o'fallon missouri& ryan staples was about to lead a protest march when he saw the police chief tim clothier and i said, lock arms with me chief and lets go.

// that must have been quite a moment for you.

It was probably the best moment i've ever had in my entire life.

Just four days before..

This 18 year old graduated high school.

So i was at work and i just pulled out my phone and i saw a lot of violence occurring in cities across the nation.

And i talked to my friends and i was like, hey, guys, i'm going to start a protest.

And they were like, oh, really?

Hoping to become a civil rights lawyer& staples relies on the past to chart his future.

It just felt so empowering to realize that i am doing what my ancestors did before me.

And i'm a part of the change that's coming.

I mean, this has probably been one of the toughest weeks of my life.

Mike griffin has been working on that change for the last 15 years as a community organizer in minneapolis.

I'm going to be out there in these streets every single day protesting, organizing and getting people to vote because we have structural problems in america..

Griffin thinks of his 92-year old grandfather..

A minister ..

And a leader of the montgomery bus boycott 65 years ago.

What is your connection in your head and your heart to past protesters?/ black folks in this country has advanced through being well organized, through protesting and through voting.

Protest in america is in our dna.

It's certainly in ryan staples' the youth is so passionate about change in society that they just need someone to spearhead it.

On the streets of america this week..

That th this year, high school graduates have celebrated their milestone with drive-through diplomas, virtual events and front yard ceremonies.

But there probably is no other family that celebrated this way.

Take a look.

Look live intro& don ford, "it's bee quite a family celebration!

Ana and her dad both graduated at the same time, from the same high school!

&that's different."

Gathered in their living room to watch the virtual graduation... nats& the solano family celebrated daughter and dad& ana solano - piner 20 graduate, " also graduated alongside my dad!

Yeah!!

Who got his ged yeah!

Yeah, and i never really imagined that his first born daughter would be like, both of us graduating at the same time."

Rafael solano and his wife martha immigrated from mexico nearly thirty years ago&he stands proudly with his daughter and wife holding his new diploma&ana celebrated her dads never give up spirit and her moms devotion to education with special mexican decorations on her cap& ana solano - piner 20 graduate, "i says," decendient de padres mexicanos ellos me que los suenos se hacen realidad" which is, "decaden of mexican parents and they taught me that my dreams, or any dreams can come true.'

Yes!

They did!."

Her dad, rafael is modest about his new diploma&he prefers to talk about his daughter& rafael solano - received his diploma too, "i was a fun day.

We had a little bbq before we sat down to watch the video on tv of all the graduates from piner high school" aftwards was a street celebration that was anything but modest&a parade of cars honking, some with signs congratulating them both on a job well done&the american dream is still alive&in santa rosa&df kpix 5 when we come back, a look at many military veterans who ácome homeá from their service carry internal wounds that can damage them forever.

Dean reynolds shows how songwriters are helping some of them recover, with the power of music.

From this building in nashville -- and the recording studio inside -- come the sounds of healing.

It's the music of redemption -- words of renewal... from america's traumatized soldiers.

It's called operation song... a joint effort with the veterans administration ... to turn trauma into treatment... and give a voice to those who've suffered in silence...placing them with real songwriters to make their stories heard.

We joined them before the pandemic hit.

: i buried many things.

: you wanna talk about the things you buried?

: no.

Bryan zambiasi was a marine from 1987 to 1993.

After discharge he fell into a deep ... suicidal depression& : i was labeled many different things.

I was highly medicated, you know, many pills every day.

: and that medication worked?

: it made me numb.

I really don't know where to start.

Uhm.

Just start from the beginning i here to write your song.

I am here to wrote your story.

Operation song paired zambiasi with singer songwriter jason sever.

A couple suicide attempts and all that.

Really?

Paddles.

It was pretty bad.

Gosh, man//oh, mom in just four hours: a song emerged, and a catharsis.

"way down in al my misery..

Going over my regrets" okay?

That hit me... the immediate result of what music does and how powerful it is, is something that is really cool to witness.

So far the stories of more than 800 men and women have been told this way.

I'm sorry.

No it's good .

It's good.

Nats/music and while it's impossible to know if this will have a lasting impact... for one weekend at least... the darkness part and the light breaks through.

: "that makes tw of us."

Dean reynolds, nashville.

When we come back, dining

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