Midmorning With Aundrea - July 15, 2020 (Part 1)

(Part 1 of 2) We take a look at what's driving our national coin shortage.

And even though COVID-19 cases may be surging in many parts of the country, there are some locations where the virus hasn't hit at all.

We'll visit one Texas town without a single known case.And in Shreveport, Louisiana, we'll see how a city once mired in racial division and strife has become an oasis of harmony and community.

We'll be right back.

By now most people have some form of a face covering that they keep in the car to use in public.

And while personal protective equipment - or ppe - is no longer in short supply, some people enjoy making their own gear to keep them safe during the coronavirus pandemic in this tech minute, cnet's kara tsuboi gives us some inspiration and tutorials for how you can make high tech gadgets to keep you safe.

A face mask is just the beginning of things you can make at home to keep you and your family protected during this coronavirus pandemic.

Here are some other ways people are getting crafty with safety in mind.

If you have access to a 3d printer, there are all sorts of gadgets you can create to make those face masks more comfortable.

My cnet colleagues have built magnetic clips, ear savers and strap clips to help keep those masks wearable all day long.

The 3d printer can also fabricate parts for face shields.

A simple google search can turn up printing instructions or visit cnet.com.

If you don't have a 3d printer and would like to invest, the da vinci mini w plus starts at a little over two hundred dollars.

By now, we all know that we shouldn't touch our faces in order to minimize spreading germs. the nasa jet propulsion laboratory has released instructions to make a wearable sensor that vibrates when your hands get too close to your face.

It's called the pulse and it relies on basic electrical supplies and a little tech know- how.

Find the instructions at jpl-dot-nasa-dot- gov and search for pulse.

But if these sound a bit complicated and you'd rather stick to making fabric masks, there's a ton of online tutorials from everyone from joann fabrics to the centers for disease control and prevention.

For more techy tips and tricks, visit cnet.com.

I'm kara tsuboi with cnet for cbs news.

If the list of problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic wasn't long enough, here's one more.

There is a shortage of coins in different parts of the country.

Nancy chen explains why.

Getting change at the store may be difficult these days.

Quiktrip is one of many businesses experiencing a shortage of coins.

There are signs posted asking customers for exact change... and if they don't have it, any money back will be in the form of a gift card.

It's not an isolated problem& across the country companies are warning customers they're low on change.

The covid pandemic is the reason why.

When retail stores were forced to shutdown the u-s circulation of coins slowed down dramatically.

At the same time the u-s mint had to cut production of ánewá coins because of staffing changes to keep workers safe.

The federal reserve then put limits on how much change banks would be given.

Now that stores are back open many can't get enough coins from banks and are asking consumers for help.

"just saw the sig so rather than take them to the bank we just brought them in here."

Quiktrip says customer contributions have eased the problem... but elsewhere shortages continue.

A 7-eleven in michigan offered shoppers with five dollars in coins ..

Cash and a free slurpee.

Banks are also asking the public to open up their piggy banks.

"if you have larg amounts of coin at home take them to your bank and have them run and then just get the cash, you still have the same amount of money and we have coins to circulate out."

The u-s mint has been able to ramp up production to 1 point 5 billion coins a month.

The federal reserve expects the shortages to ease as the economy opens up more... but's not clear when that will be.

Nancy chen, cbs news, new york.

Imagine a community with no covid.

As corona virus cases soar, at least least 26 states have paused or pushed back plans to re-open.

But there are scattered parts of the country that remain untouched by the virus - with no cases at all.

Janet shamlian visited one of them.

.

With pumpjacks drawing oil and cattle grazing, there's no mistaking this is texas.

But unlike most of the state, mcmullen county - an hour south of san antonio - is a rare refuge from the pandemic.

Of the state's 254 counties, just eight are covid- free..

Mcmullen is one of them.

We blame it on luck sometimes, we blame it on just being blessed..

County judge james teal says it's not for a lack of testing..

They're available here.

The likely reason..

Low-density.

Mcmullan county is a lot like the boot hill cemetery that's located here - sparsely populated.

The region is about 800- thousand acres..

But only 800 residents.

But it's not exactly desolate..

But it's not exactly desolate..

A busy highway runs through the county, right past max's cafe..

..where plenty of out-of-towners stop for lunch - increasing the risk of spread.

Waitress kimberly kubish.

You require masks in the restaurant?

No.

And you wear one in the restaurant?

No.

And you're not worried about covid?

No.

None of us, none of us wear one.

There's no requirement they do..

The governor's mask order applies only to counties with 20 or more cases.

So how has mcmullen stayed virus free?

I like to say there's some magic, i love to say it's the food we serve here but that's not the case when zero is a winning number... a rural community, part of an enviable club.

Janet shamlian, cbs news, mcmullan county, texas.

Just ahead, how one southern city is working to move forward.

So how does a diverse - and divided - urban area transform itself into a real community?

Perhaps by learning from the example - years in the making - set by some residents of shreveport, louisiana.

Lee cowan reports.

-- september 1988 - shreveport louisiana.

20 year old william david mckinney - had been fatally shot by a white teenager - racial tensions already simmering, boiled over.

"...water hoses... there were fires, there was looting, and in the aftermath - pleas for change.

"shreveport i still a racist city.

It's still a divided city!"

"we're sitting on powder keg in this community and nobody wants to come to grips with it."

"...train horn... 32 years later - that powder keg - is exploding with yards signs that say 'we care' - they're everywhere.

"everybod around here is like family.

And that's what' neighborhoods is for - is to help one another."

Through the streets... "these are m people guys.

These are my people."

...white and black join together to walk the neighborhood&.an d pray for it.

"we know that yo have the united states of america on your heart lord..."

These were the scenes before george floyd - and while shreveport has been changed like just about every city by his death - what hasn't changed - in the belief of a shreveport pastor that communities torn down by bigotry, segregation, and poverty - could be built back up - simply by neighbors caring for neighbors.

"we can emai people all over the world, and we don't know whose living and drying four houses away from us."

Mack mccarter invited us to shreveport back in february.

He's a proud native of this city - he left to go to seminary - and didn't return for years - but when he did - he set up shop in allendale - the "bottoms" as so used to call it - a gritty neighborhood long plagued by crime and drugs.

"what did peopl think when they saw you walking down these streets?"

"well, so i drov down // 10:32:38 and i thought, "goo heavens, i'm going to die.

// 10:32:48 but i pulled over and stopped // 10:32:56 and then went up to their shotgun row house, knocked on the door, and said, // there's a group of us that believe if we'll get to be friends then we can change this city."

And not man doors opened."

Not at first - but he kept knocking - and something started to happen.

"i saw friendshi overcome // our racial divide.

I saw it overcome our socioeconomic divide.

I saw it overcome the fact that we had been strangers.

And for sure i saw it overcome fear."

The experience was so impactful- that he set up a non-profit called community renewal international - a faith-based organization that's been making friends out of strangers for more than 25 years.

"good to see y girl.

Good to see you too how's that baby?

Good..."

He hired those who believed as strongly as he did -- "hey there alright man.

You in a hurry?"

That an outstretched hand - could work wonders.

"if we don't d something to restore those relationships and restore that love from person to person, then america's gonna collapse.

We are going to fail."

"you all mak yourself at home baby.

Make yourself at home."

ááá emmett and sharpel welch live in what's called a friendship house - it's part private residence - part community center.

The goal here is to mentor - to solve problems street by street - replacing police presence with the watchful presence of friends.

"government i not gonna come down and // model loving your neighbor to stressed and blighted neighborhoods.

They're just not-- they can't do that.

We have to do it."

"...guitar music... the welch's' have taken 7 children from the neighborhood - raising them as their own - that's what's happening on one side of the friendship house&.

"keep stirrin celeste..."

The other side - is open to anyone in the neighborhood needs it - and those who show up the most - are teens.

"your challenge i not to become who you despise..."

They started a youth club - but it's hardly your average after- school program.

"how many of yo know somebody who's been arrested, or in jail, or in prison?

."

"we spent tim goin' to the local-- judicial system, gettin' kids out of handcuffs.

We're goin' to parent meetings.

We're goin' to see the principal, to put 'em back in school after suspension.

We were just doin' a lot of work.."

That kind of help is sometimes rejected - but not when it comes from inside the community.

That's what made the different for lakyra burks.

"we care abou our community, we care about our neighbors.

And if we didn't have those things, who would we lean on?"

"my dad got kille when i was two..."

Teirney turner has watched the stability the welch's have brought - become infectious.

"the whole insid of my life got changed.

Introduced me to the world and what i can do better to not have that situation happen to me, or my future husband or my family."

Since community renewal moved in - crime has moved out - it's dropped by more than half in allendale.

Graduation rates are up - home ownership is up - lawns are mowed, trash is picked up.

Skeptical?

So is everybody.

"you know, som people watching this are gonna say, "it's just to simple."

"just anothe fluffy program, yeah."

"not even fluffy that it's just-- it's gotta be-- it's gotta be more that..."

"be more to it yeah.

..."

"right?

Yeah.

"and to thos people, i dare them to try it.

Sharpel: to try it.

// 19:04:55 i get the cynical people.

I get the people who say it's gotta be more to it than that.

And so i will challenge them.

And i have done it.

Get to know everybody on your street.

First name, last name, something about them that you didn't know before.

Start there."

"human being have faults and problems and heartaches and failures you know whether you're rich or poor."

Mccarter has expanded the program - into some of shreveport's wealthiest neighborhoods.

"i can tell yo where i was, is not where i am now."

Paige hoffpauir lives in a community - where stately homes line a private golf course.

"it might loo good, but that doesn't mean it is good."

She realized the only thing residents in this gated community had in common - was the gate.

"it's painful to liv not know your neighbor."

Isolation can be a real thing - even in a crowded sub- division.

"we just want t welcome you today to your own neighborhood, but just another house."

"...piano music... yes - her block party looks different than the one in allendale...but many of the same people were here - and for the same reason.

"the answers t all of what's going on in the world, it's in us.

The solutions are in us."

But if we keep them there, no one will ever know.

"random acts o kindness, that's a great bumper sticker.

It will not stop the disintegration of community.

It has to be intentional acts of connected caring."

Mack mccarter is no push over - he gets the idea it's hard to grasp - it's even harder to fundraise for an organization whose slogan is simply we care.

But he believes to his core - that caring can not only be cathartic - it might just change the world.

"lee, i am living / 11;29:47 for the hope that one day, one day in the human race, some granddaughter, some child is gonna say // 11:30:04 what's hate?"

An i'm livin' for that day."

Roll down the window and crank up the sound.

Drive in concerts are suddenly all