Promised to spend 4 billion to make their workplaces safer and keep their products moving. What does that look like . 60 minutes was invited in to see. They can take someones temperature that fast. ticking 60 minutes has spent the last year and a half investigating buildityourself firearms called ghost guns. This is a firearm that was manufactured by a licensed manufacture. The law requires them the america them with certain markings, including a serial number. This is not marked. No background check is completed when you purchase it. Its made at home by somebody using commonly available tools. So they ticking im lesley stahl. Im bill whitaker. Im anderson cooper. Im scott pelley. Those stories, tonight, on 60 minutes. ticking this portion of 60 minutes is sponsored by progressive insurance. Save when you bundle awtd, home, or motorcycle insurance. Visit progressive. Com. Pelley peter daszak is a scientist whose work is helping in the search for a covid19 cure. So, why did the president just dasndin its the kind of politics which might seem illadvised in a health crisis. President trump is blaming chinas government for the pandemic. The outbreak was first detected in the city of wuhan. The administration has said, at times, the virus is manmade or that, if its natural, it must have leaked out of a Chinese Government lab. Both the white house and the Chinese Communist party have been less than honest. And so, in china and in the u. S. , the work of scientists like peter daszak is being undercut by pandemic politics. Peter daszak is a britishborn american ph. D. Whos spent a career discovering dangerous viruses in wildlife, especially bats. In 2003, in malaysia, he warned 60 minutes a pandemic was coming. Peter daszak what worries me the most is that we are going to miss the next emerging disease, that were suddenly going to find a sars virus that moves from one part of the planet to another, wiping out people as it moves along. Pelley in the 17 years since that prophecy, peter daszak became president of the new yorkbased ecohealth alliance. Daszak were a Nonprofit Research organization that focuses on understanding where the pandemics come from, whats the risk of future pandemics, and, can we get in between this pandemic and the next one and disrupt it and stop it . Pelley in china, ecohealth has worked for 15 years with the Wuhan Institute of virology. Together, theyve catalogued hundreds of bat viruses, research that is critical right now. Daszak the breakthrough drug, remdesivir, that seems to have some impact on covid19, was actually tested against the viruses we discovered under our n. I. H. Research funding. Pelley and so that testing would not have been possible daszak no, it would not. Pelley if it hadnt been for the work that you did with the n. I. H. Grant . Daszak correct. Pelley but his funding from the n. I. H. , the u. S. National institutes of health, was killed two weeks ago by a political Disinformation Campaign targeting chinas Wuhan Institute. Methg remarkndson heres pelley on april 14, Florida Republican congressman matt gaetz claimed chinas Wuhan Institute had, birthed a monster. Gaetz is a vigorous defender of the president. Hes been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly threatening a witness against mr. Trump, and he led a protest to delay impeachment testimony. Matt gaetz the n. I. H. Gives this 3. 7 million grant to the Wuhan Institute of virology. They then advertise that they need coronavirus researchers. Following that, coronavirus erupts in wuhan. Pelley there never was a 3. 7 million u. S. Grant to the wuhan lab. But, the falsehood spread like a virus in the white house, and, without verification, in the Briefing Room. Robinson theres also another report that the n. I. H. , under the Obama Administration, in 2015 gave that lab 3. 7 million in a grant. Why would the u. S. Give a grant like that to china . Trump the Obama Administration gave them a grant of 3. 7 million . Ive been hearing about that. And weve instructed that if any grants are going to that area were looking at it, literally, about an hour ago, and also early in the morning. We will end that grant very quickly. Ba ecohealth alliance, for disease prevention it does throughout the world. His work was considered so important that, last year, the grant was reauthorized and increased by the trump administration. Daszak had been spending about 100,000 a year collaborating with the wuhan lab. Daszak i cant just show up in china and say, hi, i want to work on your viruses. I have to do this through the correct channels. So, what we do is we talk to n. I. H. , and they approve the people we can work with in china. And that happened. And our collaboration with wuhan was preapproved by n. I. H. Pelley what is the theory of the work that youve done with the wuhan lab . Daszak well, the idea is that we know that viruses that affect people and pandemics tend to come from wildlife. So, our strategy is to go to the wildlife source, find out where the viruses are, and try and shift behaviors, like hunting and killing wildlife that would lead to the next outbreak. We also get the information in to vaccine and drug developers, so they can design better drugs. Pelley the Wuhan Institute is internationally respected. Two years ago, a team from the u. S. Embassy visited. That team sent a cable to washington, concerned that one lab in the complex had a serious shortage of trained investigators. But the cable, first reported by the washington post, emphasized the Wuhan Institute is critical to future outbreak prediction and prevention. Ecohealths work with wuhan ended one week after mr. Trumps Briefing Room pledge, when the n. I. H. Revoked the grant. They gave you no reason . Daszak they said it was canceled for convenience, and it doesnt fit within the scope of n. I. H. s priorities right now. Pelley and yet it was a high priority when the grant was reissued in 2019 . Daszak yeah. Its definitely puzzling. I mean, this grant received an incredibly high priority score. It was in the top 3 of grants they reviewed. And thats unusual. Maureen miller i was shocked. I was really, really surprised. Pelley Maureen Miller is a ph. D. Epidemiologist at Columbia University who has collaborated with ecohealth and wuhan. Miller it stops the research thats essential to understanding where pandemics, like the one were going through, where they start. Pelley how often are n. I. H. Grants terminated in this way . Miller this is the first one ive ever hed when they terminate an n. I. H. Grant and its not something thats usually taken lightly it is for cause. Theres fraud involved, at some level. There is either manipulation of the data, youre putting your participants in harms way, or your data are fraudulent. Pelley and none of those things have been alleged with ecohealth . Miller absolutely not. None. Pelley the National Institutes of health, in its mission statement, says it exemplifies the highest level of scientific integrity and public accountability. But it wouldnt tell us why the grant was cancelled, or whether anything like it had happened before. The n. I. H. Told us to direct questions about the origin of the virus to the director of National Intelligence. The Chinese Communist party has also blocked the truth. In the earliest days, the doctor in wuhan who discovered the outbreak was silenced by local officials. He later died of cov9. Februar d allow a visit by an International Team of experts, including american scientists. Trump we are coordinating with the Chinese Government, and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in china. Pelley initially, President Trump praised china. But in the following weeks, testing in the u. S. Failed to catch up to the need, Vital Equipment was short, bodies filled refrigerated trailers, and science was continuously challenged. Trump then i see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute one minute and, is there a way we can do Something Like that, by injection . Pelley as the u. S. Led the world in illness and death, the white house moved the focus to the Chinese Government. Last sunday, secretary of state mike pompeo attempted to resurrect a debunked theory that the virus was manmade in china. Mike pompeo look, the best experts so far seem to think it was manmade. I have no reason to disbelieve that t this point. Pelley he did have reason. Days before, the director of National Intelligence said there was wide Scientific Consensus the virus was not manmade. Raddatz your office of the d. N. I. Says the consensus, the Scientific Consensus, was not manmade or genetically modified. Pompeo thats right. I agree with that. Pelley the same day pompeo tried to have it both ways, President Trump repeated the theory of a chinese lab accident. Trump i think they made a horrible mistake, and they didnt want to admit it. Pelley the administration has offered no evidence of an accident or genetic engineering. Dr. Elodie ghedin is studying the genome of the virus in her lab at new york university. Elodie ghedin people have been saying thats an engineered virus. And its not. And we know that by looking at the geneti at theode. And the code tells you a lot. Pelley humanengineered viruses have common and obvious genetic components, including the viruss overall molecular structure, called its backbone. Ghedin if a virus had been engineered, it wouldve used the backbones that we know. And theres none of that in that virus. And, lets say it was a brand new backbone. Well, it wouldnt look like what its looking like, because we can find every piece of that virus. We can find these pieces in other, very similar viruses that circulate in the wild. From the genetic information, its clearly not an engineered virus. Pelley Elodie Ghedin and most experts believe the virus, officially called sarscov2, passed from a wild animal intohd many early cases were traced to this market, and a market like it was where the sars virus jumped into a human in 2003. Ghedin a lot of these coronaviruses are found in bats. But we havent found the exact match. We did find a close match in pangolins. Its an anteater. Its a wildlife thats been traded. People, you know, will consume its meat. But they also use in chinese medicine, its scales. Pelley is there a way to know that this virus, sarscov2 emerged from the wild into the human population . Or has that not been proven yet . Daszak well, im a scientist. And what i do is i look at the evidence around a hypothesis. There is a huge amount of evidence that these viruses repeatedly emerge into people from wild animals in rural areas through things like hunting and eating wildlife. There is zero evidence that thin china. Pelley does the Wuhan Institute of virology, to your knowledge, have this virus in its inventory . Daszak no. Pelley why do you say so . Daszak the closest known relative is one thats different enough that it is not sarscov2. So, theres just no evidence that anybody had it in the lab, anywhere in the world, prior to the outbreak. Gaetz i have called on secretary azar to immediately halt this grant to the Wuhan Institute of virology. They have not been honest, and at worst, theyve been negligent to the point of many, many deaths throughout the world. Pelley dishonest and negligent allegations have now ended ecohealths carefully reviewed research designed to stop pandemics. Representative matt gaetz wore a gas mask on the floor of the house to lampoon the crisis. This was back in the beginning of march, weeks before masks were common. R dasz, whose researchers wear masks to shield them from viruses in the wild, says his team is now facing layoffs. Daszak this politicization of science is really damaging. You know, the conspiracy theories out there have essentially closed down communication between scientists in china and scientists in the u. S. We need that communication in an outbreak to learn from them how they control it so we can control it better. Its sad to say, but it will probably cost lives. By sort of narrowmindedly focusing in on ourselves, or on labs, or on certain cultural politics, we miss the real enemy. ticking for more on our coverage of the coronavirus, go to 60minutesovertime. Com. Stahl amazon is the second largest private employer in the country, headed by the richest man on earth. As the coronavirus pandemic has upended American Life as we know it, many of us at home have relied on amazon as a lifeline. Its workers have been called heroes. But, the company has come under fire for the way it treats those workers on the front lines of delivery. In his latest earnings report, a week and a half ago, amazon c. E. O. Jeff bezos committed an additional 4 billion, at least, for covid expenses, including more protections for his employees. He said it would require not just money, but invention, and humility. Figuring out how to make this happen falls in great part on the shoulders of amazons head of operations, dave clark. Amazon is seen as an essentiale. But you have been very slow to install your workers protections, and its hurt your reputation. Youve been seen as a company that puts profits ahead of people. Dave clark i could not disagree more strongly with the premise that were late to this party. I think, quite to the contrary. I think weve been early on the curve to this than most employers, particularly major employers in the u. S. Stahl as head of operations at amazon, dave clark is in charge of over a million people, 1000 buildings, and shipping your packages, all while keeping amazons workforce safe, whether its employees filling orders at the warehouse, or drivers showing up at your front door. But, since march, some of those workers started staging protests, walkouts, and sick outs in new york. Minnesota. They feel the need to hide things from us i am ashamed of my job. Stahl detriot. We are people. We have people who love us. Stahl and chicago. We dont want to get anybody sick. Stahl the protestors want the company to only ship essential items, to limit their potential exposure. They want hazard pay, and better sick leave. So now, dave clark is adding damage control to his portfolio. Clark the site were in today has over 1,500 employees that work here. Stahl we talked with him remotely as he took us on a tour of this warehouse near seattle, showing us where some of the 800 million the company says it has spent on Worker Protections thus far has gone. For example, they have installed thermal cameras in many of their locations, to take employees temperatures. Thats all it took they can take someones temperature that fast . Clark it can. Stahl they then take a mask. Woman go ahead and scan your badge, please. Stahl next, a visit to an onsite testing lab. Amazon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a way for employees to self administer a coronavirus test, using saliva or a nasal swab. Clark i just open up my swab kit here. Stahl but this is still a work in progress. Oh dear. Clark yeah. The full nose tickle. Stahl right now, the swab is sent offsite for analysis. Clark and then youre all set and done. Stahl results can take as long as five days. Stahl this is the main work floor, where items are sorted and boxed. We saw people in hazmat suits spraying surfaces with a misting disinfectant. And this goes on all day . Clark some sites, this happens once a week, and some sites, this occurs throughout the day, every day. Stahl is once a week enough . Clark again, it depends on the area. Stahl amazon says it is now trying to enforce social distancing by videotaping all its employees and using Artificial Intelligence to study their movements. Clark says the companys extensive camera system is also being used for contact tracing, in order to identify workers who came in contact with a sick colleague, and send them into quarantine. In addition, these portable washing stations have been rolled in. Clark weve deployed these all across all of our sites. The have disinfecting soap, water, paper towels. Stahl amazon also shared this video of something they are working on for the future a robot that emits a certain type of u. V. Light to kill the virus on surfaces. It could be used one day in warehouses, and at whole foods, which is owned by amazon. So heres a question of great interest to an awful lot of us are you worried that you might be transmitting coronavirus through your boxes, through cardboard or plastic . Clark no. We do not see risk there for customers or employees. Stahl you have installed, by what youre saying, over 150 safety measures. And yet, covid cases keep popping up. Now, why do you think that is . Clark we see covid cases popping up at roughly a rate generally just under what the Actual Community infection rates are, because our employees live and are part of those communities. Stahl so youre saying that if these new cases keep popping up, that its not because theyre getting it or spreading it in your facilities . Clark thats correct. Stahl but employees have complained theyre in jeopardy at the warehouses, because social distancing isnt always enforced. Throughout march and april, workers shared through texts and social media images of crowding, on the workfloor and in breakrooms. Everybody is close to each other. Look. We gonna die stahl so, how many positive cases have you discovered at amazon . Clark the actual sort of total number of cases, isnt particularly useful, because its relative to the size of the building and then the overall Community Infection rate. Stahl so you you dont know or youre just not going to tell us how many cases have