Pandemic so 60 minutes compiled enrollment data from 78 of the Largest School districts in the country. The results were alarming. Districts reported that when school started, at least 240,000 students were unaccounted for. Well, here in Hillsborough County, were missing 7,000 students. 7,000 kids didnt come back. 7,000. ticking whats going on, lou . 60 minutes has been following elderly participants in a study called 90plus. And, as youll hear tonight, what theyre finding out about the science of longevity is evolving and amazing half of all children born today in the United States and europe is going to reach their 103rd or 104th birthday. Half . Yes. ticking im lesley stahl. Im bill whitaker. Im anderson cooper. Im sharyn alfonsi. Im scott pelley. Those stories tonight, on 60 minutes. ticking students of color typically do not have access to high quality Computer Science and stem education. I joined amazon because i wanted to change education and i am impatient. Amazon gives me the resources to change the world at a pace that i want to change it. We provide students stem scholarships and teachers with support. Im a fighter and im fighting for all students. With new rewards from chase freedom unlimited, i now earn even more cash back . Oh i got to tell everyone. Hey, rita you now earn 3 on dining, including takeout bon appetit. Hey kim, you now earn 5 on travel purchased through chase way ahead of you hey, neal you can earn 3 at drugstores. Buddy, im right here. Why are you yelling . Because thats what i do youre always earning with 5 cash back on travel purchased through chase, 3 at drugstores, 3 on dining including takeout, and 1. 5 on Everything Else you buy. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Cooper covid19 was initially thought to be a disease that was serious for the eldery and people with preexisting conditions. A potentially tough, but temporary, respiratory illness for everyone else. But now, eight months into the pandemic, younger patients who have had relatively mild cases of covid are showing up in doctors offices and Emergency Rooms with mysterious and debilitating symptoms. Its not unusual for viruses to cause aftereffects, but as youll hear tonight, doctors tell us theyve never seen anything like this. While researchers around the world are scrambling to figure out whats happening, mount sinai hospital here in new york opened one of the First Centers to study and treat people with what theyre calling post acute covid syndrome. The patients we met have a less clinical term they call themselves longhaulers. Sadie nagamootoo its like a a like a viral tornado. sighs that goes in you and kind of just messes you up and then like, it kind of leaves. But leaves something behind. Cooper it leaves the rubble that a tornado leaves behind nagamootoo the rubble, yeah. It leaves the damage behind. Cooper Sadie Nagamootoo was 44 years old and a personal trainer in new york when she got covid in march. She was able to recover at home and when she tested negative in may, she thought her life would return to normal. It hasnt. Nagamootoo there are days where i do nothing and just cant get out of bed. The migraines they are, like, ten times worse than a flu. Headache, pains, like muscular issues. And there are sometimes where my hands feel like they have pins and needles and i have to stop using them because i cant feel anything. Cooper some people who are going through this call themselves longhaulers. Do you think its going to be a long haul . Nagamootoo it has been a long haul. Cooper eight months after getting infected, she says she cant work out, or work in the gym. Just walking up stairs sends her heart rate soaring. Nagamootoo the Grocery Stores, like, the dread for me. Cooper whats ha Grocery Store . Nagamootoo i cannot lift bags and walk. Cooper youre a fulltime trainer, and you cant lift grocery bags. Nagamootoo correct. Cooper sadie has seen half a dozen doctors in the past six months. Her bedside table looks like a medicine cabinet. Both arms go up and over your head. Cooper shes been diagnosed with postviral fatigue, inflammation in the lungs, and tachycardia a rapid heart rate but no one can tell her exactly why this is happening. Its got to take such a toll mentally to still be dealing with this. Nagamootoo its depressing, is really what it is. Nobody can really understand or relate to you, except somebody else whos had the same problem. Cooper whats been worse for you, the initial infection or the aftermath of covid . Nitza rochez the aftermath, without a doubt. Cooper nitza rochez also got covid in march. And by may, the infection was gone, but 191 days later, shes still struggling. Rochez i was sick with covid. But this postcovid experience has been beyond the worst experience of my life. cheering cooper nitza loved to run. Three years ago, she completed the new york city marathon, and the following year, berlin. At 43, she was training for another race when she got infected. Theres a slight unsteadiness. Cooper now, she tells us, she has trouble walking more than a few blocks down the street. Nitza says shes had so many strange and unrelenting symptoms, she started documenting them on her phone. She got tremors in her hands. Rochez why is this happening . Cooper . And had problems with her balance. Rochez i had headache, dizziness, blurry vision double vision, heavy limbs. Cooper its a lot. Rochez its a lot. Cooper for months, she experienced memory problems, trouble finding words, and confusion, something many longhaulers grapple with. They call it covid brain fog, and nitza says it made everyday tasks nearly impossible. Rochez its an odd sensation. Its as if as though iveken. Kind of like a disconnect, a cloudiness to my head. Cooper but nitza says the most terrifying symptom was when her legs started to give out. Rochez i moved in with my sister, and she said, why are you walking like that . And i said, i dont know, maybe im just tired. And i think three to four days after she mentioned that, i woke up and my legs were felt so heavy, as if as though a weight was pulling me down, that i just my legs didnt support me. And i just kind of, like, fell. I just got an m. R. I. Cooper she went to the emergency room, and requested an m. R. I. And a full blood workup. Everything came back normal. Rochez the doctors were like, youre fine. Youre having anxiety attacks. Youre just nervous. Breathe. Cooper they thought it was in your head. Rochez they thought it was in my head. And its one of those moments that ill never forget, because how can i possibly be fine . And when i left the emergency room that day, i was like, im just going home to die. crying sorry. crying sorry, sorry. You dont mind. Cooper even recounting that is emotional. To be told what youre feeling is not real. Rochez precisely. Cooper she eventually found her way to mount sinai Hospitals Center for postcovid care in new york. There are 40 doctors working with the center, most of them specialists focused on treating and studying longhaulers. Dr. Dayna mccarthy the average age of patients who are feeling this Postacute Covid syndrome are 20s to 40s. They were relatively healthy before. Cooper dr. Dayna mccarthy is a rehab specialist at the center which has treated 1,000 patients since it opened its doors in may. There is a waitlist to get in. The vast majority of the patients that you see here at at this center were never hospitalized. Dr. Mccarthy correct. Cooper so they werent on ventilators. This is not ramifications from being in the hospital . Dr. Mccarthy correct. Yup. Cooper dr. Mccarthy is treating her patients symptoms as best she can, but isnt much closer to understanding whats causing them. Do we know now whats going on . Dr. Mccarthy no. Cooper no . Dr. Mccarthy we still dont know. Yeah, yeah. Dr. Zijian chen i think its a little bit of a mystery. And, well, lets take little bit out of it. I think this is a mystery. Cooper dr. Zijian chen heads up the center which mount sinai modeled on the hospitals approach to another Public Health crisis the september 11th attacks. Dr. Chen this virus has many different effects on the human body, just like what 9 11 did to, you know, their those survivors. So, as a kind of catastrophic event at one time that causes a large group of special patients, you know, in a way, this is very similar to 9 11, but on a much grander scale. Cooper the pool of patients is much larger . Dr. Chen absolutely. Cooper mount sinai is studying commonalities among that pool of patients using data theyve compiled, and is scanning longhaulers brains, lungs and hearts using highresolution imaging to see exactly what damage the virus might have done. The lack of answers and the skepticism many of these patients face have contributed to high levels of depression and anxiety, though dr. Mccarthy says thats not whats making them sick. You believe its not in their heads. You believe them. Dr. Mccarthy yeah. I have to. Because i feel those symptoms, too, and i dont think its all in my head. Cooper dr. Mccarthy had what she considered a mild case of covid in march, but eight months later, she says, like so many longhaulers, she still finds it hard to get through the day. Dr. Mccarthy i basically do my work and i go home and i go to sleep. Thats what im capable of doing right now. Cooper and at the end of the day, do you feel way more tired than you normally would . Dr. Mccarthy so, at the end of this day, because of whats happening right now, and because of the meetings that i have after this, i will have probably the most excruciating headache. And i will just take some tylenol and curl up in a ball and go to sleep, and hope i feel better tomorrow. Cooper dr. Mccarthy knows better than anyone, theres no clear roadmap for recovery. Nitza rochez is seeing a physiatrist, a neurologist and a cardiologist. Shes been prescribed physical therapy, breathing exercises and dietary changes, as well as Blood Pressure medication and steroids. Dr. Mccarthy so, at this point, its not that were doing anything, in terms of rocket science. Cooper its not like people come here and theres some drug that nobody knows about that you give them, and and dr. Mccarthy absolutely not. But thats what makes it even more difficult, right . It would be so easy if that was the case. Cooper there are patients who come to the center with diagnosable damage from covid, especially in their lungs. But as many as 85 of patients here show no clear cause for their symptoms. One theory is that the immune stem, which was fighting the virus during the infection, is still in overdrive. Dr. Mccarthy so, theres a foreign invader, right . Your immune systems the army. Its never been met with anything like this before. Right . So it builds up a massive army. And then it goes and fights this. Cooper and even after the battles done, the army is still around. Dr. Mccarthy revved up, right. So, its very possible that the immune system didnt quite calm down. Cooper doctors are looking into whether a rampedup immune response, both during and after the infection, could be wreaking havoc inside patients bodies. Dr. Chen because the virus kind of goes everywhere after it goes to the lungs, the immune response actually goes everywhere as well. So, part of the damage is from the virus itself, but your immune system is also doing damage to your organs. Cooper what does that mean . The immune system is doing damage to your organs . Dr. Chen so, your immune system, when its active, what it does is, it starts fighting the virus by activating these cells that kill the virus. But what happens is, sometimes these cells, they damage the orgahathvirus is next to, so its almost like collateral damage. Cooper sometimes the only way to spot that damage is on the autopsy table after a patient has died. What can you learn about the living by studying the dead . Dr. Mary fowkes because we dont know anything about this disease, an autopsy is the most useful, because it will help us determine how this virus is actually making people sick. Cooper as head of autopsy and neuropathology at mount sinai, dr. Mary fowkes examined more than a hundred people who died from covid. Early on, she was stunned by how widespread the destruction was. So, people think of covid as a respiratory illness, but youre seeing damage all over the body. Dr. Fowkes so, theres damage in the lung, heart, brain, kidney, liver. Cooper dr. Fowkes told us some of the damage could be caused, in part, by the ampedup immune response, but she also spotted something else. Dr. Fowkes we saw small and very microscopic blood clots in the lungs, the heart, the liver, and significant blood clots in the brain. Cooper is that something you expected to find . Dr. Fowkes no laughs not at all. Nobodys seen it like this. Cooper blood clots can lead to strokes, which dr. Fowkes frequently found in the brains of covid victims. Dr. Fowkes so, this is the right side of the cerebellum. The cerebellum is responsible for our balance. Cooper so, that indentation, that brown wedge . Dr. Fowkes yup. Cooper thats a stroke . Dr. Fowkes thats a stroke. Cooper dr. Fowkes patients may have been the sickest of the sick, but her work might offer clues for mount sinai researchers who are collaborating with colleagues around the world to figure out whats causing symptoms in living longhaulers. Dr. Mccarthy ill see you in six weeks, okay . Cooper dr. Dayna mccarthy hopes her patients wont have to wait for answers. Dr. Mccarthy we have the expectation of patients getting better. Why . Because theres nothing to say that they wont, yet. Cooper have any of your patients made a full recovery . Dr. Mccarthy not full. I have some that are around 90 , 95 . Cooper but as new infections keep rising, so do the numbers of longhaulers. Dr. Mccarthy theres thousands and thousands of people that are going through this. The numbers are enormous. And thats why its so impactful. Cooper impactful not only on peoples lives, on the economy, on dr. Mccarthy correct. On the Healthcare System. How about cooper on families. Dr. Mccarthy the burden of care for the Healthcare System that now has young patients, right, who, if we dont do something now to try to get them better, can have a chronictype illness that then requires consistent and persistent money and care . Cooper nitza rochez says she has made some progress in recent weeks, but still has a long way to go. Cooper do you think youll run again . Rochez yes. I was expecting to be running by now, so its kind of a sensitive subject for me in general, but im hopeful. Yes, i will be running again. Cooper its a mental battle, its a physical battle. And youre still trying to get across the finish line. Rochez yeah, that finish line seems very far away. Cooper this past week, dr. Mary fowkes, the head of autopsy and neuropathology at mount sinai, died suddenly of a heart attack. Her work helped inform mount sinais Covid Treatment protocals since the beginning of the pandemic. ticking and a steady stream of protected income can help you secure the life youve planned. For more than 150 years, generations have trusted the strength and stability of pacific life with their tomorrows. Because life isnt about what tomorrow brings. Its what you do with it. Ask a financial professional about pacific life and a high risk for fracture, osteoporosis its what you do with it. Now might not be the best time to ask yourself, are my bones strong . Life is full of make or break moments. Thats why its so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. Only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. Do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. Serious allergic reactions like low Blood Pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. Tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen. Or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. Speak to your doctor before stopping, skipping or delaying prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. Prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium, serious infections, which could need hospitalization, skin problems, and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. Are you ready . Ask your doctor about prolia® fda approved for 10 years. Alfonsi going back to school this year has been a lesson in patience. Since the surge of covid cases this fall, many cities including new york, detroit and philadelphia have suspended or postponed their plans to hold inperson classes. The delays and everchanging schedules have been frustrating to parents and students, but also worrisome to educators, who told us, at the start of the school year, hundreds of thousands of students did not enroll. Theyre not logging in or coming in. We wondered, where did they go . To find out, we went to tampa, florida, where one of the states Largest School districts, Hillsborough County, saw an unprecedented drop in enrollment. What do you hear from teachers . Are they saying to you, were missing kids. He should have been in my class. Where is he . Hes not showing up . Do you hear that . Laura tucker well, here in Hillsborough County, were missing 7,000 students. Alfonsi 7,000 kids didnt come back . Tucker 7,000. Alfonsi how does that 7,000 number compare to previous years . Tucker weve never had that happen. Alfonsi laura tucker is one of 235 social workers at the Hillsborough CountySchool District. At the beginning of this school year, their job wasnt just checking in on kids it was finding them. To have that many kids with a question mark next to their name where do you begin . Tucker well, every student attended some school last year. All 7,000 of them. So, we start there. You know, what about their Emergency Contacts . You know, maybe grandma or grandpa is on the emergency card and grandma and grandpa can tell you where they are. You know, we find kids because another one went to a Birthday Party and they saw them, and so, yeah, theyre still in tampa. Okay, you know, were energized to keep looking for that student. Alfonsi this is detective work. Tucker right. And i think that being willing to talk to friends and neighbors is also helpful. Alfonsi the clues take her to public housing. Tucker hello, pumpkin. Alfonsi . And suburban cul du sacs. knocking hello . Hell