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Midmorning With Aundrea - July 31, 2020 (Part 1) [ENCORE PRESENTATION]

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Midmorning With Aundrea - July 31, 2020 (Part 1) [ENCORE PRESENTATION]
Midmorning With Aundrea - July 31, 2020 (Part 1) [ENCORE PRESENTATION]

(Part 1 of 2.

Originally aired July 21, 2020) With classes supposedly opening back up within a few weeks, we speak to area schoolteachers about their concerns and preparations for an influx of students amidst the worsening coronavirus nightmare.

And companies are also looking to lure employees back to work by introducing safeguards to protect from the pandemic.

And we look back at the life and career of civil rights icon and longtime Congressman John Lewis.

We'll see you on monday steven pace >> this leads directly with us today there after the time to go to the school years of joing me now that scott will schoolteacher for seventh grade and a first grade teacher start the school district thank you couple weeks away brand-new students into the classroom and obviously this is very difficult start to school year is when in the midst of a pandemic and trying to navigate all the questions concerns that parents have been even you have solicitous talk with about your concerns as you start off with the christian will start with the eye for teacher concerns with the lower elementary is how is the school day go look for us how are the students commute activity.

However they can interact in the cafeteria of the districts a good job of keeping this in more i feel really good about that coming school year thanks dr. sans for something else about how our school they were what we are concerned's done with teenagers soliciting much more mobile the children you want to get parents the ability to make it sure that their children 1314 oh you can easily kiss the they use the asymptomatic they can easily spread to a number of other people how to actually contain this during the school special the funds come back into the building i agree it is excellent and is also difficult to soul you get in the end of his life and the restriction that they all live in the h health of t the school to fix the correct opposition's religion that kaiser is created test for the evening to the school and then she wanted to be the answer to just get they are working there do a great job why have the supplies should husband as well that was a lot of the great is that of course it was picked up and is vigilant and find his delight with 24 by early defendants affect the lives i saw sprays towels clean it tons of hand sanitizer the important practice is to series will share you do this gives a bit of it teachers aren't the only ones back at work.

Across the country, companies are looking at bringing employees back to the office safely.

And, while some workers may opt to check in from home, others will see big changes when they return.

John blackstone reports.

From skyscrapers in manhattan to sleek campuses in silicon valley, offices across the country have been mostly empty for months.

Amol sarva: 00:06:16;01 in-- in some ways, this virus is a workplace virus.

It's an office virus.

This is one of the few things that ever happened that shut every office in the world down.

Amol sarva is co- founder and ceo of knotel, a company that designs and rents office space to major corporations internationally.

00:01:41;16 you gonna be making a lot of changes now?

Amol sarva: 00:01:44;24 that is an understatement, john.

The world is different.

And we're not going back to the old way.

For some that may mean not going back to the office, period.

Tech giants twitter and square have told employees they can work from home indefinitely.

Other major companies plan to keep offices closed at least until they end of summer, some until the end of the year.

That's not good for those in the real estate business like sarva.

Amol sarva: 00:07:59;24 that's certainly a thought that was through my mind these last few months.

What if everyone can work from home forever?

Amol sarva: 00:05:39;02 before all this, on an average day at an average company, only about 80% of the people were in the office.

Well, in the future maybe it's 50%, maybe it's 60%.

Certainly this next few months it's gonna be 20% or 30% will be in the office.

Those who do return may find a workplace that is not only healthier&its actually more appealing.

Amol sarva: 00:04:10;13 i mean, social distancing and professional distancing means your desks can't be shoulder to shoulder anymore.

And i think people will be whispering, "thank god, because they didn't love it.

One protype for the post pandemic office is up and running in amsterdam.

Jeroen lokerse: "we started the feet office project with the ambition to get the world safer and sooner back at work" jeroen lokerse: 00:21:12;24 and this is where our day at the office starts.

Jeroen lokerse is managing partner in amsterdam of the real estate company cushman & wakefield&..

Jeroen lokerse: 00:21:12;24 when people get here, they pick up one of the placemats.// &which has converted its office into a test site for the 6 feet office, lokerse took us on a tour via zoom.

Jeroen lokerse: 00:21:30;24 we follow the arrows.

Everything at our office at the moment is one-way.

Carpet colors show where employees can walk and where they can't.

Desks are no longer crowded together.

00:22:24;19 jeroen lokerse: there were-- in this corner of the building, there were 28 desks.

At the moment there's 16 desks.

// we have implemented simple things like these glass things behind screens so people can sit across from you.

// and this is what it looks like when people actually working here.

Hi.

Voices: 00:23:09;24 hi.

Jeroen lokerse: 00:23:12;07 how is your workplace at the moment?

How does it go?

Happy to be back-- male voice: 00:23:16;24 yeah.

It's very nice.

Better than the-- at home.

Jeroen lokerse: 00:23:20;24 better than at home.

So that's always a good thing to hear.

00:23:30;04 what might be interesting as well is to see what our office used to look like.

Jeroen lokerse: 00:34:42;24 here you get a view of what our office used to look like.

It is a lot of people in a very small space with not much privacy, and difficult to make phone calls, and yeah, be distracted by your colleagues around you.

// john blackstone: 00:35:28;21 are you going to keep that old office sort of as a museum piece of the way things used to be in the early 21st century?

Jeroen lokerse: 00:35:35;02 i think it will indeed be a museum piece.

The open office isn't really a new idea.

As far back as the 1930's companies crowded as many workers as they could into offices that looked much like factories.

And then in 1968, the furniture maker herman miller introduced the action office.

Sot from promotional video: 6:30 "action offic offers a full range of completely interchangeable components for all three working environments" we know it better today, of course, as the cubicle& fodder for humor from dilbert cartoons to the 1999 film, office space.

The cure for the cubicle was a return to the open office - but updated.

It became the preferred design for big technology companies.

Open offices were depicted as cool and trendy, meant to encourage collaboration and the exchange of ideas.

But a study in 2018 found that forcing workers to sit side by side with no privacy actually resulted in a 72% decrease in face to face communication.

John blackstone: is it time to say "rest in peace th open office plan" amol sarva: 00:12:25;15 yeah.

The open office is over.

It was already over for a lot of reasons.

It was too noisy.

And you couldn't concentrate.

And it was well on its way out the door.

But getting workers back into the office will take more than just moving desks further apart.

David levine: 00:07:38;24 to have people-- make that change in their daily behavior after spending a few months at home requires confidence that it's not a life- threating situation to go to work.

David levine, is a professor in the haas school of business at uc berkeley.

David levine: 00:10:50;17 what we need at this point is a lot of studies of what types of workplaces are safe and in what conditions.

It's clear that having a door that shuts is a real advantage in stopping the movement of pathogens, but we don't know at this point how dangerous different types of open offices are.

To reduce the dangers of returning to the office, routines that would have seemed invasive a few months ago are likely to become common.

New procedures at from skyscrapers the life civil rights icon and georgia congressman john lewis has died.

Lewis served 33 years in the us house or representatives, played a critical role in the civil rights movement and helped change history.

Skyler henry reports.

Congressman john lewis dedicated his life to civil rights and nonviolent activism.

"i am for those i the shadow of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped."

Lewis was a trusted friend of doctor martin luther king junior.

As one of the original freedom riders, he suffered severe beatings while challenging segregation laws.

When the civil rights act of 1964 met resistance in the south, lewis and hosea williams lead hundreds of black voters on a 54-mile march from selma to montgomery, alabama.

"we were marchin across that bridge just simply saying people wanted to register to vote.

Wanted to participate in the democratic process."

The marchers got as far as the foot of the edmund pettus bridge.

"voice: you are t turn around and disperse."

"and they cam toward us beating us with night sticks.

Using tear gas and trampling us with horses."

That day went down in history as bloody sunday.

Two weeks later, lewis and hundreds more including dr. king completed the march to montgomery.

Nats lewis was born near troy, alabama in 1940.

He attended american baptist theological seminary and later graduated from fisk university in nashville with degrees in religion and philosophy.

He was elected chairman of the student nonviolent coordinating committee in 1963.

"i wanted to make contribution.

I didn't like the signs that said white only.

Colored only."

At 23, lewis was the youngest speaker at the march on washington where dr. king delivered his "i have a drea speech."

His passion for people and racial reconciliation brought him to the halls of congress.

"i'm john lewis an i'm running for congress."

Lewis won georgia's 5th district congressional seat in 1986.

"yes, i'm proud t be a liberal democrat."

He received numerous awards throughout his life including the presidential medal of freedom.

Congressman lewis and president obama lead thousands across the edmund pettus bridge to commemorate the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday in 2015.

But he clashed with president obama's successor... boycotting president donald trump's inauguration.

And on the 50th anniversary of martin luther king junior's assassination, lewis asked americans to step up.

"when you se something that is not right, something that is not fair, something that is not just, you have a moral obligation to say something, and do something" ... a principle he lived by... earning his reputation as "the conscience o the u.s. congress."

Sk, cbs new, washington a little later, it was one of the most popular vehicles of its time.

Now, ford is

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