Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Texas Scrambles Over First Ebola Diagnosis; New Airstrikes Target ISIS; Secret Service Probes Elevator Security Breach

Aired October 02, 2013 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with breaking news. This morning U.S. health officials are scrambling to contain the public fear and possible spread of the first Ebola case diagnosed on American soil.

Right now, the unidentified patient is in an isolation ward at a Dallas hospital. He traveled from the Ebola hot spot of Liberia in West Africa. He left there seemingly healthy on the 19th of September.

He arrived in Dallas, the next day, September 20th, still not showing any symptoms. It wasn't until four days later on the 24th that he started getting sick. Two days later he went to the hospital, but they sent him home with antibiotics.

Two days after that, on the 28th, he was hospitalized and isolated. Then just yesterday the CDC confirm he does indeed have Ebola. A CDC team is in Dallas this morning and the search is on for anyone who came into contact with this patient between the 24th and 28th.

It's during those four days that he could have infected someone else. Health officials say an opportunity was missed to possibly identify this case earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH: Had the emergency room physician had asked this person "do you have any recent travel outside of the country?" and if the person said "Well, I just came back from Liberia," that would have been an enormous red flag for anybody, given the publicity that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is at the CDC in Atlanta and he brings up a good point. Why did they send this guy home with just antibiotics?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. He brings up a good point and, frankly, something that, you know, we've been talking about for months in terms of what it means to be prepared as a nation to hand this will sort of thing and that sort of one of the basic things.

Let's not miss the easy things here. Let's be able to identify people who could to potentially be at risk and in this case that was missed. This was a clear miss and that's obviously a problem that hopefully won't happen again.

But look, this is a historic thing. You've never had a patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. You've never had a patient diagnosed with Ebola outside of Africa and that obviously raises concerns, but this wasn't entirely unexpected.

We know, Carol, that this was going to happen at some point. The priority now is to take care of this patient that we're talking about who we hear is in critical condition, but apparently talking.

And number two, find out everyone the person came in contact with over those four days when he was sick, but not yet admitted to the hospital. It's quite a challenge. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): This morning, the door-to-door investigation begins. Health officials, including a crew from the Centers for Disease Control, now in Dallas, in search of anyone who may have come in contact with the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.

DR. EDWARD GOODMAN, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: The patient admitted to this hospital has tested positive for Ebola virus. The cause of Ebola virus disease.

GUPTA: According to the CDC, the unidentified patient traveled from Liberia on September 19th, landing in the United States the following day, September 20th. Doctors say he did not feel sick until the 24th.

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: The patient was visiting family members and staying with family members who live in this country.

GUPTA: Ebola is a virus that can affect multiple organ systems and can sometimes cause internal bleeding, those symptoms don't appear for two to 21 days after infection. Signs do include sudden fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat. The disease is also spread by direct contact via bodily fluids, only after symptoms begin.

GOODMAN: This is not transmitted by the air. There's no risk to a person in this hospital who is walking or is a patient. There's simply no reason to be fearful of that.

GUPTA: Paramedics who transported the patient now quarantined. The ambulance used, decontaminated. It's cordoned off. There's some concern because Ambulance 37 was used for two days after transporting the patient. Though health officials saying -- it's OK.

The city spokeswoman telling CNN the Dallas County Health Department has confirmed that paramedics did follow proper guidelines to avoid contaminating additional patients.

So far, none of the crew members are exhibiting signs of the disease, this as the CDC says fellow passengers on that same flight from Liberia are likely not at risk. Still, doctors warn to remain vigilant.

FRIEDEN: I have no doubt that we'll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt that as long as the outbreak continues in Africa, we need to be on our guard.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: There has to be some real clarity as well, Carol, as to what happens with these contacts. If someone was known to be a contact of this person, they should be taking their temperature twice a day for 21 days, but should they also be quarantined?

We're hearing different things on that. Most people are saying they don't need to be quarantined unless they are sick. But on the other hand, these ambulance drivers, these paramedics, Carol, you just heard, they are not sick, but they are being quarantined.

So these mix messages make things challenging in terms of next steps and these are some of the questions that I think need to be put to the CDC and to the folks in Dallas.

COSTELLO: Here's another thing. I'm totally healthy and I can't remember every person I came into contact with in the last four or five days. This man is critically ill. How can he possibly remember who he's contact into contact with?

GUPTA: It's really challenging. I mean, one thing I would say about being ill versus being healthy, when you're ill you're more likely to be home. You're less likely to be out and about. But you raise a good point.

When I asked the CDC folks about that, they say "We think it's a handful of contacts." Don't know what that means exactly, but it's not a situation they don't believe where he was out in a big crowded area, shopping mall or something like that.

He just wasn't feeling well enough to be doing that sort of thing. At least that's the theory -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, stick around because you'll join me again in about 30 minutes to answer viewer questions about Ebola.

If you have questions tweet them to us at CNN using the hashtag #Ebolaq&a. We'll get to as many of your questions as possible. I've been reviewing some of the questions and excellent questions, I must say so I can't wait until 10:30 Eastern Time. Sanjay, stick around.

I want to turn to my next guest now. David Dewhurst is the lieutenant governor of Texas and he's kept us in close touch with health officials back home. Welcome, Lt. Governor, and thank you so much for being here. Are you confident that everything is being done to protect the citizens of Texas especially in Dallas?

LT. GOVERNOR DAVID DEWHURST (R), TEXAS: Absolutely. We're following the protocols. We have the individual quarantined. We're protecting the rest of the staff and the patients at Presbyterian and we're going out and contacting all the people that he was in contact with so that we can monitor them. And the first signs of any of the symptoms, fever, headaches, diarrhea, vomiting, then they would need to be isolated.

COSTELLO: It's a tough task, though, isn't it? I mean, authorities going door to door trying to figure out who this man came into contact with?

DEWHURST: Well, the health officials have been talking with him and we're in the process of contacting all these people so that we can monitor them. I'm confident, Carol, that we're going to be able to contain this just as the CDC said.

And one of the things people can do that are listening is that if they have questions, go to CDC.gov and that will give you the full explanation of what the symptoms are, because knowledge is power. And, again, we're doing everything according to the protocols, everything which we can in Texas. We want to protect Texans and Americans.

COSTELLO: I want to read you one question that came through on my Facebook page and this is from a man named Tom. He said "Why the hell is the State Department letting people travel to and from Liberia where Ebola is so rampant? I say if they want to go there, one-way ticket." How would you respond to that now?

DEWHURST: I'm not going to respond to that. I understand that British Airways did stop their flights into West Africa through the end of August. And that's one of the reasons why physicians, health care personnel, when someone comes in with headaches, nausea, diarrhea, they need to check their travel history and see where they've been.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about that. So the man went to Liberia where he probably contracted Ebola so he flew on a plane, landed in the United States --

DEWHURST: But his temperature was checked before he got on the plane.

COSTELLO: OK, so he went to the doctor and the doctor said "we'll give you antibiotics and send you home." Two days later he had to be transferred by ambulance to this Dallas hospital? How concerned rare you that this happened?

DEWHURST: Well, the personnel at the emergency room did not check his travel history. If they had, they would have suspected Ebola instead of just a bad case of the flu. So I think we're getting -- knowledge is power.

By health care providers understanding that they need to check -- with those symptoms, they need to check the travel history. Carol, that will help quite a bit throughout not just Dallas, but wherever this may come.

Because this is the tip of the iceberg. We can control this not only in Dallas, but throughout the country with knowledge and our health care providers knowing what to look for.

COSTELLO: When you say this is the tip of the iceberg, what do you mean?

DEWHURST: Well, what I mean is that we have an epidemic in West Africa and unless we seal off West Africa, which we can't do then there is a strong chance that other people traveling either from West Africa, to Europe, to the United States could come into our country, citizens, people with green cards.

So it's important that people understand that if they come down with fever, headaches, diarrhea, vomiting and they've been in West Africa or they've been exposed to someone that's been in West Africa, they need to see a doctor. They need to go to the hospital immediately.

COSTELLO: Lieutenant Governor, thank you so much for being with me this morning. Thank you so much.

DEWHURST: You bet.

COSTELLO: Again, we'll be taking your questions so send them to my Facebook page or send them via Twitter. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be back in about 20 minutes to answer those questions.

Also at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, the Texas Governor Rick Perry will hold a briefing on the Ebola case. We'll bring you his news conference live.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, new airstrikes rain down on ISIS targets in Syria and a key NATO ally may soon join the military campaign. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This morning, Kurdish fighters are getting help from the air as they try to hold off ISIS militants in Northern Syria. They say there have been three airstrikes around a besieged town near the border with Turkey.

The U.S.-led coalition against ISIS is expanding. Australian aircraft started flying over Iraq today, too, and British war jets bombed ISIS positions in Iraq yesterday.

CNN's Phil Black is at the border between Turkey and Syria and CNN military analyst, General Mark Hertling joins us from Orlando. I want to start with you, Phil. Tell us what the situation is like where you are.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, what we've seen here. We're standing just to the east of Kobani, as this key city here on the Turkey Syria border. We have seen ISIS continue to advance and bombard the city behind me. A constant, really, bombardment with shelling through the course of the day striking at the eastern outskirts of this city. We're seeing them approach from the east and the southeast.

We have seen much larger strikes away from the city as well as aircraft overhead which leads us to believe we may have witnessed some attempted airstrikes here today and the United States has said that yes, they have struck a number of ISIS targets over the last 24 hours including a tank, artillery piece and armored vehicle as well.

To the west, we visited the front line there as well. Intense fighting but much further away from the city and ISIS is not making the same progress we're seeing here. It comes down to this east/southeasterly and even the southern flanks. I think they are of most concern to the Turkish fighters trying so desperately to resist this ISIS advance -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Phil, ISIS also claims it has overrun an Iraqi military base and it has stolen weapons. We have some dramatic pictures of this. Is ISIS gain ground despite the airstrikes or is it a mixed bag?

BLACK: Yes. Well, I think in this region they are still continuing to gain ground, yes. But crucially, Kobani hasn't fallen, which a few days ago it looked very much like it could have done.

The momentum with which ISIS was moving from the east and southeast was really quite significant simply because they clearly had superior firepower to the Kurdish fighters that are resisting them.

They had the heavy weapons and it seems from the targets being announced by the international coalition, those is what they are going for with the airstrikes. It's perhaps made a difference. It hadn't stopped them entirely, but crucially the city hasn't fallen just yet.

COSTELLO: Phil, I want to bring in General Hertling now and if you have questions for him, please feel free to jump in because you're in the region and you can ask much better questions than I can.'

But General Hertling, I'll pose the first question. Are these airstrikes working in your mind?

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I believe they are, Carol. And I think we have to look at the entire theater of operations and what's going on with the air strikes. The strikes in Syria were always designed to go against strategic targets. I think they are doing that.

There may be some adjustments right now to get effects against battlefield conditions, but that's tough when you don't have the spotters on the ground. In Iraq, all indicators are that there are some advances.

Even though ISIS reportedly took over another Iraqi military base that base may have been taken over because it was bypassed. But there are indicators on the eastern side of Iraq that Peshmerga troops are taking back cities.

Zumar was mentioned, there was apparently another border crossing post, Rabbiyah on the border of Syria that was regained last night by Kurdish forces.

So I think the air power, the air strikes both the close air support of combat troops in Iraq and the strategic targeting of major elements in Syria are contributing much to this campaign.

COSTELLO: Phil?

BLACK: General, the question from the population here that was in Northern Syria, the estimated 150,000 Syrian Kurdish people that have fled ahead of the ISIS advance. Many of the people we speak to have been asking for the coalition to get involved in this fight for over a week now.

They're grateful that that is now happening, but what they can't since why they're not seeing more of it. Why it's waited until this point. Why they're not see more of it. We know the U.S. is concerned about the intelligence on the ground and potential casualties as well.

But they make the point that the territory behind me is almost empty of civilians. Everyone has fled. So could you explain, perhaps to them or give an explanation why you believe we're not seeing more airstrikes on the ground.

HERTLING: Phil, that's a great question. I won't be able to give them a satisfactory answer, but the real answer is it's because the air power can't be everywhere and Kobani is a relatively small town, as you know, it's about a town of 40,000 Kurds, Syrians and Turkmen.

It's a border crossing town and it's in Syria. Remember the president's plan, especially for the U.S. Air Force, has been strategic targeting of ISIS. It isn't air support for Kurdish forces in Syria.

It's targeting of key strategic targets of ISIS in Syria. We are doing support for Kurdish and Iraqi security forces in Iraq, but truthfully it's just a matter of you can't be everywhere all the time.

If things shifted to Kobani in terms of support, you could go to another town and someone would say, we're not getting the support here, either. So it's a precision targeting of key areas for an overall campaign desire.

COSTELLO: General Mark Hertling and Phil Black, thanks to both of you. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The White House says President Obama has confidence in Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, but he may be one of the few in Washington who does. Lawmakers slamming Pierson during a testy Capitol Hill hearing on last month's White House security breach. And this morning the Secret Service confirming a second incident during the president's recent trip to the CDC in Atlanta just days earlier. White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski, joins me now with more. Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This was remarkable. Seeing the director of the Secret Service there before the House Oversight Committee for hours just getting pummeled with these questions.

But at the same time she was there, outside of this hearing details kept coming out, again, from whistle-blowers and these are details she never mentioned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI (voice-over): The latest known incident to plague the U.S. Secret Service again coming from whistle-blowers happened three days before Omar Gonzalez jumped the White House fence.

This one in Atlanta at the CDC, a security guard was inappropriately taking photos of the president inside an elevator. It turned out he had a gun, in violation of Secret Service protocols.

They're supposed to know who's armed on location and limit their access to the president. But before Congress even knew about this one, the disbelief over the fence jumper.

REPRESENTATIVE DARRELL ISSA (R), HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Omar Gonzalez breached at least five rings of security.

KOSINSKI: The verbal takedown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is disgraceful that this has happened.

KOSINSKI: It went on for three hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't let them get in the White House ever.

KOSINSKI: But from Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, one year on the job, many non-answers.

JULIA PIERSON, DIRECTOR, SECRET SERVICE: It is obvious that mistakes were made.

KOSINSKI: She called it "unacceptable" saying a thorough internal investigation would uncover the facts and make sure it never happens again. She said that evening after Gonzalez made it on to White House grounds the officers stationed inside the front doors began locking them.

When Gonzalez burst through knocking the officer backward. That officer tried to stop him but couldn't. Both of them struggling their way down the hallway into the east room, back out into the hall.

PIERSON: Another officer rendered aid and he was placed on the ground just outside of the green room.

KOSINSKI: Which she never mention bud emerged while she was on the stand was that it was too often duty Secret Service agents downstairs who heard the scuffle, ran up and finally helped stop Gonzalez. The firestorm of security gaps providing endless punchlines on late night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The intruder got to the east room, which got worse when the Secret Service said, whoa, there's an east room?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wedding of George Clooney had better security than the White House. Are you aware of that?

KOSINSKI: But the implication of these issues deadly serious.

REPRESENTATIVE STEPHEN LYNCH (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I wish to God you protected the White House like you're protecting your reputation here today. I wish you spent that time and that effort to protect the American president and his family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: It came out that over the last five years, 16 people have jumped over the fence. All of them have been stopped except this one. Why is that? That's an answer nobody seems to have right now. They're looking into did it have anything to do with staffing or training or budgets?

And that will be handled not only in the internal investigation, but Congress has just launched an external review of the Secret Service as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Michelle Kosinski reporting live from for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, we are taking your questions on Ebola. Tweet them to us at CNN using the hashtag "EbolaQandA." After the break, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins with us some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)