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Erin Burnett Outfront
Ebola Patient Boarded Flight Against CDC Policy; Nurses in Texas Presbyterian Hospital May Walk Off the Job; Ebola Fears Cause Deep Dive on Wall Street
Aired October 15, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, a second Dallas nurse diagnosed with Ebola. She also cared for Thomas Eric Duncan. How could she board an airplane with a fever?
Plus the U.N. says the Ebola epidemic must be controlled within 60 days or the world faces, a quote, "unprecedented situation" with, quote, "no plan." How it did go from no significant risk outside West Africa to that.
And outrage over ever changing statements from the CDC. Americans asked to trust the system, so far a system that has failed. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. And we begin tonight OUTFRONT with the breaking news, a second nurse diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. At this hour, the patient being flown to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after what appeared to be serious missteps by Texas Presbyterian Hospital where that nurse treated Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan.
And tonight, OUTFRONT is learning new details about Nurse Amber Vinson's movement in the days before she was admitted to that Dallas hospital with Ebola.
Last Friday, the 29-year-old nurse flew to Cleveland. She flew back to Dallas on Monday boarding a flight despite a temperature of 99.5 degrees. By boarding that flight, she may have put more than 130 fellow passengers at risk.
And 24 hours later she was in the hospital diagnosed with Ebola. We should mention that she was not supposed to be leaving her home. She was off work, supposedly monitoring herself for a fever.
The head of the CDC said Vinson should not have flown and that from now on people being monitored for Ebola will not travel on commercial flights. Does that sound like too little too late?
It is also the latest example of how a system that the CDC has asked Americans to trust has not lived up to expectations. Late today President Obama tried to reassure the country, but acknowledged much more needs to be done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think what we've all learned over the last several weeks is that folks here in this country and in a lot of non-specialized hospitals and clinics don't have that much experience dealing with these issues and so we'll have to push out this information as aggressively as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Part of the reason the U.N. said the world is now -- if this is not controlled in 60 days is facing an unprecedented situation with to plan.
I want to get straight to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He is live outside Emory Hospital as they await that patient. Emory is one of only four hospitals in the U.S. with specialized bio-contamination units.
Sanjay, I know you just got off the phone with a government official and you have some news about why the decision was made to send this nurse to Emory, but not the nurse who still in currently at Dallas Presbyterian.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really sounds like a staffing issue, Erin. I've been curious about this all day long since we heard about this decision for amber to come here to Emory, because it would provide better treatment or were they concerned about the ability to contain Ebola in Dallas and thought Emory would do a better job.
What we are hearing is a slightly different picture and I think an important one, Erin, and that is that they are worried about just being able to take care of patients because of staffing in Dallas right now.
As was said to me by this government official, there are concerns that there are nurses who are going to be walking out and not able to care for these patients.
So it is not as much of a situation, there is a magic potion or wand that's going to be waived here at Emory, but they are concerned that they are not going to be able to keep up with her care over there -- Erin.
BURNETT: And that is pretty significant. That they would be at this point saying that they would rather not go to work than deal with this. Not surprising, but I think for many, scary as this is a situation that some might imagine in a real infectious disease scare.
I know you're also talking about some changing guidance we've been getting or you just got from a new government official on what actually constitute an Ebola symptom, which is a really big deal because they say you can't spread it until you get a symptom, and now they are talking about what really is a symptom.
GUPTA: This is pretty interesting, Erin, I think and pretty big news as well. For a long time if you've looked at the guidelines, what constitutes a fever? What is the threshold? And it was always 101.5. If you look at the CDC guidelines today it says 100.4.
They have lowered that temperature now. That might not sound like a lot. But here's the significance, what we now have just learned is that Nina Pham, she is the first nurse to get sick, when she got sick and start to develop symptoms, in fact, she didn't have a fever of 101.5.
It was lower than that. That is pretty significant because we placed a lot of faith obviously in fever being one of the first earliest signs of Ebola and it may still be. But apparently according to these new guidelines, you could develop Ebola and have the Ebola symptoms without having a fever of 101.5.
So that changes a lot of things. You know, 99.5 was the temperature that Miss Vinson had when she got on the plane flying from Cleveland to Dallas. We now understand that in fact she did call someone at the CDC. She did make that call, but was told it shouldn't be a problem to get on the plane.
So you know, changing -- changing sort of metrics here in terms of what they are actually constituting symptoms and that is going to make a difference in terms of how people are screened -- Erin.
BURNETT: It makes a huge difference and also though, I mean, they said certain things, you know, the comment that the head of the CDC made when Thomas Eric Duncan got off that plane and he said there is zero risk anybody could get Ebola on the plane because he didn't have symptoms.
Obviously at that point, it was a few days before he had symptoms. He probably didn't, but it calls into question the fact that we have all been told to trust these absolute statements coming out of the head of the CDC, but it doesn't seem like they really knew the facts.
GUPTA: And the idea that this is changing literally in front of our eyes, you know, so much in medicine is dogma. We say here's what constitutes a fever. Here's what constitutes symptoms, all these things. That stuff remains true.
But the problem is this, if Nina Pham got sick, sort of to have other Ebola symptoms, nausea or vomiting, whatever symptoms she may have had and did not yet have a fever of 101.5, it's going to call into question exactly when should we -- what does screening really entail, when do we call someone symptomatic and at what point do they become infectious.
Now it is 100.4, that's much lower temperature, and will it change again, we don't know.
BURNETT: All right, Sanjay, thank you very much. He'll be back with us later in the hour.
And there are so many questions tonight about how Amber Vinson contracted the virus in the first place and frankly at this point, who else she may have infected. Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT live in Dallas. And Ed, I know you are
learning more on this as well.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, CDC investigators and health officials here in Texas say they are looking at those first days when Thomas Eric Duncan was admitted here to the hospital. Perhaps that is the time and the place where everything went wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Federal officials are retracing the steps of Amber Vinson, the second Dallas nurse to contract Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan. Most alarming the 29-year-old violated CDC guidelines and left Dallas, flying back from Cleveland just a day before she experienced Ebola symptoms.
DR. TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR (via telephone): She should not have traveled on a commercial airline.
LAVANDERA: Meanwhile, Federal health officials now acknowledge that the team of health care workers treating Duncan was dangerously exposed to the Ebola virus in the first days Duncan was admitted to the hospital.
FRIEDEN: First, some of the forms that PTE used did allow exposure of some parts of the skin.
LAVANDERA: Between September 28th and September 30th, CDC officials have found that healthcare workers were using varying forms of protective gear, not one uniform standard. Some were wearing three or four layers of equipment. Medical experts say that may sound safer, it could actually cause more problems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It shows you they were not prepared for this and not set up to take this kind of patient.
LAVANDERA: The National Nurse's Union paints a startling picture of what's like inside the room where Thomas Duncan was treated, nurses had to use medical tape to wrap around their necks in order to protect themselves and take it off on their own.
And that while nurses were given face shields and surgical masks, some supervisors even said the masks were not necessary. The organization says these details were provided by Texas Health Presbyterian nurses who fear retaliation for speaking out.
Texas Health Hospital officials have not responded directly to these allegations and questions other than to say the health and safety of its employees are a priority.
DR. DANIEL VARGA, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN: A lot is being said about what pay or may not have occurred to cause our colleagues to contract this disease. But it is clear there was an exposure somewhere, sometime, in the treatment of Mr. Duncan.
LAVANDERA: Wednesday afternoon, medical teams started to move the second health care worker infected with Ebola, Amber Vinson from Dallas to Emory University in Atlanta where two other Ebola patients were successfully treated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And Erin, health officials here in Texas say the worse may not be over yet. They are continuing to monitor all of the other health care workers that were in the room with Thomas Eric Duncan and they say there could still be more who become infected -- Erin.
BURNETT: Ed, thank you very much. A real question when there is only 11 beds to treat them in the whole country.
And I want to bring in Dr. Brett Giroir. He is the director of the Texas Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response. Good to have you with us, Doctor.
And you know, here on CNN, you said the nurses who had contact with Mr. Duncan were being actively monitored, this was yesterday morning. They weren't reporting to work. They were being seen by disease detectives. Their temperature was being taken multiple times a day.
I guess, the question is, at this time, do you know how Amber Vinson got on a plane, disappeared for a few days, went to another state and then came back?
DR. BRETT GIROIR, DIRECTOR, TEXAS TASK FORCE ON INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESPONSE: I don't know how that happened. As you know, this is happening sort of in realtime right now and the CDC and the county are actively involved in that right now. So I can't tell you that.
Our task force is not interfering with the day-to-day operations of disease tracking and monitoring these patients, but obviously that is a question that everyone is asking and needs to be answered fairly promptly.
BURNETT: It is a crucial question. And for you, obviously, a crucial big picture question as you are dealing with this crisis in Texas. I mean, at this time, have you or are you comfortable that the people tracking all of these individuals who had contact with Mr. Duncan, 74 of them now, there were 76. Two of them now have Ebola. Do you know for sure none of them violated the rules?
GIROIR: I do not know for sure. And again, we are not interfering, from the task force point of view, we are providing scientific and technical assessments and help as we can on fundamental issues, like the decontamination of the apartment or what to do with the pet. But we are not interfering with the day-to-day operations of those investigations.
BURNETT: And obviously you say, you know, who is in charge, who is responsible and that is the big question now to try to figure out how to stop this from spreading and how to stop it from happening somewhere else. I mean, you have literally had this job for just about a week so
it is pretty hard to say that you've had the long institutional memory to have done anything here, but I can ask you, who do you think is responsible for what is truly an epic set of mistakes?
GIROIR: Well, there is all kind of levels of responsibility here. And, again, part of what we are doing is we really have to understand, if you go back to the first visit of Mr. Duncan to the hospital, again, we have to review all of those records and not all is known.
But often individual errors or misjudgments or misdiagnosis could be reflective of a larger systematic problem, we don't know that. Was the education sufficient? Was there enough education and training and exercising of that?
BURNETT: Absolutely. But when you took over this job, you were hearing what I was hearing and the viewers were hearing and what we were all hearing is something a lot like what I'm going to play for you. This is what was coming out of Washington, out of the CDC, out of officials who were tasked with being prepared for this in advance and here is what they've been saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is unlikely that the disease would spread if the virus were detected in the United States.
DR. BETH BELL, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: We do not view Ebola as a significant public health threat to the United States.
FRIEDEN: This is a tried and true reliable public health strategy. There is no doubt in my mind that we can stop it in its tracks.
DAN VARGA, TEXAS HEALTH RESOURCES CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER: We are still confident that the precautions that we have in place will protect our health care workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That is what we all heard. When you hear things like that and see what is happening now, you can see why a lot of Americans don't trust what authorities are telling them. Do you feel that you were misled at all by the CDC, by other officials?
GIROIR: Well, I'm always, as a scientist and as a physician, I am always concerned when we make blanket statements about being perfectly safe or perfectly protected. And that is just not how science and medicine works and that certain precautions may be absolutely protective under a certain set of circumstances.
But these were different circumstances. I think if you have Ebola anywhere in the world, it is a risk to everywhere in the world. And we need to understand that both retrospectively and prospectively. And I do believe there are going to be a lot of changes in how the CDC as well as the whole country approaches Ebola. Because the statement -- the statements such that we are
perfectly safe, or that Ebola can be taken care of in any community hospital within this country I think have been proven untrue.
BURNETT: Dr. Giroir, thank you very much, an honest assessment there.
Well, next the breaking news. Nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian are now threatening to walk off the job.
Plus, are fears of an Ebola pandemic driving a free fall on Wall Street?
And the second Dallas nurse now with Ebola boarded a commercial flight with a fever. How could the CDC have told her that was OK?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: We're following the breaking news tonight on a new Ebola patient from Dallas been flown at this hour to Emory University hospital in Atlanta. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta just reporting that there is concern tonight that nurses at Texas Presbyterian hospital may walk off the job. Keep in mind they are currently treating another nurse, Nina Pham, who is fighting Ebola tonight. This is putting pressure on the White House and on, frankly, how the administration has responded thus far.
It is a simple question that many are asking, who is in charge of handling the Ebola crisis? Here is what happened today when our Jim Acosta tried to clarify with our homeland security advisor Lisa Monaco who was indeed the person in charge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: She's not overseeing the construction of Ebola transmission units in West Africa. The department of defense is responsible for that.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I understand that. But who is in charge of the overall response.
EARNEST: She is not responsible for coordinating the activities of the international community as they interact with local government in West Africa. USAID is involve in involve in that effort. They have an area of expertise. She's not diagnosing the people in the field.
ACOSTA: You are interrupting me because you feel like you have a point to make. But you understand question.
EARNEST: I think at the point that I have to make is directly relevant.
ACOSTA: You seem reluctant to say who is in charge of the federal response to Ebola.
EARNEST: Jim, I think that resending very clearly to you who is specifically is responsible for which activities when it comes to this government's tenacious response to Ebola.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Tenacious response to Ebola. Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as the federal government rapidly expands its effort to contain the Ebola virus, the response is under withering fire and the White House is playing defense. The press secretary today.
EARNEST: The administration continues to pursue the kind of tenacious response that will both protect the American public here at home and also do what is necessary to completely eliminate the risk to the American public from the Ebola virus.
FOREMAN: But listen to him back in August.
EARNEST: As bad as this situation is, in three or four countries in Africa, the CDCs that assessed there is no significant risk to those here in the United States as a result of this outbreak.
FOREMAN: The CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention has down played the threat of Ebola at virtually every turn. When American health corkers contracted the disease in Africa and came home for treatment, CDC director Thomas Frieden dismissed the idea of anyone getting it in an American hospital.
DR. TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: It is not going to be huge risk in the U.S.
FOREMAN: Days later in a statement to Congress, he said we know how to stop Ebola with strict infection control practices which are already in widespread use in American hospitals.
And when that patient from Liberia was diagnosed in Dallas, the CDC once again assured the public everything was under control, right up until word came that a nurse had contracted the disease, to which Dr. Frieden said --
FRIEDEN: We're not sure how she was infected. We're intensively looking at that.
FOREMAN: And yet now even with a second nurse infected, the secretary of health and human services who oversees the CDC said we could have handled the Ebola outbreak better but --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do have confidence in the CDC and Dr. Frieden.
FOREMAN: Back at the White House, the same chorus.
EARNEST: People should continue to be confident in the response organized by the government in reaction to this specific situation. FOREMAN: But for all of those assurances, a Washington Post ABC
News poll finds nearly two-thirds of American are saying the government led by the CDC is not doing enough to stop the spread of Ebola.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: So for all of this talk at the White House about a tenacious response, what is emerging is more of a narrative that says either the White House doesn't really understand who is handling this outbreak and what the disease is behaving, what way, they don't understand that, or they are woefully (ph) uninformed about to the degree to each hospitals and health care workers are ready to deal with it.
That's coming together, as you know, Erin, is one of those terrible storms of what appears to be either a degree of ignorance or unwillingness to accept reality and that can be political dynamite for anyone to deal with out there right now. And people, when you talk about something as fear some as Ebola, they pay attention.
BURNETT: Political dynamite and perhaps more. All right. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman.
And joining me now, Dr. Sanjay Gupta along with Dr. Ivan Walks, a former chief health officer for the District of Columbia and Katy Roemer, a registered nurse and member of the Union National Nurses United.
OK. Great to have all of you.
Dr. Walks, let me start with you. The CDC has been so absolute zero risks, they views in some instances, so eager to say that this isn't something to be concerned about. Is this the right thing to tell people there is no risk to avoid mass fear when facing something like Ebola?
DR. IVAN WALKS, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FORMER CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER: Erin, we know the right thing to tell people. We've seen infectious illness in major metropolitan areas before. And I worked with the CDC several years ago to create a risk communication guideline that was disseminated to all of the health departments around the country.
Erin, we know how to do this. You don't rush to reassure. You let people know what you know and you let them know you will come back to tell them when you know better.
Things like this evolve. Things like this absolutely evolve. So the fact we didn't know everything on day one is not unprecedented. It is not something we should be concerned about. What we should do is make sure we rush to tell people that we know this. We'll tell you when we know more.
BURNETT: And of course, there was a rush on their part to say they did know more than they knew. Sanjay, you are now reporting that when a symptom is a symptom,
perhaps has changed and also something significant that you have to share with our viewers which is that when this nurse got -- was about to board a plane, she had a fever. She actually, you are saying, made a call to the CDC and asked if she could get on the plane and they said yes?
DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It sounds like she was doing the right thing, that she was monitoring her temperature. When she was in Cleveland, she has flown to Cleveland, three days later now, she is taking her temperature and it is elevated. What we are hearing now that in fact she did call someone at the CDC. We don't know who specifically that person was. But someone at the CDC and was told it was OK to get on the plane.
Now, let me put that in context for you, Erin. This is very significant. Here is why. She was known, obviously, to have contact with someone who had Ebola just within the previous few days. And if she had been in West Africa, for example, and tried to get on a plane out of Liberia, with that history, now an elevated temperature and a history of just being in contact with Ebola, she would have been flagged. Despite that she was not flagged here in the United States and was able to get on the plane.
BURNETT: And we are going to have a Special Report later on what is happening to everybody else on that plane and what they are being told tonight.
But Katy, let me ask you. Sanjay also reporting, breaking news, that the nurses at Texas Presbyterian are, there is a risk they may be walking off the job because they don't have the staffing because they don't have training, that they are frustrated. What do you think about that?
KATY ROEMER, REGISTERED NURSE: I think that we need to start listening to the registered nurses in the United States about who really have -- are the experts about what is actually happening in the hospitals throughout this country. And what they are reporting is that we are -- we don't have the preparation.
We issued a letter today to president Obama to use his executive authority to mandate that hospitals follow standardized protocols and procedures throughout hospitals in the United States so that we can be safe and provide care to patients.
Nurses have the right, if we are going to risk our lives caring for these patients, to have adequate optimal equipment, including hazmat suits, respiratory equipment, and training to be able to put this equipment on and off in order to be safe with our patients and ourselves.
BURNETT: So Sanjay, I'm curious about, because you are in front of Emory. That is where the second nurse is now. She is going to be arriving within the hour, perhaps, any moment to where you are. Emory has treated patients before, two or three Americans and they have been -- there have been no infections. There are a few other hospitals in the country. But when you look at the total number of beds that those hospitals that are prepared have, you are looking at low double- digits, mid double-digits, we are looking at 74 possible exposed nurses just in Texas. What happens if there was an outbreak of more than a dozen or so people in this country right now?
GUPTA: Well, the answer up until a few days ago was, look,, I mean, most hospitals in the country should be able to take care of these patients, isolating someone for non-airborne pathogen is something that any hospital should be able to do.
And, you know, a week ago that was the standard answer. And the answer obviously is changing a little bit. I still believe that any hospital could possibly do this, because you don't need special equipment. There is not a special treatment or some sort of magic wand here at Emory. But the fact that this has gone the way it has in Dallas, that one patient has now infected two other people; obviously, it makes a lot of people very nervous.
Erin, you know, they've been doing this for a long time in very tough circumstances in central and West Africa and have had hardly any transmissions from patients to health care workers. They can be done. It can be done under, you know, really tough situations. Why it has gone so poorly in Dallas, I think -- hopefully there are lessons learned.
BURNETT: Hopefully there are.
But Dr. Walks, I want to show you video, actually, today and this was drawn to our attention by people responding to it on twitter. And this is the patient, the nurse, Amber Vinson, who is now on the route to where Sanjay is standing right now.
As you can see, as she boarded the plane, there are people in hazmat suits and then there is a guy who is right there nest next to the gurney who is just -- he is there with a pen and paper and his regular clothes on. What do you make of that?
WALKS: Erin, this is an example of why the public is so uncomfortable. There clearly should be officials around that plane, making sure that the images that people are seeing are the ones we want them to see. So what is it? Do you need a hazmat suit or do not need a hazmat suit? It doesn't make any sense to me.
I actually watched that video live today and I was cringing thinking what is the message we are giving to the public? This is public health. This is not the same as us telling you how to manage your own health behavior sow don't get sick.
Public health is about all of us staying healthy by you doing what we in public health ask you to do. This is absolutely not the same as health care. And I think we have to be very careful that a crisis in confidence doesn't occur. Who else do we have?
We have a CDC full of smart people and know their science. We have to get better at the messaging and the messages and the messengers, but the science is strong and the CDC is great, we're just doing a lousy job with getting a consistent message out right now.
ROEMER: Can I please respond to that? This is Katy.
BURNETT: I'm sorry, Katy, I'm out of time. I can't, but I thank you very much. We will have you back because I do want to give you a chance to talk about this more.
But to Dr. Walks' point, when you talk about a crisis at confidence, there is one place where you can say is that happening and the answer is yes.
When you look at the market, Dow today down about 500 points today after a late rally in part because to Ebola fears.
And our breaking news continues with almost 4500 people dead from Ebola. The latest figures on the virus as it spreads beyond West Africa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news: Ebola fears sparking a deep dive on Wall Street. The Dow today plummeted 460 points. That is a stunning number. It sounds like it and it is.
And now, it did recover some losses and closed down by only 173 points. But the truth is that the deadly virus has been weighing on investors who want confidence and security. Stocks have tumbled since Ebola arrived in the United States and in five days the Dow is off 5 percent.
Deborah Feyerick is OUTFRONT. What is causing this fear, this uncertainty?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESONDENT: Well, it's just that, and it's the numbers. It's the numbers that keep growing and growing.
So, let's look at what we are talking about. West Africa, this is where it began. But now, the number of cases close to 4,500 deaths, 9,000 right now throughout West Africa. We take a look at where it's going. It has already gone into Central Africa. So, all of that is being closely watched.
Clearly, we know that a couple of cases crossed the ocean and arrived here in the United States, specifically to Texas. The number of diagnosed cases here -- three. Several others were brought to the United States and treated. But however, this is really where we're talking about right now.
We have one man, Liberian Thomas Duncan, he died a week ago today. He transferred the virus to two nurses in direct contact with him. The first 26-year-old -- she seems to be doing well, but the second nurse that everybody is speaking of, Amber Vinson, she tested positive for Ebola. She went from Dallas, to Cleveland, back to Dallas, during the Columbus Day weekend, and now everybody that she and Thomas Eric Duncan came into contact with, all of them are being monitored. And let's look at that. So, right now, Dallas, you got 74 health
care workers. The number was a little bit higher, but we know now two tested positive. We got 48 others who Thomas came into contact with. And now, they're going to be looking at nurse, nurse Vinson, to see who she was in touch with and that includes the 132 people who are on the flight when she began running a fever.
This is the United States. Let's go to Europe. OK? Fewer cases here in Europe.
We know one in Spain, that's the nurse. She is also in serious but stable condition. Doctors optimistic.
One in Germany, the man there, a U.N. worker, he died. He had been in Liberia. But, again, we look at the monitoring, and just from this one case in Spain, we know that 81 people are now under surveillance.
And you have to think of the impact of this, Erin. Officials say the world's response to the Ebola crisis that really has got to step up and if it doesn't step up in 60 days, according to the World Health Organization, there could be upwards of 10,000 new cases, new infections every week, and that's why everybody is so skittish, and that's why everybody's looking and seeing where this goes and how many people it affects -- Erin.
BURNETT: That's pretty incredible and they're talking about the unprecedented situation for which the U.S. is saying there is, quote- unquote, "no plan". When those numbers, Deb, is laying, really make point.
In our money and power tonight is the Ebola fears that are hitting Wall Street. Those numbers hitting home.
Joining me now, Paul Hickey of the Bespoke Investment Group, and Dr. Alexander Van Tulleken, a CNN medical analyst.
Paul, when we look at the numbers today, down nearly 500 points. Just give people some context. The last time we saw swings like a day like today, 500 points and ending down 173, was in the depths of the financial crisis, when people wondered if there would be riots on the streets and if they could ever get money out of the ATM again. It's a pretty shocking thing to see swings like this.
PAUL HICKEY, CO-FOUNDER, BESPOKE INVESTMENT GROUP: Yes. I mean, the volatility we've been seeing in the last few weeks is -- we haven't seen this since 2011 and before that the final crisis. Today's weakness wasn't all strictly this second case of Ebola and what happened, but it's definitely contributor to what we've seen. We saw weak economic data today, weak inside of Europe. So, those are other factors.
But you have -- this is certainly weighing on sentiment and market sentiment through this bull market is something and very fragile. And when we have consumers and Americans having zero confidence in what the officials are telling us, that causes people to take a step back and say, I'm not going to be in such a rush to buy stock XYZ, because we don't know how this will shake out and we have little confidence in how things are going to shake out.
BURNETT: Right, because they don't have it under control, because the U.N. says if we don't control it within 60 days, it will be unprecedented situation.
Dr. Van Tulleken, I wanted to play this sound bite from you from an old friend of mine, Jim Cramer and what he had to say about trading on CNBC today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CRAMER, HOST, CNBC'S MAD MONEY: Midday, we got the incredibly terrible news that the second stricken health worker had actually flown on a commercial plane, and we realized once again we have no real protocols in this country for handling Ebola. Now, we got to wait 121 days until find out who if anyone was infected on the plane, which means it could be really hard to bottom until we got this period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: For people who think this is not related to the broader stability to your retirement account, that's something that explains that it indeed is. And it is shocking to many people that she could have been on this plane, and even more shocking that the CDC, when they called and said, I have a fever of 99.5 and can I get on a plane, and they said yes. When if she was in Liberia, she would have been denied boarding.
DR. ALEXANDER VAN TULLEKEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It's absolutely extraordinary that we are --as Jim said, we do not have a plan of someone presenting with suspected Ebola through to discharge from hospital or death that takes care of every single stage of that.
And I think that complicated the plan together. But we're seeing even the segments of that plan, what happens when a nurse puts on a gown, are not being well covered. And that should make us worry. And what is does an Ebola outbreak in America look like?
The answer is not a lot of people are going to die of Ebola. Most Americans don't have to worry about that, but they absolutely do have to worry about nurses not turning up to hospitals, their retirement account is shrinking, the stock markets crashing, those kinds of things. That's what an Ebola outbreak looks like in America and we're seeing the first reading of that today.
BURNETT: And that is very significant. And you've done an analysis, Paul, versus, you know, in Hong Kong, when the SARS epidemic, which was about as lethal, even more where it was hitting, and at that time according to your numbers, the number of people flying in Hong Kong down about 66 percent, hotel occupancy is down by more than 60 percent. That would change the entire situation in this country. HICKEY: I mean, if confidence gets hurt, it's a big problem.
Again, this is really an outlier that it won't become a big outbreak in the U.S. I think. But the key is what Jim Cramer saying before. You remember in 2007, in the early stages of the financial crisis, he -- your conversation with him where he said, they know nothing.
BURNETT: About the Fed. They know nothing.
HICKEY: Even though they were caught off guard and it seems like the CDC is caught off guard.
BURNETT: It's just a lack of confidence. It's not that the problem could be that big. It's the fact that they don't seem to know how to handle it.
HICKEY: Exactly. Every day, we hear different stories. And people are just like, OK, if they don't know what's going on, I'm not going to take any -- I'm going to step back in my risk of tolerance here.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much to both of you. We appreciate that.
And next, the latest Ebola patient boarded a domestic flight on Monday even though she had a low grade fever. The CDC actually told her it was OK to fly. Now, the search is on for the 132 who flew with her. A special report on what's happening with them tonight.
And American doctors and nurses about to go to the hot zone to fight Ebola. We're going to show you where they are being trained tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news tonight, you are looking at live pictures right now in Atlanta. That is the plane that Amber Vinson, the second nurse to be infected by Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, she is right now in that plane. They are going to take her off the plane and take her to Emory University Hospital. That is one of the few hospitals in the United States that has successfully treated Ebola patients thus far without infecting any health care workers, one of the few hospitals that have the full ability to isolate patients.
Few things that we want to make sure you know in terms of the breaking news. The reason she is in the plane right now is because the government being unsure whether the Dallas Presbyterian Hospital could handle this. They say there was a severe staffing issue and perhaps nurses would be walking off the job. Also, keep in mind she called the CDC before boarding a commercial flight with a fever on Monday. The CDC said get on the plane.
That is why an exhaustive search is underway tonight for the 132 passengers who flew to Texas with Amber Vinson. According to the CDC, Vinson boarded Frontier Airlines flight 1143 on Monday. She's had a fever at that time of 99.5 degrees. She did call the CDC. She alerted them of the fever. They told
her it was OK to board the plane. A day later, she went to the hospital. She was admitted last night.
And the mayor of Dallas tells our Wolf Blitzer that she was is in worse condition than the first nurse, Nina Pham.
Rene Marsh is OUTFRONT live in Washington tonight.
And, Rene, you know, we've been told you can spread Ebola when you have symptoms. They're looking at fever, Amber Vinson knew she was being monitored, she wasn't supposed to have left her home, she did have that low grade fever, and called the CDC.
But the CDC now says, look, people on that plane are at risk. We called some people on the plane today, Rene. They were scared to talk publicly and have their name known. One man told us he was on the plane and says the CDC called him, look, we told you about the symptoms of Ebola, told him to monitor himself for fever for the next 21 days and that's it.
Is that all the CDC is doing for those 132 people?
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know that the CDC, Erin, has all of the names and phone numbers for the 132 people on board this flight. What the CDC says that they are doing is they're reaching out just like they reached out to that individual. They are questioning them, what kind of contact did they have with this nurse when on board of this flight, asking them questions.
The CDC says if during the line of questioning, they determine this individual could be at risk, they will arrange for a follow-up, essentially tracking these passengers, calling them back, seeing if they are feeling any symptoms, experiencing any symptoms.
So, the CDC says that they will be tracking these people but they continue to say they believe the risk is low for everyone on board that flight -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Rene, thank you very much.
And, of course, questions whether they're doing anything different for those sitting directly next to Amber Vinson.
OUTFRONT next, American health care workers are training to fight to Ebola to try to turn the situation. We found the training facility and we're going to show it to you.
Plus, new pictures of quarantined Bentley. That's nurse Nina Pham's dog. We have an update from the man in charge of his care.
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BURNETT: Now, let's check in with Anderson with a look at what's coming up on "AC360."
Hi, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Erin. Yes, we're going to have obviously all the latest live from here in Dallas, the latest on the new patient who's become infected with Ebola, who's been sent to Emory University.
Also, my conversation with Dr. Kent Brantly. He, of course, is the first American who tested positive for Ebola. He was a doctor, a missionary doctor in Liberia. He's the first American who was flown here to Emory University. I'll talk to him about why he believes people should try to avoid panic here, why he says there is not as much cause for concern in the United States right now certainly is there in West Africa where he believes much of the focus should be. And I asked him about the protective gear, the kind that many of the nurses here were using early on when they first received Thomas Eric Duncan, whether he thought that protective gear was enough and whether the CDC protocols for protective gear are adequate.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I don't know if you have seen the CDC guidelines now, but they don't require covering on your feet, some health workers next can be exposed. Would you go into an isolation ward with that kind of gear on?
DR. KENT BRANTLY, SAMARITAN PURSE: When I was at Emory, the doctors and nurses who took care of me, they wore suits that completely covered themselves, had a clear face shield where I could see their whole face, but they were climate controlled suits, they had a little battery pack with a fan that kept cool air on them. So, they could wear the suit and stay at my bedside for 24 hours a day, for their entire shift. That seemed like a very safe process to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We'll talk to him more about that. And also what it feels like to have Ebola. Not just the symptoms but what it is like to actually go through all the different stages of the virus, Erin.
BURNETT: I'm really looking forward to hearing that. Anderson, thank you. And we'll see you in a few minutes.
And breaking news tonight, a government official tells our Sanjay Gupta that there are serious concerns that the Texas Presbyterian Hospital can't handle Ebola, specifically because they're afraid nurses will walk off the job. It's a dangerous and deadly job to treat Ebola patients, yet hundreds of American health care workers are volunteering to do it here but also to go to West Africa.
Nick Valencia is OUTFRONT with where they're being trained.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In an abandoned building in Anniston, Alabama, health care workers are getting a crash course on treating Ebola patients in the hot zone. This group of American doctors and nurses will soon head to the three countries in West Africa affected by the Ebola outbreak.
Dr. Phuoc Le will go to Liberia. He says the training he gets today will mean the difference between life and death.
(on camera): So, you struggled a little bit?
PHUOC LE, UCSF ASSISTANT CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE: Yes, it's not easy, it's not easy, and that was a large size and I'm not a large guy, but still I couldn't get the coveralls over my shoulders without really touching the outside, which is the contaminated side. I was supposed to only touch the inside, which is the clean side, and just couldn't do it. So, that's --I'm going to practice it again and again.
VALENCIA (voice-over): The training is modeled after procedures used by Doctors Without Borders. Three days of intense of practice in dealing with drawing blood, cleaning vomit, and even patient burial.
A lot of it is trying to limit the inevitable human error, says CDC trainer Dr. Patricia Griffin.
DR. PATRICIA GRIFFIN, CDC TRAINER: The first thing you want to do is get rid of all that bulky gear. But you have to have the muscle memory of having done it before, of knowing that you can do it safely, and knowing that it has to take a little longer than you would like it to. And you have someone there guiding you through it, so that you stay calm and you just get it all off and then you walk out knowing that you're safe.
VALENCIA: Dr. Le thinks a lot about safety. With a wife and 2- year-old child back at home in northern California, he says he is anxious about his impending trip. But for him, his concern is outweighed by compassion.
LE: I'm leaving in a couple of weeks, and, you know, whoever tells you they're not anxious about working in Liberia and working in an Ebola unit I think is delusional. I'm very nervous.
VALENCIA (on camera): Then, why do it?
LE: Like I said, it goes back to this idea of solidarity and equity. Kind of like if you're a firefighter and you signed up to fight fires, and there is a fire. You should go fight that fire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALENCIA: One of the most difficult parts about this for the clinicians going through the training is the doffing, or sort of taking off that protective personal equipment that they wear. Erin, I put on the suit recently, it is very hot, it's also very uncomfortable. My goggle started to fog up, and there is no guarantee even if you do everything right that you won't contaminate yourself. It's something that clinicians here are worried about and also, really, everyone that's going through this training -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Nick, thank you very much. A fascinating report and I have to say, pretty inspirational to see that man willing to go and try to go save other's lives.
We'll be right back.
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BURNETT: Thanks for watching. I'll see you back here tomorrow night.
"AC360" begins now.
