Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Nina Pham in Good Spirits, Now at NIH in Bethesda; Carnival Cruise Confirms Ebola Lab Technician in Self Isolation; Five in London Charged on Terror Offenses; Ebola Concern Spreads to Bridal Shop; U.S. Ramps Up Airstrikes Against ISIS

Aired October 17, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Have a great weekend. NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Nina Pham in good spirits getting treatment for Ebola at the National Institutes of Health.

Plus, Amber Vinson with her wedding party as they try on dresses.

ANNA YOUNKER, BRIDAL SHOP OWNER: She was probably here probably about three hours maybe? And I had no idea that anything was wrong with her.

CABRERA: New details about what she was doing in Ohio before getting back on a plane to Dallas.

LAWRENCE VINSON, UNCLE OF AMBER VINSON: Amber has directly told me is that she felt fine, that she felt well until Tuesday morning.

CABRERA: And the White House.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It may be appropriate for me to appoint an additional person.

CABRERA: Warming up to the idea of an Ebola czar.

OBAMA: Just to make sure that we're crossing all the "t"s and dotting all the "i"s going forward.

CABRERA: Let's talk in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA (on camera): Hello, I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol. Thanks for being here on a Friday. While you were sleeping, new developments in the nation's fight against Ebola. Nina Pham, one of the two nurses infected with Ebola at a Dallas hospital, wakes up this morning in Maryland. Overnight, she arrived at the National Institutes of Health to be treated by a team of infectious disease experts in one of those special biocontainment units.

And now for the first time we're getting a look at her recovery. Listen to this exchange with her doctor that was recorded on video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) take care of our first patient. It means a lot. This is - this is a huge effort by all of you guys.

NINA PHAM, EBOLA PATIENT: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: And we're really proud of you.

All right.

PHAM: Come to Maryland, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Party in Maryland?

PHAM: Party in Maryland!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You need anything?

PHAM: I don't think so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe tissues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In case you start crying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You start crying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, happy tears are OK. Otherwise no tears. It's not allowed.

PHAM: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look like you need a nap (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Seems to be hanging in there. Meantime we've also learned just a few hours ago in fact that Carnival cruise confirmed now a passenger is under watch and in isolation. She is a health worker who may have handled lab specimens from Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola victim to die on U.S. soil. Now Carnival says this passenger shows no signs of infection.

Let's begin with that cruise ship development and CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us in Dallas. What can you tell us, Elizabeth?

ELIABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEIDCAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, we've been told by Carnival Cruise lines that this woman is a lab supervisor at this hospital where I'm at and apparently took a vacation, went on the cruise lines, and now has quarantined herself, and that she's at very low risk, she is not sick. And Ana, this is the really important part. It has been 19 days since this lab supervisor was in the lab with the specimens from Thomas Eric Duncan. 19 days, that is almost at the 21-day incubation point. And so the chances of this person developing Ebola are very, very slim. Ana?

CABRERA: That is good news at least. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks. Keep us posted.

And let's bring in now CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, why are these people traveling seemingly so freely when they know they have exposed?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, part of this is the question should they sort of put it on themselves to limit their travel? They're health care professionals, they've had contact perhaps with the Ebola virus, and part of it is just sort of what are the rules and regulations?

The important -- one of the important points here, from a public health perspective, is that again, as Elizabeth said, if it you're not sick, you're not going to be transmitting the virus. Very important. But what we've also heard from Dr. Frieden a few days ago is that there's this whole policy of what's known as controlled movement, and that means that if somebody has had contact with a patient who has had Ebola, then they can't travel by commercial airline, they can't go on a cruise ship with lots of people. They can go in a car somewhere, they can get on a charter plane, but they shouldn't be doing these movements with lots of other people, and that doesn't seem to be happening. People seem to be doing that. This other nurse here who is now in Atlanta flew to Cleveland and back. So they need to sort that out.

CABRERA: So would it make sense then for the CDC now to enact some new guidelines regarding this?

GUPTA: Yes, and I think that's exactly what they're talking about now. It's -- they got to figure that out and they got to figure out if someone has come in contact with someone with Ebola. 21 days, maybe they're not going to travel in some sort of commercial way. Or is it people directly caring for the person with a certain level of protective gear?

It sounds like they're not going to have a blanket policy. They're going to have levels of risk, and based on the level of risk they're going to figure out what the travel should be. But I think they're going to get more detailed about this.

The nurse, Amber Vinson, sounds like, Ana, she wasn't told anything. She, in fact, was the one who called the CDC herself at some point and said this is what's going on with me. So she wasn't told she couldn't fly. That needs to obviously be more spelled out.

CABRERA: Absolutely. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for joining us this morning.

GUPTA: Thank you. You got it.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News. CABRERA: Breaking news out of London where five men have been charged following a series of terror-related arrests in the past few days.

Atika Shubert is joining me now by phone from London. Atika, what have you learned?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, what we know is that the five men were arrested over the last few days and they have been charged with terror offenses, namely in one of them swearing an oath in support of ISIS, but also in terms of obtaining a firearm, specifically a Bical handgun. Now, we don't have much more information than that. What we do know is that all five men will appear in front of the Westminster magistrate's court shortly to be charged at that their hearing there.

That's what we have at the moment. But hopefully we'll have more details as the case progresses.

CABRERA: Atika, I know details are slim and information is still coming in. Do you know, are these men British nationals?

SHUBERT: We know that quite a few of them are British nationals, at least, possibly all of them. They come from various different backgrounds. What's interesting is that they all came from one particular neighborhood of central London and they appear to be basically young men, teenagers between the ages of 19 and 21. Many of them grew up together in the same area.

So we're still looking at exactly the case behind them, but it does appear they've known each other for quite a while and they're essentially young men.

CABRERA: All right, Atika Shubert in London. Thank you.

And still to come right here on CNN, a bridal shop in Akron, Ohio, is shut down right now over the expanding Ebola scare. And this is all because one of the nurses who contracted the virus was a customer there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNKER: If this is as series as it is, why is this being handled in a non-serious way?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The view inside that bridal shop, could other customers be at risk? What's the shop owner to do? we'll tell you what the health department is saying. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINSON: I feel that there are certain unknowns and certain -- and some gaps in the process. And we are very disturbed by the effort to focus on perceived violations of rules that weren't in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That's Ebola patient Amber Vinson's uncle. He's clearly upset that rules were broken, spreading concern over Ebola, and now his niece is now being treated for this virus.

For one, why was she allowed to get on a plane back to Dallas from a trip to Ohio after she called the CDC to say she had a fever? And now concern has spread to a bridal shop that Amber Vibson was visiting during her trip. Our Susan Candiotti talked to the owner of that shop and is joining us from Cleveland this morning. Susan, how concerned is the owner?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, well, here in Akron, Ohio, she is taking things very seriously, as you can imagine. Remember, it was just last Friday that Amber Vinson flew here to Cleveland and on to Akron and stayed until Monday. However, the shop owner says that some of her staff is more concerned than she is, and some of them had absolutely no contact with Amber Vinson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNKER: The rack and took it home.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): A typical busy Saturday for bridal shop owner Anna Younker, her shop crowded with customers including Amber Vinson, watching her bridesmaids getting fitted for a May wedding, the youngest only 10.

YOUNKER: She was probably here probably about three hours maybe. And we measured her party, we showed her color charts. Again, everything went well and I had no idea that anything was wrong with her.

CANDIOTTI: To Younker, Vinson didn't look sick at all. At the bridal shop, it was just another day until news broke Wednesday that her customer tested positive for Ebola after helping care for a victim who died in Dallas.

(on camera): What did you think when you heard about that?

YOUNKER: Actually, I was just a little surprised that it, you know, came this close to home, but yet I feel like my staff was a little more concerned.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Vinson talked about being a nurse, but there was no mention of her work with an Ebola patient.

(on camera): Do you think she should have?

YOUNKER: I could see why she didn't. Very intelligent lady, we had great conversation, nice bridal party, all her friends were nice. You know, so it's kind of like you wonder how did you not think this through?

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Younker called the Summit County Health Department right away. She said they were understanding but didn't sound ready to give her the advice she needed. She was the one who suggested closing her store as a precaution.

YOUNKER: I said what kind of sign do I put on my door? Because I don't want to cause panic either. But how do I let my customers know that I'm closing just in case, just until we get a little more information.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): What did they say?

YOUNKER: They said oh, okay, sure that would be a good idea.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Officials asked her and a co-worker to quarantine themselves, staying home, but that it was OK to come in this day to see a few customers and let in two health department workers.

YOUNKER: I feel like they should have instantly given us like OK, your staff needs to go home, you know, every around quarantine, just come up with something right away. Instead, they made us feel like, OK, we'll take your names down, go business as usual.

CANDIOTTI: A few hours later, Younker says the health department came in, giving her a thermometer to take her temperature twice a day for 21 days.

YOUNKER: I'm confused if this is as serious as it is, why is this being handled in a non-serious way to me?

CANDIOTTI: Back at Vinson's parents' home police stand watch. The home taped off for their privacy. Neighbors taking it all in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't imagine, my heart goes out to them. I don't -- I can't get my mind wrapped around this. They're right there. I can't even offer them a bowl of soup.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And that bridal shop owner tells me she had a visit last night from the Health Department, again, dropping off that thermometer for her to use and also asking her to do a bit of role playing on it to show her what interaction she had with Amber Vinson.

We're expecting a news conference in the next couple of hours from the Health Department for the latest information about their findings. Back to you.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Keep us posted, Susan Candiotti in Akron, Ohio -- thank you.

Now, Ebola isn't the only big story today. Punishing airstrikes raining down on ISIS targets as Kurdish troops are pushing back against these brutal terrorists. But can coalition forces keep ISIS on the defensive?

We'll speak with General Mark Kimmitt, coming up next. Also tracking some breaking news regarding ISIS, that's on the

backside of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The city of Kobani has been under attack by ISIS militants.

Nick, what can you tell us about this -- what could be a strategy shift sounds like on ISIS' behalf?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, certainly, I think we have to take a deep breath in thinking about ISIS, managing to get controlled of an Air Force at this stage. We know from activists near Aleppo, that's the key city in the north of Syria, is that in one airbase to the east, which is controlled by ISIS called Algera (ph), witnesses and residents spotted three war planes circling that particular base which they've heard and have been told piloted by Islamic state ISIS militants who have been taught how to fly them by former Iraqi air force pilots.

Now, this shows you the scope of the ambition that ISIS has to try and expand that technological capabilities, and also tells you how many people used to be in the Iraqi military, Sunnis, are now actually in ISIS assisting them. So, yes, it's worrying certainly.

Another caveat, though, Ana, these planes if they get off the ground are going to face problems in maintenance, supplies, the amount of mu munitions to be effective on the battlefield and, of course, bear in mind the U.S. air force and the Syrian air force they're going to be little match for NATO aerial weaponry -- Ana.

CABRERA: As far as the battle there on the ground, we heard in the last 24 hours that the Kurdish folks, the troops that were the Kurds that are fighting ISIS there in Kobani had actually made some progress and that the dozens of air strikes that the international coalition had set off there were having some kind of marginal impact.

What can you tell us about that situation at this moment? Have the Kurdish folks taken back control?

WALSH: Over the weekend, you know, it was really bleak here for Kurdish supporters. We saw ISIS moving in to a lot of territory, but a remarkable turnaround I think has been to coalition power over 50 airstrikes in about 72 hours. That's a lot of firepower being put into assist the Kurds. Of course, as the Pentagon said they had a lot of potential targets that they've been hitting because ISIS is moving into the city, sending its resources to try and win the fight.

But it appears to have changed things. They, yes, we're seeing jets in the sky, we're seeing many less explosions over and around the city, and we're certainly seeing reports from Kurdish fighters who say they're now fighting in the far east, that used to be the ISIS stronghold. In the south that also used to be where ISIS were, and I think it's down to the fact each time maybe ISIS tries to use the key access roads to get reinforcements in, they're risked being hit by coalition air power. You got to bear in mind, though, this doesn't mean it's over, far from

it. ISIS may come back later, the Kurds I've just spoken to their political leader on the phone, he said, you know, "We need now weaponry, we need anti-tank weaponry to hold ISIS back." He was very grateful for coalition air power, that it had really helped but they do need, they say, weaponry now to be allowed in so they can hold the city themselves -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh there on the Turkey/Syria border -- thank you very much for that update.

Let's dig deeper with General Mark Kimmitt joining us right now.

First, I want to get your reaction to what we're hearing about ISIS potentially having ability and access to jets now.

GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET): Well, I'd be quite surprised that's going to be a long-term capability of theirs. I think coalition air capability could knock them out of the skies quite quickly. They may even have drone capability but that's high maintenance equipment and I wouldn't suspect it's going to be a long- term effect on the battlefield.

CABRERA: We just heard Nick Paton Walsh say there have been about 50 air strikes in the last 72 hours there around Kobani. How effective are you seeing the air strikes be and are the results we've been seeing what you would expect at this stage in this battle against ISIS, given the current strategy?

KIMMITT: Well, I would suspect that we've got to be careful about drawing conclusions at this point in the battle. It may simply be that the airstrikes are causing the ISIS fighters to hunker down. What is clear is that it seems to be giving a morale boost to the Kurdish fighters and if they can be resupplied and even better reinforced by additional Kurdish fighters, that may tip the balance.

But I think the sheer quantity of air strikes alone hasn't been conclusive and we're going to need some time to see if that's really going to have a marked effect on the battlefield.

CABRERA: Now, what are airstrikes doing? According to Central Command, this week's air strikes have so far hit 19 ISIS buildings, 10 other targets, also the command post, sniper positions and ISIS staging locations. So, it's making a dent maybe when you look at least that information, but when you compare the cost of each of these airstrikes to what the coalition forces are actually taking out, like we show the sniper positions, for example, do you think that the benefits outweigh the cost?

KIMMITT: Well, certainly we cannot allow Kobani to fall to ISIS. The psychological victory, the strategic victory that would be used by the fall of Kobani would be heralded by ISIS around the world as their demonstration that they can defeat the largest coalition in the world. It would be a recruiting magnet for additional fighters.

So, while if you look at it as in dollars and cents, it doesn't make sense but if you look at what this could possibly do, should ISIS take over Kobani, I think that the military is making the right decisions on the effort they're putting towards holding and retaking Kobani.

CABRERA: So, you're saying it would be a horrible thing to lose Kobani while the Pentagon at least earlier this week or previously has said Kobani really isn't that important when you look at the bigger picture in terms of strategy. So, has there been a shift in terms of the value of this city?

KIMMITT: Well, again, tactically it's not that significant. Militarily it's not that significant. It's a small little town along the border with Turkey.

However, it has attracted the attention of the world. The world is watching the coalition fight ISIS, and because of that, a victory by other side in Kobani will have a psychological and strategic communication victory that far outweighs the tactical military victory to which ever side that wins.

CABRERA: All right. General Mark Kimmitt, thank you so much for joining us, from Cairo, today.

Still to come, Ebola fears spreading to the cruise industry now. A passenger on a Carnival Cruise has been isolated after the CDC says she may have handled lab samples from Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)