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Pentagon Troops To Help Fight Ebola In U.S.; Cruise Ship With Possible Ebola Patient Arrives In Texas; "Ebola Czar" Not At White House Ebola Meeting; Hannah Graham's Body Found?; Fauci: Nurse With Ebola Doing Well; Dallas Hospital Reputation At Risk

Aired October 19, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick, in for Fredricka Whitfield. You're in the CNN Newsroom, and these are our stories topping the news this hour.

A big announcement on how our government plans to protect Americans from Ebola here at home. The Pentagon and our troops are now getting involved. Details straight ahead.

And the search for Hannah Graham called off, this after human remains are found on an abandoned property, not far from where she was last seen. What police are now saying about the investigation?

Plus, riots take over a family pumpkin festival. The violence so terrifying that some people were afraid to leave their homes.

Well, we begin with the Pentagon taking major action today in a fight against Ebola in America. This just then CNN has learned that the Defense Department is prevailing a military quick strike team that will go anywhere in United States to help with any cases of Ebola that might arise.

I want to bring in CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. She's on the phone now.

And Barbara, President Obama had said, he wanted aggressive action, what are these strike teams designed to do?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, Hi Deborah. What we're talking about here is the Department of Health and Human Services this week said to the Pentagon, we may need help. And the Pentagon responded and now has -- is in the process of assembling some are calling it a quick strike team. some are calling it a rapid response team. Whatever you may want to call it, this is the team for the first time of military medical professionals.

They will go to Fordham, Houston and Texas, get trained up within the next couple of days, and be ready to deploy if civilian health authority, the CDC, whatever, since we need help this particular location, the no memo location, the team will be able to go there.

The team, 30 people, is going to be made up of five doctors, 20 nurses and five so-called trainers. People in the military who are very highly trained in health, how to deal with this issue of personal protective equipment, how to be compliant with the procedures on how that personal protective gear is use so that the help workers are protected in more cases don't erupt from health care workers getting the virus.

The team orders are to be ready to deploy anywhere in United States within 72 hours of getting orders. So for the first time now, we've seen military people traveling to West Africa to help there, and for the first time now we're seeing things being put in place for military personnel to help here in the United States if and when they get ordered to go -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: And Barbara, these five doctors, 20 nurses, and these affected compliance trainers, have they been trained to work together? Do they know what responses suppose to be? And is this an area of specialty, is it that one of criticism ultimately that everyone is learning on the job?

STARR: Well, I -- it's from the extent absolutely. You know this is just all really emerged in the last hour or so. That the Pentagon was putting together. My understanding from the sources I've spoken to in the last several minutes is they will go to this military base in Texas. Very rapidly, they're identifying the people now. They will get trained up. They will very quickly learn to work together as a team. That is what the U.S. military does. And they do have people that know how to do this, how to basically respond rapidly in a crisis.

But I think your point is very fair and very well taken. This country really hasn't dealt with this sort of issue before -- recently at least. And so everybody is a little bit learning on the job. The military has one critical advantage, which is -- people will tell you is if this erupts into a full-blown crisis, they can assemble large numbers of personnel equipment, aircraft, medical capability, and move it anywhere in the country very quickly that it might be need.

It it's the part of the United States government that can just really respond very, very quickly. And so they hope they're not going to get called into action, but they will be ready to go if they do.

FEYERICK: Yes. Absolutely. It's sort of a very big if --if more cases are diagnosed, the equivalent effectively of military boots on the ground.

But Barbara, is there any suggestion as to where these doctors and nurses would operate out of? Would they be given hospital privileges, for example? Would they work in tandem with doctors who are treating individuals? Is this about quarantine? Have they given you any further -- I know it's just new, and are you breaking this news on our air, but is there any specifics or logistics of how this works, what it looks like?

STARR: Well, all I can tell you is, you know legally in the United States the United States military, the active duty force, always -- if they are called to do something in the United States, legally they are always in support of civilian authorities. So whether it's a city that may be having a flood or a state that's fighting a wildfire, or a medical crisis that the Federal Government and State Governments are trying to fight. So they will be in support of civilian medical authority. They will go -- if they are ordered, where they are asked to go.

This is you know, not to be flip about it, there's no military Marshall law in play here. But it is going to be quite interesting because of course civilian hospitals do have those separate issues of hospital privileges and their accredited personnel.

I'm going to tell you, we don't know at this point exactly how all those issues will be worked out. But what we do know is over the last several days as the President has been meeting with his advisors. All the portions of the Federal Government merely have told to look for a more aggressive response to the Ebola situations. And our sources are telling that, that over the last several days this is what the Pentagon and HHS helping unit services have come up with, that the Pentagon would have the ability to offer some additional medical capability and medical capacity if it's needed.

FEYERICK: OK. If it's needed, terrific.

Obviously, adding a new and additional layer of peace of mind to a public, very skittish as it is.

Barbara Starr, thanks so much for breaking that news for us. We appreciate that.

And a cruise ship carrying a passenger who may have had contact with Ebola. That cruise ship now back in Texas after been leaving in Mexico said, no, I would not allow it to dock in their countries.

CNN's Alina Machado joins us now from Dallas.

And Alina, the passenger is a Dallas hospital lab worker who was a supervisor. She may have had contact with the test samples from that Liberian man, the Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person ever be diagnosed and died from Ebola here in the U.S. She did spend most of her vacation in isolation. What are you learning now about what happened, when that cruise ship arrived, and where she's at?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know she is as you mentioned, now back in Texas after the cruise ship, the Carnival Magic, arrived a few hours ago. And according to Galveston County health officials, the woman and her travel partner did not have any restrictions when they were getting off that ship for two reasons. Number one, because she did not have any symptoms of an active Ebola infection and because of some blood tests that were conducted by the state, we don't know what the results of those blood tests are, but based on the fact that they didn't put any restrictions on her, we can assume that those results were negative for any Ebola infection.

And it's worth mentioning that this woman is among the 48 people whose 21-day monitoring period is expected to end by midnight tonight. FEYERICK: Alina, is there any -- what is the ship tell its passengers

after all of these was over, because clearly there was a great deal of concerned and Texas health resources parent company of the Dallas Hospital actually issued an apology, an open letter, to the community. That the CEO also said that the two nurses infected with Ebola complied with those CDC guidelines. So what is going on here both with the apology and what the cruise ship is saying?

MACHADO: Well, the apology was published in the paper this morning. I want to get right to part of that statement. It says "based on what we already know, I can tell you that many of the theories and allegations being presented in the media do not align with facts stated in the medical record and the accounts of care givers who were present on the scene. We have remained committed to complying with CDC guideline from the start. We believe our procedures complied with the CDC Ebola guidelines and our staff implemented them diligently."

And Deb, we now know new guidelines are expected to be issued very, very soon.

FEYERICK: All right. Alina Machado for us there in Texas. Thank you so much. We'll check in with you a little while again.

And now to some potentially devastating news for the family and friends of missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham. Thirty-five days after the 18-year-old Graham was last seen in downtown Charlottesville, police from nearby Chesterfield County have found human remains on an abandoned property that was about eight miles away from where she disappeared.

Jean Casarez joins me now from Virginia.

And Jean, forensic tests must still be done, but we understand that her mom and dad have been told about the discovery and that police have called off the search for Hannah. Why do they believe it is this young woman?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, that is a very good question because they are not publically saying that they believe it's Hannah Graham, but as I always say, let's look at the facts, and those facts that you just said, I think, speak volumes.

Let me tell you what's happening today. This is a very active crime scene in this area. We understand 25 officials are down in the area where those remains were found combing the area for any potential evidence. One of our photojournalists, Ashley, saw a rake being used, which is not uncommon in a scene like this, especially when you have skeletal remains, because the evidence, the potential evidence, can be very fine, very small, so a rake can pick it up or even a sift.

Now, we've been told by law enforcement that this active crime scene will keep going for at least the next couple of days, but the question is what is the identification of those remains? What we do know that the chief medical examiner, which is found in Richmond, Virginia, that his office will be receiving the remains. They will do the autopsy. I think a lot of questions remain, though. We can find no confirmation of when that autopsy will be done, and will they be bringing in a forensic anthropologist, Deb, because many times that is done when you have a skeletal.

FEYERICK: How that police now labeled this an actual murder investigation? Clearly, whenever you find human remains, you've got a little bit more closely, so is that sort of a self-answering question, actually, Jean?

CASAREZ: It is technically a death investigation. And that's a very fine point right there. Because when you find a skeletal remain, if you think logically, it could be done by someone else, which is a homicide. It could be a suicide. Now, we don't believe that if this is Hannah Graham, that was not anything like that but they have to keep it open-ended because the medical examiner will be trying to find out the cause of death, which then can help determine the manner of death.

But Deb, as you know, it's so difficult when you have skeletal remains and sergeant from the Chesterfield law enforcement went on a record saying that was skeletal remains that there was no hair attached, but then he also did not see any blunt force trauma to the skeleton. But of course, that really needs to be determined by the experts at the medical examiner's office.

FEYERICK: All right. Jean Casarez, thank you so much. We know you're going to have a lot more for us a little later on. We appreciate that.

And our Ebola coverage continues. Our next guest says the Obama administration is mishandling the Ebola crisis. We asked Congressman Marsha Blackburn if she'd change her mind since the President tapped it so-called Ebola czar.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, we just told you about the Pentagon creating a rapid response team, a quick strike team to respond to Ebola here in America. But as our next guest says that this is simply proof that the Obama administration has mishandled the crisis from the beginning.

Joining us now is Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.

Congresswoman, thank you so much. We want to know what your take is about the news just -- that we just broke here on these new quick strike teams. What do you believe?

REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R), TENNESSEE: Well, I give them credit for taking the step. I do think that it proves it -- first of all, they did not have a plan. And, secondly, since they didn't have a plan, they didn't know what the implementation would be and the bureaucracy is so bloated that they can't figure out how to get that plan in place and implemented, so their turning to military.

I give them credit for realizing that, and I'm certain that you're going to see D.O.D. and the medical team, the D.O.D. medical team take charge of this and have a group that's ready to deployed to help any our nation's hospitals on getting up to speed on how to handle this.

FEYERICK: Although -- with all though respect, the strike teams would be there to support, play a supportive role in all of this.

BLACKBURN: That's correct.

FEYERICK: So what you're saying, though, though, it suggest that -- that the appointment of a new Ebola czar, in fact, a manager, as is being described, could effectively coordinate U.S. efforts more sufficiently to calm the panic.

So you are -- so are you in favor of Mister Klain's appointment as the Ebola czar?

BLACKBURN: We needed somebody to coordinate all of the effort and bring together the resources, that is true. There is disappointed, and I'm disappointed, that we have someone who is a spin master, and not someone who is a health care professional or an emergency response professional handling this.

I think his only emergency response was the Bush-Gore recount in 2000, and I think that as I've talked to constituents and as I have talked to health care professionals, they're deeply disappointed. They would have loved to have seen someone like the General Honore who did such a good job after Katrina, or former Senator Bill Frist who is a physician and in his work to end the affected region in Africa as well as having been a U.S. Senator, knowing government resources to coordinate this.

FEYERICK: Yes.

BLACKBURN: Someone who has skill sets, Debra, in each of these components that have to be brought together in order to handle this. We know in order to deal with this, you have to isolate it, and the best place to isolate it is there in West Africa.

FEYERICK: Right.

So let's talk about that, Congresswoman. You are on the record questioning the wisdom, however, of sending troops to these Ebola impacted countries, so if you want to isolate it in Liberia, why not throw your full support behind these troops helping out this devastated region?

BLACKBURN: I have 1,500 troops that are going to be deploying from Fort Campbell, so we're going to stand with them completely and totally and fully support them in their efforts. We're very concerned about how they're going to move forward through this. I have found it interesting that D.O.D. is going to quarantine them for 21 days there before they return here. I have recommended that we quarantine anyone wanting to leave, the three countries in the affected area there, before they're allowed to fly to the U.S. Have something similar to a forward operating base.

And citizens from Guinea and Sierra Leone and Liberia who want to exit those countries and have a visa would put themselves into quarantine at a facility before they exit the country. I think that would be the right thing to do.

FEYERICK: OK. So just to summarize that, then in fact, you do stand behind travel bans, yes?

BLACKBURN: Absolutely, I support travel bans, and I support a quarantine.

FEYERICK: OK. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

BLACKBURN: Thank you so much.

FEYERICK: Of course.

Well, stick around. Congresswoman Karen Bass will join us our set to explain why she thinks U.S. troops actually should be giving direct care of Ebola patients in Liberia.

Congresswoman Bass is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Just before the break you heard Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn right here, say it that she's concerned about the safety of U.S. troops that the administration is sending to the center of the Ebola outbreak.

So my next guest sent a letter to the White House saying that, in fact, our troops with medical training do need to provide direct care, one-on-one, to Ebola patients.

Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass joins me now from Washington.

Thank you so much, Congresswoman. First of all, why do you believe in this direct engagement that perhaps opens up our U.S. troops to risk?

REP. KAREN BASS (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, you know what -- I think the announcement of the strike teams is exactly what we were referring to, the idea of having teams on the ground. I will tell you that we actually already do and what we have -- who we have on the ground now, I think, is good, their public health service officers that are doing direct care because if we are concerned about Ebola coming here, the way to stop it is for there to be a massive effort and intervention in the countries of origin.

On Friday I spoke to the President of Liberia, President Sirleaf Johnson. And she told me that the situation is getting better, and she was satisfied with where the U.S. response was now, so I think that we need to continue doing what we're doing, and I was very pleased to hear about the strike teams in the United States.

FEYERICK: You know, it's fascinating because so many people have demonized Thomas Eric Duncan, the first man who came with Ebola to the United States.

BASS: Yes. FEYERICK: Had he not come, the level of response clearly would not be

where it's at.

But let's talk about training. Are American military personnel sufficiently trained and sufficiently qualified to really handle this outbreak that is raging through West Africa.

BASS: Well, I have full confidence that the teams that are there on the ground now have the training. I don't believe they would have been sent in without that, so, again, we do have people there now helping.

You know, when I spoke to President Sirleaf Johnson about a month ago, what she told me that was desperately needed was health care workers. Because we have to remember that the full focus in Liberia has been on Ebola and so the general health system, if you were going deliver a baby or you have malaria or anything else, was pretty much collapsed and they really needed health care workers.

But now what is happening is the African Union are sending people, and so there are, I'm sure, more are needed, but there are teams that are going now.

FEYERICK: Yes. And U.S. having sent some 4,000 troops plus $400 million in aid, which is rather remarkable.

BASS: Right.

FEYERICK: These strike teams is that the President has put together to go to different cities in America, should there be more than one case? And we haven't seen more than a handful of cases to be clear. But you believe this is more an effort to calm the growing panic, or do you think this is a reasonable response as the administration grapples to sort of redefine how it is reacting to this?

BASS: Well, no, I think it's an excellent response because there is -- there us is the potential for additional cases, and I think if we are very aggressive. You know, and we should feel confident in our health care system, but as you've heard, many times from many different nurses around the country, they're very concerned about being adequately trained. And so the idea that we have a strike force that would enter into a city in a hospital right away, I think it's an excellent idea and excellent response.

FEYERICK: Yes. They've got the compliance trainers, which is also very good to make sure that not a speck, not a spot of blood, nothing that could potentially contain -- contaminate somebody else is there during the roving, during the whole process.

Congresswoman Karen Bass, we thank you for your time this afternoon.

BASS: Thanks for having me on.

FEYERICK: And President Obama is hosting another Ebola meeting at the White House. But one key player was missing. Ron Klain, the new so- called Ebola czar. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Deborah Feyerick. Tears shed for Ebola victim, Thomas Eric Duncan, a memorial service was held this weekend for Duncan in Salisbury, North carolina, where his mother lives.

Duncan was the first Ebola case to be diagnosed in the United States. The 42-year-old Liberian man came to Dallas to visit his fiance. She and three relatives have been in quarantine. That quarantine ends tonight at midnight. None of them has shown any Ebola symptoms.

President Obama had a high level meeting on Ebola at the White House last night. Let's go to CNN's Erin McPike who is at the White House right now. First of all, Erin, who was at the meeting? Who was not? What did they accomplish?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deb, Ron Klain, who is the newly named so-called Ebola czar, was not at the meeting. He was at the White House yesterday afternoon late in the afternoon for some other meetings, but at this particular meeting the vice president was in attendance as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

The OMB Director, Jay Johnson, the secretary of homeland security, Sean Donovan, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the CDC, and a number of advisors to President Obama.

And at this meeting, they detailed for him the contact tracing method that is have been used as far as Dallas is concerned as well as the other national measures that they are taking in order to insure that a situation like Dallas does not happen again -- Deb.

FEYERICK: So today on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley, Senator Ted Cruz demanded that the president ban flights from countries hit hard by Ebola. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: It's the first argument about the screens doesn't make sense because they don't work during the 21-day incubation period, and the second argument that they make is they say a travel ban would prevent health care relief workers from arriving in West Africa.

No one is talking about banning flights into West Africa. Of course, physicians and nurses and health care workers should be allowed to go in there and we can send them on charter flights or military C-130 aircraft with appropriate safety precautions.

That's very different from saying commercial airliners should fly day after day after day with hundreds of passengers connecting with thousands of passengers coming all throughout the country. The arguments they're giving don't make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Well, the White House feels very differently. They don't believe a travel ban will help. What is the administration's thinking?

MCPIKE: Well, first, Deb, let me point out that Ted Cruz is not the only person who is calling for a travel ban. There are a number of Republican governors, senators, and others as well as Democrats also calling for this travel ban, and that is something that Ron Klain is going to have to deal with, in easing all of these fears and saying why they don't want a travel ban.

And the reason that the White House is giving is essentially that people who are in the countries that are affected in West Africa may be able to make it to the United States more easily with a travel ban because they could simply sneak into other countries and evade screenings that way and travel to the United States from other countries -- Deb.

FEYERICK: Sure. At least if they come in legitimately through the U.S., people know where they are and who they are. All right, Erin, appreciate that. Thank you.

Crews are calling off their search for missing UVA student, Hannah Graham, after a new and troubling discovery. A forensic scientist, a former assistant director of the FBI analyzed this case next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, you broken lots of record. It's very important. I was being number one and winning major. I mean, that was my goal and I created a certain lifestyle to really create and I felt, you know, very focused, very single minded. I just felt like I just need to be a certain way, you know, as my personality.

He didn't like grass at all. People asked me about grass, when I first went over there, I hated Wimbledon. I hated the surface. I loved Wimbledon, what it meant, but the surface, I was uncomfortable.

I didn't like the bad bounces. By 1992, 1993 came around, I really felt comfortable. I was the owner of the place for about seven, eight years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you teach these kids?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want them to be good kids. I'm not sure they're going to be into tennis. They're great kids. I love them. I want them to listen a little better. You know, I want them to do their homework and don't give me a hard time and do what I say.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Police are calling off the search for missing UVA student, Hannah Graham. They say the case has now turned into a death investigation after police yesterday found human remains on an abandoned property eight miles from where the popular 18-year-old straight A student vanished.

The body has yet to be identified, but investigators have notified Hannah's mother and father. Graham vanished five weeks ago after a late evening out with friends. She was last seen on surveillance cameras leaving a bar in downtown Charlottesville with 32-year-old Jesse Matthew following behind.

He has since been charged with her abduction and has been linked to the case of Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who was found dead in 2009. Matthew is scheduled to appear back in court in December.

Well, let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, in Washington joining us via Skype from Livingston Manor, New York, Professor Larry Kobilinski, a forensic scientist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Tom, let's go to you first, at this point, they have found human remains. They have called off the search. They notified Hannah Graham's parents. Why are they not naming her?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, they're going to wait up until they have an official identification, which will happen at the Medical Examiner's Office. Probably will require dental records to be specific, but at this point the police do not name the person. Nor do they call it a murder investigation or a suicide. It's a death investigation until the medical examiner declares that the victim was murdered.

FEYERICK: And, Larry, we heard earlier Jean Casarez who was there on site saying that she saw investigators combing through the surroundings with what appeared to be a rake. What kind of forensic evidence could they find there at that scene if, in fact, it is Hannah Graham?

PROFESSOR LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, FORENSIC SCIENTIST, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Well, first of all, you have a person who was missing for 35 days. My best guess is she is totally skeletonized, which tells me they will probably have difficulty determining the actual cause of death unless there is gunshot or something that has affected the skeleton.

There may be clothing. I think the body was found with clothing. That clothing may have very significant evidence perhaps in the form of (inaudible), which would remain intact even after 35 days.

They will also be looking at trace evidence in the soil, and that will include a possible weapon. There is much to be found not only in the body itself, but everything that surrounds it. That search will be thorough.

The anthropologists already know it's probably her because they have a relatively new skeleton. They know the height. They know the gender. They know the ethnicity, just based on looking at skeletal remains. They already know this is most likely Hannah.

FEYERICK: And, Tom, how do you retrace this particular disappearance now that investigators know perhaps where she is, if it's her. How do you go about now pinpointing how she got from point A to point B? Who may have seen her? Who are they going to look to question? What more surveillance tape are they going to try to affect? How would you piece this together?

FUENTES: Well, first of all, you'll do everything you just mentioned, and still try to find witnesses that may have seen her being driven by Jesse Matthew or some other person or seen them on the side of the road or saw the vehicle that he was in that night. So, you know, that will continue.

Another thing would be to try to determine if it's possible to trace location by either her cell phone or his cell phone, the GPS device is built into the phones, the cell phone towers that are hit when the phone is up and running. That might have indicated the time of day and the location where they were. So those kinds of efforts will continue.

FEYERICK: So finding her cell phone right now could be a gold mine. Larry, last question to you, other evidence, is there the possibility she could have hair or skin or something under her fingernails that suggests that there were some sort of a struggle?

KOBILINSKY: Absolutely. Having tissue under the fingernails would do it, even after 35 days. There may be trace evidence of finding the suspect's hair on or around the body would certainly do it. And we will know for sure that it's Hannah once the DNA tests are done. They'll probably be mitochondrial DNA testing of skeletal remains possibly hair, but they will know fairly soon that it's her.

FEYERICK: All right, well, her parents said they just wanted to know where she was and what happened to her. Sadly, they may have just gotten their answer. Larry Kobilinsky, Tom Fuentes, thank you.

FUENTES: Thank you.

FEYERICK: Up next, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital sent Thomas Eric Duncan home when he showed up with Ebola-like symptoms. Turns out that's not the first time the Dallas hospital has gotten in trouble for patient readmissions. Details straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Have you probably given it little thought. Travel bans from Ebola affected areas in West Africa to the United States. Calls from some lawmakers are getting louder even though President Obama opposes the travel ban.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, he is also against a ban. CNN's Candy Crowley asked him today about concern from Republicans that doctors are not recommending it simply because the president doesn't support it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: That's just not the case. I've never had an experience where a president is telling me to tell him something that he wants to hear. The president and the health officials, Sylvia Burwell and others, ask you what --

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": No pressure?

FAUCI: None at all. They're just asking what is your opinion about this. That's the reason why we give the opinion. We express the -- we respect the opposing opinion, but what was just articulated by Senator Cruz, the fact is it would be very, very difficult if you lost control of easily tracking people.

You got to look at the numbers. To look at how many people are really trying to get into the country. You know, 36,000 people in two months went to airports to get out of those three countries, 77 were blocked because of a health issue. When they investigated them, none of them had Ebola. A lot of them had malaria. There are not a lot of people trying to get into the country.

CROWLEY: How is Nina Pham? She's under the care at NIH. How is she doing?

FAUCI: She's doing fine. Her condition is fair. She is stable. She's resting comfortably. Ebola really knocks you out. I had a very long conversation with her. She's a lovely young lady. I think when the world gets to see her, we hope she will be out and will walk out of the hospital with her, you'll see what I'm talking about. She's doing fine.

CROWLEY: You are using, if we understand reading the press releases, about ten doctors and nurses to treat Nina.

FAUCI: We have two shifts, 12-hour shifts right now. We have a lead doctor, Dr. Rick Davie who is the person who is in the room with her. We have four or five nurses. They change shifts. If things have a problem where we have to do a lot more intensive things, we'll switch it to eight-hour shifts and bring more people in.

CROWLEY: Why then did it take 70 folks at the Dallas hospital to treat an Ebola patient? Mr. Duncan, who, unfortunately --

FAUCI: I think there were a lot of people, technicians coming in, going out of the room and getting samples and things like that. We have at the NIH a very specifically equipped, trained, experienced people who are specifically dedicated only to that type of a situation. That's why it's different.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Dr. Fauci also said today that there does need to be more medical units in the United States, equipped and properly trained to handle all Ebola patients. Amber Vinson is one of those patients and the flight she took before she was hospitalized could have been hundreds at risk. Frontier Airlines says it's contacting up to 800 passengers that may be linked flights she took.

Vinson is the second Dallas nurse diagnosed with the disease after treating patient, Thomas Eric Duncan. Frontier says that the risk to passengers is extremely low, and they're telling passengers to contact the CDC if they have any concerns.

Our Jim Sciutto talked to the CEO of Frontier Airlines, David Segall, and asked him if he places any blame on the CDC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SIEGEL, CEO, FRONTIER AIRLINES: Certainly Frontier did suffer financial damage. It's not my place really to take an issue with the CDC. Our concern really is the safety of first our passengers and all of our employees. I think to the extent that, you know, we are always protecting and looking out for the safety of our passengers and employees.

We are certainly concerned, and we've been very proactive in making sure that we could do everything possible with the information that we had to protect those passengers and employees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Frontier Airlines has taken that plane out of the service temporarily.

Well, the Dallas hospital at the center of the Ebola story is now tarnished by the mistakes made in the handling of its Ebola patients. Texas Health Presbyterian even lost federal funds in the past for patient readmissions.

Remember, Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, was sent home and then he was readmitted. CNN Money's Cristina Alesci is here with more.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deb, readmission is actually a major problem for many hospitals. That's when patients come back within 30 days with the same issues. In fact, since 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have cracked down on this problem with penalties.

Presbyterian of Dallas has been fined for the past three years in a row, but these fees don't impact the hospital's bottom line. The real problem is the financial hit it's taking currently.

Since mishandling an Ebola patient, the hospital has closed down its emergency room, a significant source of revenue. There are also reductions in other areas and is reportedly two-thirds empty.

Presbyterian of Dallas is part of a company called Texas Health Resources. The network is the largest in North Texas, operating 25 hospitals. All together they generate about $4 billion in revenue, 17 percent alone comes from Presbyterian of Dallas.

But Texas Health is well funded in the short-term, so if Presbyterian of Dallas suffers financially or even worst case scenario shuts down, it won't be the end for a parent company. Right now, though, there are no active discussions of a shutdown -- Deb.

FEYERICK: All right. Cristina Alesci, thank you so much. Startling figures there. Still ahead, a night of family fun turns into terror when rioting breaks out at a pumpkin festival, a pumpkin festival. Who police say is to blame coming up straight ahead.

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FEYERICK: An annual pumpkin festival turns chaotic last night in New Hampshire. Police in riot gear had to use tear gas to try to disburse, well, a rather rowdy pumpkin partier.

CNN's Alexandra Fields joins us. It seems like not much can go wrong at a pumpkin festival, but, in fact, the opposite happened. How come?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, because this is -- this happened in sort of a college town. This is Keen, New Hampshire, right next to Keen State College. While this is billed as a fun family event, it's also a week where there are just a lot of college parties, a lot of alcohol clearly being served.

This started on Friday night, 42 arrests. A number of different problems going on, things really escalated, as you can see in the video, overnight last night. That's when you see police in riot gear coming in. We know they used pepper spray.

We're hearing from witnesses that they used tear gas. I spoke to an official in Keen, New Hampshire, today asking why these kinds of measures could possibly be necessary, and they said that the crowd had grown so large and violent that it was essential to step in and do this.

What you see in the video is fireworks going off there. There were fires that were set. Cars were being flipped, and you have this mob of people throwing rocks at each other, bottles at each other, pulling out light posts and sign posts. Really the kind of situation where police thought they needed to come in and try and disburse this crowd.

FEYERICK: All right. Just quickly, arrests yes or no?

FIELD: Yes. Dozens Friday night, and we're definitely going to hear about more overnight last night - being pulled together.

FEYERICK: All right, Alex, thanks so much. Appreciate that. Thank you.