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Pentaong Forming Quick Strike Team to Treat Ebola; 48 in Dallas to Conclude Monitoring Period; Dallas Survives Worst of Ebola Crisis; Human Remains Found in Search for Hannah Graham; Defending Kobani; Ebola Vaccine in the Works?

Aired October 19, 2014 - 17:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

And we begin with the U.S. military mobilizing to join America's fight against the Ebola virus, a defense department official tells CNN, the Pentagon is forming a 30-person quick strike team designed to treat Ebola patients anywhere in the United States. The group will comprise, doctors, nurses, and other personnel trained in the use of protective equipment.

This where it comes as cruise ship returned to port with a passenger linked to the only Ebola patient in the U.S. to die from the disease, that passenger has now tested negative for Ebola. And it comes a day after President Obama hosted a rare late night meeting with his top national security and public health advisors, a meeting that did not however include his new Ebola czar.

I want to talk about all these developments now with CNN's Erin McPike, she's at the White House and CNN's Alina Machado, she's in Dallas.

Erin, if I can begin with you with this news from the Pentagon, this quick strike team can be deployed really anywhere in the country to respond quickly. Is the team ready to go? And what do we know about who's going to be on this team?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Jim, this team is just forming right now and first, the team will have to go to Texas in order to train for a little bit of time, and the team will be on call for 30 days before being able to deploy. This team is comprised of 5 doctors, 20 nurses, and then 5 training specialist so that they can go anywhere in the United States where there is an Ebola case determined, they would have to deploy within 72 hours.

And then they will be able to help local and state agencies, to train them as well as treat these patients with Ebola, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Alina, I understand you have new information about the number of people in the in the Dallas area being monitored now and may on the good side soon be clear of this 21 day incubation period. What can you tell us? ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Jim, we spoke with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings just a little while ago and he gave us some updated numbers. He says there are three groups of people being monitored right now. There's the 48 whose monitoring period will come to an end at midnight tonight.

There's also 75 people who are monitored for having contact with Duncan. These people are under a monitoring period that started the day Duncan died. So, to do little bit of math, it looks like they're going to be monitored through October 29.

And then there's a third group of people, he couldn't tell me exactly how many people were in this group. This group is being monitored for having had contact with the two nurses who became ill after treating Duncan that was Nina Pham and Aber Vinson. So there's those three groups.

But we also just want to update viewers about Duncan's fiancee, she released a statement today, she's one of the people who will come out of monitoring at midnight tonight. As you can imagine, it's been a very stressful time for this family. She is very happy to be coming out of this monitoring period but she's also still very sad. So it's a bittersweet because, as we all know her fiance Thomas Eric Duncan is no longer with us.

She will not be returning to the apartment where Duncan feel ill, instead she's going to be going to a new a place thanks to the generosity of several people in this community. And it's worth noting she has plans to write a book about her experience, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, and you make a good point there. You have all these circles, as people come out of those warning theories (ph). Of course the hope is that they all come out of it and then we can say that the disease is contained but we have some ways to go.

Erin, President Obama he held this unusual Saturday night meeting with his top advisors but oddly enough his new Ebola czar, the man who's taking charge of the effort here in the U.S. was not there. What's the White House's explanation for that?

MCPIKE: Jim, simply that Ron Klain has not yet started. They named him -- in its coordination, the Ebola coordinator role on Friday. And so he hasn't had this first day in the job yet and before he can get in to some of these high-level meeting, he has to go through, you know, basic paperwork that sort of thing. He was here at the White House yesterday for some meetings of his own and getting setup and that sort of thing.

But I would also point out that the White House had back to back meetings both Friday night Saturday night with a number of high- ranking officials both cabinet secretaries, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Homeland Security Secretary, and other very senior national security advisors to brief the President not only the contact tracing that's going in the aftermath of the cases in Dallas. But also, what state and local agencies need and what the federal Government can do to help, Jim. SCIUTTO: Well the disease certainly has the attention of the U.S. government now, and now the defense department including that. Thanks very much to Erin McPike at the White House, Alina Machado in Dallas.

There is growing optimism that Dallas has made it through the worst (ph) of its Ebola crisis. The monitoring period for 48 of the 123 people believed to have had some contact with the Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan is nearing its end. And the man overseeing response efforts in Dallas says that the next few days, is going to be critical.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE CLAY JENKINS, DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS: This is a critical weekend, if we're don't see new patients in this weekend then we're going to see the remainder of those 48 that we were tasked with following come off the list. We're going to see Louise and the three young men be able to come off the list, and we're going to be statistically unlikely or less likely to see more cases. We're right in the middle of the hot zone, you know, right now. And so, we're doing a whole lot of work, none of it is very simple...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Right in the middle of the hot zone he says.

I want to turn now to Mark Davis, he's in Dallas Morning News columnist also hosted a radio share there in KSKY AM. Mark, I wonder if you could describe the public mood there in Dallas these past few weeks. Nervous for sure and has very much been in the attention of the country, it's really the epicenter in the country of the outbreak of the disease here.

MARK DAVIS, COLUMNIST, DALLAS MORNING NEWS: It has Jim it's been a kind of a narrative that has gone from initial shock. I mean here we are all of sudden we're ground zero for these Ebola stories. And then there was a little bit of revulsion at some of the people who were not shooting straight with us. I mean one week ago there was Dr. Frieden and shameful moment telling us that Nurse Nina Pham must have screwed up, I mean throwing her right under the bus. Because surely the protocols weren't to blame and we subsequently learned that the protocols were filled with flows.

And things are getting better. It's hard to imagine we're getting worse. But I think there's been a large (inaudible) for some of the people in the community of public officials who have been so filled with humorous (ph), I think some of that has been replaced with some well timed humility. And we have every prayer for Ember and for Nina, they're no longer here.

And now of course we're taking a look at the Texas Prebi community there. Hoping that this good hospital filled with good people can live down that very bad day when they let Mr. Duncan out with little pat on the shoulder and some antibiotics, but we're doing well and hopefully as Judge Jenkins just said, the worse is behind us. SCIUTTO: You make a good point there because there were a lot of public renouncements from U.S. officials before Ebola hit American shores that American hospitals were different, they were prepared, the protocols were in place and that's the advantage that the U.S. has over West Africa. And certainly there is a tremendous advantage no questions just in terms of money, resources, et cetera. But clearly there were holes there, and I wonder, do you see now that those holes are being filled based on -- well not just Texas Presbyterian but other hospitals there have been instructed to do prevent and identify cases like these.

DAVIS: Well Jim, I think we're all learning together and I think a lot officials came at us at the beginning. Not to dwell too much on this, they said we know everything, relax we got this, when in fact we're all learning together. Officials are learning. God knows the CDC is. Local officials are learning and we all are.

I know we all know that it's hard to get Ebola, you know, I mean it's hard to get struck by lighting under a tree during a rainstorm too, but that doesn't mean you do it. So, as people have become more and more honest with us both here on the metroplex and around the nation, I think there's sort of a growing trust bond, it was riven pretty horribly there in the beginning but I think it is getting better because there's a sense that we are all sort of on a learning curve together.

SCIUTTO: Well Mark, stay right there because we're going to come back to discuss more of the questions and issues with Ebola. We're going to hear from you just after the next break. But we want to turn now...

DAVIS: OK.

SCIUTTO: ... to the end of a very sad search and the possibly closure under the saddest of circumstances for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Authorities looking for Hannah Graham found human remains yesterday, we reported it here on CNN first, eight miles from where that University of Virginia student was last seen on September 13th. Her parents have been told the news but forensic test are still being conducted to confirm the -- identification of the body.

We not to CNN's Jean Casarez; she's in Charlottesville. Jean, is there any indication when the remains will be identified? I think also, what else they've found at the scene to give them some confidence that this was connected to the case, whether it be closing or other identifying material?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Jim an answer to your first question, the remans. And literally we don't know if they are male or female at this point of time. But they are in the hands of the chief medical examiner in Richmond, Virginia. And so the next step is going to be an autopsy of those remains.

So number one, determine the identity. Number two, determine if they can determine the cause and manner of death. But right here where I am outside of Charlottesville, in the county, today has been an extremely active day. It's an active crime scene investigation.

We were told by law enforcement that 25 law enforcement were down in the area where those remains were found yesterday. They combing for potential evidence all day. My photographer actually saw a rake being used down there which is really symbolic because when you have a crime scene that can be skeletal remains as we understand it is, you are combing for any type of evidence that may have been carried away and must be found sort of like a sift in a sense.

And a local law enforcement official did tell a local television station in an interview that the remains, when they were found in this very desolate area were skeletonized and there was no flesh and there was not hair, and that is what we heard. Also, he said that there was no sign of blunt force trauma to the bones.

Now, of course that is for an official to determine at the medical examiner's office. But, as we were going around this community here in the county, we actually went upon a residential area and we found the home that Jesse Matthew and his mother used to live. And I think we have a map to show everybody. It is four miles away from where the remains were found.

Now you're saying four miles so that's a long ways. Well, when you're talking about a county is 740 square miles, four miles away is not that far. And I was told by neighbors, he and his mother lived there for about six to eight years. 2008 is about the last time they remembered them there.

But they said that Jesse's mother is a wonderful person. That she wanted to move out into the country with Jesse to avoid the gang activity as she put it to this neighbor in Charlottesville. And Jesse would always wave and say hello to everybody.

SCIUTTO: Wow, it's the saddest of stories and there are a lot of cases in that area that we know police are looking into possibly related to this or maybe not of missing young girls. Jean Casarez in Charlottesville.

And now to the war in ISIS. Kurdish fighters say they are hanging on to most of the Syrian city of Kobani with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, 60 of them over the past four days alone, those fighters have been able to turn the tide against ISIS. Warplanes hit a militant compound in Kobani. More clashes are still reported in the eastern and southern sections of the city.

And life is a constant strain for the few residents who remain there. Many thousands have already fled. And reports now, shortage of water and other essential supplies.

Elsewhere in Syria near the City of Hosam, a human rights monitoring group reports at least seven civilian died in a U.S. airstrike on an ISIS-controlled oil field there.

Now, a lot of people wanted the President to pick czar to lead the nation's fight against Ebola but they didn't have Ron Klain in mind. They wanted a doctor or a science -- a health care specialist, not a Washington insider. Here I'm going to speak with a congressman who things Klain is the wrong man for this important job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back I'm Jim Sciutto in New York. President Obama's choice to be the so-called Ebola czar has, from the moment of his selection by the President left some people puzzled. That's because Ron Klain is not a doctor or a health care expert, he is a longtime Washington lawyer. He has a good deal insider knowledge in context as a former Chief of Staff of Vice President Biden as well to Former Vice President Al Gore.

But is he the right man for this job? That's just one of the questions I have for Chairman Ed Royce, he's California Republican, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman Royce thank you very much for taking the time on a Sunday.

REP. ED ROYCE, (R) CALIFORNIA: Thank you Jim.

SCIUTTO: So...

ROYCE: Well inters of that question -- yes?

SCIUTTO: I'll go and ask you, you know I'm going to ask you, is Ron Klain the right man for the job?

ROYCE: Well, you know, I think this position of czar was the step in the right direction, and I very much supported that. The issue I raised was, do we want somebody with a background in infections diseases? You know, someone with some connections to public health, and raised the issue because after the hearings that we've held on this, it would seem that in coordinating this not only nationally but internationally, it would be very helpful to have that type of background.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this question because as you know, we have surgeon general in the country, the trouble is the President has nominated surgeon general, that's Vivek Muthy but the post has been filled on an interim basis because he can't get hat nominee confirmed by Congress. If Congress had confirmed that, you know, in general wouldn't that job in fact already be filled when you have then the lead for the country's fight against Ebola?

ROYCE: Actually in terms of coordinating these government agencies, it would be the responsibility of the czar to do that. And that would not be the job of the surgeon general. So that is a different responsibility. Now the surgeon general can explain or the active surgeon general can explain some steps to the American public.

But, the step of putting in place a czar which is what I had indicated I thought should be done and what the administration believes is exactly should be done, is the right step. And it is the czar's responsibility to do the coordination not just here in the United States but as I mentioned, especially in West Africa where we have a real problem with World Heath Organization stepping this thing up and doing it right.

So far it's been very disappointing seeing what the World Health Organization has done in those three governments. And that has to be addressed immediately. The czar will have that responsibility as well.

SCIUTTO: But let me ask that question again, perhaps...

ROYCE: Sure.

SCIUTTO: ... in a different way. Because, I think folks back home might have the same question. Washington is partisan to say the least. There are a lot of agencies, overlapping agencies whether we're talking about DHS regarding terrorist threats, many different health agencies -- the Department of HHS, you got a surgeon general post not filled, now you have drug czar.

Are we adding another layer of decision making and bureaucracy when you got the folks in place to make these decisions but you just don't have a government that seems to be moving quickly enough with this crisis or any other challenge? Doesn't it get to that wider issue?

ROYCE: No I think at the end of the day, the problem is you have to have one individual who is calling the shots, making the decisions and has the ability to cut through all of these different government agencies. And not just here in the United States, as I indicated the World Health Organization.

Now the British are taking the lead on Sierra Leone on the ground, the French in Guinea, we in Untied States in Liberia. All of these has to be coordinated as well. And frankly we're a little disappointed at this point in terms of what's happening in Guinea. That's needs to ramp upped quickly.

So you need that coordination to say nothing of the fact that you've got to also address these issues I've raised, visas are still being issued in Liberia, in Sierra Leone, in Guinea everyday. That makes no sense right now.

In the past, in 2009, when we had the influenza, what happened? Where we had a situation, we put a stay, we put a hold on that. Visas weren't issued until we got the situation under control, that's what should be happening right now. But until somebody steps into this post and says, "OK I'm going to leave, here are the instructions to all the government agencies", apparently on their own they're not making the right decisions.

SCIUTTO: Well, let me ask you about that if I can because you said...

ROYCE: Sure.

SCIUTTO: ... you want U.S. Embassies to stop issuing visas to foreign nationals from these countries. Do you also favor a travel ban, the next step from these countries? Do you think that's necessary today?

ROYCE: Well I think effectively, what I've suggested will solve that problem because what it will mean is a travel ban for those traveling for tourism or -- for whatever purpose from those three countries. It will still allow health workers to travel in and travel out. So I think in terms of, you know, meeting the need of containment which should be our number one goal here, contain this disease.

The answer there is to do what we've done in the past, in 2009 and that is to take a, you know, push the pause here in terms of writing those visas everyday. And let us get us a better control on getting in place the ways in which we're going to be able to test. Because right now it's quite questionable, if somebody flies to Europe and then flies here and they're infected, we don't have the types of test like a blood test ready yet where you can instantaneously find out, "OK, this is someone carrying or this one is someone who isn't."

Until all of that's done, I think you got to put a hold in those visas.

SCIUTTO: Well let's see, it seems that the country is learning as its doing here getting up to speed on how to respond to this. Chairman Ed Royce, thank you very much for joining us and taking your time.

ROYCE: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: A vaccine would be a silver bullet to stop Ebola but it's a long way off. Ahead you're going to see a lab, is trying however to find a way to protect all of us from the deadly virus once and for all. How long will it take? That's after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: On Monday, Canada will begin shipping an experimental Ebola vaccine to the World Health Organization in Geneva. The vaccine is just now beginning human trials but official say it has shown some promise in animal testing.

In the U.S. two Ebola vaccines are already being tested but neither is a guaranteed solution to ending this outbreak anytime soon. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The need is more urgent than ever to find a vaccine for Ebola. In this U.S. Army laboratory vials like these contain the ingredients crucial in the race against the deadly virus. It's one of two Ebola vaccines now being tested in the U.S. for the first time on humans.

Can the vaccine being tested here stop this outbreak?

DR. SHON REMICH, WALTER REED ARMY INST. OF RESEARCH: Well it depends on how fast we can get this particular product to the regulatory pathway so that it can be used in efficacy type trials. Right now we have to establish that it's safe.

TODD: Vaccine investigator Colonel Shon Remich gave us inside access to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The VSV Ebola vaccine is being tested here on 39 people. They cannot get Ebola from the vaccine. And officials here said the side effects are minimal.

Expert say when Ebola gets into the body, it often overwhelms the immune system. It works too fast for the immune system to combat it. This vaccine is designed to speed up the immune system's ability to fight Ebola.

If this vaccine works, could it be used to prevent people from getting the Ebola virus and treat people who already have it?

REMICH: The majority of the studies we're looking, postexposure, that means animals that were exposed to the Ebola virus and then treated. We also did some studies that looked at preexposure. So we were given the vaccine -- they were given the vaccine and then exposed. Both of those were good results and so we cautiously optimistic.

TODD: But will it work in humans?

DR. JESSE GOODMAN, INFECTIONS DISEASE SPECIALIST: To be realistic most medicines and vaccines even that look great in animals don't pan out in the long run.

TODD: Even as they rushed these vaccines through trials, there are serious questions over why it's taken this long. Even though we've known about the Ebola virus since 1976, there are no approved Ebola vaccines available to the public. Why? Expert say Ebola outbreaks until now haven't been widespread enough.

GOODMAN: It's not on the order or it hasn't been until recently of a problem like Malaria and HIV or T.B. in terms of how people have prioritized investment in vaccines.

TODD: How soon could these vaccines be ready?

Dr. Remich says they're moving this vaccine through its testing phases here as fast as possible. But he and other experts say, even under the best of circumstances the vaccine being tested here and elsewhere may not be ready for public use for several months. They simply have to make sure the vaccines are safe.

Brian Todd, CNN. Silver Spring, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: So, what if there was a virus that had infected hundreds of people in the country? One that seems most dangerous for children, even deadly, we'd all be very scared wouldn't we? But there is a virus like that and it is not named Ebola. We're going to talk about it right after this.

Now, a sneak peak though to Anthony Bourdain's "PARTS UNKNOWN" which is premiering tonight at 9:00 Eastern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN" HOST: Goi Wei (ph) is a traditional dish that is seldom made these days because of its complexity and the time needed to do it right. A fish stock is made from Kobang (ph), a fish from the Perfume River, pine apples, union, chilies, shallots, and koreana (ph).

A solid (ph) of quickly cooked prawns, rice noodles, ginger, red chile, garlic, and galunggong. A layer of rice noodle, banana flour, then the prawns, garnishes.

The strained fish stock is brought to the table with the salad in separate bowls and combined just before eating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Too spicy for you?

BOURDAIN: No, it's good. I love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say if it's very spicy.

BOURDAIN: You know I like it. What I found when I first came to this part of the world, Vietnam in particular, my pallet changed. I needed an elevated level of chilis and (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York. They come almost everyday, Ebola scares in U.S. airports, hospitals, on cruise ships, even at the Pentagon. Those with a fever or showing symptoms of any kind are giving a raised eyebrow, perhaps even panic.

But are American's fears today about Ebola reasonable? We've had a total of eight cases treated now on U.S. soil, only two had begin in this country. Now look at another virus, the enterovirus. With that we've had 825 cases and unconfirmed number of deaths and the virus targets children, many with breathing problems or asthma.

I want to turn out to CNN Medical Analyst in, Dr. Alex Van Tulleken. Doctor, when you look at this, particularly the case of enterovirus, well which I've got great concern about because I've got two young boys and it just makes me think this, you know, this could be a real threat to them.

Enterovirus, Ebola, what's the bigger threat to America right now?

ALEXANDER VAN TULLEKEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think it's much more reasonable to worry about enterovirus, in terms of catching the disease. The thing that we have to worry about Ebola, is that the Ebola panic, the demonstration that the CDC isn't prepared, things like that, lead to effects that had nothing to do with us getting sick, so your pension will be worthless now if you invest in airplanes stocks than it was a few days ago.

So that's what an Ebola outbreak looks like in America, its financial effects, travel restrictions, things like that. It's not actually -- it's a tiny number of people getting infected if any. Where's the enterovirus is -- what's so interesting about enterovirus is that we don't know that much about it. This is governed in 1962, tiny number of cases since then and for some reason this outbreak is really spread like wildfire across the majority of the states.

SCIUTTO: And one of worry some things about (inaudible), the children are more susceptible to it, but also that it has this polio-like qualities, right? If some of the children getting this virus that they have numbness in their limbs which may or may not be relieved.

VAN TULLEKEN: So there seems to be an association with what you called flaccid paralysis. So the kind of muscle weakness that you would see to some kinds with polio, and polio is also an enterovirus. Now they're not very closely related viruses.

And the important to say about that is that there's an association with flaccid paralysis and that we found kids who've got muscle weakness who also have this virus, but it's very hard to test for. So it may just be that if you infect lots of kids, there are many other causes of muscle weakness and it maybe that it's a coincidence.

The scary thing about enterovirus D86 for me is how little we know about it.

SCIUTTO: Right.

VAN TULLEKEN: And it's yet another example of why we should be investing in vaccine research, virus research and a CDC that really protects us the way it should.

SCIUTTO: You and I, we're talking about in break, that when we speak about Ebola, that one of the real issues was the slowness of the response when this was breaking out just in West Africa that that was a problem over there, it's their problem. Is that changing now? Has that been corrected or there's still -- are we still behind Ebola on this?

VAN TULLEKEN: We are massively behind Ebola.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

VAN TULLEKEN: So the disease in West Africa is spreading geographically and in terms of numbers, so it's covering a larger region that it was last week and there are more people infected.

The WHO has sort of put out a 60 days to respond and there is no way we're going to get everything done in 60 days. We're barely getting a first (inaudible) of the U.S. response now. And in terms, the amounts of money that have been pledged from -- the U.N. has asked for a billion. About half of that is pledged and a fraction of that is really...

SCIUTTO: Hundred thousand. We were told yesterday, of a billion dollars is actually been delivered, that's just one sign.

VAN TULLEKEN: Extremely. So I think anyone who's worried about Ebola in America, what I would say is, do not get on a plane, do not get on a bus, do not go to your local Liberian street market or restaurant. Do all of those things, that's fine. But you should be giving money to (inaudible) borders or the other medical organizations that are working...

SCIUTTO: That's a true frontline. It was -- that -- yeah.

VAN TULLEKEN: But those are the -- I mean, they -- but they are the people who run the flag up months ago and said we have to be worried about this. And the WHO and the CDC really ignored them.

SCIUTTO: Well it does seem that people are finally listening. Thanks very much Dr. Van Tullleken. I'd ask you to stick around because we are to come back to some of these key questions.

Well the military is ramping up a quick strike team to fight Ebola here in the U.S. Can the Pentagon succeed at stopping the deadly virus where others have failed? Should the White House have fight this from the beginning, in fact? We're going to ask out guest, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: U.S. military is already helping to fight Ebola abroad, at the epicenter of the outbreak in West Africa. But asking the military to help here in the U.S. is something new and different. These are troops on the ground in a war against the deadly disease here at home.

For some Americans, enlisting the military's expertise and resources is long overdue. Others question the risk of putting U.S. troops in danger of infection. Is it possible this quick strike team announce today, could have prevented new infections, for instance in Dallas where it started here in the U.S.

I'm joined now by Michael Daly, he is a special correspondent for the Daily Beast. Rejoining us, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Alexander Van Tulleken and Dallas Morning News Columnist, Mark Davis.

Michael, perhaps I can start with you. Should we've had a Pentagon quick strike team from the beginning? And are there things that the military can do in response to this that U.S. Healthcare workers essentially can not (ph)?

MICHAEL DALY, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: Well I mean, it certainly would help to have somebody down there who know what they were doing. I mean that -- it seems to me that we're all in some ways out when the (inaudible) are too afraid with Ebola, but in that hospital they weren't afraid enough, I think.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

DALY: They didn't, you know, there was a couple of days before they really took it seriously and they didn't completely -- apparently didn't completely cover the nurses. And I think that that disease, the doctor know better than myself, but I think that disease, once it gets going, it creates -- it generates a hug amount of virus. I mean, I think that that was (inaudible) a teaspoon full of blood has like maybe 500,000 bits of HIV, it would have 50 billion bits of Ebola.

So you just -- its huge amount of this stuff gets created,... SCIUTTO: Right.

DALY: ... suddenly during that period when the person is really gone.

SCIUTTO: And that's where the danger is great. What holes Dr. Van Tulleken, do you think the military would need to fill based on what we've learned so far about, for instance the reaction in a place like Dallas to this?

VAN TULLEKEN: Well I think on the (inaudible) of really good at doing, is a hearing to protocols and making sure that people follow checklist.

SCIUTTO: Right.

VAN TULLEKEN: And so that's what we really hoped this rapid strike force will do. Now come in and run a hospital ward. Because running a hospital ward or running a hospital is a network of people who will know each other, you know who to phone, you've got, you know, you have friends and connections and social network as well as a professional network.

What you hope is that strike force would come in and say, "These are the (inaudible) you need. You're doing everything right." So it's more of an inspection, it's more checking. The military should be good at that but the military also used to command and control, so is the danger if they're going to try and take over them.

And I think taking a hospital at short notice, very, very difficult thing to do.

SCIUTTO: Mark Davis, if I could bring you in from Dallas, just joining us. We've been talking a little bit about the fear on this program, where the fear is getting ahead of the actual threat of the disease. I know you have a personal story related to that, because I was told that your family made you promise that you would not go to the hospital where this work out...

DAVIS: Yeah, I got the...

SCIUTTO: ... as part of your coverage of the story.

DAVIS: Let's talk a little bit about fear and about what's reasonable and rational. Dr. Van Tulleken is right and so are all the people to say that Ebola is "hard to get." But it's also hard to be stuck by lightning under a tree, as I said earlier, but that doesn't mean you stand out under one in a rain storm.

So my -- I have a wife and 11 year old son, and I will be immersed in Ebola coverage for which for us is a local story. And so the -- I've been on CNN a couple of times of the last few days, from this room, a lovely room, here about four miles away from the hospital.

And so when the arrangement was being made today, Jennifer (ph), the nice producer said, "Yeah, we might be on the ground somewhere in Dallas. Can you join us?" I said, "Yes. But I ain't going to the hospital." Not because I have an active fear that I'm going to catch it there, but because as many of my Metroplex brothers and sisters were experience, if there's anything we can do to reduce our risk as close to zero as possible, we're going to do it.

And for making those decisions, we will not have our fingers -- have fingers wag at us, that we are somehow engage in fear mongering or panic. We've been very thoughtful and consuming (inaudible) information as it is rolled out. It's been very suspect, very politically tainted.

I think that's getting a lot better now. We're all sort of coming to our senses together. But it's just -- it's an interesting time around here.

SCIUTTO: No questions. But Michael and Dr. Van Tulleken, I want to ask you about this because, you know, people may say, well, you know, out of an abundance of caution, I will take X step. And we're seeing institutions do this too. You're seeing universities that are cancelling speakers, the former head of the CDC, Dr. Richard Besser, just because he's been to Africa a couple of months ago. You know, abundance of caution is one thing, panic is another.

Michael, where do you think we stand on this? You know, is the abundance of caution justification going to well beyond what's necessary?

DALY: Well I personally think it is. And, you know, but it does touch something prime on the people. I mean, this is something you see you don't know about. I mean, you know, nature is a bad neighborhood. And when it really, you know, goes after you, that's -- I can understand why people are that afraid.

But you have situations like there was a kid who is going to -- who was coming from Nigeria to go to school here and he...

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

DALY: ... was told that he couldn't go to school here because he's from Nigeria and there's like -- Nigeria actually handled it better than we get this.

SCIUTTO: They control, right? Yeah.

DALY: And that stuff is just nuts.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, it is.

DALY: And I think that you have to -- each person I think has to make decisions, you make a personal decision. And so you have to keep in mind...

DAVIS: And I think we can also take things on kind of a case by case basis. I think the gentleman was just right. If you have student from Nigeria, of course you let him in. As the doctor said, you don't boycott the Liberian market just down the street. Because likely the people at the Liberian market are not just freshly arrived from Monrovia, that gets to another place to set the bar.

There should be no people arriving from Monrovia. There is not argument whatsoever they can mean aid (ph) against a travel ban. Not because we all fear getting Ebola from everybody in West Africa but because again, if there's something that we can have control over, we should.

SCIUTTO: Well let me ask you a question about this Dr. Van Tulleken, Chairman Royce of the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, he is suggesting stopping issuing visas in Ebola affected countries but not a travel ban, which will then still allow the people who need to get in and out, particularly folks involved in treating this diseases to get in and out of those counties. Do you think that's a fair compromise that it would accomplish something?

VAN TULLEKEN: I think that the (inaudible) makes, what's it going to cost and what's the benefit you're going to gain?

SCIUTTO: Right.

VAN TULLEKEN: This is the problem with the abundance of caution is. Caution is all about risk, which is about statistics.

SCIUTTO: Right.

VAN TULLEKEN: If you just say, make a series of decisions that seem sensible without analysis, you end up making yourself feel safe without actually doing anything safe. And so reducing the number of visas to zero for people coming from West Africa does almost nothing to our risk of catching Ebola.

SCIUTTO: And it gets to a point we were just touching on, which is xenophobia and even racism, right? If a student from Nigeria, a country that frankly controlled this disease can not come to the U.S., that step becomes a real problem.

VAN TULLEKEN: I think (inaudible)...

DAVIS: No -- but the -- no, excuse me, just one second. The Nigerian student, I think we're all fine with the Nigerian student but it is not xenophobic, it is not racist to say that from the actual global hot zone from Liberia, from Sierra Leone, from Guinea, we're not going to let people in. Doctor, you're right, nobody is walking around saying, "Well, that will take care of the risk. That will drop it to zero."

But if we can (inaudible) just a little bit, I mean, Mr. Duncan came from there. Let's not have anymore Mr. Duncans.

SCIUTTO: The fact is -- Mark...

DAVIS: So please, no more xenophobia talk. We all know that...

SCIUTTO: The fact is though Mark, Nigeria is not...

DAVIS: ... and the risk SCIUTTO: Well, Nigeria is not the hot zone anymore because it has...

DAVIS: Right.

SCIUTTO: ...its eliminated it's cases in it's past, the windows with the U.S. The U.S. is not...

DAVIS: Yeah, we're not talking about Nigeria. We're not talking about Nigeria...

SCIUTTO: But that's -- isn't that the problem?

DAVIS: It is neither racist nor xenophobic. Jim, you talk about Liberia...

SCIUTTO: But it is.

DAVIS: ... where it is on fire.

SCIUTTO: It is.

DAVIS: It is not racist, it is not xenophobic.

SCIUTTO: But the fact that is it is xenophobic and possibly racist that if you're connecting this and banning someone from a country just because it happens to be in Africa, where in fact, there are no cases of the disease today...

DAVIS: No, we're fine with Nigeria.

SCIUTTO: ... then that's a real danger if that within communities and then you hear choices like this.

VAN TULLEKEN: No one is talking about banning travel from Nigeria.

SCIUTTO: Well, no but I'm bringing it up because in fact as one of the reactions to this disease in this country, a child from Nigeria was ban from his school that, you know, that's a real effect of what's happening here.

DAVIS: That's fine -- That's crazy. That's certainly crazy, obviously. But the travel ban from Liberia is sensible and it should be done tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Please stay with us because we're on to something, I think, very important here, important conversation, so I'm going to ask you to loss more of you Sunday to this conversation. We're going to be in a short break, be right back with more questions, more to be.

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SCIUTTO: Welcome back. We're joined again by Michael Daly, Dr. Alexander Van Tulleken and Mark Davis for enlightening round on what is a very controversial topic now, and it is about how the country is responding to the Ebola threat and is it taking steps that are perhaps xenophobic, unnecessary to respond to this disease. I'm going to start with you Michael, since you're sitting next to me. Are we reaching that stage?

DALY: I think. But I -- And I think that the anecdote for our panic is to think of the courage for the people who are actually addressing this disease...

SCIUTTO: Right.

DALY: ... had close in, both here in America and out there. And if, you know, if we want -- it's one world. And if we really want to protect ourselves, we got to help the people who are trying to stop the disease where it is.

SCIUTTO: Right.

DALY: That's what I thought.

SCIUTTO: Now, Mark Davis, you said that there is no argument against a travel ban. In fact some of the health care professionals responding to this disease say that that would have a negative effect in terms of getting folks out to the epicenter in Africa, to treat this disease.

DAVIS: That is...

SCIUTTO: Well make your case.

DAVIS: That is patently insane. No one is talking about restricting charter flights or military flights to there. We're speaking uniquely about bringing people in. And I'll make everybody a deal just to close, if they can stop scolding us for taking sensible, possible risk reductions, we promise, doctor, we promise not to pretend this somehow solved the whole thing, which is an impression we never had anyway.

SCIUTTO: Dr. Van Tulleken, is a travel ban a sensible step to fight this disease?

VAN TULLEKEN: Doing a risk benefit analysis, and the benefits are close to zero. From other epidemic as we know the travel bans don't work, we know that Americans can still travel and other people are still to be able to come back here and potentially bring it in. And the cost are massive, the cost of that region in terms of economics, in terms of extractive industries and in terms of the kind of conversations they're encouraging about African, Africans in general.

So for me, there is no question. It gives us the wrong idea, it makes us feel safe when we're not. We need to work on the hospital at home and mainly we need to be funneling money and resources into (inaudible).

SCIUTTO: And there are already economic consequences due to the Ebola crisis there, you got food shortages, et cetera, there are fears of insecurity. Instability as a result to this as you cut this part of the world off. VAN TULLEKEN: Lead alone mining industries, led alone -- we see the big chocolate manufacture as last week saying, they're going to start giving money for the international committee, the red cross or we're going to run out of chocolate because it all comes from West Africa.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

VAN TULLEKEN: So you have these huge, huge impacts well beyond the spread of disease.

SCIUTTO: (inaudible), Dr. Van Tulleken, Michael Daly, Mark Davis in Dallas, thanks very much for sticking with us.

VAN TULLEKEN: Thank you guys.

SCIUTTO: A lot of very difficult questions as the U.S. struggles to handle this disease. We're going to be right back with more of our Ebola coverage, only here on CNN.

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