Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Can Dallas Nurses Go Back to Normal; Denver Man Disappears at NFL Game; Giant Balloon Being Used to Hunt for Eric Frein; ISIS Uses British Captive in Propaganda Video; Molten Lava Bearing Down on Hawaiian Town.

Aired October 28, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now the both Dallas nurses have been cleared of Ebola and can return to their lives, how easy will that be? What will that journey really look like? Can they return to quote, unquote, "normal"? Or are there other health considerations awaiting them back in Texas?

Joining me now is Devi Nampiaparampil --

(LAUGHTER)

For the love of -- I'm going to get this one day -- from the NYU School of Medicine.

Forgive me, Dr. Devi.

DR. DEVI NAMPIAPARAMPIL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Oh, don't worry about it.

BALDWIN: It is wonderful having you back.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Nice to see you, too.

BALDWIN: Amber Vinson, she looks wonderful, looks strong. But when someone is Ebola free, it means it's no longer in their blood.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: They usually test it a couple of times to make sure. They want to make sure they have no symptoms. They test it then, they test it after. The fact she's Ebola free is very reassuring. It shows the immune system has figured out how to beat it. She can't get it a second time.

BALDWIN: Just in general, you know, if she gets sick, if she gets the flu, down the road, will it affect her just as it would pre-Ebola?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Exactly. We all get different viruses, right? Most of us have had flu at least once in our lifetime. The thing is, it can take a toll. It can definitely make you really sick. You know, for some people, more serious complications, it can make you very sick. But once you've recovered. You've recovered. The only difference is, we have to think about the person who gets infected. If someone is very healthy and get a virus, they may have a longer time recovering. If they have complications, Ebola attacks your liver and your kidneys. If your liver and kidneys are damaged, then you might have problems related to that. But not the Ebola itself.

BALDWIN: I thought what the doctor was saying, one of the reporters shouting out a question after the doctor who had treated her responded saying, you know, why is it that it seems Nina Pham, that first nurse and now Amber Vinson seem to have worked through this virus pretty quickly.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Yeah.

BALDWIN: And his response was youth and also they were wearing the PPEs, the personal protective equipment, to hopefully lessen that exposure.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Exactly. What he means by youth. It's probably not just youth, but they were in good health beforehand. If you have a healthy immune system, you don't have other medical problems you're fighting at the same time. For the most part, your immune system can focus on Ebola itself. It has to do with how much virus you're exposed to. We don't know for sure. But the virus, if you get a small amount, it's trying to multiply. The lesser amount. You have less chance of having it kind of reach an uncontrollable level in your body.

BALDWIN: I mean, apparently, they were treating him in the thick of it. It was ugly, you know.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Yeah. Of course, yeah.

BALDWIN: At least they were protected to some degree.

Finally, explain to me and explain to everyone watching that the explanation about why he brought up, why the doctor brought up dialysis and intubation.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: They don't have as much access to this. They're relying on giving people fluid, either they swallow it, you know, take it by mouth or maybe they get I.V.s. If you look at it here, we can keep somebody alive, get them through Ebola quickly. That's why our mortality rate is low. But in dialysis, your kidneys aren't working, you set up a machine where it takes out your blood literally from your body and puts it back in after it takes out the toxins and poisons you get exposed to. You have a lot more bodily fluids there. But intubation --

BALDWIN: Because it's being returned to your body?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, because it's being taken out. Somebody's putting these lines into you to get the blood out. Someone is putting in a line to get the blood back into your body. It doesn't drain you all at once, but it takes small amounts at a time and kind of, you know, circulates it, cleans it out. And then with intubation, a breathing tube down someone's throat. If someone's got all kinds of secretions, coming up from their lungs and throat and then you're working in that area, you're much more likely to get exposed to bodily fluids that way. You're doing procedures that health care workers might not get exposed to in West Africa, but they are here. And I think that's why relatively if you look at the percentages, we have more health care workers getting infected here percentage wise in West Africa.

BALDWIN: Dr. Devi?

(LAUGHTER)

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Nampiaparmpil.

BALDWIN: There you go.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: There you go.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. I really appreciate truly every single time you come and talk about this.

And we have learned, again, the president will be speaking about Ebola specifically about 20 minutes from now. Stay tuned for that. We'll take that live once he speaks from the White House.

Coming up, a new tool from the survivalist who allegedly shot and killed one state trooper. How a balloon could be the key to finding Eric Frein.

Also ahead, a Denver father attending his first NFL game up and disappears during halftime. What are authorities saying about this mystery, next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This is just entirely bizarre here. This missing persons case in Denver, Colorado, something we're all familiar with. You go to a game, you go to the restroom with your buddy at halftime. One person goes in, one hangs outside. Paul Kitterman, he was waiting for his stepson five, 10 minutes, according to stepson, who says when he came out of the restroom, Kitterman was gone. That was Thursday. Now the search is on for this 53-year-old man. Denver police say they have been viewing stadium security video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONNY JACKSON, DENVER POLICE DEPARTMENT: Only thing unusual, he went missing in the middle of a football game on national TV. And we don't have anything right now we can say is concrete. What the tape will tell us, if he's with somebody else, by himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, Jean Casarez, who is working this.

I was saying to you, what's going on. Is it possible he just -- we don't know their personal lives -- just walked away? JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a real mystery. Now, the

police today are scanning all the surveillance video from the stadium. They tell me there's hundreds of hours of video. So they're looking for surveillance to see if there's any sign of him. And they're not saying anything.

I spoke with Tia Backe (ph), from the family. And she says they believe something's happened to him. He's not the type of person to walk away. He's a cattleman. He does construction work. Small town. They drove two hours to get to the game.

Here's what his stepson had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAROD TONNESON, STEPSON OF MISSING MAN: He was just amazed. And, I mean, even just the size of the place, we were super excited. We were there until 1: 30 in the morning. And paramedics said nobody had come in that night at all. And he's like, it'll be all right, we'll stick together because you've got your phone. So there's no way he would've taken off like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And the fact is that they all saw each other at halftime. And they said, OK, we'll meet together at a certain gate. I asked Tia, does he have a history of walking away? She says, absolutely not. She says that sometimes he likes to be alone so he'll get on his horse and ride out into the country. He's even camped overnight. But he tells somebody.

BALDWIN: And he comes back.

CASAREZ: And he comes back and he doesn't just leave without saying a word.

BALDWIN: Stay on it for us.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And an unlikely tool may be what police in Pennsylvania may need to catch this fugitive, Eric Frein. This giant Mylar balloon, similar to a weather balloon, it's in the air, capturing continuous images of the ground. Police are hoping the balloon will spot Frein wanted in last month's killing of a state trooper. According to CNN affiliate, WNET, helium can keep the balloon in the air for three days at a time. So it can stay up there for a little while here. It can pick out an individual from up to three miles away and it is quiet.

So let's go to Meteorologist Jennifer Gray who has been reading up on this balloon here.

Tell me more. JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. It's a lot like how a

weather balloon works. You can think of it like a blimp that's tethered to the ground. Here's pictures of it. It is quiet. It can stay up for 72 hours. It's 15 feet in diameter and costs about $1,000 to fill up. It is a lot cheaper than using aircraft.

Here's how it works. It rises up, comes out of the box. It's limitations basically 480 feet. That's as high as it can go. It will have cables attached to it with cameras. The FAA restriction is 500 feet. It can see one person up to three miles away and a group of people up to five miles away. So it's basically really good tool they can use, Brooke, and a lot more efficient.

BALDWIN: How would it compare to, say, a drone, Jennifer? Just curious?

GRAY: Well, this is tethered to the ground.

BALDWIN: Gotcha.

GRAY: Drones can fly freely. This is basically tethered down.

BALDWIN: What about weather conditions?

GRAY: Well, it has to have at least three miles visibility. If there's fog in the area, you're not going to be able to use it. Also, high winds or thunderstorms, it'll get tossed around. And you also have to be able to have at least three miles visibility. And also, five feet from the base of any cloud.

BALDWIN: OK. Jennifer Gray, let's hope it works. Thank you.

GRAY: All right.

BALDWIN: Coming up, chilling video of the ISIS captive, John Cantley, doing what looks like a news report from the besieged city of Kobani. What this piece of propaganda video can tell law enforcement, can tell investigators, can tell the government about ISIS. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Want to really focus now on the war against ISIS. This ghoulish terrorist group has lost fighters in the city of Kobani. And yet, the defenders haven't budged. But not according to ISIS.

Listen to this. We talked about this yesterday, the very end of this show when this video took. ISIS took one of the last Western captives, a man by the name of John Cantley, and essentially had him pose like a news correspondent as if he were reporting from Kobani. Here's a quick look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CANTLEY, BRITISH HOSTAGE: Hello, I'm John Cantley, and today, we're in the city of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As a hostage, he's unmistakably under duress doing this. And despite what ISIS put him up to saying, Kobani is not, let me repeat, is not under ISIS control and the fighting is not over.

Take a look at this. This is a U.S. air strike. You will hear the big boom. Observed today from a nearby hillside. We also actually heard cheers from the hillside, as well. Further proof that the fighting goes on. These are defenders battling ISIS within Kobani. This video shot on Sunday.

Here with me, Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorist analyst, joining me to talk about the video.

You've seen the video. Bottom line, this is obviously putting this man up under duress to tell a story that isn't true.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is pure, unadulterated propaganda. They're trying to say that ISIS is winning, they've taken control of Kobani. The reality is different. It's a city that's very much contested. And ISIS has actually lost ground in Kobani the last several weeks. More U.S. air strikes. They've been more accurate. They've got Kurdish spotters on the ground helping them. And they've also been able to air drop weapons to Kurdish fighters there. So the reality in Kobani is different to what ISIS is trying to say.

BALDWIN: Let me get back to more of the artillery on the way. But quickly, why do you think ISIS used Cantley as this news reporter? I guess perhaps with his cache and his Westernness as opposed to, you know, one of their masked men standing in Kobani?

CRUICKSHANK: I think it's because the Western media are going to pay more attention to this British hostage that they have. They believe he's an eloquent speaker --

BALDWIN: We are.

CRUICKSHANK: -- that he can put out their message. But he's putting this out under duress. They're forcing him to do this.

BALDWIN: We know Kurdish fighters from Iraq, they're finally on their way to Kobani. And I don't know how many, but they're bringing heavy weaponry with them. What happens if ISIS loses Kobani?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's right, about 150 fighters on their way from northern Iraq to Kobani to assist the fighting there. If ISIS loses Kobani, I think it's a big deal. It's become very symbolically important for ISIS. They've been sending in reinforcements from across Syria. And in Syria and Iraq, it's about momentum. If ISIS starts losing momentum, you could see tribes start to switch sides away from ISIS. Every day, every week they're making a calculation. Are we going to stay with ISIS or perhaps join the anti-ISIS coalition? The hope is that if ISIS loses control, the momentum shifts, and you could start seeing some of these group shifting allegiances -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Paul Cruickshank, really appreciate it. Thank you so much, talking about that video with me and the status of Kobani.

Coming up next, molten lava bearing down on this small Hawaiian town. Have you seen these pictures? This is just yards from people's homes. And there is not a thing they can do to stop it. CNN's Martin Savidge is there for us in Hawaii. We'll take you there after the break.

And any minute now President Obama expected to make a statement on Ebola. We will take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: On Hawaii's big island right now, people are watching what amounts to a disaster in slow motion. CNN affiliate, KITV, is reporting that the lava here is now 20 feet into the first property in its path. Only a break near the beginning of this flow can stop the lava now. From the air, it might not seem as daunting, right, but if you look at the smoke rising up from this lava, and when you can't exactly tell how hot it is from that first photo -- I want you to look at this thermal image. We're talking about a 2,000-degree river of molten rock pushing closer and closer to people's homes.

CNN's Martin Savidge is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lava on main island, on the big island, a 2,000-degree river of molten rock and there is no way to stop it. Residents on a moment's notice to evacuate as the super-heated stone threatens the town of 950.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody, including myself is quite nervous. Can't see the future. The flow does what the flow does.

SAVIDGE: Hawaii's volcano has continuously erupted since 1983. Usually the lava flows pour south eventually reaching the sea. But in June, a new flow started heading the opposite way to the northeast. The dark, oozing mass consuming everything in its path. It has picked up speed as it heads directly.

Hawaii's governor asking for a presidential disaster declaration and for federal aid.

BILLY KENOI, HAWAII COUNTY MAYOR: As it moves closer, the key is communication and keeping people informed and everyone continuing to work around the clock.

SAVIDGE: Officials going door to door warning residents as the flow inches dangerously close.

Some roads have been forced to close as the lava overtakes them with many residents fearing they'll be cut off, Hawaii County is rebuilding alternate gravel roads around the expected path of the lava. People have been advised to stay indoors.

If they increase, they're going to be hard on some people. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Brooke, the very latest report we have was that the lava had slowed somewhat. The only hope this town has is it either turns or stops. Otherwise the same force of nature that created the Hawaiian Islands could very well destroy this town -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: We'll take it. Martin, thank you so much.

We are close to the top of the hour. You are watching CNN.

And we are watching and waiting to hear from the president. Live pictures of the South Lawn. You see the podium. President should be stepping behind it any moment now. He's heading up to a campaign stop after he speaks to the American public.

Got a lot of voices I want to bring into the fold here as we watch and wait for the president, including our own senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. He is joining me, as is Gloria Borger. And two very smart minds when it comes to all of this here in Cambridge. I have "New England Journal of Medicine," editor-in-chief; and Dr. Robert Murphy, a professor of infectious diseases. We'll have the doctors on standby here.

But to you first, Jim. Since you are there at the White House, let's set this thing up. The president will be coming out of this meeting with USAID?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He should be wrapping that up about now before walking out on to the south lawn to deliver the statement. A conference call with the U.S. Agency for International Development, they are leading the Ebola response in West Africa. He may not speak for many minutes here before he hops on Marine One and starts taking it off for Milwaukee for a political event with Mary Burke out there, who is running against Scott Walker in a very tight race.

But, you know, Brooke, all of this comes at a critical time for the president. You have all of these states going out on their own at this time. With their own quarantine rules. Those rules are different from what the CDC guidelines were that were specified yesterday.