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The Lead with Jake Tapper

President Obama Under Pressure?; Ebola in America; Interview with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois

Aired October 16, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The nation's top public health official on the hot seat in front of U.S. lawmakers, and he still does not know how two nurses in Dallas contracted Ebola.

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

The national lead, some breaking news on Ebola. Scares pop up in a state far away from Texas, as the first nurse infected with the Ebola in Dallas gets ready to take an urgent trip across the country.

Flight attendants and pilots grounded after the second nurse with Ebola got on a plane, but would new airport screening protocols have stopped her or stopped Thomas Duncan, for that matter, from even getting on a plane?

And the politics lead, President Obama under pressure, clearing his political schedule for the second day in a row to deal with this situation, as his critics call for him to come out of quarantine and get out in front of this crisis.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to begin with some breaking news in the national lead. There are many new developments on the Ebola front. At least a half- dozen cities across this country are dealing with this crisis in one way or another right now.

At any moment, Nina Pham, the first of two nurses who contracted Ebola in Dallas, is expected to be moved from the Lone Star State to a National Institutes of Health isolation unit in Bethesda, Maryland. That of course is one of the four facilities in the U.S. that are especially equipped to safely handle Ebola.

The second nurse, Amber Vinson, she has also left Dallas. She is being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, today. In Cleveland, two schools are closed and seven people are quarantined. Why?

Well, nurse number two, Amber Vinson, flew there. And even though she had a fever and called the CDC before she got on her flight back to Dallas on Monday, the CDC told her that her temperature was not high enough for them to suggest she stay off the plane.

Also, just a few hours ago, we learned that a Yale University student who reportedly traveled to Liberia recently is in the hospital, and while we have seen many of these cases come back negative for Ebola, we are keeping an eye on this, given his travel history and the symptoms of his illness.

All this as the director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was grilled today on Capitol Hill about the federal response to this crisis. Let's just say this was not the most reassuring testimony we have ever heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: We're open to ideas for what we can do to keep Americans as safe as possible as long as the outbreak is continuing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Open to ideas. So, in case you missed that, that was the nation's top health official asking members of Congress for their thoughts on how to stop the spread of this virus.

The story is moving quickly. And our reporters are standing by across the country to bring you all the new developments.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is live outside the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

Elizabeth, why the decision to move nurse number one, Nina Pham, today?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, the hospital said it was best for Nina, it was best the community, and it was best for the hospital.

They said the hospital needs to prepare for whatever comes next. I sort of read that, Jake, as, gee, there might be one more of these health care workers with Ebola. Jake, I want to read you a little bit of what Nina Pham said in this statement.

She says: "I believe I'm doing really well thanks to this team, which is the best in the world. I believe in my talented co-workers. I am #presbyproud."

TAPPER: So, Elizabeth, two workers so far at that hospital have been infected. Would most other U.S. hospitals have done better, do you think?

COHEN: I have been asking a lot of safety experts that, including one who has been inside this hospital this week.

And they said that they think a lot of other hospitals would have the same experience, because there are so few hospitals that really, really drill and also that have really exceptional safety -- infectious disease safety practices.

The sad reality in this country, Jake, is that one out of every 25 hospital patients gets an infection in the hospital. The hospital gives them an infection. That's not a great safety record. There's lots of reasons to think other hospitals might have this same experience.

TAPPER: And of course all those criticisms that the CDC guidelines for protective gear have not been sufficient.

But going back to the point you made about possibly preparing for another patient, is there still fear in Dallas that these two patients are is not it, that more is coming?

COHEN: There certainly is that fear.

Tom Frieden has said over and over again when you have breaches in protocol, that affects more than just one or two people. That affects your staff. Everyone, of course, is praying that doesn't happen. I'm sure this hospital, obviously, they doesn't want their employees to get sick and also this hospital, I'm sure, is really financially suffering at this point.

This is a 900-bed hospital, and the CDC doctor who is inside, he said only 300 of the beds are full. Having one-third of your beds full is a problem. And it's because people are scared to come here because of Ebola.

TAPPER: No, I have family in Dallas. I know people are very, very scared there. Elizabeth Cohen in Dallas, Texas, thank you so much.

It's a move that led to schools shutting down and new quarantines 1,200 miles from the U.S. Ebola ground zero in Dallas. The CDC knew the second nurse with Ebola was flying from Cleveland feeling ill with a temperature of 99.5 and worried that her protective gear had not been sufficient, but still did not stop her from getting on that plane, despite the fact that she had had contact with Thomas Duncan, who had died of Ebola days before.

Today, the home where Amber Vinson stayed near Cleveland is being cordoned off with a loved one on lockdown.

And Susan Candiotti is live in Tallmadge for us.

Susan, you spoke to somebody who had contact with Amber Vinson?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I did, Jake.

And before I did that, we paid a visit here to Amber Vinson's parents' home. Her stepfather is the one who is self-quarantined in his house, the one that is taped off there. They asked for police protection because of all of the attention that's come to their neighborhood here.

He will be self-quarantined for 21 days. His wife, Amber's mother, has flown out to Dallas. She went after her daughter did and is staying in a hotel room there, where she is also under self-quarantine for 21 days.

But I tracked down a bridal shop owner because I found out that that is where Amber had gone, why she was here in town, one reason, to go for a fitting for her bridesmaids. The shop's owner said it was a busy Saturday when they came in. They were having a great day. No one appeared sick, certainly not Amber. There was no coughing. They were having a wonderful time. That was the end of that, she and her party, until just yesterday when they were watching the news and that's when they discovered that Amber Vinson had contracted Ebola.

You can imagine their shock, so she called the health department and said, what do I do? And they told her to stay at home, but she told them she was coming into the shop today, which is where we met her. And there were a couple of customers there, too.

The shop's owner told me that Amber was a terrific person and so was her bridal party, that they had had a good day. But listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA YOUNKER, COMING ATTRACTIONS BRIDAL AND FORMAL: A very intelligent lady. We had great conversation, nice bridal party. All her friends were nice. It's kind of like, you wonder, how did you not think this through, you know?

If you're supposed to be quarantined, you're at a hospital where the Ebola is alive, what made you think it's OK to get on a plane? So that part, I don't know where that part of her came out to make that wrong decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, the bridal shop owner has closed her shop, at least for now, not because she's nervous, because she said everyone else seems to be. It's simply being done as a precaution for now.

Among that bridal party, a 10-year-old junior bridesmaid. And now they're all waiting to hear what happens next. Meantime, they're staying at home. And someone will come to her house once a day to check the shop's owner's temperature, as well as her co-worker there, and then they will see what happens after 21 days -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Susan Candiotti in Ohio, thank you so much.

Even as the two infected nurses are moving across the country, new enhanced screening aimed at making air travel safer for the rest of us is under way. The goal, of course, is to keep potentially sick passengers off commercial flights.

CNN aviation correspondent Rene Marsh is tracking that. She joins us with the latest from Dulles International Airport in Virginia -- Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, for the first time today, more than 94 percent of flyers coming from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are undergoing that enhanced testing.

We're talking about temperature checks using something like this, also detailed CDC health questionnaires. It's happening here at Dulles and it's also happening in Atlanta, Chicago, Newark. They joined JFK, which started the screening on Saturday.

But it's not just about international flights. Tonight, the focus is also on passengers who were on board a domestic flight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): Six of the Frontier Airlines crew members who shared a flight with Amber Vinson are now home and self-monitoring for symptoms for 21 days.

Out of what the airline calls an abundance of caution, Frontier is replacing seat cushions and environmental filters on the plane and is also contacting passengers.

CDC director Tom Frieden on the hot seat on Capitol Hill today about the response to the U.S. Ebola cases.

REP. BILL JOHNSON (R), OHIO: Do we know yet how the two health care workers in Dallas were -- contracted the virus? Was it a breakdown in the protocol? Was it a breakdown in the training of the protocol? Do we know whether or not the protocol works?

FRIEDEN: The investigation is ongoing. We have identified some possible causes.

MARSH: CNN has learned the CDC is now considering expanding what is called a do-not-board list that prevents people with a known infectious disease from flying.

The list could soon also include people being monitored for exposure to Ebola. Today, the calls for banning travel altogether to and from West Africa are getting louder.

REP. FRED UPTON (R), MICHIGAN: It needs to be solved in Africa, but until it is, we should not be allowing these folks in, period.

MARSH: But the head of the FAA told CNN a travel ban will not solve the problem.

MICHAEL HUERTA, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: A travel ban would not be something that would necessarily further the public health. But it is something that everyone continues to track and monitor each and every day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: So, at this point, we know that the CDC is considering new ways to prevent someone who is infected with the Ebola virus from boarding a commercial plane.

We do know that there's a discussion as to whether they will expand what is called a no-board list to include people who are just being monitored for the disease. At this point, no decision on that as yet. But if they decide to expand that list, Jake, an official tells our medical unit that could include 76 Dallas health care workers -- Jake. TAPPER: Rene Marsh at Dulles International Airport, thank you so much.

Federal health officials came to Capitol Hill today to defend their response to the Ebola crisis. It's the first time they have faced members of Congress since two Texas health care workers were diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease. Our guest was among the panelists who questioned the head of the CDC today. What's being done to protect the public?

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to continue with our national lead -- all the latest on the race to stop Ebola in the United States. We're waiting to hear an update on that possible Ebola case at Yale University in Connecticut. We'll have them for you as we get it.

As the Ebola crisis touches more cities around the country, the director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was in Washington, D.C. today, getting peppered with some tough questions from members of the congressional committee about what to many critics has been a less-than-reassuring response to Ebola cases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. MICHAEL BURGESS (R), TEXAS: What kind of stockpile of this personal protective equipment do you have available to the health care workers on the front line?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has CDC done a root cause a analysis of what happened at Texas Presbyterian and come up with an action plan on what we learned from that incident?

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D), ILLINOIS: How are we going to educate people, nurses? The nurses are saying they -- across the country -- that they have not been involved and that they are not trained properly or have the equipment.

REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: We need to be prepared before a crisis hits, not scrambling to respond after the crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

TAPPER: Joining me now is one of those questioners, the third one in that montage, Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. She's a member, of course, of the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee. She joins me now from Capitol Hill. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us.

Did you come out of that hearing feeling more or less confident in our health care system's ability to deal with the Ebola crisis? SCHAKOWSKY: What I saw at the hearing today was a CDC and other

agencies that are understanding the mistakes that were made and flexible enough to make the changes. I am hopeful that we're going to see a much better train and equip protocol, if you will, that's going to make sure that people around the country, our health care professionals, are fully able to address this issue. I don't even want to call it a crisis in the United States. We have a crisis in West Africa, but I do think with the robust infrastructure of health care that we have in our country, that we're going to be able to meet the challenges and we have had some stumbles along the way. There's no question.

TAPPER: Well, have those stumbles shaken your confidence at all in how the Obama administration has responded and will be able to respond in the future to this -- if you're not calling it a crisis -- this potential crisis?

SCHAKOWSKY: No, I think we have with Dr. Fauci and Dr. Frieden, two of the best epidemiologist, the best public health officials that there are available, but I think that -- and I think capable now of making sure that not only are the protocols more appropriate but that they are actually being enforced, that the training is going to be there.

So, you know, I feel confident but, of course, I think that, you know, there are many things that need to be done to build an infrastructure in West Africa. That's where the problem is and that's what we want prevent coming to the United States.

TAPPER: But, Congresswoman, I agree with you. If I were wheeled into an emergency room and there was Dr. Frieden, there was Dr. Fauci, I'd feel great. But as you know, they're the first responders. And as you voiced during that hearing and we've covered on the show, the nurses at Dallas Presbyterian, they say they have been lied to, they've been isolated, they've been left out in the cold, they didn't get proper instructions -- that's just one hospital. One hopes that the United States doesn't have this at an epidemic level where many hospitals go through it.

But where's the disconnect between what Fauci and Frieden know and these people on the front lines?

SCHAKOWSKY: OK, that was one -- that was one incident. And I think the lesson has been learned. And we have heard the health professionals, especially the nurses, really speak, that they need more help.

I also do want to say that we have to make sure that we adequately fund these agencies. Nancy Pelosi actually issued a statement today that she wants the appropriations committee to come back and restore some of the funds that had been cut from the National Institutes of Health, where its director has, Francis Collins, has said that we could have had an Ebola virus vaccine by now had his agency not been cut. This is not a partisan guy.

And so, there are many things that we can do, including properly funding all of these agencies.

TAPPER: Right. And Dr. Collins was talking about the cuts over a decade, not just recently.

I want to ask you, Senator Bill Nelson, a fellow Democrat of yours, has called on the administration to specifically appoint an Ebola czar to be on the front lines at the White House, to be one person dealing with this. Do you agree with that?

SCHAKOWSKY: I think it is a good idea because it's not the only crisis that we may -- or the problem we face. The Enterovirus that is actually causing deaths among some children. You know, we have to continue to protect on all fronts. And so, having someone just in charge of Ebola I think it's absolutely a really good idea.

TAPPER: And, lastly, Congresswoman, today, your fellow congressman, Republican Ed Royce, who's the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he called on the U.S. State Department to immediately stop issuing visas to non-U.S. nationals in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where this Ebola hot zone is. Do you agree with that?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, you know, I think there's been many who also suggested that we stop any kind of travel altogether from those countries. The question is, is this going to make people go underground, go over land to other places, Brussels is flying planes all over and people are flying on those.

You know, I'm from Chicago. We have a great protocol now that's in place that is asking questions and actually isolating people who have in any way been impacted by Ebola in Chicago.

So, I think it's worth -- an idea worth exploring, but I think mostly we need to help those countries locally to address the problem.

TAPPER: All right. Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you.

TAPPER: We've learned today that a nurse with Ebola will be moved across the country from more treatment after fears that her fellow nurses in Texas might walk off the job.

President Obama dropping everything to deal with Ebola. Is this a bit of theater, or has the White House entered full crisis mode? When we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

More now on our national lead. The head of a Texas hospital where two nurses contracted Ebola after treating the first U.S. patient to succumb to the virus is owning up to what most of us have already figured out for ourselves, the hospital dropped the ball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DANIEL VARGA, CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER, TEXAS HEALTH RESOURCES: Unfortunately, in our initial treatment of Mr. Duncan, despite our best intentions and a highly skilled medicine team, we made mistakes. We did not correctly diagnose his symptoms as those of Ebola and we are deeply sorry. Also, in our effort to communicate to the public quickly and transparently, we inadvertently provided some information that was inaccurate and had to be corrected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That's Dr. Daniel Varga, the chief clinical officer and senior vice president of Texas Health Resources, testifying today before a congressional committee. And while he acknowledges that the hospital has learned some important lessons, it likely brings little comfort to some of the remaining staffer and patients. And, in fact, one CDC doctor tells CNN that many people now are afraid to be treated at that hospital, not to mention the fact that 76 health care workers from that hospital are still being monitored for responsible Ebola exposure.

And what about all those people who are on the flight with the infected nurse, nurse number two?