Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Obama Administration to Deploy Military Reservist to West Africa; Ebola Policy Discussed; Are Hospitals Prepared to Handle Ebola Patients?; Interview with Ann Romney

Aired October 16, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A federal official tells CNN, the nurse called the CDC before boarding and reported a higher-than-normal body temperature, but lower than what the CDC says is the criteria for Ebola.

No one told her at that time she shouldn't fly. Frontier Airlines tells CNN they pro actively placed six crew members on paid leave for 21 days after being notified by the CDC that Vincent may have been symptomatic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no way she should have been on that flight. She was being monitored here in Dallas, and if she was monitored correctly, she would have gotten into the hospital, I think earlier than going on that flight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, you might remember two days ago a nurse's union said that there were many, many safety violations here at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The hospital just now issuing a press release, saying that that -- that those accusations do not reflect the actual record. They say that they met and in some cases exceeded CDC guidelines. Alisyn, Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Elizabeth, scary on two levels. That means one, boy, the guidelines are lacking, and, two, we have to make sure the hospital gets it right so they move forward doing things the right way. The nurses are very little reason to lie. Thank you very much for the report. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, meanwhile the Obama administration is poised to deploy military reservists to West Africa, that's ground zero for Ebola, to help get the epidemic there under control. Hundreds of U.S. troops are already in the Ebola hot zone. CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Already More than 500 U.S. troops are in West Africa. Later today the Pentagon expected to get that authority to call up reservists to join them in that hot zone. We don't know how many reservists. We don't know how many of them may be medical personnel. Reservists of course, people who live and work in towns and cities across this country. The military also putting out rules for how it will deal with Ebola.

If there are troops that have come into contact with the virus in West Africa or may be at risk, they will be evacuated back to the United States and treated in a facility here. Commanders will also have the authority to isolate their entire unit of troops in Africa for the final 10 days of their deployment if they feel there is reason to. All of this just underscoring how much this is touching towns and communities across this country. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: It sure does, Barbara, thanks so much for the update. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, thank you very much. We want to talk about what's going on here, because we have these breaking developments overnight in the Ebola crisis. The latest situation is that we know that the second victim, also a nurse, has been taken to Atlanta. Emory University Hospital is seen as being more equipped to deal with the situation.

CAMEROTA: Yes, so let's talk about this, because joining us now are Bill Frist, former U.S. senator, majority leader. He is also a heart and lung transplant surgeon and chairman of Hope through Healing Hands. And we also want to bring back CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

Senator Frist, I want to start with you. Who is in charge in the U.S. of coordinating the Ebola response?

BILL FRIST, (R-TN) FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: You know, at this point it's the local public health official. When you have a spread of a virus like this, or a disease like this, it really comes down to what happens locally in your community. And the finger-pointing that's going on in Washington, D.C. and the distrust of institutions, all of that I believe needs to be put aside and focus on the disease.

The fact we have a medical illness, a disease, a virus, that we know a lot about and we do know how to contain it, how to control it. That's where the focus needs to be, really not all the finger-pointing about who's in charge and blaming the CDC and the federal government. Right now, the public health response, I believe is very, very effective here in the United States.

CAMEROTA: And senator, I don't want to engage in finger-pointing. Obviously we want to get the best information out there. But doesn't it seem that the CDC has dropped the ball in terms of a coordination of preparing hospitals for this?

FRIST: You know, I don't think that the CDC has dropped the ball. You've got medical professionals, you've got nurses, you've got doctors, you've got the smartest people in America on this, on the virus itself. So could they do better in terms of communication? Yes. That's going to always be the case. But I think the CDC is doing really a fine job, an outstanding job. We need better communication. We need a better narrative on what needs to be done in terms of response, in terms of holding down the virus. But all in all I think the CDC is having a strong, good, positive response. CAMEROTA: Very quickly before I bring in Sanjay, senator, do you

think it is time for something like an Ebola czar, one person who is the point person?

FRIST: Yes, I do. I think the confusion that does come down to the local level is exactly the question you ask. Who is in charge? Who is setting the guidelines? And I have encouraged gently in Washington, D.C., to have one single person. Is it the CDC? I don't think it is the CDC. Right now they're focused a lot on what's happening in the United States and appropriately. But at the same time we have a global concern and in Liberia and in this epicenter overseas. And we need one person that is the spokesperson that does have the medical knowledge. They can coordinate with clarity, with consistency around the country.

Ultimately, though, it's going to be a local response. The typical American today is not at risk. There are 23,000 people who die of the common flu every year. And people need to recognize that and relax, in many ways recognize it's very significant, but this is not something that the average American needs to be overly concerned about in terms of their own safety.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that is great perspective to be reminding people of this morning. Sanjay, do you think that is the answer, having one point person going forward?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I agree with the senator on that. You know, in part I think is what you're seeing is while the local health departments essentially are in charge of what's happening in Dallas, in some ways you could say that this is sort of become a national issue.

Amber Vincent, who by the way is in the hospital now behind me at Emory University, she flew on a plane. She had low-grade symptoms. I agree with the senator, there's hardly any risk to the passengers on that plane. But, you know, I think somebody to be able to coordinate these types of things. She was allowed to fly. She made a call to the CDC before she got on the plane, told them she had a low-grade temperature. They still allowed her to fly and subsequently said she should be on a no-fly list. So somebody needs to be coordinating things like that because that has a more national sort of significance and impact.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that seems like a no-brainer, basically, senator. As you know there have been calls by many for an Ebola czar. We had Senator Rob Portman on our air calling for just such a thing. You of course are a surgeon. Would you be available to be the Ebola czar?

FRIST: Well, I would not be the appropriate person.

CAMEROTA: Why not?

FRIST: I think you need somebody who is doing this full time in terms of infection disease. I was a transplant surgeon, very familiar with infectious disease. But I do think it needs to be somebody that can speak to all the cabinet members, that can coordinate the social and emotional as well as the medical and scientific issues.

And I have called for that. I don't think it's necessary for us to point fingers. But it would at this point in time there would be one source that people could go to that had the medical background. This, we know a lot about this virus. The virus is a new virus, but we've got years and years of study around viruses. We know how contagious it is. We know what it takes to stop the spread. And I have a lot of confidence that we've done that here in this country.

But the czar would also have to understand that we've got 5,000 people who have died overseas. That number will probably double over time. And there's a potential for spread to other countries, we know it's going on in Spain right now. So the czar would have to have a broad understanding of both domestic health care policy and response as well as global.

But one person would make it a lot easier than everybody wondering who's in charge and questioning and second-guessing. It's a medical disease, we know a lot about it. It's the disease we need to be fighting. We don't need to be fighting each other and pointing fingers at nurses and hospitals and guidelines and the CDC director.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, do you think that -- one of the things that Senator Frist is calling for is a rapid diagnostic test. We did learn yesterday on NEW DAY that it's possible to do a blood test very early, earlier than some of these exposed health care workers are getting tested. Can that -- is that possible moving forward, this rapid diagnostic test, Sanjay?

GUPTA: I think rapid diagnostic tests are a good idea as a potential screening tool. But keep in mind a couple of things. First of all, they have to have a very high degree of sensitivity and what is known as specificity. What I mean by that is you can't have false negatives, right, because if you have false negatives, you would basically clear somebody even though they might actually have the virus. That can't happen. That would be a real problem. And also, false positives where you might actually put somebody in isolation without them having the virus. So there would have to be a confirmatory test as well.

FRIST: I think, Sanjay, I do think, though, if you look at the period of the infectivity, it did occur while the test was pending. And I think the number one thing we could do, our scientific community and our medical community and our research community, is to develop the right rapid diagnostic test so that when somebody presents, within 20 minutes or an hour you could get the diagnosis itself. And if they're free of the disease, and we do have the test with the specificity and the accuracy and the sensitivity today.

But then the question is how do you get the test to Africa where there are thousands and thousands of people who need to be tested. And that is a challenge. So, a, we need the rapid diagnostic test, and then we need to figure out who is going to buy that test to get it to Africa. But I think that's probably the number one thing that can be done today in getting control and some sense of order and discipline from a medical and scientific standpoint in Africa, especially. Because while the test was pending, that 48-hour period here in Dallas, that infectivity and contagiousness occurred.

CAMEROTA: That sure makes sense. Senator Bill Frist and Sanjay, thanks so much for all the information, great to talk to you this morning.

FRIST: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Michaela because there is more news this morning.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: There certainly is. All right, here's a look at your headlines. Good morning, everyone. U.S. and European leaders think they can get a deal done with Iran on its nuclear program by the November 24th deadline. A State Department official says there are many issues to address but there's no move yet to extend the deadline. The west wants Iran to scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions.

A close call for two Pennsylvania lawmakers. They found themselves involved in a shootout with an armed robber. State Representatives Marty Flynn and Ryan Bizarro were leaving dinner Tuesday night when they were confronted by a man who demanded their wallets. Flynn is a former prison guard who is licensed to carry a handgun. He actually exchanged fire with the suspect, who then fled the scene. Thankfully no one was injured. The suspect and three alleged accomplices were later arrested. Some frightening moments there.

This morning, imagine this, 45-year-old-year-old David McCallum is free after serving 29 years for a murder did he not commit. His murder convention was thrown out by a New York City judge after prosecutors said he falsely confessed when he was a teenager. The conviction of McCallum's friend and co-defendant, Willie Stuckey was also tossed. However, Stuckey died in prison back in 2001.

I cannot believe this story it's so good. An Oregon man keeps a childhood promise to his brother. Look, we've all made promises to our siblings, right? This guy won $1 million in the Powerball drawing. When he was a kid he made a pact with his brother, Quinn. He said man if I ever win I'll split the cash with you. Well, guess what. He won. So Eric did the right thing and called his brother who lived in Washington, told him the good news. Brother thought it was a joke at first. But then they got the check. Each of them get about $335,000 after taxes. If you'll all excuse me, I have some sisters to make a quick phone call to. I'm going to be a while because I got a lot. They have a better chance of winning than I do because they remember to buy the ticket.

CAMEROTA: That helps. You have to buy it. You have so many, it wouldn't be that much if you guys won.

PEREIRA: I know. But at least we all would share.

CUOMO: Camerota I feel like you may retain counsel on a situation this.

(LAUGHTER) CAMEROTA: I would need conditions on family members, because then other brothers pop up.

PEREIRA: And then the cousins' brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law come along.

CUOMO: I think the amazing thing for this guy is the ability to do something like that for your family.

CAMEROTA: Isn't that a dream? So nice.

Meanwhile, President Obama promising more aggressive response to Ebola cases. But are U.S. hospitals prepared to handle this disease? Extra steps that some medical centers are taking now to protect you.

CUOMO: And Ann Romney is on a mission, a medical mission. She's here to tell us about it and set the record straight on those rumors of a Romney 2016 campaign. Will she announce herself? Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We have breaking developments for you overnight. The latest nurse to contract Ebola in Dallas was allowed to fly to and from Cleveland, even though she told the CDC she had a low fever after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the man who died in Dallas fighting off Ebola. So now hospital officials in Dallas are clearly having trouble containing the virus and learning how to deal with it. And how do we know that? Well, they have two nurses who contracted the virus from their protocols, a lack thereof. So how can big hospitals prepare to handle patients? Or can they at all?

Lt's bring in Dr. Kenneth Davis. He's the CEO and president of the Mount Sinai Health System,one of the largest health systems in the nation. It's good to have you here. Appreciate it very much, Doctor. So basic question, are you ready?

KENNETH L. DAVIS, M.D, CEO AND PRESIDENT, MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: We're ready.

CUOMO: How do you know?

DAVIS: We've already had drills and drills and drills, education on top of education. We've had meetings that have gone on, repeatedly and sometimes almost endlessly to prepare. What we've done is we've identified just one place in our hospital system that would be the center for our taking care of patients in isolation.

CUOMO: So all patients go to one place.

DAVIS: One place. But in New York City and New York state, we're already talking about this, through our department of health and through the Greater New York Hospital Association. In fact, as I leave today, I will be going to a meeting of the Greater New York Hospital Association to talk about what we're doing city-wide to respond. And we've identified Bellevue Hospital as the first site for patients who are potential Ebola victims. CUOMO: Are you following the CDC guidelines or are you going beyond

them and going more with the WHO? The answer to that question is you're going beyond. Why are you doing that?

DAVIS: Because you want to be as stringent as you can be. You want to protect health care workers as much as possible.

CUOMO: CDC is not enough?

DAVIS: Well, CDC's recommendations are less relevant than what happens at the local level from the department of health and our own infectious disease experts. So our own assumption is to assume the worst case and protect everyone maximally.

CUOMO: And so you are using what I'm keeping the full beekeeper outfit, the hazmat suit.

DAVIS: Yes. That's what we will have.

CUOMO: And are you using the sprays with bleach and all that stuff to help assist?

DAVIS: Clorox everywhere.

CUOMO: Clorox everywhere. You're putting it on the stuff that happens when someone's patient. You're using it before you clean. How are you using it?

DAVIS: You're exactly right. Housekeeping is critical here. Triple- bagging waste products. Making sure the room is super-cleaned. So what you really need is not just every -- any old housekeeper. You have to train the housekeepers. What we've done is actually created a team of volunteers, who all wanted to be engaged in this kind of care, feel comfortable in doing it, and drilling and drilling and drilling on this.

CUOMO: Did you go to school on what happened in Dallas?

DAVIS: Sure we do. We've all learned from what's happened in Dallas.

CUOMO: Would that have happened at a place like Mount Sinai?

DAVIS: We would assume not. But let's remember --

CUOMO: Texas Presbyterian. That's a real hospital. It's a noted health center. It's not like somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

DAVIS: Look, what we also know is that at Emory and at Nebraska, this hasn't happened. They're prepared, they knew what to do, they've dealt with these kind of conditions beforehand. I think that's what you have to do; you have to be ready and drilled and educated.

CUOMO: OK, so, I get calls the other day. There's a couple at Bellevue. They have it, they have it. Then I get another call. There's someone at this hospital, they have it, they have it. We're all worried; they're closing schools. New York, those things all get magnified. What do you say to me? I'm the afraid person. I don't think you guys know how we transmit this. You're putting everyone on no-fly lists, you're closing schools, I'm worried. I don't believe you know what you're talking about.

DAVIS: What I say to you is this. Already in New York we've had over 100 false positives.

CUOMO: False positives.

DAVIS: False positives. Identification of people who have come in and the emergency room has said, because they have fever or because they were not even from West Africa, but from Africa, we have to assume these are Ebola cases. All of them have proven negative. What I'm telling you is the hysteria and the anxiety is worse than the reality.

CUOMO: The government is contributing to that, though. And I mean government, CDC. They say that this nurse can fly. And then after they make that bad decision, arguably, they round up that whole thing, that plane, they're looking at like 1,000 people involved now in terms of how many people they want to start monitoring themselves. Doesn't that make it worse?

DAVIS: Here's what we know -- we know if you're asymptomatic, you don't spread the disease. We know that the disease is largely spread by bodily fluids and that when people are really sick, they could be excluding (ph) up to five to ten liters of fluid a day that contains virus. So we have a woman who has a low-grade fever. I don't know if she told them she had a fever.

CUOMO: She did.

DAVIS: Well, who did she tell at the CDC? That's what she tells us. Another is, until we actually sit down with everybody and understand what was said to whom and what was said in return, we don't really know.

But what I do know is this -- the risk of that woman spreading disease on that plane with that low-grade fever, without diarrhea, without vomiting, is exceedingly low. And what's probably happening now, when the CDC calls everybody on the plane, is to assure them that the risk is low, and probably telling them, you just watch yourself in the next 21 days and make sure that you don't have fever. If you do have fever, come right away, and they're identifying where they should go.

CUOMO: The best fact to calm panic right now is that the people who should be most likely, god forbid, to have gotten this virus from someone who was sick are the family and friends of Mr. Duncan in Dallas, and to this point, they've had none of those people who were all, many of them in the apartment with him when he was very, very sick, none of them have been seen with the virus themselves. That's a good fact.

DAVIS: That is precisely correct.

CUOMO: Well, good luck here and it's good to know you're not waiting for a case to start figuring out how to prepare for a case. DAVIS: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Dr. Ken Davis, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Alisyn, to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Will Mitt Romney run? Or is he done, done, done? The woman who knows him best, Ann Romney, is here to set us straight on that. And we will also hear about the important medical fight that she is involved in. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Will he or won't he? That's the question surrounding Mitt Romney and his family as calls grow for the Republican to make a third bid for the presidency. Monday, "The L.A. Times" quoted Ann Romney as saying Mitt and the family are, quote, "Done, done, done, with running for office." But later this week "The Washington Post" said her answer was, quote, "We'll have to see what happens."

For now at least the Romneys are focused on another kind of campaign. Tuesday, Mrs. Romney launched the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital and she joins us, along with the center's co-director, Dr. Howard Weiner. Great to see both of you. Thanks for being here.

We have so many things to talk to you about. It's an interesting morning and a timely one for you to be here. We have so much medical news. First, can I just ask you your thoughts about Ebola and how the country and the hospital in Texas has handled the treatment there?

ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY: Well, you know, we're ought frightened as Americans. When we think of this illness that is so -- it looks like, you know, just so deadly, is now in our shores. So we have to have a strategy. We have to have maybe strategic centers that are set up across the country to really have places that are going to be able to very effectively deal with this.

CAMEROTA: It does seem as though that's the answer. I mean, that's where the most recent patient, the nurse who was infected, has now traveled to. Because it seemed as though Dallas wasn't quite up to it.

ROMNEY: Well, you know, it's -- how would we -- we just need to get more prepared and we need to have a strategy to getting there.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about what you're here for. Let's talk about the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases. Tell us about this. Why did you want to do this?

ROMNEY: Because of this guy right here. He is my doctoR and he is the one that gave me hope when I was really, really fearful. And now Mitt was, in that evening piece, he introduced me from going from the wounded to the warrior. And I loved that because I was in a really dark place, I was really frightened. I had an amazing doctor to be able to help me get through that. And now it's time for me to be the warrior. And to give hope to the

millions. We think there are 50 million people worldwide that suffer from neurologic diseases. So we're not going to be just studying MS. We're going to be studying Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's and brain tumors in addition to MS. It's very ambitious and he's got a lot of -- he's going to have a lot of work to do.

CAMEROTA: And, Doctor, what will this center do differently than people can get at their regular -- their local hospital?

DR. HOWARD WEINER, CO-DIRECTOR, ANN ROMNEY CENTER FOR NEUROLOGIC DISEASES: Well, this is a research center that is going to try to come up with new treatments. So what we want to do is we want a doctor to be able to sit down and patient who has Alzheimer's or ALS and rather than saying there's no treatment, here's how we can treat you. And once we get treatments, then we're going to move to cures.

CAMEROTA: You were talking about the way Mitt introduced you and I just want to read a portion of that letter. He says -- because it's so sweet. He says, "From the wounded, you have become one of the warriors. I could not be more proud of the 15-year-old girl I fell in love with almost 50 years ago." That was an open letter from your husband, Mitt Romney this week.

That is --

ROMNEY: I think I'm crying.

I know, he's so -- he's so wonderful. And, you know, we have such an extraordinary partnership and he was there for me when it was really, really tough. And, you know, he was with me when Dr. Weiner saw me initially and said -- you know, he took me by the arm and said, we're going to deal with this. You're going to be OK.

But you need people like that to make sure that you can survive these things. And the thing that compels me now is there are people being diagnosed that have no treatment. And ALS and Alzheimer's in particular, I think of, and people who are suffering so terribly from Parkinson's. And it's time for us to start making some breakthroughs in those areas.