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New York Doctor Tests Positive for Ebola; New Hampshire Debate Focuses on Ebola; How Officials Track Potential Terror Suspects

Aired October 24, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

There's a lot of news this morning. Let's get to John Berman, in for Michaela.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, sure there's a lot, Chris. Thanks so much.

The first confirmed case of Ebola in New York City -- 33-year-old Dr. Craig Spencer is now in isolation at New York's Bellevue Hospital. Dr. Spencer returned last week from Guinea where he treated Ebola patients. He apparently had been jogging, bowling and on the subway not long before his diagnosis. Health officials say that was before he displayed symptoms, though. Spencer's fiancee and two friends now under quarantine.

Also this morning, Ebola has spread to Mali for the first time. A 2- year-old girl was diagnosed. She travelled from Guinea where her father died from the disease.

Turkey's government giving the green light for hundreds of Iraqi Peshmerga fighters to cross Turkish territory and go into northern Syria. They will help defend Kobani in the battle against ISIS.

President Obama will meet with the National Security Council to discuss ISIS strategy.

Arrest warrants now out for the former mayor of Iguala, a city in Mexico, and his wife. They're being called probable masterminds of last month's kidnapping of 43 students. Mexico's attorney general says they gave orders to prevent students from protesting after learning they might disrupt one of the first lady's events. A well- known priest and activist says the students were taken to a remote location and shot, while others were burned alive.

The issue surrounding Ebola center stage in a New Hampshire Senate debate moderated by our own Wolf Blitzer. The Republican challenger Scott Brown blasted the Obama administration's response to Ebola and reiterated calls for a travel ban. But the incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen says that Brown was fear-mongering since neither is a medical expert. She pushed for faith in the public health system.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's a close race. BERMAN: Very close, one or two points in all the polls.

CAMEROTA: All right. We'll keep an eye on that, John. Thanks so much.

Let's get over to Indra Petersons, our meteorologist.

You have some pretty pictures to show us.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I was going to say, did you see the partial eclipse yesterday?

CAMEROTA: You told me not to look at it.

PETERSONS: I was going to say you better not have. I'm very proud of you, Alisyn.

Yes, because I promised I would show you guys a picture. It was amazing, though, picture-wise, since I didn't look at it because I was asleep. But it looks like a chunk was missing out of the sun as the moon's shadow was over it as it set on the East Coast. That was Florida, a beautiful shot out there.

Where it was very, maybe not so pretty? That would be the Northeast. Look how much rain they saw, the nor'easter is out there six inches of rain out towards Massachusetts, we're very happy as we're getting closer to the weekend. The guy is exiting out.

In fact, every hour, it will only improve the farther south you are as the system starts to lift out. Good timing. May we add?

The only thing we're going to be dealing with some winds, they were 30-40 miles per hour. Those gusts were. But now, we're kind of backing up to more than 15-20-mile-per-hour range and improving.

We like this. We actually have good news today. Maybe not good news on the West Coast if you're in the West Coast, that's where the rain is going to be, two to three inches of rain expected through the weekend, in the middle of the country. Temperatures are warming up and we say a lot.

We're talking about temperatures a good 20 degrees above normal, that would be kind of the Midwest and down to the south and northeast, right where they should be. By the way, sunny. See?

CAMEROTA: I always listen to you.

PETERSONS: I love this, this is good. We got this.

CAMEROTA: I know.

CUOMO: What did she say?

John Berman said he stared into the solar eclipse long and deep and said the burn spot on his iris was welcome.

PETERSONS: And he's now blind.

CAMEROTA: Well, you're macho, John.

BERMAN: The five of you are great to see this morning.

PETERSONS: Great.

(LAUGHTER)

PETERSONS: Point taken.

CUOMO: He's just a funny guy any way you look at it.

So, what do we have for you? This doctor just back from West Africa, he is the first person diagnosed with Ebola in New York City. So, officials here are saying -- there's no need to worry. Why are they so confident?

And did the patient put the public here in danger by being out and about before the diagnosis?

CAMEROTA: And tracking suspected terrorists -- we'll examine how the government is doing it. And after the series of lone wolf attacks, do they need to do more? What does it even mean?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

We have more for you on the breaks news that a doctor in New York city has tested positive for Ebola. After his trip to West Africa to work for Doctors Without Borders. Craig Spencer is his name. He's right now in isolation at Bellevue Hospital.

The big question this morning is -- did he endanger people in the week that he had been back before he says he started feeling sick?

Let's discuss. We have Dr. Alexander Garza. He's the former chief medical officer for the Department of Homeland Security, now associate dean at St. Louis University College for Public Health. And Dr. Amesh Adalja, he is an infectious disease specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

One question, before we get to the real question. One thing for you, Dr. Garza, why do we keep hearing specific personal information about Ebola patients? What happened to HIPAA and patient privacy? Is there something about public policy that overwhelms?

DR. ALEXANDER GARZA, ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Well, that's a good question. So certainly patients do have an expectation of privacy with their personal information.

However, this is an unusual disease and I think it fits into the larger sort of public domain. Especially, since it is it is a public health threat I don't think necessarily this patient is. But it is sort of part of the larger picture of things that are going on in society and issues that the public does need to know about.

CUOMO: All right. Dr. Adalja, first of all, I say your name a different way every time you're on the show and you always look on impassively. And I thank you for that -- Amesh, not Amesh.

DR. AMESH ADALJA, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH MEDICAL CENTER: Amesh, you got it right.

CUOMO: Which is it, Amesh or Amesh?

ADALJA: Amesh.

CUOMO: See, I did get it right. They told me in my ear I got it wrong again.

I'm so comfortable with error, Doctor, that I thought I got it wrong.

New York City, not that the city is taking itself too seriously, but it is so densely populated. You know, people are so on top of one another. So, when they hear that the man was on mass transit, in and around the city, it does pique up concerns about transmission.

What is your perspective?

ADALJA: We know that Ebola is only transmitted with direct contact with blood and body fluid. So, unless there were blood and body fluids, on mass transit, on the subway, or on the Uber that he rode in, no one has -- no one has to fear on getting the virus.

This isn't a very contagious virus. It's deadly and scary. You can't get it through casual contact. And it appears that he wasn't having any symptoms when he was on the subway. So, there's really no risk to those people.

CUOMO: OK, follow up question. Then, if there's no real concern and you're so confident, why we do we keep rounding up people every time they're anywhere near someone who winds up contracting the virus?

ADALJA: You've got a lot of panic in the general public and public health authorities feel the need to round up as many people, made the contact circle as big as possible in order to just calm the fear that's going on in the general public. But of those people that he has contacted, only three are real contacts. And those people are under quarantine right now.

CUOMO: Right.

ADALJA: So there's just a lot of people doing, going above and beyond. But it's not necessarily.

CUOMO: Dr. Garza, a little mixed message there? Not from Dr. Adalja, I mean, this is the predominant policy.

You tell me -- don't worry, you can't get it unless there's stuff on you, or you touch something we have to consider. And yet you round up all these people who by your definition you say shouldn't have to worry.

GARZA: Right. It is sort of a mixed message, but they're walking a fine line of trying to be not over-excited and not trying to incite any panic. But also doing their jobs and doing their due diligence of doing all the contact-tracing.

And so, this isn't a whole lot different from other infectious diseases that public health traces, whether it's meningitis, tuberculosis, measles, where they find out the contacts from the index patients.

So, I really it's just -- the public health officials doing their due diligence and making sure that they're covering all their bases, but at the same time trying to tamp down the anxiety for the general public, which is at very little to no risk at all.

CUOMO: Shutting down the bowling alley. That's scary. It has to be sanitized before people can go back in.

Why? He wasn't getting sick in the bowling alley.

GARZA: Right, right. So from what I heard yesterday on the news, from the New York City Office of Emergency Management, that was a decision made by the business, and not necessarily by the public health.

CUOMO: OK.

GARZA: So, I think it was really sort of, a gesture by the bowling alley in order to say, yes, we're safe, come on back and use our facilities. I don't think it was an official action by New York.

CUOMO: That's an important distinction, thank you for adding that to the mix of our understanding here.

Dr. Adalja, so when are dealing with this in terms of -- now, we want to judge the response also, what do you see in the city, the hospital, the state's reaction so far and what you understand about what happened here? Did they do it right so far? Did they handle this case the right way?

ADALJA: It seems that they did. We have a physician who immediately notified the proper authorities as soon as he became symptomatic and had a fever, and them EMS was sent in with special protective equipment to evacuate the patient from his apartment in a manner that didn't expose anybody else, he was taken to a hospital that was pre- designated to handle Ebola patients that had been preparing for months, and the communication was very transparent. I think everything -- this is an example of plan working well.

CUOMO: Well, assuming, I guess they can only control what they can control, right? If it turns out somebody he was around winds up getting it, that's not necessarily the fault of the system, it's just the way the virus works, I guess.

We saw the same thing in Texas, although a neglected, very good fact. None of the people who were anywhere around Mr. Duncan, may he rest in peace, down in Texas, those people who were with him when he was very sick, nobody has gotten the virus, they've all cleared quarantine. It's an important thing for to us keep in mind. So, Dr. Garza, people that are worried about their risk, is there anything that you can do to help yourself not get Ebola, other than coming nowhere near someone who has it?

GARZA: Right. So, if you look at the people that have been infected, especially in the United States, those are all, by the majority, health care workers that have been around patients that have carried a large amount of virus, so people that were actively infected. And as you mentioned, the relatives of Mr. Duncan were around him while he was infectious and none of them seemingly have contracted the disease. And so I think that's a bit of good news, that this virus is very hard to contract. So, the things that I would advise to people is, is just to be aware of what your personal risk is.

CUOMO: Right.

GARZA: Which is, is virtually none unless you're around an infected individual.

CUOMO: Quick take on this from a public policy perspective, why don't you just quarantine anyone who has been exposed to working with Ebola patients, just to be safe?

GARZA: Well, I think that's a question that's up for debate right now, right? And so, there's been many people that have been out in the media discussing whether people coming back from these countries that have worked with Ebola patients should be under quarantine for, you know, presumably the 21 days. And I think that is worthy of discussion.

Although this physician, I think, you know, he was sort of the ideal case patient. He was somebody who was well-trained in Ebola, understood the signs and symptoms, did all the right things once he knew he was infected, and the system worked by and large very, very well. Now, whether we should quarantine everybody coming over from these three countries is a larger question. But certainly health care workers carry a much higher risk of exposure, and so they're sort of in a different class of people, because their risk is much higher of contracting the disease.

CUOMO: Maybe you just quarantine them.

GARZA: I think this debate will go on.

CUOMO: Yes.

GARZA: Well, I think that's worthy of discussion.

CUOMO: Okay.

GARZA: Now whether --

CUOMO: We'll carry it on. I mean, it's something- - look. We're not going to answer it today, it's something that is kind of being debated, kind of not.

GARZA: Yes.

CUOMO: Too many people of the more sophisticated variety like you guys, say it's not worth what it takes to do it because of the risk. But, you know, it is something that regular people are certainly worrying about more and more. Dr. Alexander Garza, thank you very much. Dr. Amesh Adalja, thank you for being on the show as you have many times, and we look forward to having you again. Gentlemen, both of you, have a good, safe weekend. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: I think you actually got that one right, Chris. Good work.

The Ottawa gunman was on Canada's radar as a potential threat, this much we know because his passport was revoked. Yet, he was able to carry out a deadly attack. So we're taking a closer look this morning at exactly how officials track terror suspects and how many they're tracking in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: A disturbing attack in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA (voice-over): A man with a hatchet charged at four police officers in broad daylight, injuring two of them. The attacker was shot and killed by the other officers, but now questions are emerging about whether he has ties to radical Islam.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CAMEROTA (on camera): This a day after a man with jihadist ties went on a deadly shooting spree in Canada. Both events raise questions about whether officials are doing enough to track potential terror suspects.

So, let's get some insight from Mitch Silber. He's the former director of intelligence for the NYPD, he's now executive managing director of services at K2 Intelligence, an investigative and risk analytic services firm. Mitch, great to have you with us.

MITCH SILBER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS, NYPD: Thank you, Ali.

CAMEROTA: Okay, so when you look at the numbers, they're pretty stunning, and we want to have you help us understand how there are different tiers of monitoring. For instance, the first thing we learned is that the National Counterterrorism Center believes they have a database with 1.1 million people in it. So, those are suspects of some kind?

SILBER: Those are people who for one reason or another, either some type of intelligence, or some type of past behavior, possible travel, has put them on, in a sense, the radar screen of the National Counterterrorism Center. CAMEROTA: And how are they keeping track of these 1.1 million people?

SILBER: Relatively passively in the sense that they're not being monitored in any way, shape or form. But, you know, things like travel might be something that are looked at.

CAMEROTA: A flag might go up.

SILBER: That's right.

CAMEROTA: Next, there is beyond that, a no-fly list. 47,000 total people are on a no-fly list as we understand it from the Counterterrorism Center. 800 of those are Americans. So, we're whittling the number down. How are we monitoring those 800?

SILBER: Well, so this is clearly a subset of the larger list, and this is really a list of individuals where there's a level of concern that we don't want to have them on an airplane without some type of flag going up and then being vetted. So, again, really travel is the issue. If you think about what happened in Canada, both of the suspects from Monday's drive-by attack and Wednesday's attack at parliament, they were restricted from traveling. In a sense, that's what this list does, it restricts Americans from traveling and others as well.

CAMEROTA: So their passports are flagged, or even revoked, as the suspect in Canada's was. But, should they go further since that means that these people are stuck in the country, not able to leave, and may still have nefarious plans?

SILBER: Well, I think at this point you have people whose intentions are unclear. There are some things that have put them on law enforcement or intelligence radar, but until their intentions become more clear, you're sort of limited to what you can do.

CAMEROTA: Is this the same as a watch list? When we hear about the watch list, does that mean that these 800 Americans are on a watch list, or is that even a further whittling down?

SILBER: You know, there are a lot of different names used for the different lists. This is to some degree a watch list, but it's really more focused on airline travel. Then there's also ongoing investigations, which is a further subset. So individuals who actually may be in the beginning part of conspiracy may be part of an ongoing investigation. We heard in Canada that they have 65 ongoing investigations, they're looking at 90 people. So, in a sense, that's a type of subset of this.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Do we have any idea, we know there are 90 people in Canada, have we any idea how many people are in that subset here in the United States?

SILBER: That's not a number that's revealed publicly yet.

CAMEROTA: When we say that we are monitoring those people, that subset, what does that look like? Are we following them around? SILBER: It depends, every investigation is different, there may be an

investigation that involves a human source, it may be an investigation where it has court-approved surveillance, electronic surveillance, so each one has its own sort of characteristics.

CAMEROTA: Because with the NYPD attack, what little we know so far of what happened yesterday with the axe attack, is that he had some social media presence. He had some figures on his Facebook page that may have raised alarms, but that was it. Would we be monitoring that person?

SILBER: Well, you know, Ali, this is really the new horizon in terrorism investigations, looking at social media, because more and more social media provides a clue, whether it's someone's - -the videos they like on YouTube, what they're tweeting, you know, looking at that and trying to asses what is their intention, what is their likelihood, what is their view on violence with ISIS.

CAMEROTA: They have their work cut out for them, investigators do. Mitch Silber, thanks so much for the information. Great to have you in the studio with us.

SILBER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: New terror threats. What's going on with Ebola in New York City? A lot of news to get to this morning, so let's do it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ebola has reached New York City.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 33-year-old Dr. Craig Spencer now in an isolation unit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guy pulled out an axe. Just chaos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two New York City policemen seriously wounded by a man wielding a hatchet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just takes one person with extremist views.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This surveillance video gives a chilling play-by- play of the shooting rampage on Ottawa's Parliament Hill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say Zehaf-Bibeau is believed to have held extremist views.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is a threat that is very difficult to counter.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to NEW DAY. I'm Alisyn Camerota alongside Chris Cuomo. New York health officials are downplaying the dangers this morning after revealing the city's first diagnosed case of Ebola. Dr. Craig Spencer returned last week from West Africa where he was treating Ebola patients. Since then, he's been busy. He's been going to restaurants, he's been bowling, he's been riding the subway, and that was before his symptoms appeared.

CUOMO: Right, the key word they're telling us is before, and what we know is that Dr. Spencer is now in isolation. Thankfully, for now, we're told he is in good shape. We all know how difficult it is to treat this, and a team of CDC experts is on its way to make sure protocols are being followed and the disease is contained here in the most populated city in America. We have CNN's Poppy Harlow outside New York's Bellevue Hospital. That's where the doctor is being treated. Hey, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Chris. It is so important to note that this hospital, this entire team, this city, has been preparing for months for this possibility, which is now a reality. The 33-year-old doctor who went to West Africa to try to save lives of those suffering from Ebola, now his life is trying to be saved by the doctors and all of the physicians here. What I can tell you also is that New York City's mayor, Bill de Blasio is urging New Yorkers not to panic. The governor of New York saying this city is as ready as it could be.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY: We want to state at the outset there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed.

HARLOW (voice-over): This morning, the first positive case of Ebola hits New York City. 33-year-old Dr. Craig Spencer now in an isolation unit like this one at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. Dr. Spencer returned to New York after treating Ebola patients in Guinea last Friday, though doctors say he wasn't symptomatic until yesterday.

October 14th, Dr. Spencer flies from Guinea to Brussels, Belgium, arriving at New York's JFK Airport three days later, showing no symptoms during his journey. On Tuesday, Spencer feels tired and fatigued. He was self-monitoring for symptoms, taking his temperature twice a day, but without a fever, he goes out in public. Wednesday, he goes on a three-mile run, eats at a restaurant and visits the popular park, The Highline. He then travels from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the subway.

He later takes an Uber taxi to go bowling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at an alley called The Gutter, now closed until it can be sanitized. Thursday morning Spencer develops a fever and immediately contacts Doctors Without Borders, who calls the Health Department. That afternoon he's rushed to Bellevue hospital and put directly in isolation, later testing positive for Ebola. Authorities reiterated Thursday that careful protocols were followed smoothly at every step, and for New Yorkers, the risk is quote, "close to nil." DR. MARY TRAVIS BASSETT, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY DEPT. OF HEALTH:

He was not symptomatic at that time, he had no fever, and so he did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway.

HARLOW: The city now on heightened alert.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, (D) NEW YORK: Coordinating and drilling from airports to transportations, subway stations, to ambulances, to hospitals, so we are as ready as one could be.

HARLOW: Health officials note three people had contact with Spencer, two friends, and his fiance, all doing well but in quarantine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW (on camera): I can tell you at this hour, the officials from the CDC are here in New York at this hospital helping in any way that they can.