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Nurse Speaks Out about N.J. Quarantine; White House Concerned about Deterring Doctors; American Ebola Survivor Speaks Out; U.S. Troops Fighting Ebola in West Africa

Aired October 27, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We need complete coverage of this. And we have it. We're going to give you the Ebola story like nobody else can. We're going to speak with the doctor who survived Ebola in a moment.

Let's begin with senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Chris, one side of this controversy says that quarantines protect the public, but the other side says the quarantines could actually lead to more cases of Ebola.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): This morning the governors of New York and New Jersey offering clarification on their days' old policy of Ebola quarantining. Under the guidelines, healthcare workers returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa will remain quarantined for a mandatory 21 days. Residents of the state can stay inside their homes.

In addition, those traveling from Ebola hot zones who haven't come into contact with Ebola patients will be actively monitored.

For nurse Kaci Hickox, isolated for three days by the state of New Jersey, the new policy has been a nightmare. I spoke with Kaci on the phone.

KACI HICKOX, NURSE: I don't think most people understand what it's like to be alone in a tent and to know that there's nothing wrong with you and that decisions are being made that don't make sense.

COHEN: Hickox, a resident of Maine, was quarantined inside this tent after she arrived at Newark Liberty National International Airport from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. She currently shows no symptoms of the virus and tested negative for Ebola twice.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: My first and foremost obligation is to protect the public health and safety of the people of New Jersey.

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Good afternoon, everyone.

COHEN: The mayor of New York City blasted the decision, which some say deters healthcare workers from taking part in the fight to contain Ebola abroad.

DE BLASIO: This hero coming back from the front, having done the right thing, was treated with disrespect.

COHEN: Hickox's lawyers are fighting for her immediate release.

NORMAN SIEGEL, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: We believe that that policy infringes on the constitutional liberty interests.

COHEN: Currently, officials are imposing these mandatory Ebola quarantine policies in three states: New York, New Jersey and Illinois. The policy was abruptly implemented Friday, just one day after New York doctor Craig Spencer, who treated patients in Guinea, was diagnosed with Ebola.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people who say we are being too cautious. I'll take that criticism.

COHEN: A federal official says the CDC was surprised by the mandate but acknowledges that state and local officials have the prerogative to set tighter policies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, critics of these quarantines say that they're unclear, too broad and unnecessary, because if you're not sick, you can't spread the virus.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It is complicated. Thanks so much for breaking it down this morning. We'll talk to you again in the show.

White House officials urging states to enact Ebola quarantine policies based on science, not fear. And they're expressing concerns that medical volunteers may not go to Ebola hot zones to help if they have to face three weeks of confinement when they get back.

Consider the case of nurse Kaci Hickox, who you just heard about. She came back from Sierra Leone, and she finds herself under three weeks of quarantine. And she is pursuing legal action now to get out.

White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski joins us with more on the politics of Ebola. Good morning, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Alisyn. But let's say you're a healthcare worker; you're moved to go and try to fight Ebola in West Africa, to care for patients there. If you don't [SIC] have to be in quarantine in 21 days when you get back, is it really going to prevent you from going at all? It hasn't really been clear that that would be a deterrent or why to doing something that's already a pretty difficult thing to do. But that's what the White House has cited repeatedly as its own fear in this. And it's interesting, because of the five states that are now going

above and beyond what the CDC is doing, three of them have Democratic governors. New York's Governor Cuomo has said he has not been pressured by the White House to change course.

But the White House did make its displeasure very clear in a statement, saying that it's letting governors know that it has concerns about the unintended consequences of policies that, quote, "are not grounded in science."

But now the White House says that it's working on coming up with its own new guidelines for returning healthcare workers. Clearly, it won't go as far as some of these states have gone. But it also indicates that the White House doesn't think that the new restrictions that go into effect today requiring healthcare workers returning to monitor their own temperatures for 21 days might not be enough.

So once again, we'll see the federal response to Ebola change -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. Michelle Kosinski, thanks so much for breaking that down for us from the White House. Let's go to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Let's talk to somebody who knows about Ebola all too well. He is a Dr. Rick Sacra. He went to Ebola [SIC] to help treat patients and became a patient, himself. His first-hand knowledge of how difficult the fight with Ebola can be. In fact, he's still fighting it. He joins us right now to lend his perspectives on all these developments, checking in with us from home on Skype. I hope the connection holds up.

Doc, most importantly, how are you feeling? We know that it's not over until it is completely over. There are different steps to recovery. You've had some trouble lately. Give us the latest.

DR. RICK SACRA, DOCTOR WHO TREATED AND WAS DIAGNOSED WITH EBOLA: I'm feeling pretty good. I'm getting my strength back gradually. Really feeling -- feeling better.

CUOMO: You understand the fear that's out there, Doc. A lot of it's out of ignorance. A lot of it's out of inconsistency and what we're being told by the government and other experts. What's your take?

SACRA: Well, you know, any time there's a new or unknown infection that hits us, we have this experience. We saw it with polio. We saw it when HIV came out in the '80s. There was a lot of fear, a lot of stigma. And I think we're seeing the same thing.

And in each of those other cases, Americans overcame that disease and really were able to get it under control through, you know, through following what the science says; through aggressively gathering information; and then developing interventions that worked, according to science. I think that's what we need to do again with Ebola. And I think we can. We just need to pay attention to the science, the facts and, you know, let that guide us through.

The fact is that these people who are being quarantined, who are not ill, are not a risk. When you don't have symptoms, you're not a risk.

CUOMO: It's simple to say, and I get it. And I know it's simple to understand for you, because you're a doctor, and you get the science. And I know you don't want to wade into political waters. You're not a politician; you're a champion and you're a survivor from the virus. And we have tremendous respect for what you've done.

But you know that there are questions about this self-monitoring. You know, can we trust people to do it? Will they really be that aware? You know, maybe we should take a further step, because you don't know when you'll get it. Twenty-one days, 40 days, there seem to be so many variables. Is there a middle ground?

SACRA: Yes. Please don't say 40 days. There is no -- there's no data to suggest a 40-day window.

CUOMO: But you know why I say that, right? You know that somebody came out with a study and said that 21 days is from the 1970s, and now it could be even longer than hat. That's where the number comes from.

SACRA: But that was based on mathematical modeling and not on clinical data. They don't have cases that came out 40 days later.

CUOMO: OK.

SACRA: It was a mathematical model that they were using on the computer.

CUOMO: OK. So let's stick with the 21 days. I'll take you for granted.

What do you think about these governors? You know, my brother is the governor of New York. He came out and said, "I'm going to quarantine them." And then he started getting questioned about it. So he said, "All right, we'll let them quarantine at home."

Chris Christie across the river says, "No, no, no, this nurse is in quarantine in the hospital. That's the safest way to do it. Everybody else counts more than she does for some temporary inconvenience."

Is one of those solutions better than the other, or are they both bad?

SACRA: I think let's keep this in mind. We want -- you know, Governor Cuomo said he wasn't comfortable with an honor system when he made the initial announcement. But let's keep in mind: these health -- healthcare workers are coming back in through an airport and being asked what activities were you involved in in West Africa? That's an honor system right there. They're being asked to self-report their activities, what were they doing? Were they in touch with Ebola patients? That's self-reporting, and that's an honor system right there.

So you have to have a system that encourages more communication, a better relationship between those healthcare workers and their local health authorities. And I think when you put in place a more burdensome quarantine, you're going to start having people not want to be quite so free about communicating the truth about what they were doing.

So let's -- let's appeal to the honor -- to the honor of these amazing self-sacrificing healthcare workers and let them, you know, let them have a role in monitoring their own condition instead of doing it like a police state approach.

CUOMO: A point well taken, Doc. Let's end on this, before we end this interview. And I hope we get to talk to you again, because I want to make sure that we stay in touch. We're so parochial about Ebola right now. It only really matters in the U.S. because we've seen it in the U.S. Will you speak to the fact that the Ebola scare is not over? That it's just really starting, and it's about how much and how aggressively we attack it in Africa, and as it starts to move in other continents, that's really the focus?

SACRA: That's right. You know, this past week we had the first case in Mali. The borders in West Africa are porous. This thing could move across Africa, or even a passenger can get on a plane in West Africa and land in India or Pakistan or somewhere in Asia with it.

We need to contain it and get it under control where it is now in those three major countries in West Africa. We need to do everything we can to facilitate getting people on the ground to bring that epidemic under control and to help the people of Liberia and Guinea and Sierra Leone.

CUOMO: Dr. Rick Sacra, thank you for the good work that you did abroad. Thank God you've gotten over the virus. Stay in touch. We want to know to that you get back to 100 percent and get back to doing what you love the most. Thank you for being with us on NEW DAY and helping us understand the situation a little better.

SACRA: Thank you.

CUOMO: Mick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Great to see you looking so healthy, Rick.

All right. Thanks so much.

Let's give you a look at your headlines right now. Breaking overnight, another student has died following a shooting at a Washington state high school. Three other victims are still fighting for their lives.

In the meantime, details are emerging now of what happened during that attack. One student says Jaylen Fryberg went up to a table of students and opened fire, shooting them in their back. Witnesses say a teacher stopped the teen by running up to him and grabbing his arm before he took his own life.

A Syrian monitoring group says at least 800 people have been killed in the last four -- 40 days in the battle for control of Kobani along the Syria-Turkey border. Most of the dead are ISIS militants and Syrian and Kurdish fighters. U.S. military and coalition airstrikes kept hammering ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq over the weekend.

In Hong Kong now, protest leaders suspended a vote to determine the next step in the pro-democracy movement. Organizers cancelled the vote, because they could not agree on a method of voting and the motions. This move exposed tensions and confusion about how to sustain the movement weeks after protesters occupied streets in the city's financial hub and election reforms.

You could call this robber's remorse. Police say a guy who held up a gas station in Yreka, California, well, he returned hours later to give back the money and apologize. Twenty-three-year-old Kyle Abbott (ph) Jr. told officers he needed the cash to leave town and make a fresh start. He had second thoughts, though; called the whole thing off. Now, despite the change of heart, Watson (ph) was still arrested.

CAMEROTA: I hope the judge has some leniency on that.

PEREIRA: I hope so, too.

CUOMO: Well within their discretion to do so.

CAMEROTA: Good. We'll stay on that and update you when we get it.

Meanwhile, thousands of U.S. troops locked in battle against Ebola. They're building clinics and labs over in West Africa to try to stop the virus in its tracks. But how will quarantine rules affect them when they come back?

CUOMO: And as I'm sure you know, it's just one week until election day, and the race to see who will control the Senate is so tight it's as tight as two coats of paint. So we're going to go to John King and get inside politics on NEW DAY to tell you what you need to know in these final days. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Thousands of U.S. soldiers are part of the American mission to fight Ebola in West Africa. They're constructing field hospitals and labs to try to slow the epidemic. So how could these state- mandated quarantines affect their deployment? Let's bring in retired lieutenant colonel and CNN global affairs analyst James Reese.

Colonel, great to see you.

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET.), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning, Alisyn. How are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well. So we understand that soon there will be 4,000 U.S. troops in West Africa helping to contain the virus. Do you think that they are vulnerable to contracting the virus?

REESE: You know, Alisyn, I mean, everyone is vulnerable. I mean, let's be honest. But the way that the military does pre-deployment; the PPE, the personal protective equipment the military will have for these soldiers that are over there; and the post-deployment and all the medical providers that the military has to observe and watch their own soldiers, I think that the chances of them contracting Ebola are very slim.

CAMEROTA: Here's what we've been told they will be doing over there. They will not be treating patients directly, the Pentagon says. But they will be building clinics. They will be training personnel, and they will be testing the blood of patients with Ebola. So that sounds like a possible point of exposure.

So you're confident that they're doing everything that they need to be doing to stay safe. What happens now when they need to come home? Do you think that they should also be subject to these quarantines?

REESE: Well, you know, Alisyn, you've got to remember, this is -- the military is a self-contained unit. So the commander over there right now, General Gary Poleski (ph) that I know very well, the guy is a stud. He has his own team that will advise him. And they will literally lead this crisis down the road.

When they have soldiers that are going back, they already have a plan. They'll have a -- they'll have a post-deployment plan, how to monitor, how to check soldiers and to insure that they're squared away. And the other beauty is the military has some of the best equipment in the world. If there is a soldier that does get infected, they'll be able to quarantine them back at Fort Campbell, Fort Hood, wherever they are.

So again, I think it's a very, very low risk. And if there is a soldier infected, the military will take care of it very quickly and square it away.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Absolutely the military knows how to do this. They're the best in the world at doing things like this. But given what's happened this weekend with New Jersey and New York and now Illinois saying that anybody who returns from these West African countries should be quarantined for 21 days. It sounds like these 4,000 troops should also be.

REESE: Again, keep in mind, you know, let's say tomorrow the 1,500 troops from Fort Campbell 101st Airborne Division returned. OK. Let's just fast forward it here. Well, they're going to land at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Those commanders have the ability to keep people on their own base, on their own post and do their own self-quarantine.

The Pentagon will be working with the local officials to make sure these aspects are squared away.

But again, the chain of command in the military really helps bring things along so you don't have these individuals that are doing great work on the public side coming back, and then you get the friction points between our politicians and our individuals. The military really brings its own type of self-containment to bear.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, let's talk about that great work that they're doing. As we understand it, there are already 900 U.S. troops in West Africa. What progress have they been able to make?

REESE: Well, you know, I've seen some things this weekend, people challenging, you know, why is the military doing this?

First off, this is a core military task. We call it stability operations. And as a former commander, this is one operation I'd rather do than have to go into combat operations.

You know, the military brings a plethora and a cross aspect of civilian life. You know, there's leaders. There's medical people. There's construction individuals. There's people who know how to do in the medical piece, medical professionals, blood, the blood folks. So what they'll do is they'll bring in the key engineers, the Seabees in the Navy, from Spain, and they'll set up these camps.

They'll also bring in great equipment that can be used for all of the public health people that are coming in, the other doctors, the civilian doctors and nurses that are going to come in. And they'll just be able to backside them.

The other great thing for the military in this aspect is the military is in a supporting role this time. We're supporting the USAID.

Again, the military are great at crisis leadership. They'll be able to coach, teach and mentor some of these civilian aid workers that are coming in, and really just be a great backbone for what we've got to do with Ebola in West Africa.

CAMEROTA: That's wonderful. Thanks so much for spelling it all out for us. It must be a great comfort to everyone there to have at least 900 of our military there and 3,000 more joining them soon.

Lt. Col. James Reese, it's great to see you this morning.

REESE: You too, Alisyn. Have a great day.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. We're going to be talking about the Bush family. They've been a dominant push in politics for decades. Now there are new signs that the man on your screen, Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, may be eyeing the White House. Will he run in 2016? People have been asking a little bit as an aside, but now he's in focus. And John King will take it on for us, "Inside Politics."

And a U.S. Army vet so outraged by ISIS's brutality he left everything behind to join the front lines and fight against the terror group. We have his incredible story later this hour. You'll want to see it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: All right. Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY. Here's a look at your headlines, and we begin with breaking news.

Prosecutors overseas want the death penalty for the captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized in April, killing nearly 300 people, many of them high-school students. Lee Joon-seok faces homicide charges for apparently abandoning the ship. Prosecutors want life sentences for the three other crew members for their roles in that disaster.

To Brazil now. President -- President Dilma Rousseff staying in power by the slimmest of margins. She won an incredibly tight reelection with just over 51 percent of the vote, following a bitter campaign, defeating opposition candidate Aecio Neves in a runoff. The tightest race Brazil has seen since it returned to democracy some three decades ago.

Thousands gathering in Hungary's capital of Budapest in a mass protest against a proposed Internet tax in the first known demonstration of its kind. You can see it there. Demonstrators held up their devices, illuminated, and threw old computer parts at the gates of the ruling party's headquarters. If the proposal passes, Internet users would pay about 60 cents a gigabyte.

Lawmakers have promised to put a cap on that tax.

You know, I've said this more than once. Singing the national anthem is not easy. And when you mess up, oh, millions get to watch you on TV, and it is not pretty. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON LEWIS, COUNTRY SINGER (singing): Oh so proudly we hailed were so gallantly streaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Yes, that was country singer Aaron Lewis jumped the gun a wee bit. Instead of saying, "At the twilight's last gleaming," he sang "were so gallantly streaming." The words -- they do come a little bit later. Lewis was later very apologetic, saying in a statement, quote, "All I can say is I am sorry and ask for the nation's forgives."

CAMEROTA: We forgive him.

PEREIRA: We forgive you. Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PEREIRA: Oh, except for him.

CUOMO: No, I forgive him. I feel horrible. I feel bad that we even had to play it.

PEREIRA: I know. It hurts, right?

CUOMO: I really feel badly for the guy.

CAMEROTA: They need a teleprompter, as we all do. I mean, that's what they need. You need to have the lyrics right in front of you. It's hard. CUOMO: I don't blame them for that. You know, you can't. You've just got to be nice. Give them the forgiveness.

Speaking of forgiveness, mid-term elections are coming up. And let's get "Inside Politics" from John King.

Do you think the voters will see any forgiveness for what is -- what is raging down there in D.C.? Is turnout going to be about the same as the occupation of our set right now?

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": I think, unfortunately, turnout's going to be down, although Democrats and Republicans both try to work the early voting, Chris. We'll see what happens. It's a big question.

Look, just one full week of campaigning left. It's Monday. The election is a week from tomorrow. One full week of campaigning left. What I'm showing you here is the control -- the battle for the control for the United States Senate. It is totally up for grabs.

So let's focus there as we go "Inside Politics" this morning. And with me to share their reporting and their insights, Margaret Tal (ph) of the Bloomberg News and Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times."

This is the state of play, ladies and gentlemen: 55 Democratic seats, including the two independents that caucus with them; 45 Republicans, but here's what's up this year. There are three dozen Senate races. The ones we have in gold or yellow, as you see them at home, those are the races we're watching closely.

I'm going to play you out a scenario. Some Democrats won't like this. This is a hypothetical scenario of how Republicans think they are most likely to get close to the six seats they need to get a majority. What'd I just do? I just gave the Republicans, for the sake of this argument, Alaska, Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia and Arkansas. Now Democrats say they're at play in Arkansas. There could be a surprise in South Dakota. But just for the purpose of this hypothetical, let's go here.

What does that leave you? Eight races -- Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina and New Hampshire -- all of them, all of them right now within single digits.

Let's take a look at some new polling. These are NBC/Maris (ph) polls released over the weekend. And look at how close all these races are. You're going through some of the key battlegrounds here, and look at them: 1-point races, 2-point races. That's these races right here. You do see Arkansas on there as a dead heat. Republicans think that's trending their way, but keep an eye on that.

So let's play out a scenario here. Look at these races again. So what happens in Colorado? I was out there a while ago. The Republicans think they're in the lead. But just for the fun of it, just for the fun of it, I'm going to say the Democrats hold onto this blue state here, right? This is a hypothetical. Iowa, we're going to play this out. Republicans think they're going

to win this one, too. But so let's just bring back and keep it here. Let's assume that Democrats hold onto the state of New Hampshire. Again, very close, but I'm going to give it, for the sake of this hypothetical, to the Democrats. Then you'd have six left at 47-47. Republicans would have to hold their own.

Let's play this out. Let's say Pat Roberts holds on in Kansas. Again, there's an independent candidate there. But I'm just going to give the Republicans their own. This is a very tight race. I'm heading to Kentucky tomorrow to get an eye on this one. Let's say Mitch McConnell, though, holds on in Kentucky.