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Dallas Nurse Ebola Free Will Meet President; U.S. Quarantine; Hatchet Attack; House Ebola Testimony; Interview with Rep. Carolyn Maloney

Aired October 24, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad, and 1:00 a.m. Saturday in Manila. Wherever you are watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news on the Ebola front. Dallas nurse Nina Pham is now free of the virus. She's scheduled to meet with President Obama at the White House this hour. She spoke out just a little while ago at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland right outside Washington. She spoke out right after being discharged from the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA PHAM, NURSE, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN DALLAS: Good afternoon. I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today. I would first and foremost like to thank God, my family and friends. Throughout this ordeal, I have put my trust in God and my medical team. I am on my way back to recovery even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate. Of course, I am so incredibly thankful for everyone involved in my care from the moment I came -- became ill and was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas up to today, my discharge from the Clinical Research Center of NIH.

I would especially like to thank Dr. Kent Brantly for his selfless act of donating his plasma to me. As a nurse, I have a special appreciation of -- for the care I have received from so many people, not just doctors and nurses but the entire support team. I believe in the power of prayer because I know so many people all over the world had been praying for me. I do not know how I can ever thank you, everyone, enough for their prayers and expressions of concern, hope and love.

I join you in prayer now for the recovery of others, including my colleague and friend, Amber Vinson, and Dr. Craig Spencer. I hope that people understand that this illness and this whole experience has been very stressful and challenging for me and for my family. Although I no longer have Ebola, I know that it may be a while before I have my strength back. So, with gratitude and respect for everyone's concern, I ask for my privacy and for my family's privacy to be respected as I return to Texas and try to get back to a normal life and reunite with my dog, Bentley. Thank you, everyone. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Such a nice moment. I want to just update you on the condition of Amber Vinson, the other Dallas nurse. She's at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. She's making good progress, according to doctors there. The latest tests show there's no virus detected in her blood but she's still in the hospital. No discharge date yet.

Dr. Craig Spencer, he's the other Ebola patient where -- New York is dealing with it, now its first case of Ebola. The CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirming just minutes ago that Dr. Spencer has the deadly virus. Early, a test in New York confirmed it but a second test at the CDC reconfirmed it.

Right now, Dr. Spencer is isolated at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan in stable condition. It's one of eight hospitals, by the way, in the state of New York that was designated as part of the Ebola-preparedness plan. Dr. Spencer works with the organization, Doctors Without Borders. He had just returned to New York last week after spending time in guinea, in West Africa, treating Ebola patients. The New York City mayor told residents, just a little while ago, there was no cause for alarm, saying the city had been preparing for this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY: We have the finest public health system, not only anywhere in this country, but in the world. It's a public health system that has been developed over decades. It is ready for extraordinary challenges and it's proving it as we speak. We are fully prepared to handle Ebola.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio. There is a lot of fear, though, deep concern in New York, right now, as the city copes with this, its first diagnosed case of Ebola. At the same time, the remarkable news that the Dallas nurse, Nina Pham, has now been cured of the deadly virus. She's out of the hospital. At NIH, later this hour, she' going to be invited -- she's been invited to meet with President Obama in the Oval Office of the White House. We'll show you those pictures once we get those.

Let's bring in our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's joining us on the phone from San Francisco. Also joining us from New York, Dr. Celine Gounder. She's an infectious disease specialist, a public health specialist as well.

Let me get Sanjay, first, your reaction to Nina Pham released. You saw her with Dr. Anthony Fauci over there at NIH. A very happy young woman, smiling broadly, thanking God, thanking the doctors, the nurses for all of their help. And now, she's heading over to the White House, the Oval Office. The president, Sanjay, has invited her to come over. So, the president must be pretty convinced it's over for this young nurse. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone):

That's a good point, Wolf. I think the optics of that, a woman who just recovered from Ebola shaking hands, it sounds like, (INAUDIBLE) with the president of the United States. It's a very important moment, and I think it's going to serve as a reminder that she is -- she is safe. She's not going to transmit the virus. It's a very good -- very good, important point.

Look, I think this teaches us few things, Wolf. I think that, first of all, you know, we see -- what we've heard about Ebola in the past is that, you know, nine out of 10 people have died in previous outbreaks in Central and West Africa.

But now, we know, here in the United States, you know, people who are getting -- who are diagnosed early, getting even just supportive care, meaning they're getting fluids. They're getting blood transfusions, if necessary. Sometime it's experimental medications. A very good track record. And Miss Pham, obviously, Dr. Brantly, Miss Writebol, Rick Sakra, Ashoko Mukpo, and a known patient from Emory. The point is that the track record's been pretty good and I think that's going to be very important to scientists going forward.

And I also think that the idea that the -- there was no secondary infections, you know, these other contacts of Mr. Duncan outside of the hospital did not get infected. We're starting to get a better picture of what Ebola might look like in the United States. And, frankly, Wolf, I think people should be comforted by some of what they're seeing and hearing here.

BLITZER: Dr. Gounder, you're in New York and now there's this confirmed case of Dr. Craig Spencer. He's in New York right now at Bellevue Hospital not far from where you are right now. And I know they're confident they can treat with -- treat him excellently there at Bellevue. But does it make sense to move him to NIH in Bethesda, Maryland as Nina Pham was moved from Dallas to Bethesda?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALIST, NEW YORK: Bellevue Hospital, historically, has managed infectious diseases of this sort that require isolation for the last hundred plus years. In fact, they have a tuberculosis isolation unit for -- and that's an airborne disease, for isolation for infectious patients. This is something they have a tremendous amount of experience with. And, frankly, with the support of the CDC SWAT team that's going to be arriving, I think that they're actually more than well equipped to manage Dr. Spencer.

BLITZER: Do you agree, Sanjay?

GUPTA: I think so. And, you know, I think that the idea that -- something we've talked about before, Wolf, that, you know, patients have been cared for in remote forest areas of Central and West Africa by the Doctors Without Borders for decades, and other organizations, in the past. It goes to show that this can be done, even with limited resource in pretty tough environments.

So, the idea that the -- a hospital of any sort with, you know, resources like any -- most hospitals in the United States have should be able to do this is true. Dallas did not inspire a lot of confidence in that regard, I realize and I think a lot of people realize. But I don't think that the -- every hospital should be sort of painted with that same brush. And now, I think most hospitals can both contain and also the treatment that we know can possibly work for Ebola.

BLITZER: Well, we know that treatment at NIH is excellent and it's one of the selected places in the country, as Emory University, Nebraska, a hospital in Montana. Let's hope that Bellevue can get the job done in New York. Those are the four specifically designed treatment centers around the United States, geographically in various parts of the country.

Dr. Gounder, a simple question because, as you know, Dr. Craig Spencer came back from Guinea, from West Africa. He was feeling fine, no symptoms. He was beginning to feel a little sluggish, we're told, but he took a subway and went bowling. So, a lot of people in New York and elsewhere are wondering, is there any danger, for example, at the bowling alley, any danger of catching Ebola from the bowling ball or from the subway? Give us your analysis.

GOUNDER: Just to be clear, there's no risk from going to the bowling alley, from holding the same bowling ball, from sitting in the same seat on the subway or holding the subway pole, to other New Yorkers. Ebola, again, is transmitted through direct contact with a sick person with Ebola or with their body fluids. And the sluggishness, it's a little hard to know what to make of that. He could have just been jet lagged. Maybe it was an early sign of Ebola

The other thing we know -- and this is actually why patients who have been exposed to Ebola need to remain in quarantine for 21 days, is the virus does not show up immediately. So, if you were to test somebody very early on, you can't find the virus. And so, even in the very early stages of having symptoms, as did Dr. Spencer in the last couple days, he -- the amount of virus in his body is very minimal and you would really need a blood exposure that early on to be contagious to somebody else.

BLITZER: I'd like both of you to stand by for a moment. Josh Earnest, the White House Press Secretary, speaking now about the President's meeting with Nina Pham, the Dallas nurse, who's heading over to the Oval Office. Let's listen in.

JOSH EARNEST, U.S. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY (live): -- and I think answers the prayers of many people across the country today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can you tell us about the federal government's response to the diagnosis of an Ebola patient in New York City?

EARNEST: Well, I can tell you a couple of things about that. We certainly are pleased that so much of the planning that has been done in recent days has proved to be very useful. As you know, there are -- as -- earlier this week, medical professionals conducted a training for health care workers at the Jabbet (ph) Center in New York to ensure that they had all of the training that they needed to understand what was necessary to treat an Ebola patient in a way that was safe for them and safe for the broader community. That certainly is -- looks like prudent planning in hindsight.

The other thing that has been underway for some time is the president had designated five airports where individuals who were traveling from West Africa could enter the country. By funneling these passengers to those five airports, we were able to marshal the appropriate resources that were necessary to apply an additional layer of screening for those individuals who had traveled recently in West Africa. That -- in conjunction with that, state and local officials worked to identify hospitals in the same region as each of these -- as -- of each of these airports where patients who are sick could be directed.

So, Bellevue Hospital in New York was the hospital that had been identified as the hospital where patients who -- or were passengers who were detected with a higher fever or otherwise sick would be sent as they are coming off the airplane. So, Bellevue is a place where significant planning had already been done to ensure that protocols were in place to treat Ebola patients. I understand that Bellevue had been designated by -- both by the state and the city as one of eight medical facilities in the state of New York that was prepared to treat Ebola patients. So, a lot of training and planning went into that.

In fact, I also understand that when Dr. Spencer was admitted to Bellevue Hospital yesterday, there actually happened to be a team of CDC experts already at the hospital, evaluating that hospital and making sure that they were up to the needed standards to treat an Ebola patient. Consistent with the order that the president gave last week for CDC to organize a SWAT team of CDC experts to rapidly deploy to a hospital where an Ebola patient had identified, I'm told that this SWAT team arrived last night, the same evening that this individual was a confirmed Ebola patient. We had experts on the ground in New York working side by side with hospital administrators and health care professionals at Bellevue Hospital to ensure that the strengthened protocols at the CDC announced earlier this week were in place so that this individual could get a high-quality treatment and that that treatment could be administered in a way that the risk to health care workers was not significantly elevated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You talked about, kind of, Bellevue being one of these designated hospitals to treat Ebola. Would you like every state to designate hospitals, particularly to treat Ebola?

EARNEST: Well, this, I think, is an indication of the solid preparation that was put in place by state and local officials. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, I think, deserve a lot of credit for the effort that they put into ensuring that New York is prepared to deal with a situation like this. We certainly value the strong working relationship that already exists between federal officials and medical experts in the federal government and state and local officials across the country. That working relationship has been important that will continue to be important as we deal with the situation.

So far, you know, what we have worked with state officials to do is to ensure, as I mentioned earlier, that hospitals are in the region, in the same region as the airports, where individuals traveling from West Africa are arriving from this country, that those hospitals are prepared and have the training and information and equipment that they need to receive patients that may be -- that may be -- that may test positive for Ebola. So, that is the kind of detailed planning that's been done. What you've also seen is the CDC offer up strength and guidance to health care workers and public health officials, all across the country, to give them guidance about what they should do to prepare to treat an Ebola patient.

That all said, you know, we continue to believe, to this day, that -- and when I say we, I mean our medical experts continue to believe to this day that the risk of an -- a widespread Ebola outbreak in the United States continues to be exceedingly low.

BLITZER: All right. So, there he is, the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, once again, ending that little statement with an upbeat analysis that the chances of a widespread Ebola outbreak in the United States, exceedingly low.

A quick question to you, Dr. Gupta, before I let you go. That 21-day period, I've lately been hearing all sorts of conflicting reports, how sacrosanct that 21-day period during which you either get Ebola or you don't get Ebola. Some are saying there's a certain percentage of people with Ebola that showed the symptoms, got Ebola after 21 days. I assume you've heard some of those reports?

GUPTA (via telephone): I read the study, Wolf. It came out of Drexler University. What -- I've asked some of the experts about this as well. First of all, you know, with regard to the science, up until this year, there have been a very small number of people who really have even been studied in this regard. Just a couple thousand people all in central and West Africa. So, you know, some of the science is still emerging. Some of the 21-day science was based on some of the earlier outbreaks. So I think that that's where it sort of was thrown into question.

But when we asked people, you know, are we comfortable with the 21-day period, the answers I'm getting back is, yes, we're comfortable with that. People may be told to continue to monitor their temperature for a period of time afterwards, but they're really not considered to be at risk. And most people, they went on to say, really, if they're going to develop symptoms, develop it within eight to 10 or 12 days. So -- and that's what we've seen as well, with the vast majority will.

So I think, you know, you cast a wide net. You never say anything is 100 percent. But they seem to be standing by the 21 days as being a good barometer of, you know, catching anybody who's going to develop symptoms.

BLITZER: Dr. Gupta, Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent, thanks very much. Celine Gounder, Dr. Gounder, thanks to you as well.

Still ahead, a shocking hatchet attack in New York City prompting more warnings, but is there a link to radical jihadists? We'll take a closer look. Plus, she's firing up the campaign trail. We're going to find out why

a certain Democrat is in demand right now.

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BLITZER: A brazen attack against four New York City police officers has now heightened concerns about those so-called lone wolf terror attacks. The attacker, take a look at this, seen here in this video, was shot and killed after wounding two police officers with a hatchet. The initial fear was that this was another lone terror attack like the two in Canada earlier in the week but officials tell CNN there are now no known links between the attacker and jihadist.

Our Alexandra Field is joining us from New York. She's monitoring the latest on the investigation.

Alexandra, what are you learning?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Wolf, authorities have spent the last day trying to determine whether or not this could be a lone wolf type of attack. They've had to, you know, access the context here. When you look at ISIS, which has called for people, sympathizers in the west, to execute attacks on men and women in uniform, when you see the events that happened in Canada this week, it's a question that's worth asking. But right now authorities are saying, look, they've gone through this person's history, they don't see any links to any radical Islamic groups and they don't think that any radical beliefs motivated this attack.

But that does leave the question, you know, what possessed Zale Thompson to take the ax that you see in that video and to attack four police officers? Authorities tell us that they have been looking at his online profiles. They see a great deal of anti-white sentiments. But it's tough to say what motivates someone to carry out this kind of attack.

We do know though that authorities are looking into his history. Again, we know that he has a criminal record in California. He was discharged from the Navy and right now authorities are talking to people who know Zale Thompson to try and understand why he would have unleashed this kind of attack at this time. And really, Wolf, when you see those images, just a brutal and a horrific kind of attack.

BLITZER: Did they see passages from the Koran on some of those - his own personal social media postings, if you will?

FIELD: They did. They saw a passage from the Koran. They saw a picture, a profile picture with someone carrying a mask and a sword and a rifle. Some material that led them to believe that they needed to investigate whether there were radical ties here. And, again, they are telling us at this point they don't believe that's what motivated these attacks. But when you see this kind of material online, when you realize the context of the attacks earlier this week and the calls from ISIS, it is something that authorities do look at, along with pursuing a lot of other leads. Look, wolf, we're talking about four rookie police officers who were

standing together. They had simply posed for a photograph. Police say it was very clear that these officers did not provoke an attack in any way, which is why it is so unnecessary to try and find the answer to what did provoke this kind of attack.

BLITZER: So I just want to be precise on this, Alexandra, based on what you're hearing, they don't see any direct link with jihadists, no direct contact, if you will, but are they ruling out this notion that he might have been inspired by some of these radical websites?

FIELD: They are not telling us that they believe that there's a direct correlation. But, Wolf, I don't think that you can rule it out at this point. Nobody is saying, you know, authoritatively that you can certainly rule out what was inside this man's mind. You just do not know what motivates a person to carry this out. If he had seen other attacks, if he had considered that, if that had in any way propelled him to do this, whether it was some kind of anti-white sentiment, whether it was sentiments against the government or police, really hard to pinpoint because, frankly, this is a man who was shot and killed in the course of this attack. The two officers who were not struck by the ax were able to use their service weapons, fire on the suspect and kill him. So, look, they cannot talk to the suspect directly. What they can do is talk to people who know him and trying and understand if this is something that he was planning and if he had articulated in any way why he would plan something like this. In the meantime though, Wolf, law enforcement officers in this city and frankly across North America this week are being told to be on alert, to be aware of the possibility of lone wolf attacks and of people acting alone of their own accord to carry something out.

BLITZER: I suspect we're going to learn a lot more about this guy with the ax in the coming days. I think this investigation is only just beginning. When you get more information, Alexandra, let us know. Thanks very, very much.

Up next, the Ebola response. A new case in New York City is putting more importance on a congressional hearing here in Washington today. I'll speak with one of the committee members to get her take on what's being done. Carolyn Maloney standing by live.

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BLITZER: A member of the House Oversight Committee opening today's hearing on the United States' response to the Ebola crisis. The hearing today centered on hospital preparedness in the United States, especially now that another case has been diagnosed. This one in New York City. The hearing also focused on the response in West Africa, the so-called hot zone.

Joining us now, New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. She's a Democrat on that committee, as well.

Congresswoman, thanks very much for joining us.

Are hospitals around the United States prepare or is there still an enormous amount of work that needs to be done?

REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D), HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: There's always more that you can do, but I would say, and in New York when we've got the first Ebola patient, that our professional teams responded. They didn't make any mistakes. They did everything right based on what we know we learned from Dallas.

He came into the country 10 days ago, he was immediately picked up by CDC and border patrol. He was being monitored by medical professionals at his home. The minute he -- his temperature escalated, a professional hazmat team came and picked him up in a special vehicle with specially trained people. He was taken to Bellevue, that was designated as one of eight hospitals by Governor Cuomo to be ready. The CDC was already at Belleview training them. Three more came in today. More will come in.

BLITZER: So you're confident that they got the job done at Bellevue?

MALONEY: I am - I am very proud of the medical team at Bellevue.