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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ebola Crisis Growing; Calls for a Flight Ban; Royals Advance to World Series

Aired October 16, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The questions about Ebola growing this morning. The second nurse who caught the deadly virus now being treated in Atlanta, as a controversy swirls around why she flew on a commercial flight. Why was she allowed to fly? Did the CDC really OK her travel? Or not?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And now, a growing demand on a ban from flights from West Africa into the United States. But the White House says it is not on the table.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It's Thursday, October 16th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And we do have breaking news. The second nurse to come down with Ebola has arrived in Atlanta for treatment, amid controversy over her air travel. Twenty-nine-year-old Amber Vinson was part of the team that took care of Thomas Eric Duncan. He, of course, is the Liberian man who died from Ebola in Dallas last week.

But now, there are questions about why Vinson took a commercial flight from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday with a temperature of 99.5 degrees?

ROMANS: CDC Director Thomas Frieden says she never should have set foot on an airplane, knowing that another nurse, Nina Pham, had already been diagnosed with Ebola. But a federal official tells CNN that Vinson informed the CDC of her travel plans and was not told she shouldn't fly. The CDC is reaching out to each of the 132 other people on Vinson's flight. It says the risk that any of them were infected with Ebola is, quote, "extremely low".

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dallas with more on Vinson's case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the second worker Amber Vinson was moved from Dallas to Emory University in Atlanta where she will begin her treatment, this morning, continue her treatment here this morning. But she was moved on the very day that much bigger questions are now being raised about how well-prepared these health care workers are that treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient that died of Ebola last week here at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

A prominent nurses union, a national union, saying that the health care team was simply not given the proper protocols, not prepared to handle the situation in which they were entering. A lot of questions about the protective gear that they were wearing, and whether or not that could have been a failure in that area is what led to their infection.

CDC investigator say they're really concentrating on the first two or three days that Thomas Eric Duncan was brought to the hospital where sometimes the health care workers were wearing two or three layers of protective gear and in some cases had skin that was exposed. So, that's one of the areas they're exposing.

The hospital officials have not commented directly on these allegations, only have said that the safety and care of their employees is a top priority -- Christine and John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Ed, thanks for that.

Amber Vinson's flight from Ohio to Texas sparking fears now in both states. Two schools in Belton, Texas, closing today because a pair of students flew on the same flight as Vinson. And in suburban Cleveland, two schools in (AUDIO GAP) also closed today because a staff member traveled from Dallas home to Ohio on a different flight, but, quote, "perhaps the same aircraft" as Vinson. Schools in both districts will be cleaned and disinfected.

BERMAN: I mean, I understand the concerns. But I think medical experts will tell you, those steps are unnecessary.

ROMANS: More than abundance of caution. Maybe an unrealistic abundance of caution.

BERMAN: Exactly.

ROMANS: All right. Federal officials ramping up the government's response to the Ebola situation this morning.

President Obama has canceled campaign events two days in a row now to respond to the issue. He met with top officials at the White House. The president is ordering the CDC to send what he called a medical SWAT team within 24 hours of an Ebola diagnosis anywhere in the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As a consequence, what we've been doing here today is reviewing exactly what we know about what's happened in Dallas and how we're going to make sure that something like this is not repeated, and that we are monitoring, supervising, overseeing in a much more aggressive way, exactly what's taking place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Later today, CNN has learned or CNN has learned that later today, the administration plans to announce it already giving the Pentagon authority to call up reservists to fight Ebola in West Africa. We are told there are no immediate plans to actually do that, but the move could help fill the need for medical personnel and technicians with special skills in the effort to fight Ebola.

ROMANS: All right. On Capitol Hill later this morning, a House committee holding a special hearing on the outbreak in Texas. Among those under the microscope, the CDC Director Thomas Frieden, and a top official from Dallas Health Presbyterian Hospital has submitted a written testimony, saying, quote, "We are deeply sorry for failing to diagnose Thomas Eric Duncan with Ebola."

BERMAN: Congressional Republicans demanding further action against Ebola. House Speaker John Boehner now saying that the White House needs to consider a ban on travel from West African countries where Ebola is prevalent. Pennsylvania Congressman Bill Schuster and Tom Marino, along with South Dakota Senator John Thune also joining this call. Now, Congressman Marino is demanding the immediate resignation of CDC Director Tom Frieden.

The White House said on Wednesday that a West Africa travel ban is, quote, "not on the table" at this point.

ROMANS: Four major U.S. airports will begin enhanced Ebola screening today. They are Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare, and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta. They're going to join New York's Kennedy Airport which begun that screening on Saturday. Now, passengers arriving from those three West African countries, the center of the outbreak, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, those passengers arriving from those countries will undergo increased scrutiny, including having their temperature taken and they'll have to answer questions.

BERMAN: So, health ministers from the European Union are meeting today to discuss tightening screening and controls from Ebola-stricken nations. Also this morning, the World Health Organization will announce a checklist of Ebola preparedness best practices that all nations should meet.

So, following all this is CNN's Al Goodman in Madrid. Madrid, of course, is where a Spanish nurse is fighting to survive Ebola.

Al, what do we know about her condition this morning?

AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She is doing stable but serious according to officials, according to a family friend. She's been able to take water. So, she is making some advances, John.

Now, some of the European Union countries have already instituted airport screening controls, Britain did so last week at Heathrow, France announcing that yesterday presumably for De Gaulle. The meeting of the European health ministers, all 28 is to try to get a coordinated response because there's enormous traffic between Europe and Africa, a lot of trade ties, former colonial ties.

And they are worried that countries sending passengers up to France and De Gaulle Airport in France, that passenger gets off and go to some other European Union country. They've also got flights coming from some African countries who don't have direct connections to Europe, but they get off to Morocco and North Africa, get on a plane there and coming up to the European Union. They are talking about the screening from the countries that are most hardest hit by Ebola crisis and also more screening on this end -- John.

BERMAN: Ripples around the world.

All right. Al Goodman for us in Madrid, thanks so much, Al.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money.

What a day yesterday. Asian stocks spending their day lower. No surprise. Tokyo down more than 2 percent. European shares are mixed right now. But this has been a brutal few days.

Stock futures this morning are up a bit, but yesterday, it is fair to say, we can call it a market meltdown. The Dow plunged 460 points and then snapped back. It ended the day down 173 points. That is about 1 percent. That is a huge recovery, a huge selloff and then a huge recovery.

The market is reacting to stalling growth in China and Asia and there's new concerns about the U.S. economy, retail sales shrinking unexpectedly last month, and then you had all these airline stocks just got slammed yesterday obviously for Ebola reasons. Stocks have been climbing without a 10 percent drop in more than a thousand days now. That's almost unheard of.

The S&P 500, so how does it stand now? It's down 7.4 percent from the last month's high. Getting closer to true correction territory.

Pullbacks can be scary, guys, but they're normal. They're even healthy. In this case, many think a correction is long overdue. I say, don't fear the correction.

BERMAN: But this was a bonkers day. We haven't had a bonkers day like that in a long, long time.

ROMANS: Bonkers is a market technical term. I'm going to add that to my repertoire.

BERMAN: Years of business school that I didn't go to with that.

All right. I want to get an early look at the weather with now. Let's check in with Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good early morning to you up there. Not a day to wear your best leather-soled shoes today in New York City. It's just raining everywhere, unless it's on lock everywhere. And it remains wet across a lot of the city, it is going to for much of the morning hours. The rain stays in Boston, stays in to all of New England for today.

Now, it dries out in D.C. and Baltimore, which was very wet yesterday. Even flood watches and warnings there across parts of the area, 70 in D.C., 68 in New York City today, and 68 in Boston. Not a lot of sunshine at all.

Tomorrow, the front moves far enough to the east that, yes, we may recover sunshine, but clouds throughout the afternoon in the heat of the day. The air is going to want to rise and you get bubbly clouds. Mostly sunny skies in the Pacific Northwest with the rain along the coast with the next front that comes in for your afternoon. Very heavy rainfall tomorrow afternoon as well into Seattle, Portland and the like.

Seventy-seven in Atlanta for tomorrow, 81 in Memphis and 71 in New York.

Enjoy your early morning and enjoy your day. Guys, back to you.

BERMAN: I'm touched and confused by Chad's concern over my leather- soled shoes. I have to say.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Wear your glasses or something.

All right. Nine minutes -- 10 minutes past the hour now.

Fighters in the key Syrian border town gaining ground against ISIS as the top general says troops on the ground in Iraq are not out of question to fight this terror group.

BERMAN: And the second straight day of clashes in Hong Kong as demonstrators take over a main road. But could talks now between the government and demonstrators be on the horizon?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. A lot going on this morning. We will have the latest on the Ebola situation in a moment.

But, first, ISIS forces moving closer to Baghdad this morning. The terror group has armored vehicles, tanks and heaving weapons building up in Anbar province. That's just 25 miles west of the Iraqi capital.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey is refusing to rule out the prospects of U.S. combat troops joining the gun battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I cannot foresee the case to reintroduce large ground combat forces into Iraq. But, again, war is discovery. ISIL is a national security threat. If we get to that point, I'll make that recommendation.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: He's not saying he want ground troops right now. He's just refusing to rule out 100 percent the possibility that someday he might ask for them.

Meanwhile, U.S. defense officials continue to say the chances of an overthrow of Baghdad at this point are really remote.

ROMANS: And the U.S. says it will defend -- it will help defend the airport which is incredibly important for American personnel who are there.

A U.S.-led air strikes pounding ISIS positions in Iraq and northern Syria. The Pentagon ruling on the official name for the offensive Wednesday, "Operation Inherent Resolve". Thirty-nine airstrikes in all over the last two days. Many of them hitting ISIS targets near the northern Syrian town of Kobani where Kurdish forces fighting hard to keep the extremist from seizing control.

I want to bring in senior international correspondent Arwa Damon now live from the Syrian/Turkey border.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

And that is Kobani behind us. Eerily quiet on this morning, and that is because according to one Kurdish official who has contacts inside Kobani -- he is currently in Turkey -- it is because of those relentless air strikes. Those to a certain degree allowing the Kurdish forces to make advances at the very least in the west and in the southwest.

But the critical location where a lot of the fighting has been centered, also where a lot of these airstrikes centered is at the border crossing between Kobani and Turkey. And there, these airstrikes, yes, have managed to halt ISIS advance perhaps for the time being, prevent the takeover of the border crossing. But still, those Kurdish fighters continue to say they need weapons resupply. More importantly, they need the kinds of weapons that would be required to defeat ISIS and the tanks, the heavy armor that ISIS has at its disposal.

We're continuing right now, as we speak, to hear fighter jets overhead.

But the Kurds say they won't be able to hold out indefinitely against ISIS. They literally have no resupply routes. All they're able to do is smuggle things across the border with Turkey. They are not officially able to bring additional fighters or weapons into Kobani.

ISIS, for its part, has entire swaths of open terrain through which to bring about its logistical resupply. And over the last few days, there has been an increase in air strikes, yes, but there's also been a significant increase in ISIS sending in weapons resupply and additional fighters to this frontline -- Christine. ROMANS: Arwa Damon for us on that frontline right now this morning,

near the Syria/Turkey border -- thank you.

BERMAN: We have news breaking overnight in Hong Kong. The chief executive there opening the doors to talks with protesters, saying he hopes the government can meet with students who are demanding democratic reforms, wants to meet with them as early as next week. This comes after another tense confrontation with demonstrators and police in the Chinese-controlled city.

I want to go to Manisha Tank right now who is live there for us.

Good morning.

MANISHA TANK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

Well, we were all listening intently to this press conference that was held by C.Y. Leung. And this was because it was the first media briefing he was holding after dramatic video emerged of a beating by plain-clothes police, it was of a particular activist, someone who's actually a social worker, a man who is in his late 30s in Hong Kong.

It was really a shocking video. That was something that emerged overnight on Wednesday. But then again, on Thursday night, in what seemed to be an isolated incident, a protester kicked a bottle which hit a passenger car. The police went over and arrested him.

But, of course, with all of this ill will surrounding that vide, beating, other protesters came from different directions and went there to stop the police going in for arrest. It ended with a bit of confrontation going on. And police ended up using pepper spray to disperse them.

What all of this underlines really is that it's still a great deal of tension here in Hong Kong. But the press briefing was important and him underlining, as you say, those hopes and aspirations for where things might go next and opening the door once again to dialogues, C.Y. Leung saying things might even kick off dialogue as early as next, but there's a lot of preparation to be done, John.

BERMAN: It would be interesting to see what happens.

All right. Manisha Tank for us in Hong Kong -- thanks so much.

ROMANS: Eighteen minutes past the hour.

Oscar Pistorius sentencing resumes this morning. Prosecution is pressing for (AUDIO GAP) to get prison time for shooting Reeva Steenkamp. On Wednesday, her cousin took the stand recounting the horrifying moments she found out Reeva died. Pistorius shot Steenkamp last Valentine's Day he said after mistaking her for an intruder.

BERMAN: The contentious governor's race in Florida got weirder for sure last night, during a debate. Republican incumbent Rick Scott and Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, the former governor when he was Republican, were set to faceoff at Broward College. When the debate started, Scott refused to come on the stage because Crist had a small electric fan underneath his podium.

So, check out what one of the moderators told the audience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MODERATOR: The Scott campaign say that there should be no fan. Somehow there is a fan there and for that reason, ladies and gentlemen, I am being told that Governor Scott will -- not join us for this debate.

(BOOS)

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Interesting, right? A fan in the way of the political discourse.

Now, Governor Scott finally did emerge seven minutes late. Former Governor Crist actually kept the fan. The candidates then resumed attacking each other, which has been the hallmark of this campaign.

I have -- I covered politics for a long, long time, Christine Romans. I have never seen anything even close to that.

ROMANS: So, when they have -- and I have been to these debates, right? The rules are clearly laid out. Standing podium.

BERMAN: No electronic devices on the podium were the ground rules. The fan seemed to be outside of the ground rules. However, not walking on the stage because your opponent had a fan there did not go over well with the audience.

ROMANS: Interesting.

BERMAN: Yes.

ROMANS: Just another twist in what has been a bitter campaign.

BERMAN: Nuts.

ROMANS: Twenty minutes past the hour.

It was nearly 30 years in the making ,but Kansas City going to the World Series. The game highlights are just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Interesting details this morning concerning the investigation into the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. The "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" spoke with one witness who says he testified before the grand jury. This witness says that Officer Darren Wilson did not shoot until the unarmed teen turned toward him. That Brown's arms were out to his sides, not high in the air and that he staggered toward Wilson despite orders to stop. The grand jury is trying to decide if the officer should face criminal

charges.

ROMANS: Forensic evidence confirms that the body of a John Doe exhumed in Alabama is not one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives who was just profiled on the CNN show, "THE HUNT".

FBI officials believe the man who died in a hit and run crash in 1981 was William Bradford Bishop Jr., wanted for killing his mother, his wife and their children. But the FBI released a statement Wednesday saying the body is not Bishop.

BERMAN: All right. The Kansas City Royals might never lose again. They completed a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles last night to win the American League pennant. They will go to the World Series for the first time in 29 years. Where were you in 1985, Christine Romans?

They won eight games in a row. That is a playoff record. They will face either the San Francisco Giants or the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. The Giants now lead the NLCS, 3-1. They beat the Cards last night, and they can close out the series with a win in game five today.

Kansas City is nuts. I mean, this team was not good for a long, long time. And now, they simply cannot lose. Some people say they are a team of destiny.

ROMANS: Where were you in 1985? I think I was getting braces --

BERMAN: I was in seventh grade. It was a good year for me. It was a very good year.

ROMANS: It was good year for Berman.

All right. He's a man of many of showbiz talents. Now, Neil Patrick Harris can cross off his bucket list, hosting the Oscars, folks. Harris top to host the 87th Academy Awards in February, following Ellen DeGeneres. She did it last year.

He is no stranger to awards shows. He emceed the Tony Awards four times, the Emmys twice to great reviews, by the way. Harris was already part of the awards season, having a supporting role in the Oscar contending film "Gone Girl."

Have you seen it?

BERMAN: I have not.

ROMANS: It's on your list?

BERMAN: Yes. But don't tell me anything. If you know anything, don't tell me.

ROMANS: It's twisted is all I know.

BERMAN: That's what I hear. That's why I might like it. All right. Twenty-six minutes after the hour.

We are learning more about the second nurse infected with Ebola. Did someone at the CDC give her the OK to fly on a commercial flight? We'll have all the details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)