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CNN Live At Daybreak

Former President Clinton Touring Hurricane Damage; Bird Flu Fears

Aired October 05, 2005 - 06:29   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Former President Bill Clinton will meet with more Louisiana hurricane victims today. He'll also travel to Mississippi and to Alabama.
CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace was there on the first day of his tour through New Orleans and had a chance to ask the former president a few questions about what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We drove with you through the lower Ninth Ward as someone who loves the city. What was that like?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was very emotional, because, I mean, you know, this is the first city I ever visited. My first -- my family's, I guess, only out-of-state vacation my family ever took when I was a boy was here and to Gulfport and Biloxi. Ironically, we went to New Orleans, Gulfport and Biloxi when I was 15. So, I've loved this place all my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Kelly joins us now from New Orleans with more on her conversation with President Clinton.

Good morning -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Good morning, Carol.

You know, it was fascinating following Bill Clinton around. I was talking to my colleague, saying it reminded me of the days covering him in the White House, Carol. He keeps going and going and going, starting the day early in the morning and late into the night, having dinner with relief workers.

But the one thing, Carol, that stands out in my mind was we sat around with about 25 evacuees in Baton Rouge. And he sat there for about two hours and mainly listened. He listened to one sad and really tearful story after another. And these are folks who had been living in that shelter for more than a month now. Lots of frustration about a lack of housing.

Some folks saying they still haven't gotten any money from FEMA, that there isn't anyone on the ground there to answer their questions. And the former president said that he wanted to listen to them, because part of his goal of the trip is to figure out how he and former President Bush can spend the nearly $100 million they have raised to help them to get it to the people who, he says, are falling through the cracks.

COSTELLO: Yes. But how do you do that? How do you figure out where it's going to go? And if there's no one there to distribute it, what do you do?

WALLACE: It's going to be very, very complicated. And in our interview last night, the former president said that part of, you know, what he's trying to do is they're going to set up a whole system and a vetting process.

What they're trying to do, Carol, is get sort of specific projects and requests from the governors and other local and state officials.

He pointed to one example. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has already put in a request. She wants to create some kind of family service corps, where every family would have a liaison, one person that they could go to, to answer their questions about FEMA, about housing, about transportation and jobs.

He says this is kind of the example that he and former President Bush are looking at, specific projects in areas where the federal government might not be able to be giving money to or, again, places and people that might be falling through the cracks and not getting the state and federal assistance they need.

COSTELLO: You know, I think it's interesting. Perhaps it's not. Perhaps it doesn't mean anything. But why isn't President Bush, Sr. with him?

WALLACE: It's a great question and one we had yesterday and asked the former president -- or the former president brought up himself. He said that he had hoped that he and the former president could travel together. But he said that the former president could only go next week, Carol, and he said that was his 30th wedding anniversary, and he thought there might be some problems at home if he were traveling in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and not back home.

But, you know, also on a more policy side, some of his staffers say that in a way the two men can cover more ground physically and even in sort of an emotional way by traveling to different places, meeting with different people, seeing more people, and then comparing notes when they're done to see what they can do.

There are a lot of logistics involved with two former presidents traveling together. So, they thought that would ease the strain on an already touch situation in this area by having them go solo as well.

COSTELLO: Certainly so. Kelly Wallace reporting live for us this morning. Thanks, Kelly.

More of Kelly's tour of the Gulf region with former President Clinton is coming up in the next hour. Soledad O'Brien joins us now with what else is ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning to you.

In fact, Mr. Clinton is going to visit Mississippi today. Miles has the day off. Rob is in Long Beach, Mississippi, this morning. That small town devastated by Hurricane Katrina. You can look at some of the pictures there.

Now, residents and some city officials say five weeks after the storm, help has been slow to come. There are some signs, though, of recovery. We're going to tell you about those and take you there live this morning.

Also, the very latest into that investigation about that deadly tour boat accident in Upstate New York. Well, today investigators are going to conduct a re-enactment. There's a twin sister boat of the one that capsized.

This morning, we check in with a former head of the NTSB to talk about what investigators are hoping to get from this twin sister boat as they do those stability tests and see if they can figure out what exactly caused that really horrible accident.

That's all ahead this morning, Carol, right at the top of the hour.

COSTELLO: We'll be there. Thank you, Soledad.

The president held a news conference yesterday, and it had a wide range of topics in it, including this: The president says the military may play a role in flu prevention. The possible plan would put the military in charge of quarantines in case of a bird flu epidemic. But that would require a waiver of the Posse Comitatus Act that prevents the military from taking a law enforcement role on U.S. soil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're watching it. We're careful. We're in communications with the world. I'm not predicting an outbreak. I'm just suggesting to you that we'd better be thinking about it, and we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But the bigger question is this: Do we really have anything to fear from the bird flu?

Joining me now from Atlanta is Emory University professor Dr. Carlos Del Rio.

Good morning, doctor.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EMROY UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, you know, I'm sitting there, and I'm listening to the president speak yesterday. And all of a sudden, he brings up this bird flu. And he says it could affect hundreds of thousands of Americans. Maybe we need the military to help, you know, quarantine people to protect other people in the United States. How concerned should we be about this avian flu?

DEL RIO: I think we need to be quite concerned. And I think that it's only a matter of time before the virus that causes the bird flu is able to infect more effectively humans and to begin transmitting from human to human.

For the time being, it has not been able to do that in a very effective way. And thus, the epidemic and the possibility of an outbreak have been primary contained. It's very small communities in Southeast Asia -- Vietnam, Thailand, China.

COSTELLO: Yes. As far as I know, and from, you know, reading some reports out there, the avian flu has been spreading in birds in Asia for a couple of years now. And so far, only, like, 65 people in Asia have come down with this kind of flu. So, if this strain is so nasty, why hasn't it become a bigger problem in Asia?

DEL RIO: It's a humongous problem in Asia already to the economy. Millions of chickens have died or have had to be slaughtered to control the epidemic.

I think it's not yet a big problem for humans. But the influenza virus has, over the years, learned very effectively to adapt to humans and to transmit to humans. And therefore, one of the containment strategies that is being implemented right now is precisely to slaughter the birds and to prevent the birds from spreading the disease.

Chickens die with the disease. But, for example, ducks don't. And therefore, ducks can get infected, and they can travel to different places. They can fly. And, therefore, the virus can move from one place to the other.

As I say, the virus of the influenza, it's a virus that learns how to mutate very rapidly. And it can very rapidly learn how to acquire the mechanisms necessary to be only, (a), effective in infecting humans, but, (b), also in transmitting from human to human.

I think it's only a matter of time. Why hasn't it happened up to now? It's still a scientific mystery. But we're very glad for that.

COSTELLO: Yes, we are. Let's talk about the flu itself. If it is transmitted to a human being, how does it differ from, like, you know, the flu people had last year or the year before?

DEL RIO: The few humans that have been infected with the bird flu, as you mentioned, sometimes don't develop as much of the upper respiratory symptoms of sneezing, sore throat, the normal influenza sufferers develop. They frequently develop gastrointestinal symptoms. Not uncommonly they get diarrhea.

But the worst part of it is they get a very rapidly progressive necrotizing pneumonia. So, with a lot of cough, shortness of breath. Sometimes they can even start coughing blood and very rapidly go on to develop respiratory failure. And they need to be in the hospital, and they need to be put on a ventilator for respiratory support. And the mortality rate has been incredibly high.

That's the big difference with the regular flu.

COSTELLO: Is it more contagious than other flus?

DEL RIO: No. As we say, it's actually less contagious. Up to now, the virus has really not learned how to transmit from human to human. There's only a handful of cases in which transmission of human to human has been suspected or maybe documented.

COSTELLO: AND a lot of health officials say we are not ready for this, because, I guess, Tamiflu was an effective treatment for this. But there are only two million doses of that currently available in the United States. How big a problem is that? And shouldn't we be working hard on that?

DEL RIO: I think we are. I think the federal government has invested significantly in trying to develop, first of all, an effective vaccine against this virus. And I think a lot of work is being done. And, in fact, clinical trials are ongoing right now with a vaccine effective against this bird flu.

There is also the possibility of stockpiling the drug also Tamiflu that you mentioned. And Roche is working around the clock to supply different nations the drug. WHO, United States, Canada, every country has asked for supplies of the drug.

But at this point in time, the most important thing that can be done is really investing in preparedness. I think where we're less prepared probably, Carol, is in our health care infrastructure. You saw how very, very rapidly the crisis in New Orleans affected hospitals. And hospitals simply do not have the capacity to put sick individuals in.

I think that if we get hundreds or thousands of individuals in the United States sick with this disease that require hospitalizations, simply we don't have the hospital surge capacity to take care of them.

COSTELLO: Lots of problems. Dr. Carol Del Rio, thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

DEL RIO: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: Canadian health officials are dealing with a deadly mystery of their own. They're scrambling to identify a respiratory virus that killed 10 people at a Toronto nursing home. Another 40 are in the hospital. And officials fear more deaths. The illness is sparking memories of the deadly SARS outbreak two years ago. But this time, officials have ruled out SARS, bird flu and influenza.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, got Delta reservations? Call ahead. Some flights are going bye-bye.

Also, Lindsay Lohan may want to forget about driving for a while. We'll explain.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's time now for a little "Business Buzz."

Carrie Lee joins us with a look at what one airline is doing to save energy and how it might affect you and me -- of course, if you're flying Delta that is.

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Carol. And this is pretty big news. Delta told CNN that it is canceling certain flights if there aren't enough passengers. The carrier says it's an energy conservation measure.

Now, of Delta's 4,500 domestic and international flights, the cancellations will affect a few dozen per day, mostly early and late- night flights on lighter travel days, typically Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Delta says it will notify passengers at least two days in advance if their flights will be canceled. These cancellations are on top of a 15 percent domestic flight reduction plan announced last month. That was shortly after Delta filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. High fuel costs were part of the reason for that filing.

By the way, American Airlines has also suspended some flights recently, because of high fuel costs.

What the Delta move does, though, really, Carol, is confirm some suspicions about the airline that, hey, there are a lot of empty seats. Let's cancel it. Let's become more efficient.

This is really, I think, one of the first times a carrier has come out and really admitted that they do this in order to save money.

COSTELLO: Yes. Because yesterday, we were trying to figure out whether Delta was cutting it because of its bankruptcy problems, or because it was high fuel, or because was there enough fuel to go around.

LEE: Exactly. The carrier says technically it's not because of high fuel costs. It's energy conservation. Maybe trying to put a little bit of a spin on this. Well, we know that they are losing a lot of money. And so, they need to save money. So that's the bottom line.

For a passenger who wants to take a flight, with two days' advance it's not very much time and certainly an inconvenience for some folks.

COSTELLO: Yes. It won't do much for customer service.

LEE: It certainly is not.

COSTELLO: A quick look at the futures.

LEE: Futures are looking pretty flat today. We will get a look at weekly oil and gas inventories at 10:30. That could give us some direction. Of course, no surprise we are expecting declines in the wake of all of the hurricane problems.

COSTELLO: All right. Carrie Lee, thank you.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:46 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

President Bush says he wants to protect Americans from the dangers of a possible bird flu infection in the United States. One option he's considering: using the military for law enforcement duties if an outbreak occurred.

In money news, a Texas jury orders the Ford Motor Company to pay more than $30 million to the family of a teenager who died in a rollover accident. Jessica Garcia was killed when the roof of her F- 150 pickup truck collapsed last year.

In culture, California police say Lindsay Lohan and a female passenger suffered minor injuries Tuesday when the actress' black Mercedes collided with a van in West Hollywood. Witnesses say Lohan was trying to avoid paparazzi. She was involved in a similar accident last June.

In sports, the first round in the battle of the Sox went to the guys in white. The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox 14-2 in the first game of their playoff series. It is the first time the White Sox have won a home playoff game since the 1959 World Series. It's hard to believe.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And they got two touchdowns. I mean, come on. Something else has to show up today, that's for sure.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: After yesterday's interview with energy expert Alvin Ubell, many of you wanted to hear the name of his Web site again, where you can link to the home energy audit and find ways to trim your household expenses. That site is www.accuratebuilding.com. Follow the do-it-yourself links to the free home energy audit. You'll just need to plug in your zip code and some details about the size of your house. And Ubell says that if you follow his advice, you can save 20 percent on your energy costs this year.

So, give it a try. It's free. You can download it and keep it. So, it's a good deal.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, a look at news making today. And, of course, we'll give away that mug.

But first, it's time to say happy birthday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And welcome back. It's 6:53 Eastern. Here is what will be making news today.

Former President Bill Clinton gets a firsthand look at hurricane damage on the Mississippi Gulf Coast today. He met with storm victims in Louisiana Tuesday.

The Clinton-Bush fund-raising initiative has raised around $100 million to help the hurricane victims.

And SpaceShipOne, the first privately-built and piloted vehicle to reach space, is being donated to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It will be on permanent display in the Milestones Gallery.

Now we make another milestone of our own, Chad.

MYERS: We give away a mug, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Probably to someone where it's cold.

COSTELLO: You know, it will probably -- a DAYBREAK mug will probably end up in the Smithsonian one day, I'm sure.

MYERS: That would be awesome. When we're all just drinking out of IVs instead of actually putting food in our mouth.

Let me show you what's going on now outside here. Let's do the morning quiz first.

The music industry is blaming what for the decline in CD sales? That's downloading obviously. Downloading from the Internet. But you still have to pay for those supposedly, 88 cents or 99 cents, depending on where you're downloading them from.

And which moon phase causes the highest tides? And obviously you could have new moon or full moon. Obviously every moon phase causes tides to rise somewhere, but the highest ones are always the new and the full, usually in the spring or the fall.

And the winner for today, Tim Gavaughan from Waldorf, Maryland. Congratulations, Tim. You are the winner of today's DAYBREAK coffee mug.

Now the questions for today. They are not as easy as yesterday. Name the law that bans the armed forces from police-type activity on U.S. soil. We said it a couple of times. There are three parts. All three parts. We need them all.

And then, Delta's flight cancellations will mostly affect passengers on which days of the week?

Go to daybreak@cnn.com. And give us your answers -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

When we come back, more headlines and a look at your travel forecast. This is DAYBREAK for a Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: If you're traveling this morning, Chad has some news.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: "Now in the News."

Investigators will conduct more tests today to determine exactly what caused a tour boat on New York's Lake George to capsize, killing 20 elderly passengers. Investigators want to determine how stable the craft is when most of the weight is shifted to one side.

These British navy sailors are getting a special thank you this morning. Russian President Vladimir Putin is at Ten Downing Street with Prime Minister Tony Blair. The sailors rescued the crew of a Russian mini sub when it got trapped off the Russian coast in August.

Two Americans and a Frenchman have won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry this morning. Americans Robert Grubbs and Richard Schrock shared the prize with France's Yves Chauvin. They developed a key method for producing chemical reactions.

From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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