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Senator John McCain Urges Patience Over Port Security Deal; New York Officials Brief Press on Man Who Inhaled Anthrax; California Death Row Inmate Receives Temporary Reprieve
Aired February 22, 2006 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, meantime, a deal that would shift the management of six U.S. ports to an Arab company -- a company out of the United Arab Emirates, that is -- has managed to unite U.S. lawmakers across party lines. The White House supports the sale. Many in Congress say, no way.
But the president has picked up key support from a senator who is known for going his own way.
CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry has more -- Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka.
That's right. That senator is John McCain, of course, the maverick Republican from Arizona. He's not quite exactly supporting this port deal. But what he's saying is that there should be an open mind, at least, from lawmakers. And we have not seen that yet. We have seen a lot of criticism, as you know, from leaders in both parties, especially, most notably, from the top two Republicans in the Congress.
Yesterday, Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker Dennis Hastert coming out very strong, saying, this needs to be stopped, there needs to be further review, and, if the president does not follow through on that, they will pass legislation stopping this deal.
What McCain is basically saying -- we're starting to finally see a little bit of pushback for the administration. And McCain gave a speech last night, Senator McCain did, in Arizona, in which he basically said that it's -- it's -- it's important to note that Dubai, in his estimation, is an important ally in the war on terror. And he said that the nation should trust the president's judgment in the war on terror and that it's time to give him the benefit of the doubt.
So, he's not saying he supports the port deal. But what he's saying is, people should not be rushing to judgment. We're hearing similar remarks, as well, from another powerful Republican, the Senate Armed Services chairman, John warner, who is actually going to have an open hearing tomorrow, bring in some top Bush officials to brief the Senate committee, but also do it in an open fashion, so the American people can hear about it, about this deal, get more information.
And I think what we're hearing from these Republican lawmakers, as well, they aren't ready to actually endorse the deal. They are saying, let's take a breath. And -- and there are other lawmakers, however, who are saying, no way.
And, in fact, there's a letter being circulated today from a rank-and-file Republican congresswoman, Sue Myrick of North Carolina, who had a one-line letter to the president -- I have it right here -- where she says, in regard to this port deal, "Not just no, but hell no" -- that from a Republican lawmaker, Sue Myrick, a letter to the president.
That shows how palpable the anger is towards the president, something we have never seen from Republicans on the Hill and directed towards this White House -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, if we do indeed have that sound bite of senator McCain, let's listen to it right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think we ought to trust the president, at least to the degree that we should have hearings and oversight and examine this issue, before we make a judgment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Basically, you are hearing Republican lawmakers, like McCain, say, stop the rush to judgment.
And we have seen so many lawmakers. And, obviously, what has been surprising, it's not just Democrats. It's Republicans, senior Republicans in the president's own party, who, perhaps, in the estimation of McCain, Senator Warner and others, have -- don't have all the facts about this deal, but have come out full-square against it -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ed Henry, thanks so much, on the Hill there.
Well, plenty of give--take went into this deal. And the Bush administration is revealing some of those details. The deal requires the company, Dubai Ports, to take part in U.S. anti-smuggling programs. More than 30 other port companies also take part, but voluntarily.
Also required, Coast Guard inspections. The Guard says it has almost finished inspecting Dubai Ports facilities in the U.S. And the company's chief operating officer says he would also agree to any other extra security steps to keep the deal from sinking altogether.
Well, stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Well, one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines is badly damaged in a bombing. Hours later, more than two dozen Sunni mosques are attacked in retaliation -- the biggest fear right now, full-blown civil war.
CNN's Aneesh Raman is in Baghdad with the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dawn attack striking one of Shia Islam's most sacred shrines -- reduced to rubble, the iconic Askariya Mosque in Samarra now without the golden dome that, for a century, proclaimed its importance, destroyed after men dressed as Iraqi police commandos bound the guards on duty and, once inside, detonated a series of bombs.
The attack ignited immediate fury among Iraq's majority Shia community, pouring onto the streets in thousands, in Samarra, in Kadhimiya area of Baghdad, in neighboring Sadr City, where Mahdi militia, loyal to the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, arm themselves,, threatening to descend on Samarra.
"We are prepared to strongly defend our shrine," says this man, "and we swear by God that we will battle all those who do not defend the holy shrines of our imams"
So devastating was this assault, that Iraq's highest Shia spiritual authority, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has not been seen in public in a year-and-a-half, made a television appearance, surrounded by senior Shia clerics, urging, in a separate statement, peaceful protests, in line with the words of Iraq's prime minister, announcing a three-day period of mourning, condemning the attack, calling for calm.
But that has been a hard sell to an enraged people. Reprisal attacks took place within hours, nearly 30 Sunni mosques in the capital alone coming under fire, three Sunni imams killed. And, in the southern city of Basra, Shia militia engaged a gun battle with a Sunni political party, amid a massive protest, as sectarian tensions in the country reach new levels.
(on camera): For nearly three years now, Iraq's Shia community has come under near daily attack by the Sunni-dominated insurgency, and has, all along, stopped short of responding with large-scale violence of its own. The fear now, though, is that this latest attack may be a tipping point, with Shia leaders saying, their patience is wearing thin.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And, momentarily, we hope to take you to a press conference involving New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg. He's expected to address the crowd there about a New York City man who apparently has inhaled anthrax. But, reportedly, it took place accidentally. We're looking for more details coming from the mayor.
Meantime, let's go to the newsroom, with an update on the situation out of Houston. Let's check in with Carol again.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, good news, Fred.
They apparently have apprehended this woman. She's described as a single white female. An earlier description kind of captured the imagination of the newsroom, this woman who bypassed TSA security at Houston International Airport, a woman with a blue sweater, tight jeans, and highlights.
She is being questioned right now by airport authorities, but, in the meantime, you have been looking at some of the pictures there, the planes on standby at terminal B, as well as the people, huge lines of people.
Apparently, what's happening there is, they are rescreening all the passengers who had already gone through airport security in terminal B. So, they rerouted them back through. And those are some of the long lines that they have seen.
Now, according to airport officials, they are saying, Fred, flights not affected by this incident of this woman going through security. But one can only imagine...
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LIN: ... how long it's going to take to get all those people...
WHITFIELD: And they will...
LIN: ... back through...
WHITFIELD: .. be inadvertently -- exactly, because it is going to take forever for people to...
LIN: You bet.
WHITFIELD: ... get to the gates.
LIN: We still don't know why -- what happened, I mean, why she was in a rush or why she wanted...
WHITFIELD: Wow.
LIN: ... to get by security. But those questions being answered, hopefully, right now.
WHITFIELD: All right, a lot of frustrated people.
LIN: Yes.
WHITFIELD: You bet.
All right, Carol, thank you so much.
LIN: Sure.
WHITFIELD: Meantime, we are awaiting that press conference out of New York involving the mayor.
And it is concerning a case of a New York City man being exposed and actually inhaling anthrax. Our Allan Chernoff is keeping a close watch on this story.
And, Allan, as we await the arrival of the mayor there, it's also our understanding that the police commissioner will also be a part of that press conference?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
And, Fredricka, we understand that this is not related at all to a terrorist attack. So, the mayor is going to be reassuring New Yorkers and the entire country. Apparently, a New York man has been hospitalized. He has anthrax symptoms, but a very interesting case of it here, because, according to a senior federal law enforcement official, this actually resulted from contact with animal skins in Africa.
Apparently, the man is a drummer, and he came into contact with these animal skins. You can, in fact, contract anthrax by touching an infected animal, infected animal parts. And that, apparently, is what happened here. The man, we understand, is hospitalized in Pennsylvania at the moment.
So, the mayor is going to be reassuring everyone that, indeed, this was not at all a terror attack -- but, nonetheless, a very interesting case of -- apparently, of anthrax symptoms.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Do you have a heads-up already, Allan, about the condition of this man, how he's doing in the hospital?
CHERNOFF: We don't have that information just yet.
We will bring it to you as soon as we do have it.
WHITFIELD: All right. And we're, again, waiting for that press conference to begin, momentarily. We will bring you back into the picture.
Allan, thanks so much.
Meantime, Elizabeth Cohen, medical correspondent, here with me now.
Give me an idea. We are talking about a few different ways in which you can be directly impacted from anthrax. In this case, it's inhalation anthrax. What happens to the body or what might have the symptoms been?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, unfortunately, Fredricka, the symptoms can often look like the flu.
And that's really one of the most dangerous things about being exposed to anthrax -- anthrax this way, inhaling it, is that, at first, when people feel ill, they have flu-like symptoms. And, so, people don't really necessarily know that they should be seeking out treatment.
And, unfortunately, even just a matter of days passing can be lethal. If anthrax -- inhalational anthrax is treated immediately, it's got a much, much higher success rate. If it's not treated until later, the death rate, unfortunately, is extremely high.
Now, I say when people, when this happens. Let's make it very clear. This is a very, very unusual illness to get. Inhalational anthrax is either through terrorism, as we saw in 2001, when five people died and some 22 were sickened, or, as we are -- we are seeing here, contact with animals or with animal skins. And that's very unusual.
And, so, we want to say that over and over again, because we don't want people to get the feeling that this happens all the time, or this could happen to them...
WHITFIELD: Right.
COHEN: ... playing with their dog at home.
Of course, that doesn't happen. This is unusual, and it's really not contagious. They...
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: And we are usually talking with farm animals, too.
COHEN: Yes.
WHITFIELD: I mean, people...
COHEN: Right.
WHITFIELD: ... wouldn't be thinking about their domestic...
COHEN: Correct.
WHITFIELD: ... animals.
COHEN: Correct.
WHITFIELD: When you say treatments, you know, you alluded to the types of treatments, or it's important for someone to be treated right away, if they have been exposed to inhalational anthrax.
What kind of treatments are we talking about?
COHEN: It's actually relatively simple.
Antibiotics are the primary treatment that people with inhaled anthrax get. There are some other treatments that are to help that along. But it really is -- it's not so much the treatment that's important here. I mean, of course, that's important. It's the timing of the treatment. It is getting that quickly.
Now, we don't know the details about this gentleman.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
COHEN: We don't know if he figured this out quickly enough that he could get those antibiotics in time.
WHITFIELD: All right. And we will be watching.
Elizabeth, thanks so much. I know you will be staying nearby, as we await this press conference taking place out of New York, involving the mayor, as well as the police commissioner.
And, of course, we will have more news on LIVE FROM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Lethal injection is so far saving the life of a convicted killer in California. A legal battle over a procedure means he will get to live at least a few months longer.
CNN's Peter Viles report, the family of the victim, however, is outraged.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 23 years on death row, convicted murderer Michael Morales dodged death, not once, but twice, in a single day -- the state of California postponing his execution indefinitely, saying it could not meet a judge's order to have a medical professional administer the fatal drug.
VERNELL CRITTENDON, SPOKESMAN, SAN QUENTIN PRISON: At this time, what we were -- we were not able to find any licensed medical professionals that were willing to inject medication intravenously, ending the life of a human being.
VILES: Morales was convicted in the 1981 rape and murder of 17- year-old Terri Winchell. Her family has waited 25 years for justice, only to see the execution postponed twice.
MACK WINCHELL, FATHER OF TERRI WINCHELL: I just think the whole judicial system has went to hell, in my book. I can't understand it.
VILES: In a statement, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said -- quote -- "The federal court has interjected itself into the details of the state's execution process. I am confident that the convictions and sentence were appropriate in this case."
The key legal issue is whether California's method of execution, three drugs given one after the other, causes pain and suffering.
DAVID SENIOR, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL MORALES: They use three drugs. And the second drug that they use paralyzes the inmate, which doesn't allow the person administering the drugs to know whether the sedative, which is the first drug, is actually working. The third drug is excruciatingly painful that they pump into the inmates.
VILES: Morales was said to be relieved at hearing the news.
The family of the murdered girl, according to prison officials, is -- quote -- "taking it very hard."
(on camera): Michael Morales spent the past 24 hours in a death- watch cell, just 15 feet from the death chamber. He won't be back there for quite a while, because the hearing on his claim of cruel and unusual punishment isn't even scheduled until May.
Peter Viles, for CNN, at San Quentin Prison in California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And, once again, meantime, out of New York, we're awaiting a press conference involving Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as the police commissioner. It involves a New York City man who has somehow inhaled anthrax. He is now being hospitalized. We're waiting for details, and, apparently, reportedly, it was through accidental exposure -- more on that as the press conference begins.
Meantime, slaughters, shots and quarantines, as nations try to keep a lid on bird flu outbreaks in poultry -- hundreds of thousands of chickens are marked for death in expanded kill zones near India's first reported cases. And Indonesia, which has resisted mass culls before, now says it will scour Jakarta for infected birds.
More birds face slaughter in Nigeria, where bird flu has been found in as many as six northern states there. In Europe, E.U. OK a plan to vaccinate poultry in France and the Netherlands, after finding infected wild birds there. And Russia slaps poultry quarantines on 17 southern villages after the virus is found there.
A spokeswoman from the World Health Organization says -- quote -- "We have never seen so many outbreaks of the same virus in so many different regions" -- end quote.
Well, panic or apathy, when it comes to bird flu, there's a little of both, at least in Africa. In Cairo, Egypt, rumors -- and they were just rumors -- that dead, diseased chickens were being tossed into the Nile, Egypt's sole water source -- a run on bottled water followed, as did 3,000 calls to a bird flu hot line every five minutes.
Health officials are trying to reassure everyone, the water is safe. In Zambia, the government was blasted by health officials and the media when the country's new budget earmarked $4,000 to fight bird flu. That's less than Zambia spends to promote wrestling. The revised figure is now $3.5 million for the year 2006.
Well, the folks in San Francisco already recycle more than 60 percent of their garbage. Now the city wants another group of city dwellers to pitch in what they usually leave behind. We will get the dirty details -- when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. You are looking at a live shot right now. We're waiting for Mayor Michael Bloomberg to emerge to hold a press conference on how, reportedly, accidentally, a New York City man was exposed to inhaled anthrax.
Meantime, eight new millionaires in Nebraska, eight friends, eight co-workers, and eight lottery hopefuls who pooled their money for Powerball tickets. And guess what? It paid off. Their numbers came up. And, today, they are very rich, more than $15 million each, after taxes. That's a whole lot of money, and a lot of pressure, when the bright lights hit them this morning in Lincoln.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, ladies and gentlemen, our first individual is Michael Terpstra.
Michael, come on down.
(APPLAUSE)
MICHAEL TERPSTRA, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER: It gave us something to talk about, when a big jackpot would up -- be up. What are you going to do? Oh, I'm going to buy an island.
(LAUGHTER)
TERPSTRA: You know, I'm going to buy an airplane. Reality? Gee, not a fan of flying. Don't really like water.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our second individual is Quang Dao.
QUESTION: Is this a great country or what?
(LAUGHTER)
QUANG DAO, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER: This great country.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're happy to introduce Rob Stewart.
(APPLAUSE)
ROBERT STEWART, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER: I was in maintenance. I was a maintenance supervisor.
QUESTION: You say was. Is that past tense?
STEWART: Most likely.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chasity Rutjens.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CHASITY RUTJENS, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER: It's still a blur. And we are still thinking we're going to wake up from a dream, or something, and it's not all true, or -- we're trying to grasp the -- the fact that we're millionaires now.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our next winner is Alain Maboussou.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
QUESTION: How were you doing financially? I mean, were you doing all right?
ALAIN MABOUSSOU, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER: I don't want to say I was comfortable, but I was all right, though, you know? I wasn't complaining. Yes.
QUESTION: Not complaining now?
(LAUGHTER)
MABOUSSOU: Not anymore.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next is Dung Tran.
DUNG TRAN, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER (through translator): I have been working for 16 years. Every day, I have to go to work. I bought a lottery ticket to try to make more money.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eric Zornes.
(APPLAUSE)
ERIC ZORNES, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER: It's been hell for the last four days.
(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: In what way?
ZORNES: Oh, you are just trying to get all these people in the same room, and trying to agree on things, and hiding from you guys.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And our final of the group, David Gehle.
(APPLAUSE) DAVID GEHLE, RECORD POWERBALL LOTTERY WINNER: You never dream of something like this happening, and a bunch of cameras.
(LAUGHTER)
GEHLE: I'm not used to it. I'm -- it makes me nervous. But -- but it's -- it's amazing. I never thought we could win the Powerball.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, the shades air nice touch, but we know who you are now.
Well, if you are feeling a little crowded out there, you aren't alone. But you already knew that. The U.S. Census Bureau's world population clock is due to hit 6.5 billion at 7:16 p.m. Eastern this Saturday. The clock estimates, 4.1 people are born each second, and 1.8 people die each second.
Here in the U.S., the population is expected to hit 300 million people later this year.
Well, the president has been on the road this week, pitching his new alternative energy plan. It seems to be a broad departure from policies of the past.
Here are the facts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MAY 7, 2001)
QUESTION: Does the president believes we need to correct our lifestyles?
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That's big no. The president believes it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy-makers to protect the American of way of life.
WHITFIELD (voice-over): That was 2001.
But hear what President Bush has to say now.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know it came as a shock to some to hear a Texan stand up there in front of the country and say, we have got a real problem: America is addicted to oil.
WHITFIELD: So what's the administration doing to wean America from oil? Here's a look at the numbers.
The president has been talking a lot about increasing the commitment to new energy sources. In the president's budget, he's calling for $150 million for research into biofuels. That is a $59 million increase over the current budget, but it's $50 million less than was designated for biofuels research annually in 2005 Energy Policy Act.
The president's 2007 budget request for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is $1.2 billion. That's 0.2 percent more than last year -- but, also in the president's budget, an allowance for oil companies to drill on federal property without paying royalties, royalties that would total about $7 billion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, here's the scoop.
San Francisco will try using a four-legged source to generate power. Well, the poop is, it turns out that doggie dung makes up almost 4 percent of that city's residential waste. So, in a new pilot program -- no kidding -- they will use dog droppings to create methane gas. Well, the gas could then be used in any device that uses natural gas. And it could also be used to generate electricity. How is that? Well, they will get their raw material at the local dog park.
Well, coming up, a missing snake, a nice long shower -- trust us. This one is pretty much a neurotic's jackpot. Don't get any soap in your eyes.
LIVE FROM is back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, as promised, out of New York, here is Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, and a number of other people. We are expecting to hear more details about an accidental anthrax case involving a New York City man.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: Good afternoon.
WHITFIELD: Let's listen in.
BLOOMBERG: I'm joined today by top officials from a number of city agencies, the NYPD, the FDNY, the Office of Emergency Management, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and Department of Environmental Protection, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
We are here to present facts about what we believe, at this point, to be a completely isolated and accidental case of anthrax in -- infection in our city.
Here is what we know as of this minute. Last Thursday, February 16, a 44-year-old residence -- resident of our city became ill while in Pennsylvania. He was admitted to a hospital in that state. And he is currently under care there, and is listed in fair condition.
Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
Preliminary medical tests at the hospital suggested that he was infected with inhalation anthrax, tests that were confirmed today by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a few minutes, I will describe the chain of events that we believe led to this infection. But, because of the seriousness of this disease, I want to initially stress two important points. First, although we will keep an open mind, at this time, we have every reason to believe that this infection is an isolated, accidentally, and naturally transmitted case. No other illnesses have been reported whatsoever.
The city is working closely with local, state and federal health and law enforcement officials to investigate this case. And our health department is reaching out to anyone who might be at risk, to provide them with antibiotics if necessary.
As of now, three other people are being treated with antibiotics. And we're determining if other people need them. There is no -- let me repeat -- no evidence at this time of any criminal intent associated with this infection.
Second, as we speak, public health and law enforcement officials have secured and are inspecting the patient's rented storage and work area in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, and his vehicle, which was also parked at that storage area.
We are also conducting an environmental investigation at the patient's home in the West Village. If there's any evidence of possible contamination in these spaces, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that they are contained and safely decontaminated.
As you may know, anthrax is a bacteria that finds hosts in domestic animals such as cows and goats. Respiratory transmission of anthrax spores to humans arises either from contact with infected animals or from breathing air laden with spores of anthrax bacilli.
The disease is usually restricted to people who handle animal hides. Respiratory anthrax is, in many cases, lethal. The disease can also be contracted by exposure to the skin, but that kind of exposure is not generally fatal.
The person that we're talking about in Pennsylvania, who has been diagnosed with respiratory anthrax, works with African drums and handles unprocessed cow and goat hides obtained both overseas and domestically.
On December 21st, he returned from a two-week trip to the African nation of the Ivory Coast, where he bought raw animal hides and brought them back to New York.
He and his family members have told investigators that he worked with these imported skins during the days just before his trip to Pennsylvania and he worked in his rental work space in DUMBO with them.
So even though we have not foreclosed other possible sources of infection, the most likely scenario here is that he contracted anthrax in the process of handling these untreated skins.
This is not New York City's first encounter with this disease. We all remember the instances of anthrax infection that took place in the autumn of 2001. Since then, our law enforcement and public health officials have been aggressively and vigilantly trying to detect any subsequent appearance of anthrax in our city.
We take anthrax very seriously, as we should. And because of the nature of this disease, and the understandable concerns associated with it, we decided to get the facts out to the public as quickly and as clearly as we possibly could. And I want to commend the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for their swift and effective cooperation with us in this case.
On that note, I would like to turn the floor over to the commissioner of our Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Thomas Frieden -- Tom.
NEAL COHEN, N.Y.C. HEALTH & HUMAN SVCS. COMM.: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just to emphasize a few of the points and give a little bit more detail from the medical and public health standpoint, this is a single patient, a 44-year-old man, a resident of Manhattan, who developed inhalational anthrax and is currently hospitalized in Pennsylvania.
He worked with unprocessed animal hides, which is a known way of getting anthrax. And he did that only -- as far as we know from interviews with him he did that only in a facility in DUMBO, which is not populated by other people. He did not do that in his residence or other areas.
As the mayor says, while we can't rule out anything else, we're working closely with law enforcement. Every indication suggests that this is naturally occurring anthrax.
There are at least four people who we have identified who may also have been exposed by this natural means to animal hides. We have already met with three of them, ensured that they have been prescribed antibiotics to prevent them from getting anthrax in the future, and they are taking them.
The fourth is in transit and we will meet with him later today and ensure that he also, if appropriate, is given medicine. This is again medicine to prevent anthrax. None of these individuals have anthrax or any signs of it. As a preventative measure, they are getting medication to avoid that they would get anthrax in the future.
We are also working with the police department, the Department of Environmental Protection, the CDC, and other agencies to do sampling, both at the workspace and at the residence. This will take some time.
We systematically sample to see if there are anthrax spores present. And if there are, we will then work with the appropriate authorities to ensure that those spaces are decontaminated before anyone else goes into them. There is at this time no indication of any risk to the general public. The patient is stable. He has done better than most people with inhalational anthrax do. He is breathing on his own without respiratory support. He is on oxygen. He is being observed in an intensive care unit, but is not intubated. He's not on a breathing machine at present. As the mayor said, our hopes, thoughts and prayers are with him.
We also have sent notification to doctors throughout New York City alerting them of the case and to be aware of the clinical characteristics and possible risk factors, the bottom line being, if someone works with animal hides, this is someone who, if they develop symptoms consistent with anthrax should be very carefully monitored.
And if other people may have been exposed, they should contact us so we can work with them on preventative treatment. We also very strongly emphasize to physicians not to overprescribe antibiotics. People who are coughing but don't have exposure to unprocessed animal hides have absolutely no reason to be concerned about what they may have.
BLOOMBERG: I'd like to now have some comments from our police commissioner, Ray Kelly -- Ray.
RAYMOND KELLY, N.Y.C. POLICE COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The New York City Police Department, along with our federal partners, Mark Mershon, the assistant director of the FBI, we agreed early on that it was unlikely that this anthrax incident was related in any way to terrorism.
We, nonetheless, initiated an intense examination of that possibility when this first came to our attention late yesterday. This morning, New York City police officers and FBI agents surveyed the outside of the residence in Greenwich Village and the storage facility located in Brooklyn.
This was, as I say, an outside, cursory examination of the locations to better inform the multi-agency team that met an hour ago to develop an entry strategy for both locations. We expect that some time later today, three member teams comprised of personnel from the FBI, from the Department of Health and from the New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit will enter the apartment and the storage facility.
They will go inside to determine the extent of any anthrax production there. The teams will be equipped with level C protective gear for initial entry. Level C equipment essentially protects the skin and the inhalation process.
There is not, at this time, believed to be a need to evacuate anyone from those locations. Again, the determination to that extent will be made with multi-agency meetings that will be conducted. There will also be a police presence at the -- both locations to ensure that there's an orderly inspection process.
I want to, again, thank assistant director Mark Mershon for his cooperation. Whenever we confront a potential terrorist threat, it's important that the FBI and the NYPD work quickly and closely together to make the best assessment possible, and that's exactly what's happened here in this case.
Since 2002, the NYPD has also had a special working relationship with the Department of Health to deal with potential catastrophic health issues that may arise in the age of terrorism.
I want to thank my staff, Dr. Danni Zavatsky (ph) of the NYPD. She's an endocrinologist and she has been very quick to respond in this manner. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor.
BLOOMBERG: Commissioner, thank you, and we are joined, as Ray said, and I said before, by the director of the New York field office of the FBI, Mark Mershon -- Mark.
MARK MERSHON, NEW YORK FIELD OFFICE, FBI: Thank you, mayor, and thank you, commissioner. You are a great partner. There is a certain nostril flair, so to speak when we hear about anthrax in this time of terrorism and the fact that it has previously been weaponized.
In truth, anthrax, we know, occurs naturally in our environment. Our victim here, a New York City resident, fell ill in Pennsylvania. Immediately the Joint Terrorism Task Force, composed of the FBI and a number of agencies, principally in this case, the New York City Police Department, engaged the ...
WHITFIELD: You've been listening to the director of New York's field office of the FBI right there, as well as Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York city, and Ray Kelly, the commissioner from New York talk about what they are almost certain to be an accidental exposure of inhalational anthrax involving a 44-year-old man who is being hospitalized now in Pennsylvania, even though he is a New Yorker.
Allan Chernoff has been listening and gauging the comments of those officials and they are making a very concerted effort to make sure that people do not feel alarmed that this particular case is anything but an isolated case. Those the words from the mayor. Allan?
CHERNOFF: Well absolutely. According to what the mayor has just said, it certainly appears to be an entirely isolated case and also entirely unrelated to any terrorist -- potential terrorist activity.
The mayor said himself that this man had actually been to the Ivory Coast, where he purchased raw goat and cow skins. And, in fact, one can contract this disease from those skins. He was working with those skins down at his rental workspace. He mentioned the neighborhood Dumbo. That stands for down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass. It's right across the East River in Brooklyn from Manhattan.
And this is where the man apparently was working with these skins. He's a drummer by profession. He had been doing a performance in Pennsylvania. Prior to the performance, he complained of flu-like symptoms and then right after this performance at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania, he collapsed, was brought to the hospital. Now he's in the hospital and this is in Sayre, Pennsylvania. He is said to be in stable condition right now. So is being treated.
The mayor also did say that no one else as far as he knows has been infected, although three people are receiving antibiotics. New York City officials have secured that workspace in Brooklyn, as well as the man's vehicle and his home in the West Village of Manhattan. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Allan Chernoff, thank you so much, out of New York.
And medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here alongside me, also monitoring these events. It's interesting while this one individual is being treated, because of the inhalational anthrax, as a precaution other people around him that may have been exposed to him are being given antibiotics.
But how much of a challenge is it for officials to figure how broadly do they expand, you know the net, to see who may have come into contact with him? How may they have been exposed to the same thing?
COHEN: Right. And it's interesting at this press conference, Fredricka, they did not make it clear exactly what kind of exposure they thought these four other people might have. That's three others on antibiotics and a fourth who they say will be on antibiotics soon. They didn't say what kind of exposure they might have had.
Now the first thing, the most important thing to say right now, is that anthrax is not spread person-to-person. It would make sense that perhaps their concern is that these people might have been exposed to those same animal skins that the gentleman who is sick right now may have been exposed to. Maybe they were in his car. Maybe they were in his workspace in Brooklyn. So maybe they also inhaled those anthrax spores.
Now we can remember from 2001 when there were the anthrax cases, especially if you remember at the Capitol. Many, many people were put on Cipro, the antibiotic at that time, of choice, and still is used for anthrax as well as others. They were put on Cipro just because they were worried -- authorities were worried they had been exposed to anthrax. And with anthrax, you can't wait. You don't take nasal swabs and wait around to see if it's anthrax. If you think there's exposure, you get the correct antibiotic because anthrax does move so quickly. You may feel fine one day and then within a week, you could be in very serious condition.
WHITFIELD: So still unanswered, we really don't know how long the gap between when this man was exposed to it, how it accelerated to the point of putting him in the hospital, because he was in the hospital six days ago. But we don't know how long, what kind of time span there was in between.
COHEN: Right. They didn't seem to give those details. So we don't exactly know exposure, when he got sick, when he was put on antibiotics. We don't know how these other people, why they selected them to go on antibiotics as well. And so what epidemiologists do, what doctors do in this case is they try to retrace his steps and they say, where were you when you bought these skins? Where did you bring them to? They were in your car, they were in your workspace, were they anywhere else? They made a point, the mayor made a point of saying that this was not a place with a lot of public exposure. There weren't a lot of other people in this workspace in Brooklyn. Well thank goodness for that. Certainly if he had these skins out in public with a lot of other people, this would be a very different story. We wouldn't be talking about three people on antibiotics, we'd be talking about a lot more.
WHITFIELD: Right. And you talked about them, officials looking into the vehicle, where, you know, he may have been. And we also know the storage space. In fact, we have a live picture right now of that Brooklyn storage space that the mayor and others were talking about, likely where he did a lot of his work, where he, likely, handled mostly the cow and goat skin.
So then any of the folks who work at that Pinnacle Self Storage, since that is indeed the place that we're being told where he holds his stuff, you mentioned it can't be necessarily transferred person- to-person contact, but might any of the folks there at that storage facility come into contact with those skins as well?
COHEN: Well that's the detective work of epidemiology. That's what epidemiologists try to figure out. They want to know when he entered it, did he hand the skins to someone else for a period of time before they were put in his individual space? Did other people come in to clean that space?
I mean, there's a lot of questions. And that's what the disease detectives do, is they ask those questions and try to find out who else might have been in this circle. And again, the mayor really made a point of saying that this was not a place where with a lot of public traffic, people weren't coming in and out of this workspace.
WHITFIELD: Yes, and this might be an investigative question that I'm about to ask you. But while we know they have sealed off this storage facility, we know that the officials mentioned looking at his vehicle, even his West Village home. Might his home be treated in the same capacity, where they would seal off his home or any place where they think he has spent a relatively great amount of time?
COHEN: They're going to be less worried about where he's spent time, as where those skins spent time. For example, if he says, "I got off the plane with these skins from Africa and I went directly to the storage space in Brooklyn in my car." So that's now, you know that it was in his car, you know that it was in the storage space. I didn't take it anywhere else. That's going to be a very different situation than if he says, "Well, I brought them home and I unwrapped them and I some friends over and we had a party and everybody looked at them." I mean, those are the kinds of questions that they're going to be asking.
WHITFIELD: All right, still lots of questions. But at least we know at this point some of the more immediate answers as to whether this is indeed, officials say, an isolated incident. They believe it was accidental exposure and the 44-year-old man is in fair condition now in a Pennsylvania hospital. Thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen and Allan Chernoff in New York.
Well the news keeps on coming. We'll keep bringing it to you right here on LIVE FROM.
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WHITFIELD: Bummer. No Olympic medal for the U.S. in hockey, men's hockey that is. But the men's curling team can clinch at least a silver by beating Canada in the semi-finals. Easier said than done, though. Curling is all but a religion in Canada, home to 94 percent of the world's curlers.
Counting the medals. Germany has the most with 22, nine of them gold. Austria, with a pair of medals in the women's slalom today, is second with 19 overall, followed by the U.S. and Norway, each with 18.
More LIVE FROM, right after this.
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WHITFIELD: All right, if the movie "Psycho" scared you out of the shower, buckle up. Just wait until you see what happened in Rexburg, Idaho. You don't want your shower to have a head like this now, do you? It started with an apartment building and eight and half feet of missing stake, a Burmese python named Bessy.
When Bessy's owners reported her missing, some residents cleared out. It's not a bad idea. Burmese pythons are constrictors after all. Others, who clearly have never seen the movie "Anaconda," launched a search party and found Bessy nesting above the shower of a downstairs neighbor.
And here's her reaction. Not the snake, but the woman.
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RACHEL MEYNLEY, UNSUSPECTING RESIDENT: It's pretty sick. Kind of scary. But I guess you pay for a cheap apartment, you get kind of creepy stuff.
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WHITFIELD: Oh, no, that's enough to scare you. I never want to take a shower again. Well, Bessy is now in animal control awaiting in Rexburg, awaiting a new home.
And we'll check the closing bell and find the key to "THE SITUATION ROOM," right after this.
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WHITFIELD: Just minutes away from the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, CNN's Ali Velshi is keeping us company, as always. Good to see you, Ali.
VELSHI: Hey, Fred. Really interesting story I came across today.
WHITFIELD: Yes?
VELSHI: And that is that, you know, because English is the dominant language and the world has become such a small place with all the business that we do with other countries, a record number of people in the next 10 years are going to be learning English. Places like China, where they weren't learning English.
All sorts of people are learning English. And the fact that it's a dominant language in the world and is becoming more so is actually a competitive disadvantage to companies like the United States.
WHITIFIELD: Really?
VELSHI: Now here's why. Because when everybody speaks -- when the advantage to doing business in the world was to speak English, you had an advantage by speaking English. With so many people now going to be speaking English in the world, the advantage of speaking something else or having that extra language is lost to people who only have one language.
WHITFIELD: Oh, right.
VELSHI: So, to take an example. India, because they speak English can have call centers where Americans and Westerners can call in. We don't have call centers where Hindi speakers can call in, even though there are, you know, a quarter million computer owners in India.
So the idea is English speakers only rest on their laurels and haven't had to learn other languages. It might be time to think about that. Not by force, but by choice, to learn other languages. Kind of an interesting story.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it is very interesting. So now knowing that, are a lot of companies starting to think about, all right, well, if we're at the disadvantage right now because of that, is there another way that we could be or have an advantage?
VELSHI: Well, they hire people from a lot of these countries. Because if you hire somebody from another country where they speak English and another language, you've got that added advantage.
So one of the things, one of the lessons to learn about this in terms of employability over the next coming year, if you're a student, is do something where you do learn another language. Choose what that language is. There's a lot of growth around the world. The Asian languages are obviously very popular right now. But yes, I mean, give yourself whatever edge you can.
WHITFIELD: Wow, that's incredible stuff. All right, thanks so much, Ali. (MARKET REPORT)
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