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New Day

Is the U.S. Prepared to Handle Ebola?; Protests Continue in Hong Kong

Aired October 02, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

SUSAN CRABTREE, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: So, yes, I think that there's talk now, even Josh Earnest in the White House briefing yesterday, talking about the possibility of appointing an outside person for the first time in the agency's history since 1932, that an outside person who has not risen in the ranks would be the head of the agency.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Susan Crabtree, White House correspondent for the "Washington Examiner", again breaking this story about the elevator incident at the CDC, president's security, certainly breached there. Thanks so much for joining us to talk about your reporting about future reporting. We'll likely be talking to you again, OK?

CRABTREE: Thank you much.

PEREIRA: Criticism is building over how the first Ebola diagnosis in the United States was handled. Now, the federal government insists it has everything under control. But should we be worried? We're going to take a closer look with our panel of experts, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: So, by now, you know about this one case of Ebola that's been diagnosed in the U.S. How do we keep it only one case?

Now, the fear is palpable, because the CDC has projected that cases could rise to over 1.4 million, worldwide. I actually said 1.4 million in the United States. No, it's worldwide.

That's the concern. If it's spreading that quickly in other parts of the world, what could happen here? And how do we make sure it doesn't happen? Especially as we have concerns ha the way the patient was handled that was found here in the U.S. wasn't the best way it could have been handled? So, are we prepared?

Let's get answers to what are troubling questions. We have Dr. Alexander Van Tulleken, a senior fellow at Fordham University, who's both a medical doctor and has a masters of public health. We have Juliet Kayyem, a CNN national security analyst and a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us, of course, CNN chief medical correspondent.

You guys intros are a mouthful, you're very qualified. I expect only perfect answers. Doctor, I'll start with you. Again, 1.4 million cases, that's projection abroad, not here at home. The question is, because it's going on somewhere else, how real is the fear that it should or could happen here?

DR. ALEXANDER VAN TULLEKEN, SENIOR FELLOW, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: I think there's almost no question this will happen again. It is basically impossible to stop people, you have Ebola, getting on planes and coming to the U.S., it's unlikely thing, so it doesn't happen very often. As we can see, lots of cases in Africa, one case here so far. But this is very likely to happen again. So, we have to be prepared to react here and we have to be working to contain this in West Africa. That's the only way of stopping it happening is containing it in West Africa.

CUOMO: So, doing the right thing abroad isn't just being altruistic. It's self-serving because that's the best way to prevent the spread in the U.S.?

VAN TULLEKEN: There are so many good reasons to do that. We got humanitarian reasons. Beyond that, we need a strong virus control system not just for Ebola but for other kinds of flu. And then if we want to stop Ebola coming to the U.S. that's where we need to concentrate our efforts.

CUOMO: The main source of confusion, Dr. Sanjay is, either this is easy to get, and that's why they're running around trying to find anybody who may have been on the plane or knew this guy who ever got an email from him, you know, it seems. Or it's not easily transmitted, and you don't have to worry.

It does seem like a mixed message. Set us straight.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not looking for the people on the planes, because they don't think that they're at risk. I know that's been a concern and a lot of discussion about that yesterday. But because the gentleman, Mr. Duncan was not sick when he was on the plane, he was screened before he got on the plane, apparently was still healthy when he got off the plane -- because of that, they don't think any of the passengers on the plane are at risk at any of the airports that he passed through. So, that's not a concern from a scientific perspective.

Also, you know, obviously, it's more direct contact. People he may have had a direct contact with, living in the same household with. Those are the people they're going to monitor for now.

I will tell you statistically, if you're playing the odds. Even those people have a very low chance of actually getting sick from Ebola. But you do monitor them, because of the nature of the contact. Once somebody is sick, it can spread. When they say this doesn't spread easily, it's not one of those things where you can carry it in your body, not be sick at all and shaking hands and spreading it. That doesn't happen with Ebola, but it does spread when somebody becomes ill. CUOMO: So, when you hear about the ambulance being cotton-balled and

them looking for the family, that's about close proximity and heavy contact, because that's how Ebola is transmitted.

That helps set us straight, give us some more concept. Thank you very much, Sanjay, on that.

Now, the next point then becomes, Juliet, we see what happens when this guy in Texas. When Duncan goes in Texas, the hospital gets it wrong. We have reason to believe, he said he was in Liberia, he said he was feeling the way you might feel if you have Ebola, he wasn't tested. That hits the confidence on whether or not we're set up with the protocols in place that we keep being told that the government has, what is your level of confidence? You worked on this specifically dealing with the outbreaks of virus.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the good news about the Texas case is that it actually will be a wake-up call that it is here. And people should view the homeland security response as being sort of in partnership with the public health response. We're not just sitting around waiting for patients.

Now, what's happening is, of course, surveillance, it is surge capacity at state hospitals, that includes communication if someone comes in sick, who has been to Africa. It includes you know, a variety of mechanisms at the border and securing our border. And then finally, social distancing, which is what you're seeing with this patient. Anyone who may have been in close proximity to him is now being isolated.

So, there's a number of different tactics being used. It's not ideal what happened in Texas, but surely now this is a wake-up call that any hospital across the country that sees those kinds of conditions, with that travel pattern, we now have notification protocols, because we've got, we've got to identify these people quickly so that it does not spread, even though it is difficult to spread.

CUOMO: Proof of Juliette's confidence that this is a wake-up call that will be heeded, what we're seeing in Hawaii, Sanjay. They don't even know if the guy has Ebola yet. They haven't tested him as of Wednesday, but they are treating it as though it could be that way. Good sign?

GUPTA: Yes. I think so and that's the way it was supposed to work and that's what the folks here behind me at the CDC have been sort of putting out there for months regarding guidelines.

Let me make one point, though, it's interesting, this patient in Hawaii that you're talking about. So, the scenario seems to be, patient has symptoms, likely fever, and had recent travel to West Africa. But even with that situation, that obviously raises concerns and flags, but it certainly doesn't mean he automatically has Ebola, he or she. And it certainly doesn't mean that he should even be tested.

Look, there are a thousand thinks that can cause a fever when you're returning back from west Africa. Most of them are not going to be Ebola. So, it's one of those things, you still got to get additional pieces of information.

Did you have contact with someone with Ebola, did you attend a funeral, were you living in a household with someone from Ebola? Then they might even do some laboratory studies.

It's a medical investigation, Chris. But at the end of it, you make a conclusion -- yes, I'm suspicious enough, let's test him. Or I'm not, despite that he's from West Africa and has a fever, I'm still not that suspicious.

CUOMO: But when you contrast it with ha happened in Texas, it seems to be the more appropriate course of action. And again, I say, good news in terms of preparedness, hopefully, the patient does not have Ebola. Obviously, that's the last thing we wish on anybody.

Which then takes us to the -- OK, so, how are we best equipped to hand it will going forward? That comes down to a vaccine, Doc. Now, where are we with getting a vaccine. I just got a flu vaccine. Why can't we have one for Ebola? How quickly can they work it up?

VAN TULLEKEN: This is something we haven't spent very much money. A lot of the research done was to protect primates. So, Ebola is a big threat to gorillas --

CUOMO: Should have gone after the congressman? We had the congressman on. He said we'd been giving them money for all the right things. I asked him, keep pushing about the vaccine. Should we go after our leaders about money they've invested in vaccines?

VAN TULLEKEN: No, look, I think, I think actually there has been some funding for Ebola and I think two years ago it was reasonable to say this was not top of anyone's list.

CUOMO: So, it's changed.

VAN TULLEKEN: All the other Ebola outbreaks have died away spontaneously or we've been able to contain them very straightforwardly. So things have dramatically changed.

Now, I think now, we have seen a massive increase, not just in the amount of funding available, but also in the speed we're undertaking the trials and the research that's going on. The other area you see that is with the treatment drugs and those trials are being accelerated as well.

Nonetheless, we're not going to get a working vaccine in the next few months and when you look at the CDC projection of 1.4 million people --

CUOMO: Abroad.

VAN TULLEKEN: Overseas.

CUOMO: Abroad. VAN TULLEKEN: That still affects --

CUOMO: Sorry to put my hand.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: That really made the point, though. I really cover your face with my hand.

VAN TULLEKEN: Look, I'm happy for to you do it if that makes the point, I think that's exactly right. But nevertheless, 1.4 million people overseas with Ebola, means some will end up here.

CUOMO: Right, because that's the concern. You have to control it worldwide, that's the best way to control it at home.

Doctors, Juliette, thank you very much for setting us straight on the confusion, where we are in terms of preparedness and what we have to do to deal with this and other viruses as we go forward. Appreciate it. OK?

Now, this is a conversation that has to be ongoing, because the threat is real and has to be controlled and hopefully, everything is being done that should.

So, in the 8:00 hour, we're going to be answering your questions, and concerns about Ebola and its potential spread. So, what does that mean? Get online, please, and start sending your questions. You know how to tweet us, and can you just use the #EbolaQandA. Let's go with that, OK?

We're also going to be talking this morning about Hong Kong, but it is on the brink. Protesters promise not to clear the streets until their leader steps down. Not a great chance of that happening. They're also promising a new wave of civil disobedience if their demands are not met. Still not a great chance of them getting what they want.

So, what happens on the government side? Will they be answering with force? We're going to go there live coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Ebola certainly heavy on our radar today, but there are a lot of other stories making news. John Berman's handling that for us today.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Michaela.

We're just getting word of a brutal attack by militants in the Iraqi town of Heet. Militants used Humvees to carry out two suicide attacks on security checkpoints. Security forces withdrew and are trying to regroup right now as Iraqi military helicopters carry out air strikes on that area.

This morning, prosecutors are investigating a possible grand jury leak in the case of Darren Wilson. That's the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown. Concern rose when a Twitter user under the account susanmnichols posted "I know someone sitting on the grand jury, and there isn't enough at this point to warrant an arrest." St. Louis police and the FBI have now finished their investigation into Michael Brown's death.

The enterovirus that's sweeping the country could be turning deadly. Federal health officials are investigating what role enterovirus D-68 may have played in four deaths, all of them including a 10-year-old girl in Cumberland, Rhode Island, tested positive for the enterovirus. More than 500 people in 42 states and the nation's capital have now been stricken by the enterovirus. That's triple the number of cases reported just two weeks ago.

Want to show you some video right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BERMAN (voice-over): Stunning video of Iceland's Bardabunga volcano. That, folks, is an eruption. This was shot with a GoPro camera. I do not know who set it to music. The camera was mounted on a drone. You can see the magma right there. The video would have been impossible to shoot using a manned aircraft. The area is so hot one of the GoPro cameras became -- it melted. One of the GoPro cameras actually melted because that area was so hot.

PEREIRA (voice-over): Yikes. But beautiful. It gives you an idea how many --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO (voice-over): Do you think it's Bjork?

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BERMAN (on camera): Its probably Bjork. Alright, meteorologist Indra Petersons here with a look at the forecast.

Good morning, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Speaking of heat in (inaudible) its not hot in a good way. Let's take you out West very quickly where we do have strong Santa Ana winds that will be in play today, meaning that fire danger will be high. Keep in mind, although the trend is the temperatures will be going down, they'll still be a good 15 degrees above normal. So that concern will remain for sometime.

Northeast, you have a little swirl right here, so yes, still looking at a couple light showers and very easy to see where the main action is today, right in the middle of the country. We're watching the threat for severe weather again today. 40 million people looking for the effects of severe weather from Chicago, even back down through Austin.

Look at the major hubs, we're talking about Dallas, St. Louis, even Chicago looking for potential delays here. Even the threat for isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out with this system. So it's a powerful one.

It's going to sweep off to the East, affecting the Northeast by the time we get through the weekend. First, you're going to have the rain, you're going to have the strong winds behind it. It is a cold front, you're going to see those temperatures dive down.

Look at this difference, Chicago. You're going from highs about 78 degrees, almost 80, down to your highs to about 50 by Saturday. And no, it does not stay in the Midwest, it just takes another day or so. It will make its way to the Northeast where those temperatures are diving down as well.

Those are the highs. You feel like waking up to some 30s, you're going to be seeing those in the Midwest this weekend. I know someone that likes --

PEREIRA (on camera): She said 30.

PETERSONS: Okay, so you don't like it. Thank you, I like that.

CUOMO (on camera): She meant Celsius

PEREIRA: I'm just underlining what you said.

CUOMO: She meant Celsius. It'll be fine.

PEREIRA: No, no. Okay, we're good. We're good.

CUOMO: 170 degrees.

PETERSONS: Yes, exactly what I said.

PEREIRA: Thank you.

PETERSONS: Sure.

CUOMO: Pro democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong say they're not going to quit until their leader does. There's not a great chance of that, so what will happen next? How will the authorities answer? Will it be with violence? We have a live report from the scene. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The situation in Hong Kong escalating at this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BERMAN (voice-over): Police now calling on protesters to disburse after letting them really clog the streets for days. The president of Hong Kong's legislative council says there is no chance that the chief executive will resign. That despite the demands from protesters. This came hours after the demonstration spread with a massive sit-in and a threat to occupy government buildings.

(END VIDEOCLIP) BERMAN (on camera): Will Ripley is there for us right now with the latest. And, Will, this really does seem to be reaching what could be a crisis point.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If something is not done very, very soon to defuse this situation, John, we are going to see a confrontation tonight between protesters and Hong Kong police. We're hearing that from the student leaders themselves who right now are telling people to leave this area, and move towards barricades that are all around this area. Specifically barricades in front of the office of Hong Kong's chief executive, CY Leung, the leader who is responsible for the tear gas that was used on protesters on Sunday.

That created outrage in the city, and is now a reason why there are thousands of people who've crowded this area, including, you see, a group of people standing around us right now. This has been happening throughout all of our live reports. There are people as far as the eye can see along Harcourt Road in the center of Hong Kong's financial district.

It's been essentially shutting down this part of the city. Tomorrow people are supposed to go back to work, and it appears the Hong Kong government says this is the time for protesters to disburse, or there's going to be a confrontation. Our producer at one area says the number of police has doubled. They're wearing gas masks right now. And you see these signs that are up all over this area. Keep calm and hold the block.

This is the message of protesters. They say they are going to stand in as many numbers as they can in front of these blockades, trying to keep government officials from going to work, fulfilling their promise to occupy government buildings. They say they're not going to use aggression, essentially forcing the police to act. John?

BERMAN: (inaudible)Will. That is very concerning, which is that if things do not change over the next several hours there will be a confrontation you say. That's between demonstrators and the Hong Kong authorities. What's the role of the Chinese military in all of this?

RIPLEY: You know, there has been a lot of concern about The People's Liberation Army somehow getting involved to intervene. People in the past several days have been bringing up Tiananmen Square, although nothing like that has happened here.

Certainly people think of that because this is a Chinese city, and this demonstration bears a lot of similarity to what happened back in 1989. But Beijing has said that they consider this to be a Hong Kong issue, that the Hong Kong authorities will deal with appropriately. We were over at the PLA Garrison earlier today. We saw no extra activity, but we are seeing quite a heightened police presence right now.

BERMAN: Alright, we need to keep our eye on this. The next several hours will be crucial. Our Will Ripley in the streets of Hong Kong. You can see the demonstrators all around him. Many of them just kids, so our thanks to you, Will. Chris? CUOMO: Alright, thank you very much JB. We are following a lot of news

this morning, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, is fighting for his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just hoping and praying that Eric survives the night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He volunteered that he had traveled from Africa. Regretfully, that information was not fully communicated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is unacceptable and I take full responsibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said she wanted to take responsibility. That doesn't mean anything without consequence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had to go, I think it was the right move.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New help in the war on ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turkey deciding today on possible new military action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They gave us every indication that they were going to contribute.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome back to NEW DAY. And we do start with this big question, why did this Dallas hospital fail to admit a man who showed up with Ebola symptoms after he told them that he'd been to Liberia? Very troubling.

Now, that man, his name is Thomas Eric Duncan. He became the first person diagnosed with Ebola on American soil. The hospital defends its actions, arguing symptoms, quote, "did not warrant admission at the time Duncan first showed up."

The question is, should they have done it anyway out of an abundance of caution, and how many people have been exposed to Duncan before he went back to the hospital a couple days later. That's the big concern that we have this morning with that story. That's why we're going to be following it as closely as we can, because we don't want this to happen a second time the same way.

And let's bring in chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, and we do have reason this morning, you're joining us from Atlanta, but in Hawaii, Sanjay, some reason for confidence about how we will handle cases like this.

GUPTA: They have been very transparent with what's going on in Hawaii. There's a patient out there that they have some suspicions about. A patient who seems to have symptoms, and also recently was in West Africa.

They asked about the travel history, and that's going to warrant more questions, more investigations. It doesn't necessarily, Chris, mean that the patient has Ebola. It doesn't even necessarily mean that the patient should be tested for Ebola, because a lot of things can cause a fever when you're returning from Africa or West Africa. But it prompts the investigation to your point, Chris. That's exactly what should happen.

CUOMO: Alright, Sanjay. And then the concern shifting back to the situation in Texas, is about tracking down who the man had contact with. How is that going? Do we know how many contacts, what counts as a contact? Because that's created some confusion about who's at risk in a situation like this.