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Dallas Nurse Moved to NIH for Ebola Treatment; CDC: Vinson May Have Had Symptom Last Week; Interview with Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont; Dallas Nurse Speaks Out

Aired October 17, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm tired of them blaming the nurses for being sick.

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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, moved to Maryland, the first American contracting Ebola in the United States moved to Maryland for treatment. Another nurse in the hospital is speaking out, wait until you hear the chaos inside the hospital.

CAMEROTA: Northern exposure, officials in Ohio are looking for hundreds of people who could have been exposed to Amber Vinson after learning that her symptoms may have started a week ago. Now, at least eight people in Cleveland are under quarantine. Can Ebola be contained in the U.S.?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Ponder this. Is our John Berman royalty? He traveled to Amsterdam for answers to that question and so much more. Don't miss what he discovers about his past as Berman explores his roots.

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Friday, October 17th. Now 8:00 in the East, and I'm joined by Alison Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Happy Friday.

CUOMO: Good to have you. Good to have you.

Up first, a new group is being watched for signs of Ebola. Twelve people in Ohio quarantined after a close contact with an Ebola infected nurse. The CDC confirming Amber Vinson may have been symptomatic as early as last Friday. That's when she flew from Texas to Ohio. That means passengers on that flight and hundreds more who flew the same plane will also have to be tracked down. CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, the first nurse to contract Ebola inside the

United States has now been transferred to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland for treatment. Nina Pham thanking her doctors in a touching video just released on YouTube.

And on Capitol Hill, despite growing cries for a travel ban on West Africa, CDC Director Tom Frieden could not tell furious lawmakers at the hearing whether that idea was even being considered.

Our coverage of the Ebola crisis begins with Susan Candiotti. She is live for us from Akron, Ohio.

Good morning again, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Here in northeastern Ohio, health officials say they are prepared, yet they are also learning as they go, as you said, about a dozen people here quarantined so far, because of contact with nurse Amber Vinson. She only made two stops when she was here, her home and a bridal shop.

Meantime, we are also hearing from nurse Nina Pham for the very first time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Overnight, the first critical care nurse to contract Ebola arriving at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland, 26-year-old Nina Pham, transferred from Texas Health Presbyterian in part because of concerns about the limited number of qualified people to care for her.

And for the first time, we're hearing from Pham while in isolation, the Texas hospital releasing this video of a doctor thanking her for taking care of the now-deceased Liberian, Thomas Duncan.

This on the heels of a shocking revelation, that the second nurse to contract the virus may have been feeling ill since she left Dallas, flying to Cleveland last Friday.

DR. CHRIS BRADEN, CDC: We can't rule out the fact that she might have had the start of her illness on Friday.

CANDIOTTI: A federal official tells CNN 29-year-old Amber Vinson said she felt fatigue, muscle aches, and malaise while she was in Ohio and on the flight home. But Amber's uncle says it's not true.

LAWRENCE VINSON, AMBER VINSON'S UNCLE: She felt fine. She felt well until Tuesday morning.

CANDIOTTI: The CDC now expanding their outreach to all passengers on board both Frontier Airlines flights to and from Cleveland, and anyone with potential risk will be actively monitored.

Vinson's family said she felt she put no one in danger and called a Texas health official who told her the CDC said it was OK to fly. VINSON: If in hindsight someone decides there should have been flight

restrictions, that's fine. But to misrepresent and to say restrictions were in place when they actually weren't is inappropriate.

CANDIOTTI: It was while in Ohio for a bridesmaids fitting, according to Vinson's uncle, where she first learned fellow nurse Nina Pham tested positive for the deadly disease. The bridal shop owner says Vinson did not look sick at all.

ANNA YOUNKER, STORE OWNER: She was probably here probably about three hours, maybe. I had no idea that anything was wrong with her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And for now, that shop owner is also part of the quarantine. She has to take her temperature twice a day.

Last night, a bit of a nerve-racking visit from health officials who wanted to have her explain exactly how she interacted yet again with nurse Amber Vinson. For now, that bridal shop is closed just as a precaution.

Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Susan Candiotti in Ohio, thank you very much.

Texas Presbyterian says transferring the two nurses for specialized Ebola treatment is the right move. This as another nurse who works there says the hospital made a lot of wrong moves, that they should be ashamed that nurses were forced to treat Thomas Eric Duncan without the proper equipment or training.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is live in Dallas with that -- Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, yes, it's certainly a picture of chaos that this nurse painted, seemed to be saying there was no policies about what to do with an Ebola patient so when it happened, no one knew exactly what protective equipment to wear, no one knew exactly at what point this patient should be put in isolation.

At a congressional hearing yesterday, a lawmaker asked a hospital executive point blank, did you do training for your staff on Ebola? And he said no.

Now, it's interesting, as we know, this is for the first time in nearly three weeks, there are no Ebola patients at this hospital. The hospital said they needed the opportunity to prepare for whatever might come next. Now, they didn't say what that might be but certainly CDC Director Tom Frieden has said he would not be surprised if it there were more health care workers from this hospital who become sick with Ebola.

Also, it's interesting to point out this hospital is now two-thirds empty. People are just scared to come here because of Ebola -- Alisyn.

CUOMO: All right. Elizabeth, I'll take it, thank you very much.

And we've been hearing from the management of the hospital. What about from the nurse's side? You're going to get to hear somebody who was involved in the treatment of Nina Pham, her name is Briana Aguirre. And she will tell you what she was given and how she was treated.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, the entire crew of the Frontier Airlines flight that Amber Vinson was on at home and self-monitoring for Ebola. And the airline scrambling to contact passengers on Vinson's flight to Ohio back to Texas, and hundreds more who were on those aircraft.

CNN's aviation correspondent Rene Marsh has more on what the airline is doing to keep future passengers safe.

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RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amber Vinson flew on this Frontier Airlines plane from Cleveland to Dallas one day before she was diagnosed with Ebola. The entire crew now at home and self-monitoring for symptoms for 21 days. After Vinson's flight, Frontier says the plane was cleaned in Dallas before making five stops the next day.

Frontier says the plane received four cleanings. Now, it's replacing seat covers, carpets, and environmental filters on the plane. The airline is also contacting hundreds of passengers who were on Vinson's plane to Dallas and her flight to Cleveland three days before.

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: Our fundamental mission is to protect Americans.

MARSH: On Capitol Hill Thursday, CDC Director Tom Frieden was on the hot seat.

REP. BILL JOHNSON (R), OHIO: Was it a breakdown in the protocol? Was it a breakdown in the training of the protocol? Do we know whether or not the protocol works?

FRIEDEN: The investigation is ongoing. We've identified some possible causes.

MARSH: CNN has learned the CDC is now considering expanding what's called a "do not board" list that prevents people with a known infectious disease from flying. The list could soon also include people being monitored for exposure to Ebola, and the calls for banning travel all together to and from West Africa are getting louder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are we still allowing folks to come over here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should not be allowing these folks to come in, period.

MARSH: But federal officials say a travel ban to West Africa would prevent doctors from getting to the region and could force travelers to other airports, risking more exposures.

But President Obama Thursday not ruling the option out.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't have a philosophical objection necessarily to a travel ban if that is the thing that is going to keep the American people safe.

MARSH: Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Let's bring in Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont. He's chief deputy whip of the House Democrats. He's also on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and was at the hearing yesterday.

And let's also have Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent, of course, joining us.

Gentlemen, thank you for being with us.

Congressman, let's a quick Q&A here.

On a scale of one to five, what is your confidence you were being told the truth yesterday by the people in control of the situation, five being a lot of confidence.

REP. PETER WELCH (D), VERMONT: Five. I think they were being pretty straightforward, acknowledging some mistakes, not necessarily having all the answers going forward.

CUOMO: One to five, let's -- speaking to that point -- where are you in terms of confidence that they know what to do now?

WELCH: I think they do know what they have to do now. I think the question, I think, which is much more difficult is the ability to execute.

I mean, CDC knows, (a), they have to give out clear information. They made some mistakes after Dallas. But number two, we've got hospitals all over this country, and the real apprehension here is that somehow, some way, a person could show up at a hospital that's never had experience with Ebola, as happened in Dallas. And then even though directives have gone out, will that staff at that institution know what to do and do it at the right time.

So, for me, I think there's a real execution challenge rather than knowing what to do challenge.

CUOMO: All right, Sanjay, I'm going to give the congressman a five on both of these because he seems confident about it. But are you equally as confident that the they have their hands around what they did wrong and know how to fix it going forward?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, yes, I think so. I talked to some officials within the Dallas hospital yesterday and, obviously, what's happening now does not look good. The two nurses obviously being sent to these other centers around the country.

I asked the follow-up question as well, was, let's fast forward a month, so you've sort of been able to get your employees back working, you've stopped diversion from the emergency room, another Ebola patient shows up. Tell me -- I asked the same question, Chris, how confident are you to take care of it? They said they were fully confident.

There were mistakes made, some simple mistakes but they think they can, going forward, be able to take care of patients that come in, in the future.

CUOMO: Well, here is the concern, OK? Texas is a big well-funded health care system. Texas Presbyterian is a respected place, and yet it fell flat on its face. And everyone around the country right now is going to school on Dallas because they don't want to be the next Texas Presbyterian.

But where is your confidence, Congressman, that we have the infrastructure around to support these things? Because as we all know now, the fed's not in charge. So where does the confidence come from?

WELCH: Yes, I didn't give a five on confidence in execution.

CUOMO: Yes, you ducked on the one to five, Congressman. I'll give you a second chance at answering.

WELCH: No, well, see -- I -- that remains to be seen. The good news out of Dallas is that it was so humiliating to a very good hospital that a lot of, all of our hospitals around the country as a result of this enormous publicity are paying attention, and there's a simple procedure that Dr. Frieden outlined that makes sense. Will it be executed? Let's see.

And that is, if somebody has Ebola-like symptoms put them aside right away, immediately. Two, call us and we'll walk through what follow-up steps you should take. Three, if it looks like there is a potential Ebola person, then we're going to come from the CDC and really take over and monitor.

So, that is I think very reassuring protocol. Whether somebody who shows up in Dubuque, Iowa, or Burlington, Vermont, the emergency room in the midst of chaos often going on, will that personnel at that hospital execute? You know, none of us really know. But I think --

CUOMO: Protocol, process, execution, coordination, that is all part of the equation of leadership. Do you need somebody who is in charge of this thing that does not exist right now?

WELCH: I do. I think the president is talking about an Ebola czar and I think that makes a lot of sense. For instance we're having this huge debate about a travel pan. As the president said it's not a philosophical issue. Whatever we have to do to keep America safe, we're going to do it.

But there's real debate by people who have a lot of experience like Doctors Without Borders who suggest that's going to make a bad situation worse. So, this should be a medically based decision, not 435 members of Congress pretending they're doctors making the decision.

CUOMO: Well, Sanjay, you've been clear that you think a ban to and/or from this infected area in West Africa is going to hurt efforts there. If you don't get it right in Africa, you will certainly suffer the pain back here at home. And where do you stop with the travel restrictions?

So, now, they're thinking of a no fly list. What about subways? What about boats? What about other mass transit? Where does it stop? Is there a practical way to even do this, Doc?

GUPTA: No, and I think that's part of the issue is that as you start to sort of just sit down and figure out the various permutations, you don't -- you realize that you're really not solving the problem as the congressman has said with the travel ban.

First of all, people within West Africa could leave those countries and go to other countries within Africa and fly from there, so are you going to ban all travel from Africa, period? I mean, that's a little bit hard to conceive.

But also, this idea that now the World Health Organization is anticipating 10,000 new cases, new infected patients a week. That's what the existing aid system. If you make it more challenging even to get some of that aid in, I know that some aid will still be able to get in, but it's going to take a hit.

There will be doctors, nurses who may not want to go in because they say how am I going to get out? It's a fair point they're making. So, it's going to take a hit.

Ten thousand cases a week already, that number will grow and that's going to impact the entire world.

I gave the analogy earlier, Chris, you know, from a medical perspective, it's kind of like if someone is having a heart attack and left arm pain, travel ban would be like giving a lot of pain medications for the left arm pain but ignoring the heart attack. That obviously is going to have an impact on the whole world.

CUOMO: Congressman, if you get the chance, before I let you go, we're dealing a lot with the 21-day incubation period, and that causes a lot of the fear of the unknown. Sanjay has been telling us for weeks, there are blood tests that people could be given to cut the time in half and we're getting pushback from the government side saying, yes, but they're expensive and hard to administer.

It seems like that's money well-spent in that situation. Is it something you guys are considering pushing for?

WELCH: It is. I think that would be money well spent. In one of the parts of our hearing yesterday was from CDC about trying to accelerate aid testing and there's some companies that have some promising ideas and two, vaccines that may be helpful. So, we should be very aggressive on that.

CUOMO: All right.

You know, Sanjay, I'm happy to pass along your idea, although I am concerned they're going to wind up plucking you from us and make you the czar of this entire situation which, you know, may wind up getting you punished for having so many good ideas.

But, fellows, thank you very much --

GUPTA: I'd miss my time with you, Chris.

CUOMO: Well, we'd figure something out.

Congressman, thank you so much.

Sanjay, always a pleasure.

WELCH: Thank you.

CUOMO: Mick, over to you.

PEREIRA: Yes, goodness knows we can't separate you two. All right, Chris. Thanks so much.

Sixteen minutes past the hour.

I want to give you a look at your headlines, we start with Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says ISIS has gained control of three war planes and former Iraqi military officers are training ISIS members to fly them. These planes were reportedly seized from Syrian military airports.

The president will be holding closed door meeting this afternoon to discuss ISIS with the vice president and the National Security Council.

Some breaking developments now out of Hong Kong. Tensions escalating as police break out pepper spray and batons trying to corral the crowd of protesters. This comes hours after police used wire cutters and riot shields to disperse the crowd of demonstrators. At this point, it's unclear if the move will affect talks for long-term reforms which could happen next week.

Famed author John Grisham apologizing for some comments that he made to a British newspaper concerning child pornography and sex offenders. Grisham sparked outrage with his remarks about overly harsh prison sentences in cases involving child pornography. Now, in a statement, Grisham says he never intended to show sympathy for those convicted of sex crimes, especially the molestation of children. Have to show you this one-of-a-kind desert selfie. Look at the camera

smiling for the camera, joining three friends there in the picture. Apparently, they'd been feeding this camel for about a half an hour before they snapped the picture. What's really interesting to me is the guy who took the picture didn't know the camel was "smiling" in parenthesis until he checked his camera later that day.

You know, there's also a debate going on online about how you refer to a group selfie, some are say it's the word ussie (ph), but I don't know when a camel joins it, how that changes. You know what I'm saying?

CAMEROTA: The rules haven't been written for that one.

PEREIRA: This is uncharted territory, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I agree. That is the cutest camel I've ever seen.

PEREIRA: Can we show it one more time? Because that is a happy camel. You can't give me side eye about the camel. Come on.

CUOMO: Have you ever been around a camel? They spit at you. Camels.

CAMEROTA: I'm just saying. That camel was happy and was not spitting at nobody.

CUOMO: I'm telling you, I've spent some quality time in bad places with camels were the only transportation. I've had better relationships. That's all I'm saying.

PEREIRA: Camera guys, Debbie Downer, come on, man.

CUOMO: I'm just saying, look, it's a nice smiling camel. I just think it wasn't unloading on those guys.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Well, shocking revelations from a Texas Presbyterian nurse. You're going to find out what she says happened inside the hospital that is making her blood boil.

CUOMO: Plus, have you noticed how prices are sliding at the pump? You wonder why? Well, we don't really care, right, as long as they last. Will they?

We've got some good news for you. Stay with us.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What was the protective gear that you yourself wore?

BRIANA AGUIRRE, DALLAS NURSE: On the day that I took care of her, it was my first time being involved and in the care of any potential or confirmed Ebola case in my hospital. And you know, they asked me if I had been in there, if I had been trained. And I said no, I have not.

COOPER: And what was the gear that they gave you?

AGUIRRE: So, I went over there, I had the infectious disease department -- the infectious department and I had the -- some representative from the CDC there telling us what to put on. And they were going over the different changes they made because, you know, they before they were putting on three pairs of gloves, now they were putting on two. And they were saying, this is the system, we've moved to now.

And it was, it was a Tyvek suit. A white, Tyvek suit. What I assume was a hazmat suit. It was only available in one size, it didn't fit us all and other people were given yellow DuPont suits. And I'm not sure which one is superior to another. They're not exactly designed the same. But depending on your size, you know, you had to fit which one, get which one fit you.

And so, we had that suit on. A pair of surgical boot covers, just cover your shoes, and then a taller pair of surgical boot covers that go up to either mid calf or almost to my knee. And then we had on a pair of long Nitrile gloves, about to here, taped to the Tyvek suit. And then another pair of long Nitrile gloves on over the top of that. So, a total of two.

We had a hood on, over our head. Both types of suits had a hood that just went around here. And it came to a zip at the base of our necks.

We had on a puffer machine, a form of airborne isolation. That is a machine you hook around your waist. It leads by a tube up to a hood. That sits on the base, the crown of your head and goes, covers your face with a shield and goes under your chin.

And then because the zipper of the suit was a -- a source of, you know, contamination, we had an apron on covering that zipper seam, so that, you know, no bodily fluids or anything could penetrate that and go to our under layer of clothing.

COOPER: But your neck, was your neck exposed?

AGUIRRE: Absolutely. Yes. There's a --

COOPER: What part of your neck?

AGUIRRE: Well, the zipper ended about here on me. And the hood ended about here on me.

And, you know, this part right here made a triangle that was open. It was -- it was completely open. And the very first time that they were instructing me how to put this on is exactly the point when I said, "Why would my neck be exposed?" I just told them, "Why would an area so close to my mouth and my nose -- why would that be exposed?"

And they didn't have an answer.

COOPER: What did they say? Was there any follow-up when you raised objections to -- I mean, what is clearly a ridiculous situation, a dangerous situation?

GUIRRE: I immediately felt like it was ridiculous, and I immediately posed the same question that you're posing to me, you know, asking me right now. I said why? Why? What explanation can you give me, or anyone, about why we would be in the second week of an Ebola crisis in our hospital, and we don't even have the same equipment or protection that's given to sanitation workers that have no contact with patients at all? And they said, we know, we've ordered it.

COOPER: I can't believe their response was, well, we've ordered it. I mean, that's inexcusable.

AGUIRRE: Two weeks? I mean, I could have, not to be taken lightly, but I'm sure I could have ordered that on Amazon Prime and had it in two days. It's outrageous, and the most outrageous part about it is, is that every time I think about the facts that I'm saying right now, I just know that the nurses that have been infected, they were dealing with the same equipment while they were dealing with so much more than I dealt with personally. And they put their lives on the line and without the proper equipment. And there's nothing --

COOPER: You believe nurse Pham was wearing that kind of equipment when she was exposed?

AGUIRRE: I know she was because the equipment we needed was still on order.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: They have been through a stressful experience as you can see and it comes out.

CUOMO: And the reason we have to stay on the situation is because we have to make sure that other hospitals do it better, because these people are putting themselves at risk and they deserve better. So, we'll stay on it.

Well, here's the good news. Friday is here. Time to gas up for the weekend and watch the numbers. Spin like a slot machine, right?

Wrong. Gas prices are dropping fast. Why are they and will they stay this way for a while? Answers ahead.

And, as you may know it is not new that John Berman considers himself better than other people, but it turns out he may be right! Is John Berman descended from nobility? He throws on some clogs and dances through the tulips to his own Dutch roots.

PEREIRA: Does he?

CUOMO: Yes, he does.

PEREIRA: OK.

CUOMO: Want a clue? Google "Spinoza." Spinoza.

CAMEROTA: And do you have to say it like John?

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