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Ebola Infects the Senate Races; President Obama Campaigns, Then Votes; Are Hospitals Prepared For Ebola?; Nepal Focusing on Recovery Mission

Aired October 20, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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


MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Botox was originally used for something completely different. And then they realized it could --

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I know, but it takes some time.

PEREIRA: They kind of rushed that to market.

CUOMO: It takes some time. You'll see. You'll see. But see how matter of fact it was to the Europeans? They're like, oh, it's already approved so we should start using it because we think it can do this.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Way to stick to the medical angle. I like that.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: It's more interesting, more interesting. The other stuff is just painfully obvious.

Unlike politics, so let's get INSIDE POLITICS on NEW DAY with Mr. John King.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Botox, strike remarks elections, what are we going to talk about this morning?

CUOMO: They all go towing, somehow.

KING: Artificial expectations. I knew we were in deep trouble. Now I think we're in deep trouble. Good morning to you all. I'll see you in just a few minutes. A lot to talk inside politics this morning, 15 days from now, a very important mid-term election.

Let's go through some of the big races, big themes. With me this morning to share their reporting and their insights, Maeve Reston of the "Los Angeles Times" and Ed O'Keefe of "The Washington Post."

Let's start, we have been spending time on the Ebola crisis and we are seeing it out in campaigns. I was just on the road. You both been on the road and suddenly, yes, it's a little bit about Obama. Yes, it's about the role of government, but Ebola is coming up.

In one of the marque Senate races, Kay Hagan is the Democratic incumbent. Republicans say their candidate, Tom Tillis, has caught up over the last week. One of the reasons they think is a distressing security issues and Ebola.

He was one of the early ones saying let's have a travel ban. Kay Hagan initially sided with the president said I don't think that was necessary. Over the weekend, she's changed her mind, listen to her here in Charlotte saying, let's do this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAY HAGAN (D), NORTH CAROLINA: We need to have a temporary travel ban on non-U.S. citizens coming from the affected countries of West Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Tom Tillis had a statement from his spokesman essentially saying that is a flip-flop, a desperate attempt to mislead the media, another example of failed leadership of her and the president. Is this going to be an impact on these races?

MAEVE RESTON, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": I was in Colorado last week. We were talking to a Democratic strategist out there who said when after Duncan's death in Texas that they saw an immediate drop in the polls for Democrats all over the country.

It's becoming a huge issue just because that's all people want to talk about in Denver, in particular, that's where Frontier Airlines is headquartered. So you saw Mark Udall come out this weekend. Not quite for a travel, but going toward where Hagan is.

They are responding to the polls, you have something like two-thirds of Americans at this point who want some kind of a travel ban. Even experts say that would not be an effective way to deal with this.

KING: I have to assume, every day, candidates are out there talking about Ebola. Whether it's the specifics or just it makes people feel anxious. That can't be good for Democrats.

ED O'KEEFE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": No, and that's why Republicans are so happy to talk about this. Yes, there is a public health concern, but it's an opportunity to once again put Democrats on the spot and test their allegiance to the president, who of course, until this weekend really wasn't very supportive of taking these steps, putting in a czar even talking about a travel ban.

But almost immediately, Mark Udall, Kay Hagan, Michelle Nunn, where I was in Georgia, told reporters on Friday, if we're going to do it. Yes, let's do it. All of them hadn't said anything really until Republicans started trying (inaudible).

RESTON: You were hearing lots of crazy things on talk radio too where some Republicans and talk radio hosts were trying tie Ebola to the border crisis, to ISIS. It's just spiraling out of control.

KING: The facts are often missing from the debate or exaggerated in the debate. That happens in politics, but there is no question, you are right. Republican talk radio there calling this a failure on the president's part, they are saying things that seemed it's sketchy.

That ISIS is flooding terrorists across the border infected with Ebola. We haven't seen proof of that, but they're trying to see a turnout, without a question. We'll see how this plays out.

We mentioned the president. He is not welcome in the big battle ground states, but he has been campaigning a little bit including in his home state, his adopted home state of Illinois. He was out there campaigning for the Democratic governor, Pat Quinn. He's got a tough race out there in Illinois.

Guess what? The president is going to set an example. He is going to vote early in this election. That's a huge dynamic. One of the ways Democrats think that they can overcome these political headwinds is by outhustling, outmaneuvering using technology to outwork other Republicans.

You mentioned Colorado, early voting started there today, but every candidate, I wasn't going to use this, but I did bring this back. Every voter in Colorado is getting a ballot in the mail. How much does this change the dynamic?

I'll use this as an example. In 2012 on Election Day in Iowa, Mitt Romney won, but if you look at the official results, Barack Obama won quite convincingly because they outhustled them in the early voting. How much does this matter?

RESTON: Well, I think it really matters a lot. In Colorado the fact that every voter is going to get a ballot in the mail is a wild card in that race. This is the area where Democrats think they have a chance to really catch up. They're trailing in some of these polls and in very close swing states, like Colorado.

But they showed in 2012 that they could outwork the Republican side and they got door knockers out all over the Denver suburbs and these other swing states asking people to return their ballots in 24 hours and maybe that will be where they get the edge.

O'KEEFE: And yet Republicans and the super PACs that love them are out there trying to get people -- 185,000 as of Friday in Iowa, a good chunk of those are Republicans. So we may see a change from 2012 this year down there.

KING: I think that's a great question. Have Republicans learned a lesson getting thump to two campaigns in a row and they figured it out?

O'KEEFE: Early that has suggested they have, another hundred thousand in Georgia, another 700,000 plus in -

RESTON: Obviously they have made a huge investment, the Republicans, in trying to improve their data this year and really pinpoint voters where they are. KING: Going to the final two weeks with some wild cards, you expect the Republicans to win in red states. Democrats are fighting to hold those blue states like Colorado, Iowa, and New Hampshire. But Democrats are a little nervous about the math. They are making some plays in some unconventional places.

South Dakota, Georgia, and the Kansas race is a little whacky because you have an independent against the Republican. You spent some time in Georgia. A runoff, are we going to have a runoff or can a Democrat win there?

O'KEEFE: If you talk to her, she is convinced she can win it in November. But both parties I think starting really to look towards January 6th.

KING: Imagine that, folks, the election is two weeks from tomorrow. We may not know who controls the Senate. There could be a runoff in Louisiana and a runoff in Georgia in January.

O'KEEFE: The day after the Senate is supposed to convene. They may be sitting on their hands until the night of January 6th to try to figure out who exactly is in charge.

But she has surged ahead in polls that came out last week, we'll see if there are new ones this week. The reason is she is beating David Purdue over the head on his business record much the same way that President Obama did against Mitt Romney in 2012.

It's working because he has just defended his business record to explain it. Now running ads in the state to defend it and yet, it doesn't seem to be working necessarily. So Republicans will tell you privately they are convinced that there could be a run off.

KING: The Republican leadership here in town is furious. I think it's running a bad campaign. Let me ask you a question, if Mitch McConnell wins his race in Kentucky and Republicans take control of the Senate, who would be the majority leader? That would be Mitch McConnell, right?

RESTON: Right.

KING: If you pick up "USA Today," you will see the ten-point plan from Ted Cruz. The last time I checked, he's the junior senator from Texas. What is he doing here? A ten-point plan, here's what Republicans will do if we take the Congress in 2015. Not normally the way the Senate works. Usually the junior guys refer to the senior guys.

RESTON: Well, certainly not Ted Cruz. That is not his style, but he has his following. There is a question as to how many people will be listening to his agenda. He is a 2016 potential candidate. I think it's about positioning for that, showing people that he has an agenda. He is willing to take on people in his own party.

KING: He checked in with Senator McConnell first, right? O'KEEFE: Absolutely not. Nothing to do, what goes on the floor of the Senate and everything about telling voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, tax reform, flat tax, audit the Federal Reserve, repeal common core, repeal Obamacare. That's not a Senate agenda.

KING: Run for president before this election is over, who would do such a thing?

O'KEEFE: That guy.

KING: Thanks for coming. Alisyn, as I get back to New York, I met a lot of nice people, ate a lot of great food, learned a lot about the election, and there is the group ready for Hillary Clinton. They are out there trying to raise support for her. Some people waste a lot of money in politics.

This is a public service. This is Des Moines, Iowa, a "Ready for Hillary" sign using an old picture of Hillary Clinton working on her Blackberry, "Don't Text and Drive," you know, I think that's actually -- politicians do silly things. Good public service there.

CAMEROTA: We'd like to see some pictures from the trip.

KING: I got some great ones. Go to Instagram, you can see my pictures. I will e-mail you some. Great people, great places, a couple of beautiful sunsets. Sneak in a couple beautiful meals.

CAMEROTA: Wow, you really can miss the area. We did a lot of advance research.

KING: Research.

CAMEROTA: Field research. I got it. John, thanks so much.

All right, the Texas hospital where Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan died now apologizing in a full page newspaper ad as two nurses who treated him are in the fight of their lives. Are other hospitals now ready for more cases? Dr. Sanjay Gupta has that answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: The 21-day quarantine period coming to an end today for the family of Thomas Eric Duncan who died of Ebola. Mr. Duncan died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital 12 days after initially being misdiagnosed by the hospital and then sent home.

Two nurses who treated him have also contracted the deadly virus. Now in light of that hospital's missteps, how prepared are other hospitals to deal with an Ebola patient.

Let's bring in Richard Umbdenstock, he is the president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, and CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Gentlemen, good morning. Good morning, Sanjay.

Richard, thank you so much for joining us. I think we want to get a little reaction from you right off the bat, Richard, about Texas Presbyterian's apology over the weekend, putting out an ad in the paper. Some will wonder about the accountability. Should someone lose their job at Texas Presbyterian?

RICHARD UMBDENSTOCK, AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT AND CEO: I think issuing that statement to the community yesterday morning the way they did and the communications that they have been providing throughout the last week is exactly the right thing to do.

That organization is being fully transparent. They were faced with a very difficult situation. They had nurses and physicians who ready to step in and take care of those patients as they do in tough times, but they did now have clearly some challenges there.

But that hospital has done everything it can to try to communicate to the public as they have learned what's happened. They have been fully accountable in that sense and will continue to be as they learn more about what actually happened.

PEREIRA: Well, Sanjay, other hospitals are learning from what went right and what went wrong in Texas. I think a lot of people are wondering how can we feel confident knowing our American hospitals are prepared, should they feel confident?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Regarding the letter, I am not sure the Dallas hospital was completely transparent from the start. That's little bit of a problem. I think they became increasingly transparent as they were forced to be transparent.

The reason that's relevant is because for other hospitals to be prepared, you know, there is a best lesson that people learn from situations like this and the transparency needs to be there throughout so the hospitals can learn and prepare.

Am I confident? Let me tell you, in really remote areas of the world in Central and West Africa, they have been able to control Ebola for nearly four decades and with hardly any transmissions from patients to health care workers among the "Doctors Without Borders," only two over decades.

In the United States, we had two from just one patient. They can do it in really remote areas of Africa. I am confident the hospitals can do it as well. They have to do it. Implement the protocols that people know to have worked for decades.

PEREIRA: We have learned from you, Sanjay, that we can do it here in the United States too if we have those bio-containment units, there is four of them in the United States. All the Ebola patients with the exception of Thomas Eric Duncan were treated.

I want to play sound from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the NIH. He was on "Meet The Press" yesterday. Take a listen. I'll get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: We need to have more than just the four in which you have people that are pre-trained so that you don't come in and then that's the first time you start thinking about it. It can't just be four.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So, Richard, I'm curious. We understand it comes at a cost and at it comes at, you know, the cost of more equipment, more resources, more personnel, is that a realistic approach?

UMBDENSTOCK: First of all, we are blessed to have these four centers. Secondly to put it in context, we do refer patients all the time as their needs dictate with more serious conditions, need for higher level procedures and so on. So that's normal.

What we want every hospital to be able to do is first think Ebola when a patient presents with a fever, a travel history to an infected area and so on. Secondly, we want them to be able to diagnose, isolate as necessary, protect.

Protect the patient and the staff and then transfer, if necessary know who to call at CDC as we said earlier communicate with the staff, with the community as much as possible. So every hospital has to be ready to receive do what they can as appropriate.

PEREIRA: Sanjay, I don't want to get too focused just on hospitals because you and I both know that in many communities, the first line of defense is an urgent care. These urgent care facilities are defacto hospitals in a lot of areas here in the states.

Talk to me about that and are they well equipped to manage a patient that came in with some sort of travel history, would they know, would they handle, have the resources the equipment to hand him such a thing?

GUPTA: Well, they should, from the very reasons you mentioned. Michaela, we were thinking about Ebola over the last couple of months. Patients with infectious diseases of all sorts do go into urgent care centers. They have been doing that all the time.

They should be prepared to handle those. Dallas doesn't paint a good picture when they are they able to do that they should be able. There is a core principle here as well. That is as soon as you suspect someone might have an infectious disease, because they are sick, you isolate the person.

You put them away from other patients then people go into what's called universal precaution mode. That's what you said earlier the scan, protecting yourself from getting any sort of infection. So you suspect that they have an infectious disease. You treat them that way and then if needed you send them to a hospital.

PEREIRA: Well, you know we just heard that Quest Diagnostics, the nation's largest lab company has basically told health care workers we're not ready to receive these lab samples because we don't have the equipment in place to protect our workers. So there's further discussion the three of us need to be having and the folks in the medical community. Sanjay Gupta, Richard Umbdenstock, thanks so much for joining me for this conversation. I appreciate it -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela, here is a staggering story to tell you about. It's the worst hiking disaster Nepal has ever seen. Dozens of people killed when a storm hits. It's now a recovery mission along a popular Himalayan trail. We'll have the latest for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: A developing story this morning, Nepal now shifting its rescue operation to a recovery mission after a devastating storm hits a popular Himalayan trail. Officials say at least 39 were killed with hundreds more surviving this horrifying ordeal.

CNN's Sumnina Udas has more on what's being called the country's worst hiking disaster ever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before the deadly storm hit, this trekker films the decent. At an altitude of 17,769 feet, it's the highest point in the circuit, one of Nepal's most popular trekking routes. It should have been an experience of a lifetime. But that afternoon the weather turned very, very quickly.

PAUL SHERRIDAN, SURVIVOR: I couldn't see through my glasses. The sky had changed color. The ground seemed to be the same as the sky.

UDAS: At least 39 people died. It's peak season for trekking in the Himalayans. No one expected a snowstorm in October.

SHERRIDAN: The people, guides and people there given the support to tell people to move forward were moving people to worse conditions. As the snow hit your eyes you couldn't see where you were.

UDAS: Six days on, the search continues. More than 400 have been rescued. Many of them with severe frostbites, some may have to amputate their limbs. It is unclear how many more may still be missing.

In a statement to CNN, the president of Trekking Agency Association of Nepal said 85 percent of those that died were individual tourists that did not hire an official guide.

The so-called guide that accompanies most trekkers were not from one of the registered companies and did not have knowledge of the challenges in such a situation. The minister has vowed to set up a warning system.

SHERRIDAN: The systems and processes are in place that contributed towards those people dying.

UDAS: Sumnima Udas, CNN, New Delhi. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: So scary those white out conditions. You think as a tourist you're going on something relatively safe, trekking, but it's never safe.

CUOMO: So that story from abroad. Back here at home, quarantine is over for dozens in Dallas considered at risk for Ebola. Do we really know how long it takes? There are new moves to fight the virus here and abroad. We have that info for you here straight ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)