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CNN NEWSROOM

Possible Sighting of Suspected Cop Killer; Obama Angry at Ebola Response; Dallas Ebola-Treating Doctor Speaks Out; Hurricane Ana to Narrowly Miss Hawaii; Are U.S. Hospitals Prepared for Ebola?; Airstrikes Help Push ISIS Fighters Back; New Evidence Inside Ferguson Police Car; Finding Space for Ebola Patients

Aired October 18, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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


DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Fredricka Whitfield. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, the CDC changes its message again. New guidelines for health care workers who have to treat Ebola patients.

And -- strong winds, high waves, hurricanes off both American coasts. We will have a live report from Hawaii.

And more U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. Are they effective and are they stopping the enemy?

A crazy past 48 hours and things are still changing when it comes to Ebola in America. Just a short time ago, the World Health Organization vowed to make public a full review of its response to the deadly outbreak in West African countries. But that report will come once the crisis is under control.

And last night a federal official said that the CDC will issue new protective equipment guidelines, in their words, very soon. Meanwhile, controversy over the new point man in charge of the U.S. response to Ebola. That is intensifying. Republicans slamming the White House's decision to appoint Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Al Gore. Their main issue, Klain not a doctor, zero medical experience.

We are now going to switch and right now go to a presser that's happening in Pennsylvania. You can see everybody gathering there now. This is for the suspected cop killer, Eric Frein. We have been told that there appears to be a sighting of Frein by a woman. She describes him as wearing black and his face covered in mud.

As you know, he has been hiding in the woods after the fatal shooting of one trooper and the wounding, the serious wounding of another. And authorities have been looking for him for some six weeks there. We are told, obviously, that they're going to update us on the latest.

We heard earlier from our own Alexandra Field, who said that among the things that authorities have found include a letter in which he supposedly takes credit for those shootings.

We're going to listen in now. We're beginning. GOV. TOM CORBETT, PENNSYLVANIA: And I don't think I have to introduce

two gentlemen on either side of me or the trooper next to us.

Many people have been asking me across the state of Pennsylvania what's going on up here and they've been getting your reports. First off, I want everybody to know, we're not going to rest. The colonel and the rest of the state police and all the federal law enforcement agencies and other state agencies that are here.

And it's not just state law enforcement agencies that are involved, but our people here in Pennsylvania and all different agencies are involved, including the game commission is out there. Nobody is going to stop until we find this individual and he's apprehended.

State police, FBI, ATF, Marshal Service, state police from New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut have been involved in this. Border Patrol, I just saw some Border Patrol agents back in the cafeteria. Everybody has one mission and that one mission is to apprehend this individual.

We have our troopers coming in from all across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and it's everybody's goal, mission, and determination to keep their focus on this individual and to find him. We have received countless letters and cards of support.

What you see behind me, take a look at it. Take a look at them. Read them. These are children talking about this. I just was given a pack of crackers to look at with a note to daddy on it from a child. Her daddy, we assume, is a state police officer out in the field, telling him to be safe, but to catch the bad guy. And that's exactly what's going to happen.

It is a community, it is a commonwealth, and it is a nation coming together. Over somebody who would assassinate a police officer, a state police officer in this case, and who's out there in those woods, woods that he knows very, very well, trying to avoid capture. That's not going to happen.

We've received those letters of support, cards of support, and I know we will continue to do it. Residents all across northeastern Pennsylvania have come together to support our police in ways that we never could have imagined and the state police are thankful for that. We all are.

The local restaurants continue to provide fantastic home-cooked meals and I thank them for their support and their continuing support, and thank them for their patience and understanding as to what goes into this. And I know it might be hurting their bottom line, but we really do appreciate what they're doing.

I particularly want to thank Barrett Township Fire Department and the Red Cross for providing meals, but more than meals, support, conversation, and a welcome break for our troopers and for everybody involved. Their support has been an inspiration to all of law enforcement.

I want to thank the residents, also, and all the communities that have been impacted by the search for Eric Frein. I know that this has been trying on everybody, but I want to assure them that law enforcement is doing everything we can to bring this to a close as quickly as we possibly can.

I want to applaud the law enforcement effort of the entire community, many of which have traveled from other communities in Pennsylvania to help out here. I know that they are away from their families and for safety reasons this region has become a focus of everybody's attention.

And I want to thank them for their ongoing commitment to help a portion of their state that they may not reside in, but it is our commonwealth.

As I said, we will not rest until we apprehend this individual. And we will continue to do that. And now I do want to thank everybody again for doing this. I've received a pretty full briefing here in the last half hour or so. Had a chance to tour the facility. Got an update that you are now going to get that update. So I think I turn it over to you next, Colonel.

Thank you.

COMMISSIONER FRANK NOONAN, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: Thank you all. It's a pleasure to have an opportunity to be here with the governor, and Lieutenant Colonel Bevins, to represent the Pennsylvania State Police and all the law enforcement agencies that are out there working on this.

Number one, I'd like to thank all the law enforcement agencies throughout Pennsylvania and throughout the surrounding states and our federal brothers that are working here, but even more than that, the volunteers.

When you think about how dangerous a job this is, going into a woods after a sniper that has also been practicing and you know he's had possession of explosive devices with trip wires, and yet, my biggest job is telling people we don't need any more, we will use you later. We have an awful lot of people up here that are very, very dedicated.

But my second point would be is, it's going on a long time, and I know it's wearing on all of the community and the people. Believe me it wears on us, too, and the men and women that I have out in those woods searching for this criminal. What makes it much more tolerable, though, and actually inspiring, is the support we get from this community and from across the state.

When my troopers or myself or Colonel Bivens, we stop to get gas, there's people honking and waving at us, telling us, go get him. If we go into a restaurant, everybody comes over. And I don't mean just in Pike or Monroe County, over in Lackawanna or Lucerne where I've been. And that's just given -- it's just given us all a sense that we're all in this together. It's all of our problems and we're all going to solve it.

And it means a great deal to all of the men and women in the Pennsylvania State Police. Also means a great deal to the families of the trooper that was killed and also the trooper that was seriously injured. And with that I'll turn it over to Colonel Bivens who will give you an update on where we are.

LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: Good afternoon. In the way of an update, as I've indicated right from the beginning, our search area remains very fluid and is based on the information we have available to us at any given time.

Currently based on the information developed over the past several days, our search area is now focused slightly south and in the swift water area in Paradise and Pocono Townships. For the past week, we had had no additional sightings of Frein in the Canadensis area. However, one possible sighting was reported slightly south of our current search area earlier this past week.

Just this past night, overnight, we had a sighting for which we are assigning a high level of credibility. It was reported in the area of the Pocono Mountain East High School. The individual's description was consistent with Frein and he was observed carrying a rifle.

The individual's face was covered with mud, and so a positive identification could not be made. A search of that area is ongoing as we speak.

We know that Frein is familiar with this area, as he attended Pocono Mountain East High School. He also worked briefly at Sanofi Pasteur and also worked on several summers or worked several summers rather at Camp Mensy which is just to the west of that area.

As you are also aware, on Thursday, homeowners at two locations in the Cresco area reported blood at their residences on an enclosed back porches. We're still doing some testing. There have been samples that had been collected. Lab analysis is underway to determine whether it is related to this investigation or not. We expect to have those results later tonight or early tomorrow.

At this time, we are also asking residents to continue to be vigilant and I'll remind them of the tip line number of 866-326-7256 or simply call 911 if they see anything suspicious. And I believe if it's OK with you, Governor, we'll open it up to questions.

CORBETT: We'll take some questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been really no talk of motive since this whole thing started. I was wondering if you could expand on that.

BIVENS: Well, that's all been part of the ongoing investigation, and so in deference to the potential prosecution, we have not really discussed motive other than, we know that he has had a dislike of law enforcement for a very extended period of time and he's talked to people about that and we found documents that support that, but beyond that, we're really not theorizing at this point on any other motive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trooper Alex, he's been released from the hospital. Has he made any comments? Have you talked to him since he's been released?

CORBETT: I have spoken with him, but I would characterize those conversations as private. He is in good spirits and is doing well and we certainly wish the best for him in his long road to recovery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You found blood in enclosed porches in two different homes?

BIVENS: We found what was reported as blood. We have testing to confirm that it is blood on at least one of those locations. I'm waiting for the testing on another, and beyond that, we'll do further testing to determine whether or not it's related to this investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do we know if he's injured?

BIVENS: Again, we'll have a better idea once we get the results of this testing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaking about that, I guess (INAUDIBLE) it was reported that (INAUDIBLE). OK. One of the studies, I guess somebody reported that the suspect was seen limping. Do we have any confirmation of that or anything?

BIVENS: No. At this point, we would be speculating about any other injuries, so, you know, we're really just going on the assumption he is still mobile and capable of making his way through the woods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many miles is that from where he had been to the latest sighting?

BIVENS: From some of the other items that we had found, I would say five or six miles, roughly. So it's not a tremendous area. Certainly doable for an individual like him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when was he seen?

BIVENS: Last night was the most recent sighting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About what time?

BIVENS: A little after 9:00 last evening.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And are you still searching?

BIVENS: No, we're still -- we're still searching. Again, you know, we don't put all of our resources at just one location. As I've said all along, you know, we were searching, we have a primary search area, but we've always searched much further out and, you know, even into other states, depending on the tips or the information that we had, but, you know, our concern is that he is able to move, and so we wouldn't want to just focus on one particular area and risk missing him elsewhere.

I think that we've kept -- I think we've kept a tremendous amount of pressure on him and I think that likely had some bearing on where he's at now, assuming that it is him.

CORBETT: Let the lady in the back. She's been trying.

BIVENS: Yes, ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The last news conference, you mentioned some additional items had been found. Can you tell us what they were or where they were found and has a trail of evidence also moved south and has there been another camp site found?

BIVENS: We do not have another confirmed camp site. There were some items found, there is still testing pending on some of those items, so I cannot confirm at this point that they are related to him. As you can imagine when you move through a large forested area, in some cases you'll find items that have been discarded by other people, and so -- you know, so we process those scenes, we take that evidence in and get it to the lab. So in many cases, we're still waiting for some results.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you determine which tips are credible? Are you getting more tips or less tips or --

FEYERICK: What's going on right now, you are looking at a live press conference. They've sort of hit the main points just a couple of moments ago. They're looking for the sniper and alleged cop killer, Eric Frein. They say he -- they believe that he was sighted in a secondary area, about six to seven miles from the one that they had originally been looking in, that there were some homes where they found blood. That blood now being tested to see whether or not, it's his.

I want to bring in now Alexandra Field.

First of all, the area that we're talking about, it's actually not so far from where he was believed to be hiding out. But he is moving south a little bit. So what is being suggested right now?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, you did hear law enforcement say that this area continues to shift. And it's something that we saw when we were on the ground out there. They've been predominantly focused on an area that's about two square wooded miles. This area where they've now moved to, six or seven miles away from there, as you've just pointed out, but really they've identified a larger search area throughout the course of this six-week long search.

That area, about 200 square miles. They're focusing on a very dense, wooded area. So based on the sightings, they can move their assets in. We've seen them in the Canadensis seen, which is the area near his family's home. Now they say he may have been seen in the area near the high school that he once attended. So a few miles farther south. But this is the kind of thing that we see them doing.

They move their manpower as they have reason to. If they discover, say, a possession in the woods or if there is a reported sighting, in this case we now, just last night, this a very incredible sighting, a man dressed in black, mud on his face, believed to be carrying a rifle with a scope on it. So that certainly fits the description.

FEYERICK: And the interesting thing also is that it really does appear that he is going to areas that are very familiar to him. Areas that he likely had practice hiding out in. Maybe he's even stockpiled things. You have been covering this for weeks. You have been out in that area. What has really struck you about what it is he's carrying and what it appears he seems to be doing. This has become almost this sort of hide-and-seek game that he's doing with hundreds of officers.

FIELD: And it's something that we've heard from law enforcement. They have said, this is a game for him. Early on in the investigation, they recovered a hard drive, which indicated to them that he had been planning this for a long time. They also found writings in the woods, which they say belonged to him, showing that he had talked about this escape plan, that he had mapped out, is sort of talking about this act of disappearing. So it's something that he's clearly engaged in.

But what's really striking when you're out there is the home court advantage that Eric Frein has. You know, a lot of people have stood back and said, how is it, we've had a thousand law enforcement officers out there, how can we not close in on him?

When you get a chance to drive around these areas, to go through these woods a little bit, and certainly you've got to take you really are struck by the fact that this is such a dense area, such a wooded area. There are bear caves in the area. This is terrain that he really knows. And law enforcement has had the disadvantage of having to catch up.

FEYERICK: Right. That's the difference. So even when they do find something, it doesn't necessarily lead them to the next place, it simply means that he was there. They don't even know when.

OK, Alexandra Field, thank you so much. Clearly we're going to be checking back with you a little later on to find out exactly what else they said at this press conference. But again they really want to catch this man. He has been out there now for some six weeks. You've been out there for a while, too, making sure that they catch him.

FIELD: And its' wearing on the community.

FEYERICK: Yes. It's definitely wearing on the community. It has really stepped up to the plate to give all of these officers support.

All right, Alexandra, thank you so much. We appreciate that.

Well, next, have officials done enough to protect the public from Ebola in America? An infectious disease doctor weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: President Obama's choice to lead the battle against Ebola in the U.S. is well known in Washington circles for his administrative skills. But for Ron Klain, well, he's got no medical background, he's not a doctor, nothing, zilch. And that's actually creating an uproar especially from Republicans.

Let's bring in Erin McPike at the White House.

Erin, the administration is standing behind its pick?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deb, they are. And in fact, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a briefing yesterday that the White House did not want an Ebola expert. They wanted an implementation expert and they pointed out that Ron Klain has great relationship on Capitol Hill. It is not secret in Washington that the White House does not have particularly good relationships on Capitol Hill.

And at some point, the White House needs to have more funding, claimed relationships could be helpful there.

They also point out that he has managerial experience in government. You may remember Klain from 2009 after Congress passed the stimulus package. The administration tapped Klain to oversee the distribution of that stimulus funding. Now that of course was unpopular with Republicans, but it was valuable experience for Klain -- Deb.

FEYERICK: So one of Klain's challenges will obviously be tamping down fear. Like the person who is the czar is going to have assuaged all Americans and say, it's OK, we've got this covered. How big of a part is all of that?

MCPIKE: Well, it's a very big part. So far, the White House has used some trial and error in their messaging. Over the past couple of months, we've heard from a number of administration officials who have said, look, the U.S. has one of the most advanced health care systems in the world and can handle a couple of cases of Ebola, although that of course did not go particularly well in Dallas.

But just last week, President Obama also said that Ebola is scary. Well, this weekend, he's trying to strike a balance. Listen here to some of the comments he made in his weekly address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a serious disease, but we can't give in to hysteria or fear because that only makes it harder to get people the accurate information they need. We have to be guided by the science. We have to remember the basic facts.

First, what we're seeing now is not an outbreak or an epidemic of Ebola in America. We're a nation of more than 300 million people. To date, we've seen three cases of Ebola diagnosed here. The man who contracted the disease in Liberia came here and sadly died. The two courageous nurses who were infected while they were treating him. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Before this is over, we may see more isolated cases here in America, but we know how to wage this fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: So, again, they're reiterating that an outbreak in the United States is highly unlikely, Deb.

FEYERICK: All right. And the president coming out strong on that. It will also be very interesting to see Ron Klain, his first appearance before the public and how he's received then.

Erin McPike at the White House for us. Thank you. We appreciate it.

And for the first time, we're hearing from one of the Dallas doctors who treated all three Ebola patients, including the Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan.

Let's go live to Dallas and CNN's Alina Machado.

And Alina, we understand that this is Dr. Gary Weinstein. He says his team did everything they could to save Duncan's life.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Deb. Dr. Weinstein made those remarks during an interview with CNN affiliate, WFAA. And in that interview, the reporter also asked Dr. Weinstein about allegations that Duncan did not receive the best care because he didn't have health insurance and also because of his race, because he was black.

Listen to what Dr. Weinstein had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. GARY WEINSTEIN, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: I find that remarkably insulting. That's -- I don't know how better to describe that. The team here worked their tails off trying to save his life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think you tried everything you could?

WEINSTEIN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think he could not be saved?

WEINSTEIN: Yes, he was too sick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was your reaction when -- did you know he was dying? And that it was imminent?

WEINSTEIN: It was very, very quick. He was critically ill and unstable and over a period of minutes, he lost his pulse and he was dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: Now, in the WFAA interview, Dr. Weinstein was also asked about allegations that teams were not given proper equipment to protect themselves. His response to that was that team members were given everything they asked for -- Deb. FEYERICK: All right. You can clearly see the emotion in his voice

and the toll it's taken on everybody, now that all their efforts are being second-guessed.

All right. Alina Machado, thank you so much, we appreciate that.

And two hurricanes are barreling through the oceans on either side of the United States.

Dan Simon live in Hawaii, where one of those storms is expected to hit -- Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Deborah. It is a beautiful day in paradise. The surfers are out. It looks like Hurricane Ana is going to stay offshore, but the rains are coming. We'll have a live update just after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Not one, but two hurricanes are roaring through oceans on both sides of the United States. In the Atlantic, Hurricane Gonzalo made a direct hit on Bermuda, downing trees and flooding streets. Eighty percent of people there without power. And in the Pacific, Hurricane Ana is expected to narrowly miss Hawaii, but may bring floods and even mud slides.

That's where our Dan Simon is live at Waikiki Beach.

Dan, they never send you to Hawaii when the weather is nice. Where could this storm hit?

SIMON: Well, hi, Deborah. Good weather, bad weather, it's always good to be in the state of Hawaii. There are certainly worse assignments. I just want to get that out of the way, because, Deb, I know that's what you're thinking.

But in terms of the storm, let me show you the "Honolulu Advertiser," I think this just sums it up. "Ana Churns Past Isles." That is the good news, the storm staying south of the state of Hawaii.

Now that said, you still could see some significant winds. You could see some rain, some flooding in certain areas. But I have to tell you, when you talk to tourists and locals alike, they're not too concerned.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: What do you think about the storm coming?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so much about it. I'm not afraid of it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of scary, but the locals are telling us that it's no big deal, it happens all the time. They get warnings like this. So --

SIMON: So you're not worried that this is going to mess up your vacation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Hopefully not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to approach and stay south of here.

SIMON: Not too worried about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this one, I'm hoping, is just going to go out to sea and off into lala-land, but not hurt the island.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, as you can see, that is the calm Pacific Ocean and looking pretty good right now. You can see a few surfers out, but I can tell you that about 6:00 local time, the rains are expected to come. But this could actually be a very good day for surfers. There's going to be an increase in waves. You're going to see a lot of activity, but, of course, when you start seeing lots of wind, they are expressing caution. They don't want too many people out on the water during that time -- Deb.

FEYERICK: OK. Excellent. And clearly the hotels ready and there are emergency plans in place in the event it does change gears.

Dan Simon, thank you. Enjoy the beach.

And coming up, new reports of evidence in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Our legal team breaks down what it means and why it could actually back up Officer Darren Wilson's side of the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Mortgage rates dropped this week, take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Back now to U.S. response to Ebola. Not just now but from the very start. A nurse at the Dallas hospital where the first Ebola patient died says that the staff was not ready to treat an Ebola patient. This week, she told our Anderson Cooper that she would not want to be a patient there and she slammed the CDC leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANA AGUIRRE, DALLAS NURSE: I would be sitting there, feeling like I could be contaminated at any minute. If I didn't already have Ebola, that I may get it by being there, by having -- a doctor cross contaminate between patients. By having an incompetent infectious disease -- infection control department, by having incompetent CDC leadership there, absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And Texas Health Presbyterian responded to us saying, quote, "We have conducted interviews with well over 100 caregivers involved in Mr. Duncan's care, some multiple times. The consistent and universal theme we have heard is that all caregivers reported being consistently compliant with utilizing the appropriate personal protective equipment, PPE, in accordance with guidelines from the CDC. The CDC guidelines changed frequently and those guidelines were frustrating to them and to management."

And if anyone has taken the brunt of the criticism in this crisis, it is certainly CDC chief, Tom Frieden. Lawmakers drilled him this week on Capitol Hill on the U.S. response to Ebola. Frieden, who has said that they could contain this disease, assured everyone his agency knows how to handle this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: We know how to control Ebola. Even in this period, even in Lagos, Nigeria, we've been able to contain the outbreak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: So the question, are all Americans hospital ready?

Joining me now, Dr. Trish Perl, a senior epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and also a consultant for Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response.

So when you look -- look, the one thing that's impressed me is just how young these two nurses who did contract the illness, how young they are. Do you believe that they were trained and had the experience to properly deal with something this deadly, this devastating?

DR. TRISH PERL, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: So I can't really respond to exactly how these nurses were trained, but what I can tell you is that it is critical that we take lessons learned from this particular event and make sure that we process and train all of our health care workers appropriately moving forward.

FEYERICK: So what are the lessons that you are seeing? You're one who deals in this area, looking at everything, what are the top two or three recommendations you would make at this moment?

PERL: So, first of all, I think we have to really make sure that we can screen for these patients appropriately and identify any patients or other individuals that may have exposures that are of note and importance. Two, we need to make sure that these patients get appropriately isolated when they've come into health care facilities. And three, then we need to make sure that our health care workers are appropriately trained and also feel comfortable using the personal protective equipment that is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.

FEYERICK: So if I'm hearing what you're saying, identify, isolate, equip quickly, as quickly as you possibly can, correct?

PERL: Equip and train.

FEYERICK: OK, because without the training, obviously, you can have a gown, you can put it on, you can take it off, but it's still not going to protect you.

PERL: Exactly. I think this is a very complicated process and certainly the recommendations are more complicated than we use day to day in any health care setting. And so this is very much like driving a car. We wouldn't put somebody on a highway right away when we taught them to drive. We'd make sure that they know how to go through the process, so that they feel comfortable and safe doing that.

FEYERICK: Yes. It's really actually impressed me how we're treating a disease that is sort of endemic to West Africa here with modern medicine and how we're learning, we're looking at West Africa to see how we should be treating here. Very interesting.

Dr. Trish Perl, thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

PERL: Thank you.

FEYERICK: And one woman knows all too well what those two Dallas nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, are going through. Nancy Writebol contracted Ebola while working with the aid group serving a mission in Liberia. She was flown to the U.S. where she ultimately recovered.

I spoke to Nancy and to her husband, David, earlier today, about how scared Americans are with just a few cases in the U.S. I got their reaction to that after seeing so many more cases in West Africa and also their reaction to Vinson getting on a flight after caring for an Ebola patient. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WRITEBOL, HUSBAND OF EBOLA SURVIVOR: Surrounding Ebola, there's a great deal of fear, because it's a very deadly disease. And so we saw some of the things that we saw and reactions we saw relating to the fear that we saw in West Africa, and we're seeing that here and so, yes, it's surprising, in a way, because our health care system is so much more well put together, but yet people are the same, or seem to be the same.

FEYERICK: If you have to ask the question, should I be flying given I've been exposed to somebody who may have had Ebola or who did have Ebola, excuse me, do you think, perhaps she should not have gone, simply, period?

NANCY WRITEBOL, EBOLA SURVIVOR: Well, I think that she -- I mean, they probably responded to the situation as it was at the current moment. And at that moment, you know, when she traveled, her fever was not elevated to the level that CDC was recommending that she not travel. So, I mean, you can live your life in fear and in hiding, but there is a point where it is important that, you know, in those 21 days, I think, that you have to be very, very cautious. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Thanks again to Nancy and David Writebol for joining us earlier.

And I'm struck by the images of Amber Vinson, a young bride getting ready for her wedding.

All right, well, U.S. war planes. And those U.S. war planes continue to pan ISIS positions in Syria and Iraq today. The pace of the airstrikes, slower than earlier this week, but have helped slow the advance of ISIS fighters in Kobani. Today's strikes focused on ISIS oil facilities as well as military targets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. LLOYD J. AUSTIN, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The enemy has made a decision to make Kobani his main effort. And what you've seen him do in the last several days is continue to pour manpower into that effort.

Now my goal is to defeat and ultimately destroy ISIL. And if he continues to present us with major targets, as he has done in the Kobani area, then clearly we'll service those targets and we've done so very, very effectively here as of late, as you've mentioned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: But General Austin says that it will still take time to eliminate the group.

Let's bring in our own military expert, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Tony Schaefer.

Great to see you.

LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER (RET.), FORMER SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Hey, Deb. Good to see you, too.

FEYERICK: He's a former intelligence officer in the U.S. Army.

So what do you think of ISIS now having these fighter jets? You say you're not really all that concerned, but could it be a threat?

SHAFFER: No. As much as I agree with General Austin, this is something that he has an opportunity to destroy. We need to be very careful here on what words we use to describe the threat. And I think this is way overblown. Let's remember that these folks are affected by the fact they have former members of the Baath Party, Saddam Hussein's old regime, and yes, they probably have Iraqi aviators who actually flew these Soviet-era aircraft, Soviet-made -- Russian-made aircraft.

But that said, to fly one of these takes 10 -- for one hour of flight, you're talking about 100 hours of maintenance. So even if they get them off the ground and they train someone, OJT, on the job training, they have never gone through the simulators, they don't know how to jig and go back and forth against our fighters.

I think it's way overblown. So I think if they get these pilots up in the air, they're going to go up, they're going to be up for about a minute, and they're going to auger into the ground.

FEYERICK: The more interesting thing also is that Iraqi pilots apparently are the ones who are going to be doing the training.

SHAFFER: Correct.

FEYERICK: But there's no real evidence to that effect, correct?

SHAFFER: I agree with you. There's no clear evidence. Again, there are Baath Party members who have now joined ISIS, who are very, very effective in the Saddam Hussein military. Maintaining that military. With that said, that military had a nation state behind it. You had logistics, you had a lot of support, you had the ability to train pilots. You don't have that now. Especially in the current conditions.

General Austin, if he sees an airplane sitting on an air strip being fueled by ISIS, he's going to blow it up. So I just don't think this is going to be a realistic approach for the ISIS folks to increase their ability to construct military operations.

FEYERICK: And frankly, you really don't even need to blow up the -- airplanes, the fighter planes, you really have to just blow up the runways, correct?

SHAFFER: That's correct. And again right now we do own the air. We have air -- beyond air superiority, we have air dominance. So you can do -- we can do anything we want in the air at this point in time. I don't think there's any credible threat, except for maybe surface-to- air missiles, which we do have ability to deal with, that could actually create any sort of concern by our aviators in any form, in the current -- in the current format of military operations.

FEYERICK: Yesterday the administration came out and they said that, in fact, they had made -- they had succeeded in at least stalling the advancement of ISIS.

SHAFFER: Right.

FEYERICK: Do you believe that it has been effective?

SHAFFER: They -- yes, Deb, they have been effective in slowing it down. They have decreased the rate of increase, if you will. Kobani is a -- General Austin said this, too. It's what we call a meeting engagement. This is where the enemy has decided they're going to make a concerted effort to take and hold terrain. We had slowed that down.

With that said, where they're at, we will not be able to get them out of. Even with the Kurds going in there and trying to keep them out of the city center and keep that safe, unless we have the Turkish army, essentially formal boots on the ground, we're not going to be able to push them back out. And the concern here, Deb , is that they will now, if they establish

from Kobani on down into Baghdad, they've established a wide swath of terrain that they actually do and will maintain control of until someone walks in there and pushes them out.

FEYERICK: So looking at all of this, given your experience, if you were to change or if you are in charge of the strategy, how would you stop ISIS?

SHAFFER: Three things. First, increase the tempo of the -- the airstrikes, probably by about two to three times. Secondly, we need to actually engage more directly with the Syrians, the Yazidi, and some of the Christian Iraqis as well as the Kurds. We have a fighting force already available to us. We need to arm and train them.

The Iraqi's central government, Deb, has been reluctant to give the military gear that we left behind in Iraq to the Kurds because they're afraid that they may become independent and create their own country.

I'm not saying that's not a concern, I'm saying that if we want to beat ISIS, we have to do those two things. Increase the up tempo of air strikes and let the boots on the ground we have available to us, arm them and get them going.

FEYERICK: Although very interesting, the Iraqi army not committing to actually joining together and undergo training.

SHAFFER: No.

FEYERICK: So there's a lot of infighting there as well.

SHAFFER: Absolutely.

FEYERICK: Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer, always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

SHAFFER: Thank you, Deb.

FEYERICK: And we're going to check some other top stories making news right now.

The U.S. Supreme Court said today that Texas can go ahead with its controversial voter I.D. law. That's just two days before early voting starts in that state. Critics say the law, which requires photo identification, could possibly disenfranchise minority voters. Supporters, however, say it will prevent voter fraud.

Federal courts have struck down gay marriage bans in Arizona, Alaska, Wyoming. An Arizona federal judge called the state's ban, quote, "unconstitutional by virtue of the fact that they deny same-sex couples the equal protection of the law." There are now 32 states where gay marriage is legal.

Well, things have not been very easy for President Obama in his second term. That doesn't just apply to his work. Listen to a story he told yesterday as he signed an order to protect Americans from identity theft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I should mention, by the way, that I went to a restaurant up in New York when I was there for the general assembly and my credit card was rejected. Turns out, I guess, I don't use it enough so they thought there was some fraud going on. Fortunately, Michelle had hers. I was trying to explain to the waitress, you know, I really think that I've been paying my bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: That's pretty funny. He doesn't use his credit card enough for anyone to think it's actually a serious purchase. All right. He said that he used Michelle's credit card and that worked fine and he told the waiter that he is absolutely sure he's paying his bills. There's nothing wrong with his income.

Well, coming up, there's only a few cases of Ebola in the United States, but the panic and the fear is, in fact, spreading much faster than the actual virus.

Next, we will talk to a doctor on staff at a hospital that's treating an Ebola patient.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: "The New York Times" reports that forensic tests show that blood from Ferguson, Missouri, shooting victim Michael Brown was on the police car of the officer who shot him. "The Times" reports that Brown's blood was also found on Officer Darren Wilson's gun and the paper says the officer told investigators that Brown hit him repeatedly, leaving bruises on his face and his neck.

Brown's August 9th death prompted weeks of protests in the streets of Ferguson. Nick Valencia has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a new report from "The New York Times" that CNN has not been able to independently verify, but it seems to fall in line with what Officer Darren Wilson has maintained all along, that there was a physical struggle in that police cruiser and that the gun went off.

Forensic evidence according to the newspaper shows that Michael Brown was shot in the arm at least once while inside that police cruiser. It goes on to say that his blood was found on the gun, Officer Darren Wilson's uniform as well the police cruiser.

The newspaper cites an unnamed government official with knowledge of the investigation. As you can imagine, the reaction to this new report from "The New York Times" has varied. Officer Darren Wilson's supporters have maintained all along that he was justified in his shooting and that he needed to fatally shoot Mike Brown, because he feared for his own safety. Meanwhile, Mike Brown supporters are not buying this report. They say

it's just another excuse to let Officer Darren Wilson off the hook and they say they fear for the safety of St. Louis. They believe that the riots in August were just a practice round and that there will be even further riots, bigger riots throughout the city of St. Louis, if Officer Wilson is not indicted.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Dallas, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: The report also shows there were apparently two bullet holes inside that police cruiser. Now there are only a handful of medical centers in the U.S. that have special Ebola isolation facilities.

The president has said this not an outbreak, it's not an epidemic. There are only three cases. But what happens if the nation's hospitals are stretched too thin.

Dr. Ali Khan is on staff at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and joins us from Omaha.

Dr. Khan, Nebraska, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the National Institutes of Health, all of them can treat Ebola patients, but if there are more cases, it's pretty safe to say that they could be stretched pretty thin.

DR. ALI KHAN, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: That's absolutely true. I think what we've seen with these last two individuals who were infected here in the United States, that if you have an option, you're best served sending them to a leading academic medical center such as the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

It takes care of a couple of things of you. One, you're assured of thorough and meticulous infection control that will protect the patients, the health care workers, and the community. You're assured of extraordinary medicine in taking care of the patients. So you want to make sure that they can do as best as possible. And then the final thing is to ensure that those lessons will be used to educate the rest of the medical community.

However, that's not an excuse. Every hospital in the United States has to be prepared. Because you never know, somebody may show up in the emergency room and not know that they've already been infected with Ebola. So the health care has to make sure that they can protect them there and they may be too sick to transport.

FEYERICK: And you know, that's interesting, because that's exactly what happened with the first person, Liberian, Mr. Duncan. And interestingly, Texas Presbyterian Medical Center, part of the problem was is that there are apparently 80 health care people had to basically, are now being monitored, and they were taken out of sort of the general population of treatment, which means that the staff there was taxed even more. So does it make sense, simply, to make sure we are funneling each

patient to hospitals that really know how to do this? So it doesn't undermine the nation's hospitals.

KHAN: That's the optimal strategy, but you always don't necessarily have that option, and so I think we need to think about a couple of things. So one is, how can you export the Nebraska medicine model to the rest of the hospitals here in the United States, so that they can be thinking about infection control, management of the patient, the nursing care, the -- all the environmental health issues, the laboratory issues, the communication issues, making sure that they have an incident management, emergency management system.

So how do we sort of export this Nebraska medicine approach elsewhere, and then how are we making sure that we're supporting hospitals. So for example, we've cut the hospital preparedness program in the United States by $100 million in the last year. And then the hospitals are half of the picture, the other half is the public health system. And we've cut funding to the public health system, at least for public health preparedness, which is something I'm quite familiar with, with over 40 percent over the last decade.

So to protect our communities, we need to make sure that the hospitals are doing their job and we need to make sure that the public health is prepared also.

FEYERICK: Yes, there's no question. And arguably, you know, you don't know what you need until you actually need it. And all that money was necessary after 9/11 and people thought there would be some sort of bioterrorism attack. Now we're sort of seeing the closest thing on some levels to that. And it's been very difficult for hospitals to at least contain. Certainly there at Texas Presbyterian.

All right, Doctor Ali Khan, thank you so much.

KHAN: Thank you very much.

FEYERICK: And hello, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Fredricka Whitfield. You are here with us in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin with new details on the Ebola threat in America. The number of people being monitored for the deadly virus in Ohio just rose from 16 to 29. That's the number being monitored. Health officials say that two people or, sorry, that these people came into contact with Amber Vinson, the second Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola.

Also today, a promise from the World Health Organization. They have vowed to make public full review of their response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West African countries. But that is going to happen, that report, which will be very informative, will happen after the crisis is under control.

And just last night, a federal official said that the CDC will issue new protective equipment guidelines, in their words, "very soon." There's been a lot made over whether the protective gear was sufficient.

Let's go to CNN's Susan Candiotti in Akron, Ohio. And Susan, just a short time ago, news broke that the number of people being monitored has grown again. What have you learned?