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Quarantined Nurse Fights for Release; Heartbreak in Washington: Second Student Dies in High School Shooting; Former U.S. Soldier Fights ISIS in Syria

Aired October 27, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks a lot. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, quarantine fight. A nurse in New Jersey and a fight with the governor. She's contained to a tent, no shower, no flushable toilet. Is a 21-day quarantine breaking her constitutional rights?

Plus heartbreak in Washington. A teenager injured in the school shooting has died of her injuries as a community comes together to remember the victims. This as we hear tales of heroism. A teacher rushing the gunman at a critical moment.

And a CNN exclusive. Inside the Syrian hot spot in Kobani. Our crew is giving you access like no other. On the ground in the fighting.

Let's talk, live in the NEWSROOM.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me.

And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. A CNN exclusive Kaci Hickox, a nurse who traveled to West Africa to save lives is being held under mandatory quarantine at a New Jersey hospital. She does not have Ebola, she does not have a fever. And she is tested negative twice for Ebola.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Candy Crowley, she says her basic human rights have been violated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KACI HICKOX, NURSE UNDER MANDATORY QUARANTINE IN NEW JERSEY: I understand that people feel like they have a risk, and I think we can have a conversation about what further measures might look like. But I think this is an extreme that is really unacceptable. And I feel like my basic human rights have been violated.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: So I understand Miss Hickox is uncomfortable and I understand that she doesn't want to be quarantined. But my responsibility, my greater responsibility is the 8.9 million people of the state of New Jersey. I think folks understand we want to take every precaution. If we get to the point where she's no longer an issue or at risk factor, then we'll move from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: More from Hickox in just a few minutes. But first the panic and ever changing policy surrounding a virus that few seem to understand including our politicians.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with more.

Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know, one side of this controversy says look, we're just trying to protect the public and we need to have these quarantines. And the other side says look, when people aren't sick, they can't possibly get other people sick so why do we have quarantines?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): The governors of New York and New Jersey offering clarification on their day's old policy on Ebola quarantining. Under the guidelines, health care workers returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa will remain quarantined for mandatory 21 days. Residents of the states can stay inside their homes.

In addition, those traveling from Ebola hot zones who haven't come into contact with Ebola patients will be actively monitored.

For Nurse Kaci Hickox, isolated for three days by the state of New Jersey, the new policy has been a nightmare. I spoke with Kaci on the phone.

HICKOX: I don't think most people understand what it's like to be alone in a tent and to know that there's nothing wrong with you and that decisions are being made that don't make sense.

COHEN: Hickox, a resident of Maine, was quarantined inside this tent after she arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. She currently shows no symptoms of the virus and tested negative for Ebola twice.

CHRISTIE: My first and foremost obligation is to protect the public health and safety of the people of New Jersey.

COHEN: The mayor of New York City blasted the decision which some say deters health care workers from taking part in the fight to contain Ebola abroad.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: This hero coming back from the front, having done the right thing, was treated with disrespect.

COHEN: Hickox's lawyers are fighting for her immediate release.

NORMAL SIEGEL, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: We believe that that policy infringes on the constitutional liberty interests. COHEN: Currently officials are imposing these mandatory Ebola

quarantine policies in three states -- New York, New Jersey and Illinois. The policy was abruptly implemented Friday, just one day after New York Doctor Craig Spencer was treated Ebola patients in Guinea was diagnosed with Ebola.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Some people will say we're being too cautious. I'll take that criticism.

COHEN: A federal official says the CDC was surprised by the mandate but acknowledges that state and local officials have the prerogative to set tighter policies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now a 5-year-old boy is being evaluated for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital here in New York City.

We spoke to a -- the doctor who's the head of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. And he said look, we think this is low risk. It doesn't appear that this boy had any contact with anyone with Ebola. But he does have a fever. He did just come back from Guinea so they're evaluating him.

COSTELLO: What does evaluating him mean? Why not say they're testing him?

COHEN: Because they're not testing him. So that's why. So they're trying to still figure out did he have any exposure to anyone with Ebola. And then once they sort of figure that out further, then they might test him. But they proceed more slowly than you might think.

You might think, hey, he was in Guinea, hey, let's test him. But that's not how it works. They want to know, did he have any exposure to Ebola before we test him for Ebola. You can criticize that but that's the way that they do it.

COSTELLO: All right. Many thanks to you.

More now from CNN's exclusive interview with Kaci Hickox.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HICKOX: I've spent a month in Sierra Leone. And when I arrived at the airport in Newark, I of course presented my paperwork to the immigration official and told him that I had been in Sierra Leone. So I verbally declared it myself as well as writing it in the documentation. And he was very -- he said well, they'll have a couple of questions.

First there were many people that asked me questions. No one seemed to be leading or coordinating the effort. A lot of the questions were repetitive. And as an epidemiologist, I was surprised that, you know, I saw people writing in the margins of their paperwork, which just showed that obviously they were not prepared to really capture all the information they thought they needed. CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So once you got to

the hospital, what happened?

HICKOX: They tested my blood and as you know it's negative. He also confirmed that it was negative. And I know that there have been reports of me having a fever in the airport, but I truly believe that it is an instrument error. They were using the forehead scanner and I was obviously distressed and a bit upset.

And so my cheeks were flushed and I think there had been some evidence that that machine is not very accurate in these kinds of situations. So when I arrived in the isolation unit they took my temperature orally and it was completely normal.

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: Does it remain completely normal?

HICKOX: Yes. And it's also been completely normal. I heard from my mother last night who called me concerned and said Governor Christie just said in an interview that you were, quote-unquote, "obviously ill." And this is so frustrating to me.

First of all, I don't think he's a doctor. And secondly, he's never laid eyes on me. And thirdly, I have been asymptomatic since I've been here. I feel physically completely strong and emotionally completely exhausted. But for him to say I'm obviously ill, which is even a strange statement. What does that mean? Someone define that for me because I think I don't quite understand what obviously ill means.

But I am here to tell you that I am completely fine physically and being held here is just -- I just don't understand. It's really inhumane.

I just came back from one of the most difficult months of my life. And I am completely -- and no one knows, no one can predict if I will develop Ebola or not in the next 21 days. And most aid workers that come back will not develop Ebola.

So to quarantine everyone in case, you know, when you cannot predict who may develop Ebola or not. And to make me stay for 21 days, to not be with my family, to put me through this emotional and physical stress is completely unacceptable.

CROWLEY: You know, Kaci, one of the things we have learned from talking to experts for all these many weeks is that there is no such thing as no risk. But that you can get pretty close. And you -- I think would concede as a health care worker that sure, there is a low risk that perhaps you might be carrying, you might at some point be carrying the Ebola virus that has not yet manifested in your body.

Is it worth it to keep New Jerseyans residents out of any kind of risk to keep you 21 days in quarantine?

HICKOX: There's no such thing as no risk. But I think when considering this issue, we also have to balance what you're putting the health care workers through and how evidence based your approach is. So, you know, for instance, are then you going to quarantine all of the health care workers that are looking after health care workers who have been to an Ebola affected area? Because couldn't it be said that they also have some level of a risk they're taking care of possible Ebola contact?

So I think it's just a slippery slope. And my frustration is that it's really -- thought out and it's not current science based. And it's not just a found public health decision. And I think many experts from the field have come out and agreed with me. So I think we need to stress the fact that we don't need politicians to make these kind of decisions. We need public health experts to make these decisions.

And there always needs to be a balance because I also want to be treated with compassion and humanity.

CROWLEY: Sure.

HICKOX: And I don't feel like I have been treated that way the past three days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. And in a text this morning to CNN, Nurse Hickox gave an update on her health. She texted us, in part, quote, "As far as I know my fantastic infectious disease doctor here did not recommend that I be retested. But he implied that the New Jersey Department of Health would make that final decision."

So let's talk about that and more. David Sanders is an associate professor of Biological Science at Purdue University. He has studied Ebola for the last decade.

Welcome, sir.

DAVID SANDERS, ASSOC. PROFESSOR, BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, PURDUE UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So it sounds to me like Nurse Hickox's doctor says you don't need to be retested but the New Jersey Department of Health is trumping him.

Does it sound that way to you?

SANDERS: I mean, that's what it says. I really can't, you know, evaluate it. All I have is that statement from her. I will say that the decisions that have been made by the governor seem to be largely political decisions rather than ones actually based upon medicine. So I think that's what we need to keep foremost in mind. When we talk about quarantines in the past, they normally have been of people who are actually infected, rather than people who are just potentially infected, you know, because of contact.

So, you know, again, it is a political decision. And you have to -- you have to consider also the fact that if there is an infected patient, then there has to be contact tracing and so on. And so they may be trying to prevent that from happening later on. But it really does seem that this is an excessive policy. And I believe that it's, you know, moving in the opposite direction.

COSTELLO: Well, here's what doesn't make much sense. So there is a doctor being treated. He actually has Ebola, he's being treated by doctors here in New York City, they are not being quarantined. As far as I know they're going home to their families when they're off work, and they're relating to the public and they're going to restaurants. So why aren't they being quarantined?

SANDERS: That's an excellent question. They are not being quarantined. They are going to be under observation. I mean, that is something that is part of our current health care regimen is that people who are health care workers that are working with him will be monitored. But they're not on quarantine.

So as I said, it's a political -- it's a political decision. It's not my decision. It's not the decision that -- you know, that is required by the medical evidence.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about it being a political position because these governors really are in a tough spot. Dr. Craig Spencer, the doctor, I was talking about, he came down with Ebola, he traveled on the subways, he went bowling, he ate at a meatball restaurant. City officials had to go back and retrace his every step to calm the public down. That's not easy. And it's expensive for taxpayers. So why not issue some kind of quarantine if the doctors won't do it themselves?

SANDERS: I fully agree that that's the major issue. We're talking about one of reassuring the public, we're talking about one of resources. I mean, I think that every health care worker that comes in contact with a patient should be aware that they are potentially -- yes, they could be potentially infected. And they should probably not be out there in the public. I mean, that's -- I mean, I can't make that decision for them. And I'm not sure that we should enforce that decision. Because once again, the very important point is that you do not transmit it.

There is no evidence of transmission before visible symptoms. So that's something. Most of the transmission occurs very late in the progress of the disease. So it's not just a -- it's not just a matter of well, because you happen to work with somebody, therefore you should be quarantined and, you know, chance of your transferring it to somebody is in fact, you know, large and real.

It really isn't. And so we have to take all of those things into account. Now is it -- would it be a good precaution for people who have been in contact with a infected patient to reduce their contact with the public not to, you know, do some of those activities? I would say that would be the prudent thing. But I don't think necessarily, again, at this time, given what we know that this is something that should be imposed by the law.

COSTELLO: Right.

SANDERS: But you know it's a political decision. It's not ultimately a medical decision.

COSTELLO: Dr. David Sanders. Thanks so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM --

SANDERS: Bye.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a second student has died as the result of Friday's shooting at a high school in suburban Seattle. We'll have more for you after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Absolutely heartbreaking news out of Marysville, Washington, overnight. Hospital officials confirm another high school student has died as a result of Friday shooting in the cafeteria. Three others remain in the hospital, with serious wounds. A moment of silence set for 10:39 local time, which was when the shooting occurred. Grieving parents, students and community people met last night in a gymnasium to try to make sense of the tragedy.

Dan Simon was there. He joins us now live from Marysville.

Hi, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, the school is closed for the entire week. When it reopens it's not clear if students will ever eat lunch in the cafeteria again where that shooting occurred. No shooting, of course, at a school of course, can't make sense of it. But this one is really perplexing because the shooter targeted his friends and cousins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON (voice-over): Breaking overnight, a second victim, Gia Soriano, died as a result of her injuries suffered during Friday shooting at this Washington high school. Her family devastated, releasing this statement.

DR. JOANNE ROBERTS, PROVIDENCE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Gia is our beautiful daughter. And words cannot express how much we will miss her.

SIMON: This just hours after hundreds packing the bleachers of the Marysville-Pilchuck gymnasium, an emotional tribal song to mourn for a grieving community trying to heal.

TONY HATCH, RELATIVE TO NATE HATCH: The family is hurting really bad right now, looking for answers, answers that might not exist for us. SIMON: Many still asking why this popular teen would want to target

his best friends and his own a family. It was Friday morning when freshman Jaylen Fryberg entered the cafeteria, walked up to a table where his two cousins were sitting with friends and opened fire with a .40 caliber handgun.

JORDAN LUTON, WITNESS: He came up from behind and fired about six bullets into the backs of them.

SIMON: Three others remain hospitalized in intensive care -- Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, and cousins Nate Hatch and Andrew Fryberg.

The first victim now identified as Zoe Galasso remembered as a beautiful soul who always had a smile on her face.

KAYANNA ANDREWS, FRIEND OF SLAIN STUDENT: She was so beautiful, and she was just so funny and amazing, and we all loved her so much.

SIMON: Teacher Megan Silberberger now being held as a hero. Witnesses say the first year social studies teacher ran towards gunfire and confronted the shooter.

ERIC CERVANTES, WITNESS: She grabbed his arm, hand on hand. It happened like in seconds.

SIMON: Moments later, Fryberg is dead of an apparent suicide. Exactly why this all happened is still unclear. "The New York Daily News" reporting that students say Jaylen targeted the group after he was spurned by a love interest who chose one of his cousins over him.

A friend of Zoe Galasso telling CNN that the victim was dating Andrew Fryberg, the shooter's cousin.

NICOLE MILAN-ARCHER, FAMILY FRIEND OF SLAIN STUDENT: They're great friends. There's no explanation, like he snapped for whatever reason.

SIMON: Recently elected homecoming prince, Fryberg was a well-liked student. But on Twitter, a darker personality. "I know it seems like I'm sweating it off but I'm not. And I never will be able to."

And one day before the attack, "It won't last. It will never last."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: And, Carol, we're getting some additional details about the final moments in the school cafeteria. A law enforcement source telling CNN that the shooter attempted to reload his weapon but he was having problems because his hands were shaking.

COSTELLO: Dan Simon reporting live for us this morning.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: CNN has obtained exclusive video of the latest fighting inside Kobani. You can see dark plumes of smoke rising, as the deadly battle rages between ISIS and Kurdish fighters for control over the key city in northern Syria. So far today, the United States has conducted four airstrikes in Syria and seven in Iraq. That's according to central demand.

While images of mushroom clouds and violent clashes between Kurdish fighters and ISIS have tragically become the expected in northern Syria, CNN's Ivan Watson crossed into the war-torn country to speak to one very unexpected fighter. His name is Jordan Matson. He's an American and former U.S. soldier from a small town in Wisconsin, who's risking everything to fight ISIS extremists on the ground.

Ivan joins me now live with more from Iraq.

Good morning, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

There has been so much attention on stories of Westerners who flocked to join the ISIS jihadi movement. The civil war has been attracting westerners to other groups fighting in this civil war.

So, we travelled to Kurdish controlled northern Syria to meet one American who has joined along side a Kurdish militia. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): Armed men are a common site in Kurdish controlled northern Syria, a country embroiled in a vicious civil war. But one of the gunmen in this truck is not like the others.

(on camera): What do people say when they see you and realize you're from the U.S.?

JORDAN MATSON, AMERICAN YPG FIGHTER: They ask me to come over for dinner and stay at their house.

WATSON (voice-over): Jordan Matson is a 28-year-old former U.S. army soldier from Sturtevant, Wisconsin. For the last month, he's also been a volunteer fighter in the Kurdish militia known here as the YPG.

MATSON: I got in contact with the YPG on Facebook, really soul searched and said, is this what I want to do? Eventually, you know, decided to do it.

WATSON: Soon after arriving here in Syria, he says he ended up in a battle against ISIS.

MATSON: The second day I got hit by a mortar on a fight.

WATSON: While recovering from wounds, he went to work online recruiting more foreigners to help the YPG fight against ISIS.

MATSON: I've had ex-military from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Canada, United States, Australia. WATSON: Now he lives in places like this former restaurant converted

to a militia a camp.

(on camera): What are pictures?

MATSON: These are guys that have died fighting against ISIS.

WATSON (voice-over): The YPG are lightly armed guerillas.

(on camera): Is this even a flak jacket?

MATSON: No, this is just a vest to carry an ammunition.

WATSON: So, basically people are running into battle without any armor?

MATSON: Yes.

WATSON: And wearing sneakers half the time?

MATSON: Yes. Combat Adidas.

WATSON: U.S. law enforcement officials say it's illegal for an American to join a Syrian militia. But Matson says being here, fighting ISIS alongside the Kurds is a dream come true.

MATSON: All my life I just wanted to be a soldier, I guess growing up. And I'm at peace being here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Carol, Jordan told me there are at least three other Americans also fighting along side the Kurdish YPG rebels. Now every conflict I've been to has attracted a bizarre mix of adventurers, of idealists, of mercenaries, of misfits as well as. Syria is proving to be no exception.

You know, I asked Matson, is there anything you miss about back home in the U.S.? He said hamburgers, toilets, rock-n-roll.

Back to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Is he aware he could become a target that ISIS might want to kidnap him because he's American?

WATSON: Absolutely. The videos of westerners being beheaded by ISIS militants have gone around the world. He's very much aware of that.

You know, I asked him, what prompted you to come out here? He said it was the fall of an Iraqi city to ISIS last June. He said he couldn't stand by and see a city that U.S. troops had fought and died for fall into the hands of ISIS. But somehow instead of going to Iraq, he ended up in Syria. He rationalized it saying, well, it's another front in this war against ISIS.

He said he didn't know much about the Kurds before coming, but he now speaks with the passion and fervor of a recent convert, defending the cause of the Kurds, of people who he says have been persecuted for generations.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Ivan Watson reporting live from Iraq this morning, thank you.