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NEW DAY
CDC Issues New Ebola Guidelines; Hawaii Lava Flow Threatens Dozens of Homes; New Video of ISIS Hostage; Boko Haram Accused of More Kidnappings
Aired October 28, 2014 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Quarantine fight, the raging controversy over quarantines takes another twist. The CDC now announcing guidelines, recommending people at high risk for Ebola should stay at home. This falls short of mandatory orders seen in a growing number of states. Is this enough to prevent an outbreak?
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A chilling message, a new propaganda video released by ISIS shows a British captive claiming that the terror group now controls the Syrian border town of Kobani. Kurdish forces say that's not true, is the U.S. doing enough to fight ISIS?
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Line of fire, residents of Hawaii's big island on alert and ready to evacuate as molten lava now just yards from hundreds of homes. Officials ready to order evacuations as everything in the lava flow's path could go up in flames.
CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, October 28 th, 6:00 in the East. Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota. We have news for you this morning. Ebola ain't going away as a virus or as an issue.
What is the right thing to do with people who come in contact with Ebola patients? That's the big question.
This morning, a nurse is headed home to Maine after being released from a controversial quarantine at a New Jersey hospital. Her name is Kaci Hickox, which you probably know by now. There she is on your screen. She was allowed out of her plastic bag by Governor Chris Christie, but he says if you show symptoms of Ebola, you are being quarantined, period. And that the federal government will soon be saying the same thing.
Meantime, this 5-year-old kid from the Bronx, he's in a New York City hospital. He had a fever. They tested him from Ebola. He'd just come from West Africa. They say he's negative. But he's still in the hospital. Why? For how long? His parents want to know. CAMEROTA: We'll try to answer some of those questions. This as the
CDC issues more new guidelines, this time to state and local officials. They're outlining four risk levels and urging people who may have been exposed to Ebola to avoid being out in public, even if they have no symptoms.
This comes as a new CNN/ORC poll finds most Americans approve of the federal government's handling of the Ebola crisis.
So we have full coverage on all of this this morning, beginning with Poppy Harlow. She is live for us from Bellevue Hospital with the latest. Good morning, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
Here at Bellevue Hospital that 33-year-old doctor, Craig Spencer is still being treated for Ebola. Last word is that he is in serious but stable condition.
A 5-year-old boy who returned from Guinea on Saturday night and tested late yesterday negative for Ebola is, though, still being monitored. Those doctors want to do subsequent tests on him just to be sure.
This all happening as the CDC came out with more intense guidelines on those risk levels for Ebola.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW (voice-over): The CDC has come out with new guidelines it says will help protect Americans from the spread of Ebola. The change is coming as nurse Kaci Hickox, who tested negative for Ebola, is released from her controversial 21-day quarantine. A mandate that allowed New Jersey health officials to isolate her in this tent for three days after treating patients in West Africa with the group Doctors Without Borders.
SOPHIE DELAUNAY, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Quarantine of a healthy aid worker who presents no symptoms is not -- does not present a danger to the society.
HARLOW: Under the new guidelines, the CDC outlines four main risk levels: high risk for those with direct exposure to infected fluids of an Ebola patient; some risk for those living with or within three feet of a patient without wearing protective gear. The third is a low but nonzero risk, meaning anyone traveling from a country with widespread Ebola. The fourth category includes people with no identified risk but could have had exposure to a person with Ebola before the person was showing symptoms or who traveled to West Africa more than 21 days ago.
The CDC believes the changes will better determine when individuals should be routed to care.
Health officials are holding a 5-year-old boy for additional testing after an initial test for Ebola came back negative. He is being monitored at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital in New York City, where New York doctor Craig Spencer, who contracted the virus in Guinea, is being treated.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY: We did the cautious thing and brought the child in under the full protocol.
HARLOW: Meanwhile, ICU patients at Bellevue have been transferred to NYU Langone Medical Center. According to Bellevue, there were not enough nurses on staff to handle both ICU patients and treat Ebola.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: And Chris, and interesting poll numbers just out last night in a CNN/ORC poll that I know you'll be discussing through the show. Fifty-four percent of Americans surveyed said they think the federal government has done a good job treating Ebola patients and preventing the spread of the disease. Seven in ten Americans saying that they believe the government can prevent an Ebola epidemic in this country.
As for that 5-year-old boy, he did test negative for Ebola, so why is he still here? Well, we didn't get any timeline from the health department on when he will be released. But what they did say, they need further negative tests, including that secondary CDC Ebola test result, before they can clear him and release him. Again, no idea when that will be -- Chris.
CUOMO: It's the unknown that makes things difficult, and it's right to point out the numbers, Poppy. Thank you for doing that.
Let's get some perspective on it right now. Let's bring in Dr. Amesh Adalja. He's of the Infectious Disease Society of America. And Michelle Kosinski. You know here, CNN White House correspondent. Thanks to both of you. We'll play how the poll realities affect this process, and we'll deal with the policy realities, as well.
Doc, let me start with you. The CDC, that high risk, some risk. For all the talk about not respecting the people who do this work and treating them as heroes, don't the protocols that they just put out sound a lot like what the states are saying, that if you've been near someone who's doing all -- having all the horrible things that happens with Ebola, you're high risk; you should be quarantined?
If you have some risk, within three feet of somebody who had it and you didn't have the proper equipment on, you should be checked out. You have some risk, maybe you get quarantined. It sounds like the states.
DR. AMESH ADALJA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Well, I think it's a little bit different then the states, because they actually take the context of a person's exposure into account. And it's not some blanket mandatory quarantine order on a whole group of people, irrespective of their risk.
And remember, you're restricting people's liberties, so you have to have -- the government has a burden to prove that these people are actually at risk. And when you do this by stratification, it actually provides some evidence for what you're doing. And it doesn't completely restrict people the way that these mandatory quarantines do. So it is a big improvement.
CUOMO: Help me understand where you're coming from, because I don't get it. One, it's not really a liberty issue. Because if you want to talk about the law, the law is clear. You do a simple Google search, the Supreme Court has been clear about this forever and in far more extreme modes than what we're seeing right now.
So the legalities of it aren't really taking you anywhere. It comes to how we're treating people and I get that. I get what the emphasis should be.
However, if you have been around someone who is like exploding with Ebola and all the horrible things that we hear about, do you think those people should be quarantined as a class, Doctor?
ADALJA: No. I don't, because they don't pose any risk, even when they're -- even if they're incubating the virus, because they can't give it to other people.
CUOMO: But they're called high risk by the CDC. High risk by definition.
ADALJA: They're high risk for developing Ebola, but they haven't developed it at that time. So that's why we have all these procedures in place where they're having direct active monitoring. They're being tracked. They're told not go to go on certain public transportations. There's a, you know, a list of things that they can and can't do that's based upon their actual risk classification.
It's not some blanket type of blunt instrument that's really not warranted. Because there actually has to be risks. These aren't like Typhoid Marys walking around. They can't spread the virus unless they actually have symptoms.
CUOMO: OK. So let's leave that portion a minute. Come back to you about something else in a second. But let's play with the poll numbers here a little bit, Michelle.
So you have 54 percent say that the government is doing a good job. That's not a great number. It's being hailed as good news for the government tomorrow. We like 50 percent now? That's a home run, that's an "A" in government?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. You look at that number and you think, yes, that's not very much more than half. And the other half of those people think that the federal government is doing a poor job.
I think you have to compare it to the president's overall approval rating. Which according to this poll is 45 percent.
So what's interesting about it, if you think it is, is that substantially more people think that the federal government is doing a good job at handling the Ebola crisis than think that the president is doing a good job overall. So there's a little bit of a gap there. But you get some more big numbers of people approving of kind of the broader strokes, the bigger picture. Seventy percent, more than 70 percent of the people, in fact, think that the government can stop the Ebola epidemic. More than 70 percent think that the U.S. should indeed be trying to stop it, not only in the U.S., but in Africa.
But then when you get down to a community level, you see those numbers drop again. Again, only 53 percent of people think that their community health services are prepared to treat an Ebola patient, Chris.
CUOMO: And you know, look, what do these numbers really mean when it comes to how people feel about Ebola? It means that they don't think it can become an epidemic. Not that the government will stop it from that. Because they say, 80 percent of them say there will be more cases.
So you know, the reality is definitely hitting home. And Doc, that brings me back to you.
You know, I think that we get confused about this. We're not respecting this person who goes to West Africa to do this good work. And you are totally right about that. They are heroes. That should be the headline.
But do you want them masked in fear by people? Do you want people to be doubting them? Is a quarantine for 21 days at home really that big a burden to put on someone, to give that comfort so that they're not a pariah when they go out in the rest their lives?
ADALJA: It shouldn't be something that's not based on actual risk. This is kind of similar to what we saw in the beginnings of the HIV epidemic, when people were having this misperception of threat and causing restrictions to be placed on people.
Like think about Ryan White, for example. He didn't pose any risk to anybody, but he was banned from the school. It's the same type of thing that's going on. You actually have to base these actions on a person's actual risk of transmitting. And if there is no risk, then you're not really doing anybody any good just by, you know, cowing to this panic that's going on in the -- in the public. This isn't a disease that is very contagious. It's deadly and scary, but it can't spread the way that people are believing it can.
CUOMO: Although you can get it much more easily than you could have with HIV. But I understand where you're coming about this point, and we definitely have to give these people the dignity they deserve. Everyone is going to agree on that.
Dr. Adalja, thank you very much, as always. Michelle Kosinski, thanks for setting me straight on those poll numbers.
A lot of news this morning. Mic, over to you for that.
PEREIRA: All right, Chris. Thanks so much. Good morning, everyone. Here's a look at your headlines. New details about the moments leading up to Friday's Washington high school shooting. The county sheriff says Jaylen Fryberg sent text messages to lure his victims to sit at the same lunch table in the cafeteria. We're also learning that Fryberg sent a selfie to his ex- girlfriend that showed him with a gun not long before the attack. Now, it is not clear if he's holding the same pistol in that photo used in the rampage.
Right now, in Hawaii, lava flowing from Kilauea volcano is threatening dozens of homes. Residents have started evacuating homes, and we're told looting is now becoming a problem. Lava is inching closer, now less than a football field away from some of the homes there.
Martin Savidge is live on the big island with the very latest for us.
What a concern, Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning, Michaela. Yes, it is the middle of the night here in Hawaii. See that white roof there? Well, you can't see it through the camera lens. But just above it a faint orange glow; lava glow is what they call it here. And it's within 70 yards of the first home in this community.
But let me show you something else. That's the road block. That's the way the lava is headed. It is literally on the doorstep of this town.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Lava on main street. In Pahoa, on the big island, a 2,000-degree river of molten rock is just a few hundred feet away from the town, and there is no way to stop it. Residents are on a moment's notice to evacuate, as the super-heated stone threatens the town of 950.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody, including myself is quite nervous. You can't see the future. The flow does what the flow does.
SAVIDGE; Hawaii's famous Kilauea volcano has continuously erupted since 1983. Usually, the spectacular lava flows pour south, eventually reaching the sea. But in June, a new flow started heading the opposite way to the northeast. The dark oozing mask consuming everything in its path. And the experts say lava has picked up speed as it heads directly for Pahoa. Hawaii's governor signing a request asking for a presidential disaster declaration and for federal aid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As it gets closer, the key is communication with the community. Keeping people informed and everybody continuing to work around the clock.
SAVIDGE: Officials going door to door, warning residents as the flow inches dangerously close. Already, some roads have been forced to close as the lava overtakes them. With many residents fearing they'll be cut off, Hawaii County is rebuilding alternate gravel roads around the expected path of the lava. People downwind from the smoke have been advised to stay indoors. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have asthma myself, and the smoke conditions,
if they increase, are going to be hard on some people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Michaela, the only hope this town really has is that the lava either stops or suddenly turns away. Otherwise, the same force of nature that created the Hawaiian islands could very well destroy their town -- Michaela.
PEREIRA: Good thing to remember. It's the same force that created those beautiful islands that we love so much. Martin Savidge, thanks for that report. We appreciate it.
In other news, a recall parents and caregivers need to know about, the FDA recalling several brands of baby wipes because they may contain bacteria resistant to common antibiotics. Nutex Disposables says it received complaints of rashes, irritation, even fever. The Pennsylvania-based company has stopped shipment of its products to stores like Walgreen's, Sam's Club and the Family Dollar. A full list of all the stores is available on the FDA website.
Wow. A scary landing for a passenger jet in Portugal. Strong winds wreaking havoc as the plane from Germany base TUIfly Airlines comes to -- came in to land at Madeira Airport last week. Oh, my goodness. You can see it swaying in strong winds just feet from the ground. The pilot did manage to safely land that plane. The winds were the last remnants, apparently, of Hurricane Gonzalo.
You know, sometimes you'll hear people break into applause after kind of a shaky landing. You'd want to jump up and, you know...
CAMEROTA: Run out.
PEREIRA: Give them a standing ovation, if it weren't for the seatbelt.
CUOMO: Good job. A he or a she, whoever that pilot was, they did a good job.
(CROSSTALK)
PEREIRA: Thank goodness. Well done.
CAMEROTA: Me no likey. Even watching makes me nervous.
PEREIRA: No.
CAMEROTA: Thanks Michaela.
PEREIRA: No problem.
CAMEROTA: ISIS releasing new hostage video, but this one is very different than the others we've seen. We'll show you what British captive John Cantlie does that is to different than what we've seen. And word of more kidnappings by the militant group Boko Haram as
doubts grow about that deal to release hundreds of girls kidnapped months ago. We'll take you live to Nigeria.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: ISIS has released another video showing British hostage, John Cantlie. The bizarre five-minute clip shows him roaming the besieged city of Kobani, much like a TV reporter.
Cantlie says, despite what Western media has been reporting, the terror group is in control of the border town and gaining more territory. The video also features footage reportedly shot by an ISIS drone. Yes, that's right, an ISIS drone, and it shows Kobani's streets destroyed and deserted.
Let's bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He's near the Turkey-Syria border. And retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton.
Gentlemen, thanks so much for being with me.
Colonel, I want to start with you. So this was a five-minute video released of the hostage, John Cantlie. CNN is choosing only to show a snippet of it, because we believe that Cantlie is under duress and being coerced. But let me show you what he says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN CANTLIE, HOSTAGE OF ISIS: Hello, I'm John Cantlie, and today we're in the city of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border. That is, in fact, Turkey right behind me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Colonel Layton, he's -- they're using him as sort of a roaming journalist role. What do you see when you see this little snippet?
COL. CEDRIC LAYTON (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, Alisyn, what I'm looking at here is not only the background that John Cantlie has behind him, the Turkish border that he referred to, but also, the fact that this video used footage from drones. And it's pretty clear to me that, you know, it may have been the type of drone that one can get at a hobby store nowadays.
But what they're really trying to do is they're trying to replicate U.S. capabilities, capabilities that include drones, video surveillance from drones. And they're trying to show that they can possibly execute game-changing military operations. And that's something that should definitely concern us.
CAMEROTA: Nick, their goal seems to be to show that Kobani is now in the hands of ISIS, whereas we've heard from officials that that's not true. What is the truth? NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's pretty big
stretch, like ISIS have John Cantlie say that they are just mopping up in Kobani. If you look at actually where the clashes happen, where the airstrikes go in, they're still very much fighting for the east and the south.
And they are harassing the Kurds in the city center. But the Kurds have pretty good control of the west, and they say, in fact, quite a lot more of the city. So the fight is far from decisively going in ISIS's favor.
It is clear that John Cantlie is in Kobani. You can see the landmarks behind him. He also, I think, was speaking about a week ago. There's a reference to U.S. air drops in the background there.
But what's really being used here, I think, is while ISIS have taken a real hammering, both in their own social media communities and literally on ground because of those coalition air strikes, it really has set them back. I think this is their riposte. It's their way of saying we have our own ways of replying in the high-tech social media sphere. They're adept at using Twitter, at getting a high-definition video out like this.
You've just got to bear in mind throughout all of this, John Cantlie has been held for months now by ISIS. We have no idea the psychological trauma he's experienced and his state of mind as he's asked to make those statements, no matter how relaxed he looks on air.
CAMEROTA: And Nick, I want to stick with you for one second, because we understand you have some breaking news in terms of Peshmerga fighters.
WALSH: Well, certainly, Kobani is, as we know, being intensely fought over. There's been days of debate now: when will Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, they're brothers to the Syrian Kurds fighting in Kobani, but they're based in northern Iraq. Turkey said they could travel through Turkey, could bolster the fight in Kobani. There's been a lot of back and forth.
But this morning we are for the first time hearing clearly from the Peshmerga ministry, they will travel today and tomorrow; or tomorrow, land or air, potentially, and join the fight. They will be fighting with heavy weapons to assist the Kurds in Kobani. A long way to relief in that fight. A lot could still go wrong. But we're hearing a clear signal they're on their way.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Colonel, a lot could still go wrong, obviously. What is the U.S. doing in the fight to secure Kobani and beyond?
LAYTON: Well, in addition to the air drops that, of course, the ISIS video talked about with John Cantlie, the other things that the U.S. is doing is providing weapons to the Kurdish fighters. Not only are they providing weapons, they're providing some degree of intelligence.
And of course, the airstrikes are done in support of the Kurdish forces that are fighting in and around Kobani. So Kobani is important for both sides, and the U.S. understands that
importance and is working toward making it at least very difficult for ISIS to control it. And they're also, of course, trying to control expectations at this point.
CAMEROTA: All right. We will keep our eye on that all morning. Colonel Cedric Layton, Nick Paton Walsh, thanks so much for all the information.
LAYTON: You bet.
CAMEROTA: Let's go to Chris.
CUOMO: All right, Alisyn. We have news about the Islamic insurgents known as Boko Haram. They are intensifying their kidnapping campaign. More girls taken as hopes diminish that the hundreds that they had already kidnapped back in April -- remember them? They were supposed to be released. But it hasn't happened. Why? We're going to take you live to Nigeria for the latest.
And the San Francisco Giants on the verge of their third World Series in five years. But it didn't happen. But will they still do it and finish off the Royals on the road now? A preview of game six coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEREIRA: Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY. Here's a look at your headlines.
The nurse who said she was held against her will in a New Jersey hospital after returning from West Africa, she is set to head home to Maine today. Kaci Hickox was released from quarantine by Governor Chris Christie. He is defending his initial decision, saying he has a responsibility to keep the public safe. Meanwhile, the CDC issuing new guidelines, urging people who may have been exposed to Ebola to stay home.
We've also learned overnight of a potential Ebola patient that is in isolation and being evaluated for Ebola at the University of Maryland Medical Center. We'll keep an eye on that for you.
We're also learning this morning that the terror group Boko Haram has been accused of abducting more school-aged children in Nigeria. This comes just weeks after the government there announced a truce with the group that was supposed to free more than 200 school girls. You know the young women that were taken back in April. However, that deal appears to be falling apart at the seams.
Isha Sesay is live in Nigeria with the latest on these new kidnap victims -- Isha.
ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. Yes, well, it's just been over a week since the Nigerian government made those statements of a cease-fire deal and the deal to get those more than 200 girls that were taken in back in April released. Since then, there have been near daily attacks in northeastern
Nigeria, the very latest happening in the village of Mafa (ph). We're told by local residents that children were the targets here, 30 boys and girls taken. Boys as young as 13. Girls as young as 11. Carried off by suspected Boko Haram militants into the bush. Local residents telling us that they believe that they will be used as foot soldiers.
This follows another attack late last week in which 60 women and girls were taken, all of this adding to the sense of growing questioning skepticism about the Nigerian government's statements that they have a deal with Boko Haram.
The Nigerian government, for their part, we must say, maintain that the talks in nearby Chad continue and that they are on course. And they continue to express optimism that they will have these 200-plus girls released in the coming days.
Back to you.
PEREIRA: Also Nigeria government saying that Boko Haram has denied any part in these kidnappings. At least these new ones. Isha, thank you so much for that update. We'll continue to watch that situation.
Back here at home, the trial for the accused Colorado movie theater shooter, it has been pushed back again. A judge has now postponed jury selection for James Holmes' trial to January, with opening statements possible in June. Defense lawyers have asked for more time to review a sanity -- pardon me, a sanity evaluation. Holmes faces the death penalty for allegedly killing 12 people and injuring dozens more inside that Colorado movie theater two years ago.
Hmm. A bit of a gaffe by Wal-Mart. They are apologizing now over a major goof on its website. For some unknown reason, Monday the site had a Halloween merchandise category called "fat girl costumes." Since been taken off shelves. The retail giant responded to complaints by tweeting, quote, "This never should have been on our site. It is unacceptable, and we apologize. We worked quickly to remove..."
