tv NOW With Alex Wagner MSNBC October 3, 2014 1:00pm-2:01pm PDT
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home. >> freelance nbc camera man, ashoka mukpo has contracted ebola. >> we are working with nancy snyderman in liberia. >> he was infected before we met him. >> the conditions in liberia are very different from the conditions in america. >> the cdc needs to be all over this case in dallas. >> a week ago today, eric den can showed up with a headache and abdominal pain. >> what about the nurse picking up a telephone and says he was just in liberia. >> this is not the way anyone wants to go down in history. >> no reason to panic. >> what are the odds i'm going to get ebola. >> zero. next question. >> amid troubling new questions about the readiness of the u.s. medical systems there are reports this afternoon of at least two more cases of ebola in the united states. howard university hospital has a
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patient isolated and under evaluation after being admitted with ebola like symptoms following travel to nigeria. and a cobb county jail inmate is being tested for ebola after running a fever. he had recently travelled to africa. that comes as there is fresh concern over the handling of thomas duncan. the dallas hospital says it initially turned him away because of an electronic record-keeping flaw that kept a doctor from seeing information per paining to duncan's residence in liberia. that allowed duncan to return home while he was contagious with a web of contact that could have exposed as many as 100 people to the virus. the cdc has designated 50 of them for daily monitoring. four members of the family that hosted duncan will be moved to
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another living facility in dallas this afternoon. although authorities are not saying exactly where. their apartment is just now being cleaned and con defensive end c-- decomntaminated. there will be a press conference at the white house this hour. joining me is the former chair of the dnc, howard dean. and benjamin wallace walz. and also joining us is dr. kent sepkowitz. a lot of people are disturbed by how american health officials specifically in dallas have handled this and not giving them passing grades. are you concerned? >> i think that any time you
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have a new disease and a first case and an outbreak there is almost always going to be screw ups. i think they goofed. we are always awl excellent at being monday-morning quarterbacks and acting like every doctor would have gotten it right. it's lamentable. it doesn't surprise me or seem like an indictment of anything. >> should we take other steps? do you think there should be an ebola czar that is coordinating the u.s. domestic response? >> i think that is way over the top. i think we have one case, one in washington and one in atlanta under suspicion. most of those -- many, many in new york city have come into
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suspicion and all have been negative. what happens when you the have a case is people start to overtest. maybe that's a good thing or not but we're going to have a lot of scares now because of the dallas case and a lot of testing and a lot of stories like the person in washington and atlanta. i would be surprised if they are positive but it's if they are we'll deal with it. >> governor and dr. dean this reveals truths about the american health care system setting aside ebola and the relationship between doctors and patients. i'll quote a reuters piece, we talk about how tech the health system is. but it is also byzantine and inefficient in some ways because health care providers often don't spend enough time talking to patients to understand their stories, worries and why they come to see us. nurses are patient advocates but physicians often don't get the message and that certainly
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seemed to have happened here. whether that means -- whether -- the question is, i guess, you're a doctor. i would like to know your thoughts about whether we need to improve the interface between doctors and patients? >> first of all, i agree with ken. this is not a panic situation. but there are a couple of things. first of all i think the author of the article is right. why was he in the e.r. twice. did have his own doctor? that would have helped. the electronic medical records are held up and they are important and will make medicine better but a lot of times they make medicine worse because the information is not deplete or available and a pain in the neck to use. people don't use it. my question is -- i agree in broad strokes this is not likely to turn into a huge american
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epidemic. and there's as good a chance that people in atlanta don't have anything of the sort and we'll find out but the broader question is why aren't we questioning people who come into the united states from places like liberia and nigeria. we know where their flights are coming from. if they are worried about this we should talk about the immigration people who stamp your passport at the border or the port of entry. that's the beginning of a public health tracking and we're going to have to pay attention to that. >> ben you have a piece out talking about system failure and also, the need for exactitude. and you write such mundane errors, a nurse failing to explain a detail clearly to a doctor can allow the disease to spread. it shows how perfect a system
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offed my med cane isolation and containment needs to be. the question is whether that is achievable. >> i think the standard we're setting is keeping a single case from getting to the united states given the cultural interconnection that we have is insanely high. as your first guest said this kind of thing happening was inevitable. i think also, though we can be fairly secure, that you know, in the tone from the cdc and from elsewhere has been fairly, you know, fairly confident that panic is not necessary here, i think it's important to keep in mind, you know, what that depends upon. gove governor dean talked about there is not likely to be an american epidemic. but the stories from west africa are as horrifying as anything i have seen in my lifetime.
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and the heroism of the doctors putting themselves at risk and contracting ebola themselves just to save us suggests the complexity and interdependence of the system. i think back to your original question it's basically inevitable that something like this would happen. >> in terms of dr. dean's point about better, sort of screening procedures which is not to say quarantine. but do you think that various airports should are a more detailed list of questions for folks traveling to or coming from -- folks coming from areas where there has been a significant ebola outbreak in a way that is not as voluntary or with greater penalty or urgency than they are asking folks at present? >> i think it's a great idea in the discussion. i think the execution is tricky.
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and i think that people will be incentivized not to tell the truth if they do know they tell the truth they are in quarantine. this guy's flight camly the brussels. there are few non-stop flights from africa to america. it would be very simple to just fudge it and so i, you know, worry that it would give us a false sense of security and pass the buck to the border people, when it's -- that would allow doctors and nurses and everyone else to drop their guard. i think we have to be very you are redun didn't to the system. i think adding them to this but not counting only them a be the for sure way to make this problem less frightening. yes, add it but it won't solve
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the problem. >> governor dean, dr. dean, in terms of leadership on this. in a couple of minutes there will be a briefing from the white house. the president has talked about the issue of ebola. he has not had an address to the nation since thomas duncan has come to the united states and i think the level of fear or anxiety around this has stepped up. i might -- my guess would be the white house is trying to deal with this via the agencies that are handling it and perhaps thinking that the president making a major address would create a heightened sense of alarm. do you think that is the right move? >> first of all let me say one thing. i think the people in brussels have a responsibility to screen people coming from africa. >> absolutely true. >> that is not the solution but part of the solution. i think for the president to give an address about ebola would be crazy.
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he would be accelerating whatever panic there is that is incited by some of the organizations that make their money inciting panic. this is not a panic situation. this is ridiculous. if the congress is so concerned why don't they confirm the surgery general. if they had given us a public health expert he might be a great spokesman for just this time. anyone who is beating up in the president can look right in the mir report. >> ben, you know, this has renewed attention and put a spotlight on funding for the places like centers for disease control which has had i believe $600 million in budget cuts since 2010. do you think this prompts a renewed look at what sequestration has done in terms of keeping the country safe? >> i think it's going to prompt
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a renewed examination by people like us. not by -- >> a bunch of doctors and journalists. >> yeah. >> we're right on this. but we're not the people that matter. i don't think when john boehner is trying to navigate the complicated political tides in his congress this is going to make much of a difference as all. >> thank you for your thoughts. we'll have more after the break on ebola in america and the efforts to stop the virus from spreading. we are awaiting a live press briefing. coming up, a devastating court decision in texas shutters all but eight abortion clinics. there comes a time in everyone's life when you want more.
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what a difference a year makes. in terms of access to abortion this is what the state of texas looked like last august. there were 40 clinics evenly descriptioned across the state to serve the 5.4 million women of reproductive saage. that was a year ago. and this is texas today. it has eight clinics left and most of the state, most of it, is without abortion access. in the poorest parts of texas there are no clinics. why is this happening? because last summer texas governor rick perry signed into law the strictist abortion
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restrictions in the nation which has resulted in closing a third of the state's abortion clinics. a federal appeals court ruled there was insufficient evidence that a large fraction of women seeking abortions in texas would face unconstitutional burden due to the clinic closings. let's go back to the map for a second. that map to me looks like a large fraction of the state without access to abortion services. these clinic closings that have been happening throughout the year and overnight, those closings mean that merely 1 million women in texas will have to drive for more than three hours to get to an abortion clinic. but apparently for the three judges on the fifth circuit of appeals in new orleans that does not constitute an undue burden. joining me is the president of narol pro-choice america, denies hull. do you think the constitutes a
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health crisis? >> my home state of texas is getting hit every which way these days. there are three things to take away from the last 24 hours. first any idea that this is being done in the service of women's health has been blown out of the water. it is not women's health to cancel appointments for necessary medical procedures and force women into desperate situations. the number of abortions do not go down but the number of deaths go up. but we have a problem with our judiciary. this is the same circuit court that overruled the judge in the last texas case. we have seen activist judges put in place by conservative presidents putting their ideology particularly around abortion ahead of the constitutional rule of law and that is unacceptable. it has to stop.
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and remember one name, vincent roux. this is the exert that was mocked as having no medical credentials to be putting forward anything in service of women's health. it is on his testimony that the circuit court has upheld their ruling. he has faulty science and he travels from state to state to pursue an ideological agenda that is about controlling women and his goal is to outlaw abortion. >> he has been successful making his cooked up case. women are 40 times more likely to die of a colon noskpy than an abortion. this is on par with a dental extraction or biopsy. the fact that they have to have
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ambulatory surgical requirements makes it a way to close the clinics. who is this law going to affect the most? >> i mean, it's rural women, low-income women, poor women, always even pre-roe women had to fly on a plane to europe to access all medical services they need especially abortion. in texas the women furthest from the clinics, the ones who will suffer are minimum wage workers who don't get paid for the days of work they don't show up, have to shell out more money for child care, transportation costs, hotels it's not not only an undue burden it's oppression of the most vulnerable women in our country. >> let me ask you, is it a disturbing case on so many levels it's hard to talk about all of them in one segment. in terms of the sort of precedent it sets.
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jeffrey toobin talks about the definition of undue burden. the definition is so narrow it may be invisible. the members of the fifth circuit seem to believe that anything short of a nationwide ban on abortion does not amount to an undue burden on women's rights. this is the argument that will soon be heading to the supreme court. i mean, clearly 1.3 million women in texas live more than 100 miles from a clinic and that is not considered undue burden. if 1.3 million men lived 100 miles from a clinic where they were having a reproductive related surgery there would be no question about whether that was a burden or not. >> look, i think everyone from rick perry wannabe greg abbott. they want to make abortion inaccessible and ultimately
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illegal as the law of our land have shown they don't care on the burden generally or poor women specifically. what they care about is legislating their ideology joy and morality on everyone. >> in terms of the mid-terms, texas is the site of the battle between greg abbott and wendy davis. wendy davis made her name resisting this bill. do you think she is now behind by double digit doubles in her race for governor do. you think this helps or wakes women in texas up to realize the stakes at hand in november? >> well, actually the latest poll shows her within single digits of greg abbott. >> i stand corrected. >> i think it does. i really think it does. wendy understands the real life of women all over texas. and by the way, this is not just a women's issue.
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there are more and more men waking up and understanding this is not only a health care crisis that affects their wives, mothers, daughters, their sisters, but this is a fundamental question whether they get to decide what is best for their families or politicians and a state house or a judge gets to decide. and more and more texans are saying that's unacceptable. this is not what we elect politicians to do. >> it is worth noting 56% of american women now live in a state where abortion rights have been restricted. this is a family planning issue. ilyse hogue it's good to see you. >> thank you, alex. we are awaiting a press briefing by senior administration officials on ebola. stay with us. bout what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america.
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report this hour. isis has released a video purporting to show the beheading of british citizen allen henning. nbc news consultants have verified the reports. but we do not have confirmation from british authorities. at the end of the video, militants threaten the life of another american hostage. joining me is evan coleman by phone. one would imagine that this was not -- this will not be a huge surprise to american counterterrorism officials. >> no, it won't be a surprise although one interesting part about henning is a number of different sources including in the muslim world and individuals who are not on the side of u.s. foreign policy issued open appeals to isis to release
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henning suggesting he is a friend to muslim and islam and his death would as one individual put it, a great blasphemy or crime against islam. these are coming from known al qaeda recruiters putting out these messages. so it's obviously something you still expected by it may not resonate well amongst all the people isis is intending to reach as a number of extremists had said, killing this man, someone who had committed himself to the muslim community it just didn't make any sense. >> that's interesting. we have heard in recent days that isis has been consolidating its support in various other parts of the muslim world do. you think this could be cause for fracture? >> well, that's the hope, anyway. if there's any good that can
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come out of this positive as tragic as this is, the hope is by killing an innocent person who had done so much good to the muslim community it might resonate among those who feel that isis has an element of legitimacy that this is an organization of murderers and they have nothing to the with islam or building the islamic state. all they want to do is murder people. and the hope is that by acts like this, even those who are sick enough not to understand that by now, maybe it will become apparent to them. it's amazing to see some of the people who have come out in recent days and appealing isis to release him. these are not people who are friends of the united states or the british government. these are people who -- in some cases who have been on terrorism offenses. and calling for henning's release. and again we'll have to see what the impact is. but when even jihadists are
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calling for a hostage to be released that is a situation that could backfire on isis. >> that's nbc terrorism analyst evan coleman. thank you for joining me by phone late notice. joining me now is jim mcla shelfski. as this event has taken place the coalition battling isis has grown. it is worth noting that australian, danish and critically, i think, turkey has agreed to authorize military force against isis or isil. can you give us the latest from the d.o.d. perspective? >> the coalition has grown and the effectiveness of the air strikes seems to have come to a screeching halt. when they were aimed at northern iraq around mosul and erbil.
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even u.s. military officials acknowledge that leadership targets were not on the targets yet because there is not enough good intel. and now they acknowledge that isis has dramatically changed tactics. they have melted back into some communities making it almost impossible for air strikes to be effective. and just over the past few days, isis fighters have become very aggressive, have overrun special iraqi military outposts in the anbar province just to the west of baghdad. and it's also believed they have captured a number of iraqi soldiers in some of these operations. baghdad is not threatened. but clearly, isis is -- phased but not defeated in terms of their operations in iraq. >> it is going to be a long and complicated battle.
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thanks. senior administration officials will attempt to calm public fear over ebola in a press conference that is about to begin. we'll bring that to you live next on "now." whenwork with equity experts who work with regional experts that's when expertise happens. mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration. but when we start worrying about tomorrow,
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♪ 76 million. that is the number of households that were affected by a major cyberattack against j.p. morgan chase this summer along with 7 million small businesses. the bank admitted to breach yesterday, one of the worst ever and exponentially larger than the initial estimate. jpmorgan claimed 1 million accounts were affected. this is the latest of major security breaches at corporate giants. 56 million credit card numbers were stolen from home depot. 145 million ebay personal records were compromised.
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and 110 million people were attacked using their cards at target. j.p. morgan chase says there is no evidence that social security numbers were compromised but is it a serious blow for a banking sector which supposedly fortress-like protection. this is really a slap in the face of the american financial services system. honestly, this is a crisis point. we are still awaiting a press briefing from senior administration officials on the ebola outbreak we will bring that to you live just ahead on "now."
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senior administration officials are beginning a briefing on ebola right now. let's listen in. >> the national institutes of health, administrator raj shaw. and finally general david rodriguez who is a commander of u.s. forces africa command. as the president has said, we are not facing just a health crisis, we are facing a national security priority and it's one that he has instructed his team is as important as any threat we're facing. since this outbreak began in march the president has directed that we scale up our response, both here at home and in the countries effected in west africa and that's exactly what we're done. most recently by deploying united states military members
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to liberia and to the region to support civilian efforts on the ground. today we are using a whole of government approach and response to control this epidemic at its source. and that's evidenced by the people who are here with me today at the podium. we're doing a number of things to address this epidemic at its source in west africa first and foremost. we are also enhancing our domestic preparedness and ability to respond to isolated cases here in the united states. and as importantly, we are rallying the international community to contribute to this response and that was seen most recently when the president spoke at the united nations last week and when we had an unprecedented vote in the u.n. security council to contribute and to show galvanizing forces of the international community to contribute to this response.
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the strategy of the united states is executing has four key goals. to control the epidemic at its source in west africa to mitigate the second order impacts of this epidemic to lead a coordinated international response and to build a robust global health security infrastructure so we are able to confront epidemics such as we are facing today. it is important to remind the american people that the united states has the most capable health infrastructure and the best doctors in the world, bar none. and it's why people travel from all over the world to receive medical care here in the united states. finally i want to emphasize that the united states is prepared to deal with this crisis both at
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home and in the region. every ebola outbreak in the past 40 years has been stopped. we know how the do this. and we will do it again. with america's leadership i'm confident and president obama is confident that this epidemic will also be stopped. so with that, let me turn the podium over to secretary burwell. >> thank you, lisa. since the outbreak began the united states government has been engaged in preparation both at home and abroad to protect our homeland and stop the epidemic at its source. we've been working for many months to ensure that the united states is protected. cdc sent out our first guidance to state and local officials on july 28th and has been followed with six additional sets of guidance and the latest was just issued yesterday. in addition, we have enhanced
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our surveillance and laboratory testing capacity in states to make sure they are able to detect cases. been in regular and repeated contact with state officials and health departments including developing guidance and tools for departments to conduct public health investigations. we're continuing to provide guidance for flight crews, emergency medical service units at airports and border patrol officers about reporting ill travellers to the cdc. and we're continuing to work with hospitals and health care workers around the country to prepare most effectively both in terms of detecting symptoms and then responding appropriately. as we saw just a few months ago, almost two months ago in carolina's medical center and at mount sinai in new york, hospitals and health care systems reacted and took appropriate steps. fortunately, in those cases, the
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cases were not positive. we saw emery's ability to handle the first cases that returned from west africa followed by the nebraska medical center's ability to do the same. in dallas the public health system is now handling the case with the protocol that we know control this disease. we recognize the concern that even a single case of ebola creates on our shores. but we have the public health systems and the public health providers in place to contain the spread of this disease. we have taken a number of precautions to prevent the spread and instituted exit screening procedures in west africa to prevent those sick from ebola from traveling. the department of homeland security is in the process of advising all travellers returning to the u.s. from countries with ebola outbreaks in west africa to monitor their health for 21 days and to
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immediately seek medical help if any symptoms do develop. the centers for disease control stands ready, as it has in dallas, to deploy expert teams when needed. finally our scientists at the food and drug administration and the national institutes of health are working tirelessly to develop new vaccines and treatments for ebola. we remain focused on working with our partners on the ground to stop the epidemic at its source and continuing to take necessary precautions across the united states government to prevent the epidemic from spreading further. i'd like to turn to dr. tony fauchi from the n.i.h. to talk a little bit about open deemology. >> thank you very much secretary burwell. i'd like to provide basic but important facts about ebola and
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its transmission. although ebola is a serious viral disease with a high fatality rate it is not easily transmitted. specifically the ebola virus is not easily spread like a cold or influenza. you must come into direct contact with the bodily fluids of a sick persian or exposure to objects that have been contaminated with infected bodily fluids. ebola is not a respiratory disease like the flu so it is not transmitted through the air. this is important. individuals who are not symptomatic are not contagious. in order for the virus to be transmitted an individual would have to have direct contact with an individual who is experiencing symptoms or who has died of the disease. we have considerable experience in dealing with ebola both in controlling and in preventing outbreaks. this is based on experience with almost two dozen outbreaks in
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central africa since the virus was first isolated in 1976. the key elements to that criminal and the prevention of outbreaks when ebola rises in a community is to first identify cases, isolate them, care for them under conditions that protect the health care workers, and importantly, perform contact tracing. people in direct contact with a sick ebola patient should be monitored for symptoms for at least 21 days. if no symptoms arise, the individual is cleared. if symptoms arise the person is appropriately isolated and cared for. this formula has worked very well over many years. the situation in west africa has been very difficult, largely due to the lack of an adequate health care infrastructure to deal with the outbreak. and so i want to reiterate what the secretary said. our health care infrastructure
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in the united states is well-quipped to stop ebola in its tracks. as the secretary said, in addition to managing the issues associated with containing the situation in dallas, as it exists today, and addressing the very -- as it exists in africa today we are working aggressively and energically to develop and test a vaccine to prevent ebola and therapeutics to treat it. and now i'd like to introduce dr. raj shaw the administrator of usaid. >> thank you dr. fauci. i'd like to take a moment to describe the effort in west africa which includes a major effort to control the disease, includes specific actions to deal with the secondary impacts of the crisis in several west
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african countries including making food, water, and government support more available. and the effort to build out an international coalition as lisa previously discussed. our response in west africa started in the spring and accelerated dramatically over the summer. this coordinated civilian response included the largest ever disaster assist response team from usaid, the largest ever more than 100 person centers for disease control disease control capability deployed to liberia, sierra leone, guinea and countries throughout the region and more that double the laboratory and diagnostic capacity in west africa to ensure that cases could be identified and positively confirmed. since that time we've help deliver more than 120,000 sets of personal protective equipment, build out ebola treatment units, provide
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technical assistance for airport screening throughout the region and increase the basic capacity of what has been a weak existing health care infrastructure to deal with this disease. as the president noted in his comments at the centers for disease control a few weeks ago, our strategy now is clear. first we are investing in a strong incident command system at the national and local level throughout the region to identify cases and trace contacts. second, we are building out ebola treatment units so that enough bed capacity exists for as many positively identified patients as possible to receive isolation and treatment. we are on path to put in place the w.h.o. plan of more than 2800 beds in liberia according to their time line and just in the last ten days have seen significant new ebola treatment capability come online including the largest ebola treatment unit in liberia the new island clinic
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which we helped build and staff. third we're engaging in an extensive community care strategy that includes 1 to 20 bed community care center units that are placed throughout rural communities in particular to help isolate patients in those communities and support the distribution of hygiene and protective equipment kits so families can protect their patients in their families. we have distributed more than 9,000 of those kits together with unicef and the world health organization and on path to have about 10,000 arrive in country and be distributed in liberia on a weekly basis. in recent days we have scaled up to identify, reach and in a safe and dignified manner deal with bodies of patients who are deceased from ebola. we now have more than 50 safe burial teams with full protective equipment and careful protocols in place and we're
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noting that more than 3/4 of all bodies in liberia positively identified patients are cleared safely in a 24-hour period. that is an important existing mode of transmission. i further note the scale up of centers for disease control efforts through june and august was significant but the complexity of building out ebola treatment units and providing the logistics support in terms of protective equipment and medicines required that significant additional resources brought by the department of defense and announced by president obama. so i'm pleased to introduce general david rodriguez the commander of africa command to describe those specific efforts. thank you. >> thanks, administrator. as we deploy america's sons and daughters to support the comprehensive united states government effort led by the united states agency for
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international development we'll do everything in our power to address and mitigate any -- as director shah mentioned the areas we're focusing on are command and control and that is to help support and coordinate the efforts of both usa imd and the international community. we are also working on training, training the people who man and manager the ebola treatment units. we are supporting the engineering efforts to build out the ebola treatment units and we're also doing an effort in the area of logistics which is a tremendous logistics effort as the administrator pointed out. for our soldiers prior to deployment we'll provide them the best equipment and training we can. we are assessing the risk based on their mission, location and activities. we are implementing procedures
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to eliminate or reduce the risk of transmission. including the use of personal protective equipment, hygiene protocols and monitoring. prior to redeploying we will screen and identify anyone who faced an elevated risk of exposure and take all steps to minimize any potential transmission in accordance with our international standards. in tend our equipment, training, procedures and most of all, the discipline of our leaders and our force will help us to ensure that our team accomplishes its mission without posing a risk to our nation and our fellow citizens. thank you. >> thanks very much, general rodriguez. first i want to thank our -- the folks with me at the podium. but most importantly the dedicated military, and medical professionals they represent.
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with that, we are happy to take your questions. >> you are uc tag about giving fact sheets out to passengers who arrive from the ebola countries why not do more active screening like ask people, have you had a fever? have you been in contact with people? that's been done in some countries and other circumstances. on the face of it it seems like a reasonable thing to do. >> i think this goes to what dr. fauci talked about. we are taking steps to address the source -- the people coming from the source countries and we think those are the most effective steps we can take, the temperature testing the questionnaires, the testing for fever, and making sure that people who are symptomatic and as dr. fauci has said and dr. tom frieden has talked about this repeatedly you cannot get ebola other than from direct
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contact offed bely fluids from someone who is at that time symptomatic. the most effective way to control this is prevent those individuals from getting on a plane in the first place. since these measures of put in place, dozens of people have been stopped from getting on flights in the region. >> people have got on planes anyway. why not have the u.s. kus zoms and immigration people ask them -- clearly it's not effective to do it merely on the african side. >> i think we've seen we've had an individual in texas who did come to this country and later became symptomatic and that person is now isolated and dealt with and significant contact tracing is being done. your question of passive versus active screening is an understandable one but it's as secretary burwell has indicated we have taken a number of steps
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to ensure that customs teams are trained to identify a symptomatic individual and where they do present people who may be symptomatic, they have instructions about what to do and how to handle that. all of which is to say that we are constantly going to evaluate what may be the most effective measures we can take. secretary johnson is evaluating that with his team and with the medical professionals. right now the most effective measures are focusing at the source countries and taking the steps the concerted training, and precautionary measures and notification measures we have taken with the folks here on the receiving end. >> talk in broad terms about hospital procedures here and in dallas there have been break downs in the system at a couple of points. lessons learned from the dallas
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situation and what the u.s. knows about the latest islamic state video with this british hostage and another american on the video as well. >> on the latter issue let me just address that and then ask secretary burwell and dr. fauci to address texas. we are aware and have seen and are evaluating the newest video. if it in fact proves to be authentic it is another demonstration of the brutality of isil and our hearts go out to the british aide worker who we believe is in that video and to the remaining hostages and to their families. this is, again, yet another -- just a very clear example of the brutality of this group and why the president has articulated and moving out in a
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comprehensive way to degrade and destroy isil. let me now turn to my colleagues on the latter part of your question. >> with regard to the efforts that the cdc is pursuing and we've been purr suing, we've had the efforts in charlotte we saw and we saw the system work in mount sinai. we have a case here, howard and the question there. and so the systems are in place. we continue to communicate and give good instruction. i think it is important to whatever we learn we incorporate. we have issued a seventh health alert notice -- >> what the lesson learned from some of these failures in dallas was and how you may be changing or modifying any lesson -- >> what we know are the critical steps that we have said throughout the process and that
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is about identification and identification at the point at which there is a temperature and as dr. fauci said, something can be done. we are make sure that hospitals and health workers know when they see that what steps to take and how to isolate and what to do immediately. we will continue to do that and respond to the questions from the community. >> what about the potential case at howard university? is there any new information about that? and to dr. fauci, if it doesn't spread like the flu or a cold why is it spreading so quickly and are you confident we won't see an outbreak in the u.s. >> with regard to the nigeria case i haven't seen the results of the tests yet. and what you see is people taking precautions. the symptoms are ma lair yal but they could be this. everyone is take appropriate steps and we believe that is the right thing to do. cdc gets contacted and we make a
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determination and work with the community and the health center to do the test. when when we get that definitive we make public as quickly as possible what we know about that. and -- >> there is a patient being tested at shady grove adventist. are you being informed of all of these suspected cases? >> let me answer the question here first. you were seeing if it's only transmitted a certain way -- >> doesn't spread as fast as -- >> why is there such an outbreak? if one goes to liberia or sierra leone or guinea you will see the conditions that make it very, very clear that coming into contact with bodily fluids, the most efficient way of transmission is unfortunately the very thing that holds families together. someone gets sick. they take care of them. they touch them. if they're not aware of the
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