doctors without borders set those up to care for patients in a very tough environment and they do a good job. they are able to take care of those patients and simultaneously keep themselves protected. difficult, obviously, here in dallas for some reason. >> we'll stay on top of this story. sanjay you'll be with us throughout the day. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. christiane amanpour is next. newsroom with kate bolduan starts right now. >> here we go. let me pick up where you left off. brooke baldwin. this ebola story is fast-moving. a lot of developments we're watching for. we're watching for the white house briefing happening in a few minutes and two we'll keep a close eye on this picture, live picture in cleveland, ohio with we should be getting a brief. there's a white house, cleveland

waiting to hear from the mayor and someone from the airline in which this second health care official flew to justin last couple of days. let me back up. we're talking about the second nurse here from dallas who contracted ebola at that hospital. she violated cdc protocol by traveling to cleveland and then by flying back to dallas one day before reporting ebola symptoms. that is what we just heard from the director of the cdc, dr. tom frieden. >> because at that point she was in a group of individuals known to have exposure to ebola, she should not have traveled 0 a commercial airline. the cdc guidance in this setting out lines the need for what is called controlled movement. that include a charter plane, that can include a car, but it does not include public transport. >> so you heard that. she should not have been on that

commercial airline. we'll explore all angles of that in a couple of minutes with our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. dr. frieden is vowing that won't happen again. people with ebola won't be able to jump on a commercial plane. this latest patient success transported today to atlanta to emory university hospital there, emory is one of four hospitals in the united states certified to treat ebola patients, and also where three ebola patients have been treated. meantime back to the white house, president obama is actually postponing his campaign trips today to both new jersey and connecticut in order to stay put to meet this next hour with high level government agencies who are coordinating the government's response here to ebola. so let's get right to dallas to kick this coverage off to elizabeth cohen. as i mentioned, lots of moving parts on this story right now.

let's begin with this 29-year-old health care worker there from the hospital in front of where you stand, who is she. how did this happen? >> reporter: her name is amber vincent. as you said she's a 29-year-old nurse, brooke. we don't know much more than that except we do know she's moving to emory. we don't know if that's because she requested it or maybe the hospital said look we think you would be better off elsewhere or maybe it was that a government official, state or federal said to the hospital look we think she ought to be moved. we just don't know the answers. brooke, there's one thing we're learning. at the press conference our colleague, ed lavandera asked the doctor do we know how these nurses got exposed, was there any skin exposed when they put on their personal protection equipment and he said yes at times skin was exposed. another possibility is you're supposed to wear one or sometimes two pairs of gloves.

we were told they sometimes were wearing three or four. which may sound like more is better but experts say that's problem because you have more dirty stuff to take off than when you started out. >> i thought that part was fascinating. we'll talk to sanjay about that who had to put on a lot of this personal protective equipment. here's the next question, do we know as we're trying and everyone else is trying to determine the timeline, how close was she to, you know, eric thomas duncan the ebola patient who came over from liberia, who died last wednesday at that hospital. at what point in his treatment, i mean was she really in the thick of it during those days in dallas? >> reporter: brooke, it sounds like she was in the thick of it, she had frequent contact with him between september 28th and september 30th. those dates seem to be significant for two reasons. one that was at the very beginning. he was admitted on the 28th and it seems like this hospital was

sort of getting their sea legs a little bit figuring out how to use this protective equipment and what kind to use. we were told they use ad variety of kinds, it was not consistent which is not a good thing. also on those dates he was putting out copious amounts of bodily fluids. i don't mean bleeding a little bit, vomiting a little bit, ebola patients can put out liters of fluid. when that splashes on you it's tough to take the equipment off. >> that's why the conversation having these site managers, people teaching, the medical personnel,000 put on the personal protective gear is so incredibly important. elizabeth cohen, great reporting from dallas. thank you so much. meantime, again, we talk about this nurse's travel pinpoint you to look at the flight that 29-year-old nurse amber vincent took a day before reporting symptoms of ebola. you see dallas on the map. vincent was on a frontier

airlines, flight 1143. she went from dallas to cleveland last week and returned just this past monday october 13th. the cdc now wants to talk to all 132 passengers on board that flight. here's the number to call if you are one of them or if you know someone who was. pick up the phone. call the cdc. 1-800-cdc-info. joining me now to talk about this angle, mary schavio and dr. sanjay gupta. i have a lot of questions. sanjay, we know that this 29-year-old nurse she treated thomas eric duncan who died of ebola last wednesday morning. she then gets on this commercial airline, flies to cleveland and this, according to dr. frieden absolutely violated cdc protocol. would she have known that?

>> well she should have known that but i'm giving her the benefit of the doubt my guess is she was not told that. two points. first the cdc is not an authority that can mandate things like this. they provide guidance and recommendations. dr. frieden talked about this idea of controlled movement. they recommend people who have been in contact with somebody who has had ebola have controlled movement. they don't get on commercial airlines. they take a chartered plane, they can get in cars but need to be monitoring their temperature every day. so this shouldn't have happened. whether she was told this and knew this or most i give her the benefit of the doubt and say she didn't and maybe she was being diligent and still reporting in whether or not she had a fever. also give her the benefit of the doubt she didn't have any symptoms when she got on the flight. very important, obviously. if she had any symptoms or not. if both those things are true the fact of the matter still remains that that airline flight was not, should not have been in

the cards for her. >> i want to go back on the symptoms issues. mary, to you. you have these, i'm hearing 132 people on board this plane from cleveland to dallas and we know the cdc wants to track down each and every one of those people to talk to them. what is that process like? what kinds much questions would the cdc be asking? >> well, this is an absolute outrage which is why travel should have been banned while it was containable while 150 people from three countries from africa have been endangered. the cdc will ask people about their symptoms and checking temperatures. built there's no mechanism unless you do a quarantine order and these people have rights and people can travel. it's in the constitution. so now we have a situation where the cdc is back tracking and

trying to find people and have people monitoring their temperature. and this is a huge problem because we really don't have these procedures in place at airlines and there's no law that sets them forth. >> there isn't. then the next thing is you know they are trying to talk to all those people aboard that plane. i was on a plane coming back from louisville, kentucky. i was like sitting there asking the flight attendant asking me to help scrub off part of the tray table because someone left some of their ick. what if it's not just the people on board the plane or the next person or the next person who sat in her very seat. how thorough does this need to be? >> well that's the crazy thing about cleaning planes. there is no federal aviation regulation on standards for cleaning aircraft. why? the federal aviation regulations deal with safety and security of flying. that's left to the various health authorities as are things like food kitchens and cleaning

the bathroom, et cetera. now yesterday we saw right on cnn the cdc says the fluids can live if dried for several hours and if wet for several days. there's no current plane cleaning protocols to call for that. >> we don't want to wait in lines. we want to go, go. my goodness and then sanjay with the symptoms, i know she didn't report any symptoms at least according to the cdc or the crew on frontier air said they didn't see anything either, she was part of the group self-monitoring. she took her temperature, when she came back to dallas. had a 99.5 degree fever. is that enough to make her contagious? >> if she had a 99.5 temperature before getting on the flight and she reported that, you know this is one of those areas where it

gets to be a little bit of a gray area. the protocol calls for 100.4 temperature. it's not an exact science. 100.5 or 100.5 is not a magic number. the fact she had a fever at all. whether somebody would look at that and say she had contact with somebody with ebola, pretty intensive contact, now she has a fever we should ground her or do something to isolate her. i don't know. some of this, i think, is a little bit of a judgment call based on how suspicious you think it is. i think given the fact she shouldn't have been on the plane in the first place that becomes -- everything else is dwarfed by that very thing. she should have been in dallas monitoring her temperature and quickly get into isolation as soon as she saw that temperature go up. >> mary, i see that look in your eye. dew point to jump in? >> here's another example of

double speak out of the cdc. they say it's 100.4. duncan's temperature was 100.3 and he died. even cdc's own messages -- the reason why american public are reacting to this so strongly and they should it's a deadly disease and we haven't gotten consistent, reliable information from the government. people who don't have to fly won't and people like me who have to fly for our work we'll get on board but take our own precautions. >> i agree with what mary said. 100.4 that they said is the guideline at which you start to become concerned about ebola. >> got it. it's interesting you say this is a gray area. i feel so much of this story we're living and covering and reporting in massive gray area. dr. sanjay gupta, mary schiavo, thank you. as we talk about travel in airports. my next guest has a machine

called ebola fighter. and demand for this machine shug. it's been used in airports and hospitals and to clean one of the infected nurse's apartments in dallas and he'll show me how this thing works. explosive new allegations involving the care for thomas eric duncan. how duncan was allowed to be around other patients exposed. lots of questions on this one. stay with me. you're watching cnn's special live coverage. you're never quite sure what is coming your way. but when you've got an entire company who knows that the most on-time flights are nothing if we can't get your things there too. it's no wonder more people choose delta than any other airline. i have the worst cold with this runni better take something. dayquill cold and flu doesn't treat your runny nose.

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breathe better starting within 5 minutes. call or go online to learn more about a free prescription offer. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. . hi. more breaking news. the second patient, skongd nurse from dallas who has ebola returned from a flight from cleveland just this past monday so now we're hearing from the

cleveland mayor responding to this. cleveland mayor frank jackson. >> today we were notified by frontier airlines and cdc that an airplane at hopkins transported a person now diagnosed with ebola. now the cdc is handling that situation and is really on top of that. however, we are taking additional steps in abundance of caution. now it's important to note at this point to the best of our knowledge we have not had any cases of ebola in the city of cleveland. just as important this is a very important health issue in a it's important we all stay focused on the facts and sharing information so that we can protect the interests of the public and the public is aware of what they should do and when

they should do it and have an understanding of the nature of this virus. now, i'll introduce to you director perilla who will discuss -- >> we'll pull away from this. it was pretty short and sweet, cleveland mayor frank jackson, obviously watching the situation very closely now that we know this 29-year-old notorious from the dallas hospital has contracted ebola. we got much more on that. let me talk about this weapon, this piece of machinery being used in the fight against ebola here in the united states and apparently it's working so well the demand for it is huge. take a look at it. let me show you a picture. here you go. just in this guy's hand. it's called touch point healthy infection-control system. it's developed by a fort worth, texas basis company. this misting -- see the mist coming out of this thing. this mist helps decontaminate surfaces with ebola exposure

precisely. in fact, hazmat crews used this product to clean the dallas apartment of that first nurse who was exposed and who contracted ebola. again the first person to contracting ebola in the u.s., this was the primary nurse for the late ebola victim thomas eric duncan. so let me bring in the man who has come up with this piece of technology, this ceo of emist innovations mr. george robertson. george, welcome. >> thank you very much. thank you for having me today. >> i can only imagine you're getting call after call after call not just from people in texas but all over the country. how is this being used to disinfect airports. how so? >> well, currently at this time we are not using it to disinfect any airports. the technology has been around for a long time. we have been in development for several years. and just now this year have

brought this to commercialization and full production. it's not only about ebola but infection-control because the mister we have will help prevent going forward in all kinds of situations not only hospitals, airports, airplanes, daycare centers, it's very effective in chemicals -- yes >> no, no. forgive the assumption. with people being screened coming in from different parts of the world, assuming you have been called from airports my guess is you will be. >> probably. >> let me ask you about the science. on the science, what kind of scientific proof or evidence do you have that once you spray this mist on, you know, on table tops, tray tables in airplanes that that will kill any kind of ebola? >> well, first of all our machine is the delivering device it's not the actual chemical.

i mean you can use a multitude of chemicals. from scientific it's electrostatically charged. what the droplets are, they are positively charged. and then when they go and attract to a negative charge, like on a table, any surface, they will wraparound that, go underneath that, cover any touch point where anybody else would touch. it's like when you were a kid and you took a balloon and rubbed it on your hair and created electrostatic and stick to the wall. same thing for the affluent we using system. it makes it more affordable for the health care worker to apply disinfectants much quicker, you can disinfect a hospital room within minutes compared to other technologies that's been available. our product has not been around for use for, until just recently. >> you bring up health care workers and ease of use for them

but what about nina pham this first nurse that contracted ebola. your company got the phone call to go to her apartment, to her apartment complex in dallas and clean it. >> right. we partnered with another clean up company and they did use our device there. and, you know, again not knowing exactly how the breach and protocol was there with nina, things that we possibly could have done if the device was in the hospital, possibly sprayed down the clinician prior to them taking off their protective gear. >> well, would have, could have, should have. hopefully you'll be used in the future. thank you so much. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> explosive allegations against the hospital in charge of thomas eric duncan. hear how nurses were told to cover up their skin around this

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you are watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. live pictures as we wait for this white house daily briefing begin, hearing more on ebola. the president has cancelled his campaign trips to new jersey and connecticut today to stay put, stay at the white house meeting

with some cabinet agencies. the government's response to ebola. watching and waiting for that there. also we're seeing this picture, guys throw it up here. here she is. this is the second nurse from dallas. this is 29-year-old amber vincent who has now contracted ebola. she's the one who also helped treat thomas eric duncan before he passed away last wednesday morning. she's the one who took that plane. a lot of people asking questions about the travel choices and if she knew that was a breach in cdc protocol. again the second nurse en route to atlanta to be treated at emory hospital there. then this. you have frontier airlines. they have pulled the plane that this young woman flew on a day before her temperature speck according to the cdc. she should not have flown as i just mention ad moment ago according to protocol for those who have cared for ebola patients. and you have to think with another one of their own sick the colleagues of nurse amber

vincent are also more worried than ever for their own health. and if you believe the national nurse's united union, some nurses at this dallas hospital, texas health presbyterian, they fear something else. retaliation. and that is why this union says no nurse from the hospital would even show their face or use their own voice as they sat on this teleconference on tuesday but they shared a lot through this union. so according to union representatives who were speaking for these different nurses at this dallas hospital none of whom are in the union, by the way, let me make that clear, they revealed mistake after mistake after mistake involving the care of this man thomas eric duncan, the first ebola victim in the united states. here is just one of the nurses' allegations. >> there was no one to pick up hazardous waste as it piled to the ceiling. they did not have access to the proper supplies and observed the

infection-control department and the cdc themselves violate basic principles. of infection-control including cross-contaminating between patients. in the end the nurses strongly feel unsupported, unprepared, lied to, and deserted to handle their own situation. >> lied to. pretty strong words here from these nurses. joining me now, infectious disease specialty doctor. welcome back. we have a lot to talk about as far as these different allegations from these nurses. we actually heard that from dr. frieden the head of the cdc he also said, he understood. out of anxiety a lot of these nurses and doctors were piling on the gloves, two, three pairs of gloves, you know, multiple layers. but in actuality it backfires. makes you more open to the

virus. >> right. so as we've discussed before on the show, the real high-risk moment is when you're take off the protective equipment so if you're putting on multiple layers that makes it more difficult to take it off. now one thing i would point out initially the hospital protocol, i'm not saying the cdc protocol, what the hospital was instructing the staff to do was very minimal in terms of protective gear. as duncan got sicker you should wear a facemask, double glove . they should have been following the cdc protocol for personal protective equipment from the get go. >> sounds there was protocol existed but not communicated to members of this hospital and they were saying say round this roundtable, anonymously, no training, or very little training. let me play you one more.

>> some supervisors said that even the n-95 masks were not necessary. the gowns they were given still exposed their neck, the parts closest to their face and mouth, they also left exposed the majority of their heads and their scrubs from the knees down. initially they were not even given surgical booties nor were they advised the number of pairs of gloves to wear. >> who screwed this up? >> if the nurse's allegations are true they have every right to be furious the way duncan's case was mismanaged. the cdc has protocols. they have been trying to do some education but clearly that hasn't been effective enough that's why they are ramping up attempts to train infectious disease workers across the u.s.. the hospital leadership and

their infection-control experts and each has their own infection-control department. they should have trained their staff. >> let me just get this in. this is a statement from the hospital from texas presbyterian. they say quote, we take compliance very seriously. we have numerous measures in place to provide a safe working environment including mandatory annual training and 24-7 hotline and other mechanicsisms that allow for anonymous reporting. here's the question. maybe it wasn't the anticipation that this actually happened here, that there would be this person that came from liberia who had been exposed and ultimately got sick and died. but i'm curious, there's only a finite number of beds in this hospital that can handle patients like this. emory being one of them. do you think these patients should be treated at those hospitals or do you think heaven forbid somebody in new york

winds up with ebola that wherever that patient is, that hospital is capable of handling it? >> i think we need something in the middle. i think that on the one hand those four biocontainment units are the experts. we need more facilities throughout the country that can provide care. every hospital should be prepared to diagnose and isolate an ebola patient, call for help from the cdc and the state and local health department and the patient can be transferred to some place that has a higher level of biocontainment capacity. but everybody needs to be able to diagnose. >> okay. just getting in my ear, we're getting close to the white house briefing so we'll take it as soon as we see that happening in about 60 seconds from now. what do you make of the fact that 29-year-old amber vincent jumped on a plane and that was against cdc protocol. one could easily say listen, she's a medical personnel, she should have known better, at the

same time should she have? >> i think she should have known better, and i think this also happened with nancy sneiderman breaking her quarantine. >> from nbc news. >> exactly. there's a couple of layers here. one as a health care worker people want to feel they can trust you and part of that is following the rules, so to speak. second of all, in the case of nancy snyderman being a public spokesperson who should inform the public and calming their fears, doing something that will cause panic and irrational responses, is irresponsible behavior. >> guys, let me know when we want to go to the white house because it's really important. the president -- to me -- it's not nothing that the president cancelled his campaign trips for new jersey and connecticut to make sure he's staying behind and meeting with these different cabinet agencies. these are the folks helping with the government response to ebola and, again, getting this new information today just to reiterate to our viewers if

you're just joining us getting this new picture of this 29-year-old nurse, the second nurse who has now contracted ebola at this hospital after really, to quote elizabeth cohen who has been covering this for us in the thick of the treatment of this individual who passed away last week. again, we've learned within about 48 hours time she decided and we don't know the circumstances surrounding her getting on the plane and heading to cleveland -- let me hit pause. here's josh earnest. >> in the cabinet room with members of his team who are responsible for responding to this, to the ebola diagnosis in texas. so, i need to leave here about 3:25. feel embarrassing to walk in late. yes. and so i don't want to be late. so do you want to get us started. >> thank you. can you give us any more details on the meeting that you said you're going, to what the

president will get out of it, who are some of the people participating, and does this in any way affect the travel that's on the schedule for tomorrow? >> the president is convening members of his team who have been responsible for responding to the ebola situation in this country. the president wants to do that because he wants to make sure that all of the needed resources of the federal government are being deployed to deal with this specific situation. we'll have a full manifest of those who are participating in the meeting for you. at the conclusion of the meeting you'll have an opportunity to hear directly from the president himself about what decisions were made in the course of that meeting. at this point, i don't have any changes to tomorrow's schedule to announce. we're obviously operating in a dynamic environment right now so we'll do our best to keep you updated. if there's something that requires a change in the president's schedule then we'll definitely let you know. >> can you explain why he thought it was necessary to cancel both trips, both stops in new jersey and connecticut and

to stay here and have this meeting? >> obviously we have a second diagnosis of ebola. again, this is a health care worker who was working to treat the patient at texas presbyterian hospital. the first individual who had been diagnosed with ebola in this country. so that indication, that indicates the seriousness of the situation and the president believed that it was important to convene the senior members of his team who were responsible for coordinating this response. and the president was not able to host that meeting and travel at the same time. what we have always indicated is that the president of the united states is president wherever he goes and that's true 24/7. but what's also true is if the president determines it's necessary for him to return to the white house to fulfill his responsibilities as the leader of the country and as the commander-in-chief then he'll alter his schedule accordingly and the decision we made about

today's schedule is consistent with that guiding principle. >> i know this question was asked yesterday, i want to ask it again today. does the president and the white house, is there continued confidence in dr. frieden to lead the cdc at this time and also is the administration going rethink the idea of appointing somebody to be an ebola czar given this new urgency. >> the answer to your first question is yes. throughout this process and this crisis dating back to march this administration has been guided by the science, by our medical experts who have experience in dealing with ebola outbreaks. for almost four decades now, the global health community led by the united states has been dealing with ebola outbreaks in africa. and as we are dealing with a public health situation in this country, we continue to be guided by the advice of medical experts and scientists who have knowledge in this field and can use that knowledge to protect

the american people. as it relates to a so-called ebola czar, what i will reiterate what we said in the past. we have designated very clear lines of responsibility in terms of which agencies are responsible for which aspects of this response. we got cdc and usaid personnel operating in west africa network with those local governments to meet the urgent humanitarian public health needs in those countries. you have a department of defense who is responding to the orders of the president of the united states to set up enhanced logistical ability as they seek to move equipment and into the region to confront this outbreak. you have department of homeland security staffers who are responsible for securing or transportation infrastructure and monitoring individuals who are entering this country at ports of entry across the map.

and then in addition to that you have hhs and cdc official who responsible for coordinating with state and local public health authorities to ensure that the american public is safe and there are clear line of authority for each of those sets of responsibilities. at the same time you have the president's chief homeland security adviser working here at the white house who responsible for integrating the efforts of all the agencies and making sure they have tack sees to the information and resources that they need to do their job. all of that said, we have said on a number of occasions that if additional resources or if additional staffing is necessary to augment the response, then we won't hesitate to consider it but at this point the lines of authority are clear. and the person responsible for coordinating those efforts here at the white house continues to do that work well. >> sounds like you're not

inclined to appoint a czar. >> again, there are clear lines ever responsibility that are in place. there is an individual here at the white house, highly competent individually is a monaco who is responsible for integrating that response. again if we determine additional resources or additional staffing or additional expertise is needed to augment this response then we won't hesitate to take advantage of it. >> is the president wanting to know how this health care worker was able to get on a commercial plane? >> well, there are a number of things that we're eager to know. the first is and this is the subject of an investigation by cdc officials is to determine exactly how this virus was transmitted from the so-called index patient in dallas to at least two of the health care workers who were treating him. that is the focal point of an investigation that the cdc is expediting at the direct order of the president of the united states.

the other thing that the cdc is reviewing are the protocols that were in place to protect the health of the health care workers who were treating this patient. it's not clear exactly what protocols were in place and how those protocols were implemented and the cdc wants to try to get to the bottom of that so that they can offer advice to medical professionals and hospital administrators and others across the country about the protocols that are needed to ensure their health care workers remain safe. what the cdc is also doing and they are expending significant resources to do this is to do contact tracing of the two health care workers that have contracted the virus. and that involves as it sounds tracing the contacts these individuals had after they got sick. and so you saw the news release from cdc and one of the domestic

airlines today indicating that they were contacting passengers who were on the same flight as this individual to make sure that they were educated about the risk to which they were exposed. now what our medical experts tell us is that risk is quite low but it's important for people to have access to that information so that they can get the facts about what sort of risk they are facing, again that risk is low. and what steps should be taken if necessary in the unlikely event that they do tart to display some symptoms. >> yesterday the president said ebola epidemic in the united states is highly unlikely. is that statement still true today? >> it's true. it's guided by the science. that's what our experts say. our experts say that because the way ebola is transmitted is very clear and it's something that's not likely to happen in the united states. let's walk through what that is.

ebola is not like the flu. ebola is not transmitted through the air. ebola is not transmitted through the food that we eat in this country and it's not transmitted through the water that we drink in this country. the only way an individual can get ebola is by coming into close contact with the bodily fluids of an individual that's already exhibiting symptoms of ebola. that's why in this case tragically we've seen two health care workers that were obviously in very close contact with the index ebola patient contract this virus. how exactly that transmission occurred is something that remains under investigation, but the risk to which they were exposed was elevated by the fact that they were in close contact with this patient trying to meet that person's medical needs. okay. >> to follow up. the president used the word epidemic. yesterday you used the word outbreak. that's something exceedingly

chances are low. isn't what we have in dallas now outbreak, multiple transmissions? >> well, i think there's a medical professional who could give you a specific definition of what actually constitutes an outbreak. my layman's understanding that i think the vast majority of the american public would agree with, is that we're talking about a situation in which two health care workers who were treating an individual with ebola contracted the virus. we are, the cdc, our medical experts are conducting an investigation to determine how that transmission occurred. but that is different than images that are conjured up with an outbreak where you have individuals who are, who are basically in public transmitting the virus. that's something that we think on a large scale is exceedingly

unlikely. >> your definition of an outbreak says it's something that's an occurrence in excess of what normally would be expected in a defined community. it can be a case where a disease long has been absent from a population. that may also constitute an outbreak. it sound like even if it's not large scale it's an outbreak. so i guess i wonder if that calls into question some of the reassurances we've heard in this room. >> it doesn't, mark. simply what we're talking about here is a situation where there were health care workers who came into direct contact with an ebola patient who did tragically contract the disease. we are very focused on make being sure those individuals get the treatment that's necessary. and our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families as they fight this terrible virus. but that is wholly different than, for example, the situation we see in west africa where tragically you're seeing people who live in the same household be, passing the virus from one

to another. what we're seeing as a result of unsafe burial practices that individuals are contracting the virus from corpses. again that's a tragic occurrence. it is an indication of the poor medical infrastructure that exists in those countries. and that is something that poses a much broader risk to the population of west africa that's why the president has devoted significant resources from the federal government combat that outbreak. but that is, obviously, a far cry from the situation that exists in dallas right now. john. >> josh, you said that the president still has confidence in the director of the cdc. let me ask you a broader question. you were pretty strong in defending the federal government's response to this yesterday. now given what we've learned about another case in dallas and the fact that that individual was able to, did fly on a plane while supposed to be monitored, how would you -- would you still

say the federal government's response to this situation has been successful, up to the president's own standards? >> well, i'll say a couple of things about that. the first is dr. frieden, the director of the cdc himself has said that it's unacceptable that even one health care worker was exposed to this virus while they were providing medical treatment to this patient. so that is an indication that there were, that there were shortcomings and that is something that's being thoroughly investigated by the centers for disease control and other medical experts. that investigation, obviously, will also now expand to cover the second health care worker that's now been diagnosed with ebola. so that is a clear indication that -- let me say there's a second thing that dr. frieden also said was that, i believe it

was earlier this week he noted that knowing what he knows now about the situation in the hospital, he indicated that he regretted not sending a team of experts to that hospital sooner to assist the hospital as they responded to this specific diagnosis. so what you are seeing from the federal government, however, is the kind of tenacious response that reflects evolving circumstances. so dr. frieden indicated that he would send a whole team of experts earlier this week after observing -- he believed they should have been there sooner. what you're seeing is after this diagnosis, you're seeing stepped up monitoring by health officials in texas of other health care workers that were responsible for treating the index ebola patient. so this is a response that

indicates a commitment to protect the health and safety of the american public. there are other ways in which this has happened as well, you know, we have adapted to circumstances by beefing up airport screenings, for example. at the end of last week we announced new screening measures that would go into place at five airports across the country. they cover 95% of the arrivals of travellers from, that started out in west africa. those improved or strengthened screening measures are indicative of our commitment to constantly evaluating our policies and where possible put in place measures that would strengthen them. >> why do so many americans feel, first of all, that there's a real risk of an epidemic in this country? and that the federal government is not doing enough to stop it? the latest poll, abc "the

washington post" poll two-thirds of americans think the federal government is not doing enough on this. are they wrong? >> well, let me say this about that. it sounds to me that a significant portion of the american population agrees with dr. frieden that even one transmission of the ebola virus to one health care worker in this country is something that's unacceptable and something that won't be tolerated and something that's prompted a review of protocols and careful investigation of how that transmission exactly occurred. what people can continue to be confident in is the priority and attention that this issue is receiving across the federal government and here in the white house. i think that's evidenced by the fact that the president is convening some of the top ranking officials in his administration to discuss that response. but, again, what i would urge people to do -- i think the other thing that's motivating the answer to that question, is something related to fear.

this is a deadly, terrible disease. and it is wreaking havoc in west africa. it's having a debilitating effect on the population there and genuinely tragic. at the same time because of the way that that virus is transmitted, because of the modern medical infrastructure that exists in this country, the risk of a similar outbreak like that in this country is exceedingly low. that's what our medical experts tell us. that's advice that we continue to follow. however, the administration continues to pursue the kind of tenacious response that will protect the american public here at home but do what is necessary to eliminate the risk to the american public from the ebola virus and that's to stop this outbreak at the source. >> still no consideration of a travel ban from the affected countries? >> that's not something that's on the table. the reason for that in case people haven't heard the previous answer given to that question. it's important for people to

understand why that's the case. shutting down travel to that area of the world would prevent the experiod die show us flow of personnel and equipment into the region and the only way for us to stop this outbreak and eliminate any risk from ebola to the american public is to stop this outbreak at the source. we're mobilizing significant resources to make sure that supplies and personnel can get to the affected region and start meeting the needs of the affected regions so we can stop the outbreak there. >> the president cancelled political travel today obviously to do this meeting. does he plan to cancel further political travels, is the president going to continue his campaign schedule going forward, despite the situation or is this just kind of a one day thing? >> john, we'll evaluate it on a daily basis. is this a dynamic situation. if necessary i have no doubt that the president will postpone his political travel to attend to important priorities here. but whether a change in tomorrow's schedule is required,

we just don't know that yet and when we do we'll let you know. okay. major. >> josh, couple of a months ago when the malaysia airlines jet was shot down over ukraine the president carried on with his campaign schedule, a member of the senior staff said abrupt changes to the president's schedule could have unintended consequence ever creating a false sense of crisis. did do you that today? >> no, major. what drives these kind of decisions are the president's responsibilities and you'll recall, i don't know if you traveled on that trip with us to delaware and new york but over the course of that trip the president called five different world leaders while on the road including president petro poroshenko, the leader of malaysia, including the prime minister of the netherlands who that's a nation that bore the brunt of that tragedy. the president seconded his schedule that include some

political events while attending to his responsibilities as commander-in-chief. as it relates to today's schedule, the schedule did need to be changed so the president could fulfill his responsibilities as leader of the country, we'll evaluate the schedule tomorrow based on his requirements and if we need to make a change to his schedule so that he can do what's necessary here at the white house then we'll change his schedule. i don't know yet whether that will be required. >> his meeting you indicated at the top some decision will be announced by fortunate. is this what makes it of signature importance he had to cancel -- >> no. the reason this meet cigarette important because we're talking about the senior members of his team who are responsible for dealing what's a pretty urgent situation here in this country. >> new methods announced after this meeting. >> quite frankly, major, i don't know the answer to that. if there are the president will have an opportunity to discuss them with all of you at the conclusion of the meeting. >> have there been additional meetings that the president or

his staff conducted on ebola that has not appeared on the schedule >> the president has been briefed and updated on this issue. i don't know if there have been any other formal meetings that have been convened but there's been a number of occasions in which the president has been updated. >> can you understand that the public watching this story play out can have genuine sense of either skepticism or possibly alarm because they hear, we know how to deal with this, we're taking all the proper steps, all the precautions are being implemented and then yet someone who has it, doesn't show symptoms, gets on a commercial aircraft, even though the exposure risk is minimal, everybody on that splaeng contacted. that creates a low level sense of alarm. everyone on that plane and everyone who remembers hearing just a couple of days ago, that's not going to happen. we got this under control. do you understand how the public is becoming less confident

possibly even more alarmed as this story plays out? >> people should continue to be confident. and the response that's organized by the government in reaction to this specific situation. the reason for that is simply that we have a modern medical infrastructure in place that again has not been flawless. we pointed out the case that even one transmission to a hearth worker is unacceptable. people should take solace in the fact that we know how ebola is transmitted. it's not transmitted through the air. it's not transmitted through food or water but only through close contwabt the bodily fluids of an individual who has symptoms of ebola. this is a deadly graphic disease. >> that was a big mistake that looks to me and most people evaluating this fairly as sort of a gap in the system that something that should have been communicated very tightly within the texas presbyterian community hey don't get on a commercial aircraft happened anyway. do you understand how that can

create some degree of uncertainty among the public when trying to swralt where the story is going and how tightly you have your arms wrapped around this situation >> major, i can certainly understand the concern by the american public about this terrible disease. it's a deadly disease. but it is a disease that we know whose outbreak we know how to contain here in this country and that's what we're very focused on from trying to meet needs of the health care workers who have contracted the virus to investigating how exactly that virus transmission occurred to doing the necessary contact tracing to ensure that other individuals who may have come in contact with somebody who had the ebola virus are aware of the risks they face and monitoring their own health. that's active monitoring has now been expanded to include all of the health care workers that came in contact with the index ebola patient in this hospital in dallas. so there are a number of steps

that we have taken and i think that people can be encouraged that the federal government is demonstrating the kind of tenacious adaptive response that's required to dealing with what is understandably a pretty concerning situation. >> my last question, does the president want his response team be morten show us and more urgent so stories and situations like this stop happening? >> i can tell you that the president himself certainly feels a very strong scene of urgency about ensuring that his administration and the medical experts are mobilizing the kind of response that will ensure the safety and health of the broader american public. that's what the president kpeshts. that's what the american people expects. i'm confident that will be discussed at today's meeting. >> the president woke with leaders of japan, uk, italy, germany, ebola was part of the conversation. >> the conversation with the prime minister of japan was

separate from conversation with other leaders. >> he spoke to those leaders either together or separately however you want to put it. >> there's intense interest with the nodality the way that the president communicates with world leaders. >> i respect that. i appreciate it. the president has said repeat repeatedly now he's not satisfied with the global response in terms of stemming ebola at the source. so my question for you regarding these various conversations is whether he made any specific asks of these world leaders or whether he's satisfied that they have fully stepped up to their responsibilities? >> well, two things about that. the first is more than a month ago, i guess about a month ago the president made an announcement at the cdc headquarters in atlanta he would make a significant commitment at the department of defense resources in western africa to put in place logistical infrastructure that was needed to ramp up our response to the