the time. and they're well-rehearsed. and i think, right now, both are are good. >> that is "all in" for this everybodying. msnbc will have much more thout the night. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. >> thanks, chris. and thanks to you at home for joining us for the next hour. as chris hasz just been reporting for these lat e hast few minutes, there is serious breaking news tonight from our nation's harjest city. from new york city, where, just within the hast half an hour, a new york city doctor has tested positive for ebola in preliminary testing. this is testing that still remains to be confirmed by the cdc. but this is being treat ed as a new, positive ebola case. even before the blood tests came in tonight confirming that the doctor was a positive result, new york city was effectively

treating this as a positive case. new york city was effectively treating this as if this was a positive test. but now that bhood test has come in positive. the doctor in question, he recently returned united states from treating ebola patients in the nation of guinea, west africa. the doctor's name is craig spencer. he recredibility hi completed a humanitarian mission in the west africa nation of guinea. guinea, sierra heone and high beer ya are the three nations where the epidemic is now raging. doctors without borders is the international medical reheef organization. they've done more international hi to try to treat liberia -- excuse me. to try to treat ebola patients in liberia and other countries and contain the epidemic hmm in any other group you can name on earth. doctors without borders said

today that since his return if guinea, the doctor had been monitoring his own health. new york city o if i believes say that he was generally not feeling well for the passed couple of days. but it was apparently nothing that alarmed the doctor sr. much until this morning. at around 11:00 a.m., we're toll that the doctor did field e feel significant hi sitmaltic. he took his own temperature. he found that his fever was 103 degrees. the doctor then immediate hi called the organization, doctors without borders, to report that he had this feverer. doctors without borders called the department of health whoa called the fire department. shortly there after, emergency workers in protective gear trained to spobd to this diagnosis, they were dispatched to the doctor's apartment in harlem, upper manhattan.

he e he was admitted just after 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, which means from the time he first notified anybody that he had a feverer until he was in ice haitian in a hospital that has been designated that a person with an ebola diagnosis in this city would go been rough hi two hours. again, in ice haitian since 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. and, now, hate tonight, just within the past half hour, new york city officials are are confirming that prehim their tests show that the doctor has attracted the ebola virus. the reason this video is a little shaky, these are crews and officials setting up right now for an an tis pated press conference. the hospital where this doctor

works is new york presbyterian hospital. he has not treated any patients in new york since he arrived back in the united states. in the meantime, though, even before they had the positive test in terms of his blood worveg, as i say e say, new york city was effect efly treating this as a hikely positive case. new york city officials have been treating him and they're trying to find everybody who he may have had contact with. authorities not guilty saying how many people they've tracked down so far. we are told that the doctor's girlfriend is current hi under kwarn tee. this afternoon, the centers for disease control hr said that they were dispatching a special team to new york city. they did take pains to say they were hr a number of ebola experts in the city.

earlier this month e month, new york city officials had announced that bellevue hopt would be the hospital for any suspected case thout the entire city. so this poet call, in terms of how new york city, the nation's largest city, the nation's most dense hi pop ewe hated area, this is a protocol that had been would recollected out in advance. blel e bellevue says they can treat up to four ebola patients within their own isolation unit at that hospital t. they say they began training staffers earlier this month to make sure that they were prepared to safely treat patients should new york city cases arise.

and this is the hatest person in the united states to be diagnosed with ebola in this country. this is the fourth person to be diagnosed here. this have been other health workers who contracted the disease in west africa who were diagnosed this and brought back for treatment. this is the fourth case total of somebody to be diagnose noeszed with the disease here. it's the first case to be diagnosed outside of dal has, texas. you'll know that the first diagnosed case was a man who turned up at a hospital in dallas. the second two ebola diagnoses in this country were nurses who helped in his care at that dallas hospital. but this patient in new york city tonight is a physician himself. he works at new york presbyterian hospital. he had just returned from guinea where he had been teeting ebola patients. among the questions we have now

is how much danger anybody would is been who came in contact with him or was in contact with someone where he was in the next couple of days. or what somebody is doing this in such a way that they are confident that they're op ating in protocols that will keep anybody from getting affected and hihhary provide him the best chance of surviving this too often fatal disease. >> how prepared is new york city and are new york city hospitals for ebola pabts? >> i think new york city has been working on this for a while ever since the first reports of ebola. and they've been training intensive hi, as you have mentioned, for the hast several weeks. so i think new york city was expecting that, sooner or hater, possible hi sonar, this would be a patient coming with ebola. perhaps it was going to be someone getting off of a night.

in this case, it was someone who had gone this, hero chill, to treat patients. but i think that the city has been preparing for this for quite a while, just in case. and although it's sad that it's necessary, i think the right things were done from all acounts. >> is it likely that the patient will be treated in new york city? that this is where he'll remain for all of the supportive parent and everything else that goes along with treating someone? or is the expect one of the specialty stenters. gh i don't think we know at this point. and i think that harj hi depends on his condition, what he's med chill stable for example. this's no reason why with the appropriate training and facilities that we have here, there's no reason why he could bt be treated here in new york as one of those specialized facilities. they've shared their proet calls and the information about what they did to help those parkts through. is now public knowledge.

and i'm sure that the people at bellevue are are quiet that are with it. >> in terms of the contact tracing that's hr happened, it now seems brilliant in are retrospect without waiting for the positive blood test. that they thought this was enough indications that this could be a real case. that they got right on that today. as soon as they knew that this pashlgt at least po pebble e ten shl hi existed. in terms of what we're told about the doctor's symptoms, the ising is that they don't pose a risk of transmission to anybody else until that person is simple maltic. e ematic. if the doctor, of shi, spiking a 103 degree fever today, this still remains the question of him feeling squenl hi unwell, we're told, for the hast couple of days. should we think of that as the kind of simple mapt ematic that he could have posed? >> well, it's most lie e likely

that you would look for fever as the major symptom. and they were following the case deaf kigs when they suspected he had ebola. if he hadn't been feeling well and didn't have a fever, the chances are he wouldn't be a riszing to anyone. in dal has, the first case to come to america, the first patient to come to america, was on his own for several days. and they did quite a bit of contact tracing and never found anyone who got infected as a result of that period. between when he came to the emergency room and when he got actual treatment. gh in terms of comparing this experience, obviously, dal has is a big city. but it is nothing comparing pop ewe haitian density and all the things that go ahong that.

one of the things rorted tonight about dr. spencer in new york city is he has ridden in taxis and on the sub ways. wlast night, he was at a bowling al heel in brooklyn. in terms of those maszs that may have a lot of pop e population density, a hot of people passing through those places. a lot of people being in those maces where he was in close e quarters. how do you think new york city officials should and how do you think they will handle public places and where he was in the hast 12-24 hours. gh well, i think the health department is very experienced in contact tasing. and i think we'll find every possible contact they can, just to be cautious. i think most of the people he's come in casual contact with, anyone who may been on the same bus or taxi, is problem hi very likely not going to is any real danger unless they actual hi

touched the patient. gh one of the things that we've seen happen, both in the national media and i think actual hi it's been a hitle bit stoked weird hi by our proximity to the e hex. we have seen, on the one hand, the nuts and bolts kix in health officials in dealing with this -- the ising of this epidemic becoming an out break ebreak in this country. we've seen that happening at a very maktsle prakt kal level. you've got pub hick officials in some cases, politicians saying don't bhooef pub hick health authorities. this is an aerosol spread disease. this is a disease you get the

same way you get a common cold. you can get this at a cocktail party or walking down the street. with those fears being stoked out this, that creates a new public health chabs e challenge in terms of this being a whole new pop queue haitian that didn't pooefs hi think they're being exposed. what's the right way to counter misinformation? gh well, i think with correct information. most of the people who may have come in e contact with him before he may is developed a fever, are possibly at very hitle risk, if anyone.

those who came in casual contact with him, the next lane over, hihhary have no risk at all. e assure people to find those who may have become infekted so they can be tested and put into quarantine or ice haitian, depending on what they're sick or not. gh i mentioned doctors without borders, the organization he was affiliated with, the role that they had in treating this worldwide epidemic and the yeoman's work in trying to contain the epidemic in maces that are are innikted with it that are worse off. in the course of that sort of record of achievement, thf been doctors without borders workers that is been affected in the past.

is it of worry to you? should it be of worry to us that a doctor working under gold standa standard, infection control protocols, somebody working with them fair hi recently has himself been exposed? should that make us worry about even their protocols? or are some infections of health department kwair workers hit rally unavoidable? gh well, doctors without borders, i agree, has done a heroic job real hi taking on this tremendous work of all the patients and sufferers in this area and obviously still don't is enough space for emp. but they also have a real hi comment safety record. in general, i think this is the only second international that this foreign worker who became infekted, and very few have.

some of those who may have become infected, who are hoe kal, may have become infekted through local contacts with their own father and mother hi members. so i think if he is son this is the people who do this are heroic. think're putting their hives on the hind. but i still think, although mistakes happen occasion hi, they are rare with nsf. and, in general, it can be done popper hi and carefully. >> drft steven morrise, thank you very much for being with us. i aappreciable kwat kwur time tonight. gh thank you. gh as we're awaiting a press conference right now at bellevue hospital, which has just received the first ebola patient that they have treated, again, a young doctor who is treating ebola parents in guinea return to this country nine days ago. he has, himself x turned up now with a high fever. he had a fever of 103 today.

called authorities. they had him in ice haitian at bellevue hospital within two hours. as we await a possess conference today, health department officials and others and infection control and his treatment and in terms of figuring out whether the man might is posed a threat to anyone else, as we wait for that press conference to start, which we expect any moment, i want to bring in a ep zentive of the infectious disease soet of america: do you know enough about how new york city has pe paired to say what or not the protocols here and the means by which drchlt spencer was handled today learn from some of the mistakes made in texas? what or not new york city actual hi seems prepared? gh i do bhooef that new york city is much more prepared than

any other city because new york city is a cosmopolitan stid that has dealt with anthrax, west nile fever, this is the health department that dealt with typhoid, this is a different city than dal has. while not a biocontainment facility, it's very choes. and as close as you can see based on what bellevue has doeb. gh in terms of the progression of dr. spencer's disease, we should say that the prehim their tests have turned up positive. what we're told is that he had a fever of 103 when he called authorities today. and that he was in ice haitian within two hours of that initial call. they dispatched emts who were special hi prepared for this type of dwieg know sis to chekt

him and bring him to the ice haitian ward at bellesue. ought it be of concern that his fever was so high when he first contacted authorities? does that indicate that he might is been symptomatic and, thfr, potentially infectious for a considerable amount of time before he made that call. gh the fever of 103 is concerning. this are are reports of him feeling shugish and not feeling well prior to that fever. ebola is only sped thu bhood and body nude of an infekted person. if he wasn't having vomiting or diarrhea, the lookly hood that he could have transmitted have very lit chl. gh when we've seen so much personal pektive equipment, part of the -- forgive the term --

fear monogoring politicians is been able to get away with saying it's an airborne disease, it's spread hike the common cold, don't bhooef them when they tell you it's only body nudes. we're seeing them modelled in the hopt setting, in terms of people treating ebola patients, that makes it seem, hike, well, if it's just body fluids and these people right-hand turn trying on purpose to get in contact with them, why are they geared up so extensive hi? i think the visual is hard to square with the assurance that you give. can kwu talk about the sensory gulf between what you're seeing there and what you just said? gh ebola is a scary disease. it's not very contagious, but it does require particular attention to infection control, making sure that you're not exposed to the bhood and body nude. squus a very small amount of virus request be enough toe cause an infection. and we've known from the 24

ebola outbreaks prior to this one, that health care workers are are disproportionately affected because they're in such high contact with blood and body. it is very important that health care providers take it seriously and can wear the appropriate personal protective equipment. put it on and take it off aproep pratly and have no breeches in protocols. if you do that, then ebola can treat it safe hi. it's unkwheer how this physician got infected. those are important questions for doctors without borders to answer. gh i don't mean to get gore, but is it part of the reason that we see health care workers in this equipment is maybe not the right he is son for thinking about people's risk who might have been at the same bowling am heel hast night. because of the way that ebola

patients get symptomatic when they are very sick or, indeed, close to death. health care workers who treating people death hi ill with ebola who are are very, very sick, are dealing with copious amounts of body nudes in a way that mobile would be if they are dealing with somebody whoa didn't know they were symptomatic or had just gotten a mild fever without noting it. is it fair to char fill that? gh that's exact hi correct. hooking at m. duncan, the patient who dies eed in dal has, none of whom were infekted. this isn't a disease that speds casual hi. health care workers are at a dise dispo portion gnat risk.

gh in terms of dr. spencer's own safety, this have been only four diagnoses and this have been a number of people treated here. one person treated has died, we should say treatment delayed. everybody else has survived. is there reason to bhooef that dr. spencer's prognosis, even if he gets very ill, is sfar hi good here. simple hi because he's treated at a western hospital and the hike hi hood of the disease should be seen now as significantly hoer than the likelihood of dying with this disease in a field hopt-type setting. gh that's definite hi true.

in physician was diagnosed immediate hi. he has the best chance of e kov ri because this was diagnosed early. the faster you get treatmented, the more hike le you are to survive. i anticipate he'll have a good outcome. gh what or not they decide to keep him at bellevue or decide to move him to one of the specialty kwuns that we have at emory and nih and nebraska, maces that have had some experience in treating other patients in this country. if he's got 103 fever today, het's say he did have a couple of days feeling sluggish before this. what are the key numbers of days to watch whether we should be

hoping for his survival or what we should be more worried? is there a predictable course of progression? >> we don't understand base chill who survives and who dies. that still hasn't been worked out with ebola. however, we do know that most of the severe application happened in the second week of illness. so depending on when his symptom started, we see him going to a critical period in the second week. but it's also going to depend on what bhood work they're able to do this and looking at his kidney function, all of those things going to be monitored to kind of predict if you can hit a rocky course or what it's going to be a very uneventful course. this hihhary all be monitored day-to-day. and bellevue does have a special has been atorial this designed for the patients which is something that dal has did not is. gh good point.

very help chl to talk to you today, sir. thank you very much. >> i also want to bring in a correspondent reporting on how new york city authorities is been hand e handling not just this case, but also contact tracing. it's good to see you. thanks for joining us. >> the good news about bellevue is it has been designated as a treatmented center. they did a unthu hst week showing the stuff they have in place in order to treat somebody with this disease. so he was rushed this immediate hi. this is the mace you're going to go if you come down with ebola in new york city. it happened around 11:50 this morning that he called the health department and complained of a 103 degree fever. the health department called 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 dispatched a team. we know that he was out hast night. he took a taxi from harlem to a

bowling am heel. he had some sort of physical contact with his girlfriend this morning. he says he self quarantined the second he felt the severe symptoms, fatigue, nausea and fever. but we are learning that the health officials are are saying that he did feel sluggish in the days prior to that. so it's uncheer why he would decide it was okay to go out or why he would dd that it was okay to have any contact with his girlfriend. presummable hi, this doctor knows a lot about the disease and how it could spread. so it's those circumstances that are very much under questioning right now, where this's a big confusion as to why he would dd e decide to go out. now, he's am e.r. doctor here in new york city. he's been back for ten days. the hopt says that he has not been to the e e e.r. he has not seen patients since he has been back. he has been nowhere near that hospital. the c.d.c. is now going to

confirm these results to make sure that yes, he has tested positive for ebola. meanwhile, the health department is going thu and tracking anybody who might potentially pose a high ising. we do know if sources that his girlfriend is under quarantine right now. we also know that she had some sort of contact with him this morning. they've hr gone to his apartment building. they've handed out nighers. they're going to try to trace it as much as they can. it's new york city, this's 8 million people here. so, of course, this's going to be a hot of concern about whether or not he came into contact with people. they do want to maintain some sort of hefl headedness to not

send everybody into a panic. gh it rings a bell for me when you're talking about the run thu at bellevue to demonstrate the preparedness of the health hefl. we know that one of the ways that mayed out today was that when the health department was contacted, he made that initial call. and the health department her honored about his circumstances that he was somebody that had had contact with ebola patients. he's somebody who knows what he's talking about in terms of self diagnosis and self temperature. we're told that they dispatched par medics. they dispatched some sort of emt team to him that was special hi trained or special hi equipped in order to safely get him from his apartment to bellesue. do we know anything else about who that team of first responders was? or how they might be special hi equipped for handling a kaus hike this? >> from the moment he called, that he too they treated this as if herp a positive case of ebola

because of his contact. they sent an ems crew out this, the highly specialized new york city first responders. so they have all of the gear necessary -- or they are supposed to have all of the gear necessary in order to deal with a circumstance like this. and those are the people that were dispatched when they got this call. he was taken in a ambulance, it had a misescort. they took it very serious hi from the start. gh katie, thank you, we'll be checking in with you soon, i'm sure. right now, again, at bellevue, we're looking at a live shot as we await a public press conference expected to be led by new york city mayor, bill deblazio. it may include new york city governor. we're expecting to hear from them, an update not only on the

status of this hatest ebola patient in the united states, dr. craig spencer returned 9 days ago if the nation of guinea with he was working with doctors e without borders. the doctor phoned authorities this morning when he found himself to is a fever of 103 degrees. but he has been back in this country for nine days. we're told he felt shiegtly off. today, it was two hours from when he made that call and when new york city officials got him to a specially designated unit at bellevue hospital, new york city. that just happened today. his first blood test came in tonight, squus about an hour ago. we're awaiting a confirming test from the cdc. but, again, it is being treated as a positive test -- positive case right now. and even before the blood test, he was being treated as a positive case. of ebola in this country, which

may, if he is, indeed, positive, turn out to be very important in the sort of ep deem logical side of this new diagnosis. i want to bring in dr. catherine jay con e cob son. dr. jacobson, thanks very much for being with us. >> hi, rachel. gh in terms of ep deem logical concerns here and the way that individual patients baa e become outbreaks and outbreaks become epidemics, what can you tell us about the initial response that we have here in new york city. and how important it is that new york city handle things the way they did in these earl hi stages. gh it sounds hike we've her honored a lot from what happened in texas and that bhans personnel safe hi transported the patient to the hospital. what we see in west africa is that more than 440 health care

workers have contracted ebola this. and almost 250 health care workers in west africa has gotten it. it's a harj po portion of the all of the cases. so the focus is on unprotected health care workers. taking care of the patient and taking off the protective gear. and it sounds hike the hopt is ready to take care of this patient safely. gh one of the things we're told that new york city has been doing, and it hmm sounded scifiesque once you heard about it. they report dhi were sending fake patients, people presenting with faked symptoms and case histories that would ind kat, hike hi ebola exposure. and, basically, to run hive tests on hospitals and emergency rooms around the city to see if they could handle it. is that the sort of thing that makes hopts get their protocols in order and find out what

they're doing wong in a quick way? gh definite hi we do not want to be making up pandemic response if it's thu casualty events or something hike an ebola case. we don't want to be coming up with mans on the nigh. we do want to have protocols in mace ahead of time, practiced with everybody involved, everybody from the field folkst to the critical people to those who are ine invovrled in communicating with the pub hick. we want to is a cheer sense of everybody's role. so we can make sure everybody e everybody in the pub hick is pekted and that they get the best care possible. >> with the contact tracing starting right away, the mayor, who we're awaiting on now, a cdk team dispatched to new york city

again, topd, even before they had the positive you will. what is the important part of day two, day thee stuff in terms of making sure this is an isolated case? what shoumd happen next? >> it would be important for the friends and father and mother hi members who have very choes contact with the patients to have their temperatures monitored, problem hi the health department hihhary be checking it thooes twice a day to see if this's any symptoms of fever. but, again, unhesz it is ale hi small, something that that's going to end up being an ebola case. two health departmentcare workers became infected but none of the father and mother hi or immediate contacts did. ebola is not something that speds thu carnal contact.

the infection rate is relative hi hi. hoe. any sort of contact that could have been infectious. so the girlfriend and other choes contacts hihhary stay at home for thee weeks and they'll be monitored choesly.insensitiv but i do have to ask if he should is essential hi self ice hated for the first 21 days that he was back. one of the things that health authorities talked about, people who may is been in contact with ebola patients and those countries is that everybody should not necessary hi be monitored for 21 days, but that -- mar hi anybody who knows they had choes contact with

symptomatic ebola patients, should this be, essentially, a de facto quarantine that goes into effect everyone without any other sitm tos. gh it may be a you will of this thicks hihhary change. gh doctor, real hi, real hi helpful to is you with us tonight. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> again, we are awaiting a possess conference from new york city officials. this is the scene right now at bellevue hospital. new york city has been thu some

incredib incredible and pub hick hi touted preparations over the past few weeks as the nation watched, fair hi riveted, to the city of dal has. empbd e ending up the first thee ebola pashtss in this county. one who knew in and two who became infected when they treated that man. as dal has struggled at times, and acted heel hoe chill and did their best but did manage to get two more people infected as dal has muddled thu their experience with ebola, theest of the may squor series thought how they could do it. new york city has been petty pub hick. we've heard a hot of things hike fake patients with fake simple tons i believed kating hike hi ebola sittoms into emergency ooms and hospitals around the city just to test them. this was a masive, massive taning at the jaset center,

which is the huge con sengs hall in new york city for thousands of workers all being trained for gold stabd ard protocols while both diagnosing and teeting ebola patients. a number of hopts chosen, a few of them in new york city, but also other parts of the state, that essential hi would be the designated mace for newfound ebola cases to be handled, not only new york state was doing that, but one of the first large states to do that. that poet call has gone into effect. the cdk hihhary confirm what or

not that test is positive. again, we await pub hick word iegt now if new york city officials. we'll be right back. stay with us. bhank bhank.

sew then we're watching bellesue hopt tonight in new york city. the first bhood test has come back positive all the more sew, we're awaiting word if new york city may kwor and other health department officials in terms of the treatment of this doctor, urn from guinea with he was treating ebola patients. the teetment of the doctor, the

condition of the doctor and also measures that new york city is taking and has taken, thus far, to ensure that nobody else gets infekted by hihhary first new york city patient. we also have a second developing story that also happens to be if new york tonight. it is a strange and unsettling story. i is the tell you up front, this may be a tragic and unusual street crime, but there are worries tonight that it may be connected to other recent ins depts, prarly the events in ottawa and two days earlier in quebec. a man wielding a hatchet in a new york city street rushed at a group of four uniform new york city police officers. the man hit one of the officers in the arm with a hatchet and the other officers opened fire on him. the man was killed. both who were hit with the foot and a half long hatchet did

survive the attack. the officers say this attack seemed to come out of the bhu. gh the male then swung at one of the officers with the hatchet, striking his right arm. after striking that officer, the suspect strikes a second officer in the head, causing him to fall to the sidewalk. a e at this point, no known motive has been bhished. the investigation is continuing. >> a civilian near by was hit by gunfire when mifrs shot at the man with the ax. the bystander was hised in stable condition. they do not know why the man attacked those officers. it's been reported that the man had stopped to pose for a picture for a free laynce

photographer. the person is cooperating with them, so this's no indication as to whether or not that was connected with the attack that was is e sub sell kwently launched. we still know very hitle about what happened today. but after two known attacks, officials in the u.s. are are also on heightened alert. a patrol bulletin cautioning officers to be on alert. the bulletin cautioned misto be on ahurt for potential attacks on uniformed officers. but in the investigations this afternoon, new york city missay nothing so far connects the suspect to any extremist groups. we'll keep fol hoeing the story and het you know if more information becomes available. but squoining us now is richard

esposito. thanks very much for being with us. i appreciate it. rachel, i think kwu real hi got it on the head. the misresponded heavif hi beca of the nature of the attack and ind kated a person who might be this man, might be this man, had stuff on his facebook page that could point towards fundamentalist readings. so they responded very hef shi. they found a picture of what appeared to be a soldier, a fighter.

what they found was a very determined adversary. that's the way one of the chiefs of police described her. a man who was determined to get at mis. so he charged him. this's video of him pulling the hatch et from his backpack and managed to get in thee swings hitting two cops before they opened fire. so that kind of street behavior, you know, can point to someone who is emotionally disturbed. we've certainly seen that before. even today, in canada, this are tentive lipgs in another case. this's little doubt that the motive may have been jihadist.

>> i'm going to have cut in. the press conference is starting at bellevue. >> by health commissioner mary bas set of the city of new york, health commissioner harry zucker of the state of new york, the president of the health and hospitals commission of new york city, and on the phone, dr. tom freeden, the director of centers for disease control. dr. freeden will address us with remarks after this. today, testing confirmed that a patient here in new york city had tested positive for ebola. the patient is now here in bellevue hospital. we want to state at the outset, is no reason for new yorkers to be aharmed. ebola is an extreme hi hard disease to contract. it is transmitted only thu contact with an infekted

person's blood or other bodily nudes. not thu casual contact. new yorkers have not been exposed to an infected person's bod hi nudes are not at all at are risk. new york city has the world's strongest pub hick health system and the world's heeding medical experts and the world's most advanced medical equipmented. we've been preparing for months for the thet posed by ebola. we have clear and strong protocols which are being skrup queue house hi fol hoed and were followed in this instance. bellevue hospital is specially designed for treatment of o ebola patients. every hospital in the city is prepared in the e sent that other patients come forward. the patient in question is a doctor who has worked with ebola patients in west africa. and when his sittoms emerged, he was taken to bell sue by special

hi trained medical service, workers who transport all poet calls. the patient is now in's haitian. the health department has a tea team, a we're tracing awele of the patient's contacts and we're prepared to quarantine contacts as necessary. there have been reports about the patient's movements in these medical detections. we're putting together pieces of the timeline. we emphasize again ebola is very difficult to contract being on the same subway car or living near a person with ebola does not put somebody at risk. we're working with our officials to ensure the health of all new yorkers. people should rest assured the extraordinary medical professionals of this city and state are working to ensure that every protection is in place.

a moment of commentary in spanish before i turn to governor cuomo. >> over the last weeks, the team has been extraordinary in their preparation and their coordination with us. welcome, governor cuomo.

>> we've prepared for just this circumstance. this is new york, people come through new york. they come through new york's airports so we can't say that this is an unexpected circumstance. we have had a full, coordinated effort that has been working literally night and day, court nading sfi, state and federal resources, coordinating and drilling from airports to transportations, to subway stations to ambulances to hospitals. so we are as ready as one could be for this circumstance.

they didn't know what they were dealing with in dallas. and we had the advantage of learning from the dallas experience. just the other day, it had been long days, but i believe yesterday we had 5,000 health care workers who were being drilled on just this situation. we also had a fortunate circumstance here that the infected person was a doctor. the doctor who worked on doctors without borders. so he was familiar with the possibility and the symptoms, et cetera. and he handled himself accordingly. our best information is that for the relevant period of time, he was only exposed to a very few people. partially because he knew exactly what the illness was all about, and he was taking

precautions on his own. as the mayor mentioned, i know the word ebola right now can spread fear just by the sound of the word. it's not an airborne illness. it's contracted when a person is extremely ill and symptomatic and is basically contracted through the bodily fluids. having had the time to prepare as we did, we have been fully coordinated all day long. i spoke with a new ebola czar who president obama appointed. they were sending cdc teams, sylvia burwell from the federal homeland security office have been fully coordinated. they've reviewed everything that we've been doing. we've been doing it with their advice. and we are, after having spoken

with everyone doing everything that we need to be doing. i know it's a frightening situation, i know you watch it on the news and it was about dallas that was frightening. that it's here in new york. it's more frightening. new yorker is a dense place. a lot of people on top of each other. but the more facts you know, the less frightening this situation is. we've reacted very, very quickly and identified about four of the people who we believe -- we believe there are four people who he came in contact with during the relevant period, and we are already in contact with all four people. so we feel good about how we're handling the situation. we're hoping for recovery from the doctor.

but from the public health point of view i feel confident that we're doing everything we should be doing and we have this situation under control. i want to applaud the mayor's team and thank my team for the the good work. the proof is in the pudding and today it worked well. congratulations to them. >> thank you very much, governor. we're working closely with bellevue. >> as you know, we've been working closely with our city hospital system, with our state partners to prepar for the

possibility of a diagnosis of a patient with ebola in new york city. today we have the first patient with a presumptive positive ebola test. this test was completed at our public health lab and will be confirmed at the cdc labs, we expect within the next 24 hours. let me go over with you what we know about this patient at this time. this is, of course, an evolving situation in which information will continue to come forward. as you have already heard, the patient is presently hospitalized in isolation at this hospital. the patient is a 33-year-old doctor working with the famed human services organization, the doctors without borders in

guinea. he completed his work in guinea on the 12th of october and left guinea on the 14th of october via europe, where he arrived in the united states at jfk airport on the 17th of october. at the time that he departed guinea throughout his journey home to the united states, he was well with no symptoms. when he arrived in the united states, he was also well with no symptoms. and he, being a medical doctor undertook to check his temperature twice a day, which he has done since he departed from guinea. on the 21st, he began feeling somewhat tired, but the first actual symptoms that the patient

displayed were today sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 this morning when he experienced a fever and contacted msf who rapidly contacted the health department, and the process of bringing this patient to bellevue hospital, as a person considered at high risk for ebola began. we know that during the time that the patient was home before he became sick that he did leave his apartment. we are aware he went on a three-mile jog. a sign that he was feeling quite well and he also took the subway system. we know he's ridden on the a train, the number 1 train, the el train. we're still getting more information about this. but we know that yesterday that

he went to a bowling alley in williamsburg. he was feeling well at that time. and except for his feeling of fatigue. and once again, his first symptom of fever occurred today, and that was the beginning of his assessment. we are aware he had been in close contact with his fiancee and two friends, all three of these contacts are healthy and are being quarantined. the governor mentioned an additional person, this person was a driver of an uber car with whom the patient had no direct physical contact and is considered not to be at risk. today, when he