Transcripts For MSNBCW NOW With Alex Wagner 20140916 : vimar

MSNBCW NOW With Alex Wagner September 16, 2014

Priority. A significantly increase ramped up United States response. The pentagon will divert half billion dollar for the effort. Also distribute supplies for half million families to protect themselves. Death toll now at 2400 and climbing. Far greater than first estimated. The white house is facing criticism from people saying too little, too late. You start to get the sense of the rapid escalation we are seeing of the virus. Any minute president obama is now announcing a major extension of resources to combat ebola. Lets listen. Thank you for the center of Disease Control for welcoming me today. Tom and his team gave me an update on the Ebola Outbreak in west africa. Our efforts to help the International Community to fight it and the steps we are taking to keep people here at home safe. Tom and his team are doing outstanding work between the specialists on the ground in west africa and here at headquarters. Hundreds of professionals working tirelessly on this issue. This is the Largest International response in the history of the cdc. After this i will meet with some of these men and women, including some who recently returned from the front lines of the outbreak. They represent Public Service at its very best. I want them to know how much the American People appreciate them. Many of them far from their families, doing heroic work and serving in unbelievably challenging conditions, working through exhaustion day and night, many have volunteered to go back. We are very, very proud of them. Their work and our efforts across the government is an example of what happens when america leads in confronting major global challenges. Faced with this outbreak the world is looking to us, the United States and its our responsibility to embrace and were prepared to take leadership to provide the kinds of capabilities that only america has and to mobilize the world in ways that only america can do. Thats what were doing as we speak. First and foremost, i want the American People to know that our experts here at the cdc and across our government agree the chances of an Ebola Outbreak here in the United States are extremely low. We have been taking the necessary precautions including working with countries in west africa, to increase screening in airports so that someone with the virus doesnt get on a plane for the United States. In the unlikely event someone with ebola does reach our shores. We have taken new measures so we are prepared at home. Were working to help flight crew to identify people who are sick and more labs across the country now have the capacity to quickly test for the virus. We are working with hospitals to make sure they are prepared, and to ensure our doctors, nurses and medical staff are trained, ra and ready to deal with a possible case safely. Here i have to commend everyone at Emory University hospital. I met where members of the team and the nurses and doctors sorry, i know they are the ones doing the work. And i had a chance to thank them for their extraordinary efforts in helping to provide care for the First Americans who recently contracted the disease in africa. The first two of those patients were released last month and continue to improve. It is a reminder for the American People that should any cases appear in the United States, we have world class facilities and professionals ready to respond and effective surveillance mechanisms in place. I had a chance to see dr. Brantly in the oval office this morning and although he is still having to gain back some weight, he looks great, he looks strong and were incredibly grateful for him and his family for the service that he has rendered to people who are a lot less lucky than all of us. As we all know, however, west africa is facing a different situation, especially in the hardest hit countries, liberia, see air leon and guiny. Scenes are horrific. More than 2400 men, women and children are known to have died and we strongly suspect the actual death toll is higher than that. Hospitals, clinics and the few Treatment Centers that do exist have been completely overwhelmed. An already very weak Public Health system is near collapse. Patients are being turned away and people are literally dieing in the streets. Heres the hard truth, in west africa, ebola is now an epidemic of the likes we have not seen before. It is spieralling out of control. Its getting worse. It is spreading faster. Today thousands of people are infected, that number could rapidly grow to tens of thousands. If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected with profound, political and economic and security implications for all of us. This is an epidemic that is not just a threat to Regional Security but a potential threat to Global Security if these countrys break down. If their economies break down, if people panic, that has profound effects on all of us even if we are not directly contracting the disease. Thats why two months ago i directed my team to make this a national priority. We are working on this across the entire government, which is why i have met with leaders across the board. We have four goals in mind. One, control the outbreak. Two, address the ripple effects of local economies and communityize to prevent a truly massive humanitarian disaster. Three, to coordinate a broader Global Response and four, to build up a Public Health system in these countries for the future. Not just west africa but countries that dont have a lot of resources generally. This is a daunting task. But heres what gives us hope. The world knows how to fight this disease. Its not a mystery. We know the science. We know how to prevent it from spreading. We know how to cure those who contract it. We know if we take the proper steps we can save lives. But we have to act fast. We cant doddle on this one. We have to move with force and make sure that we are catching this as best we can given that it is already broke n out in ways we have not seen before. So today im announcing a major increase in our response. At the request of the library earian government we will establish military command center in liberia to support efforts across the region. It will be commanded by major general, general williams, commander of army forces in africa. He just arrived and is on the ground in liberia. And our forces will bring their expertise and command and control in logistics and engineers. Our department of defense and armed system is better at that than any organization on earth. We will create an air bridge to get supplies there faster. We will have a staging area to help personnel and aide on the ground more quickly. We will create a new training site to train thousands to safely care for more patients. Personnel for u. S. Public Health Service will deploy to the new field hospitals that were setting up in liberia. And u. S. A. Id will join with International Partners to distribute supplies and information kits to hundreds of thousands of families so they can better protect themselves. We will also build additional treatment units including new isolation spaces and new beds and the safety of our personnel will remain our top priority. Meanwhile, our scientists continue their search in the hopes of finding new treatments and programs vac ians. I call on congress to approval the funding requested to carry on all these efforts. This is a global threat and demands a Global Response. Organizations have to move faster than they have up to this point. More nations need personnel, supplies and funding that is needed and they need to deliver on what they pledge quickly. Charities have given generously and they can make a big difference and so we are not restricting these efforts to governmental organizations we need ngos and private philanthropies to work with us to maximize the impact of our response. This week the United States will chair an emergency meeting of the u. N. Security council. Next week i will join u. N. Secretary general to continue efforts. Then at the white house we will bring more nations to strength Global Health security to prevent future outbreaks before they become epidemics. This is something we actually announced several months ago at the g7 meeting, we determined this has to be a top priority. This was before the Ebola Outbreak. We anticipate in many countries with ai weak Public Health system if we dont skr more effective facilities on the ground and are not helping poor countries in developing their ability to catch these things quickly that there was at least the potential of seeing these kind of outbreaks and sadly we now see that our predictions were correct. It gives more urgency to this effort, a Global Health initiative that we have been pushing internationally. Let me close by saying this, the scenes we are witnessing in west africa today are absolutely gutwrenching. In one account, the disease has already killed the father, mother cradling a listless fiveyearold son, her other son was dieing too, they finally reached a Treatment Center and couldnt get in and were just sitting. These men and women and children are just sitting. Waiting to die. Right now. And it doesnt have to be this way. The reality is, that this epidemic is going to get worse before it gets better. But right now, the world still has an opportunity to save countless lives. Right now the world has the responsibility to act. To step up and to do more. The United States of america intends to do more. We are going to keep leading in this effort. Were going to do our part and were going to continue to make sure the world understands the need for them to step alongside us as well in order for us to not just save the lives of families like the one i just discussed, but ultimately to make sure that this doesnt have the kinds of stow over effects that have become even more difficult to control. So thank you very much to the entire team thats already doing this work and please know that youve got your president and commander and chief behind you. Thank you. That was president obama announcing a major expansion of resources to combat the deadly ebola virus in west africa. It will cost 500 million in defense spending and involves as many as 3,000 troops. By the end of this week a general will be on the ground in the capitol of liberia, they have seen the highest infection rates anywhere, in order to command relief efforts. They also will put in 17 new Treatment Centers and 2,000 beds. In addition 400,000 treatment kits will be delivered this week. An Emergency Security council has been reached. Death tolliver. It is estimated 250,000 people could be infected by christmas. Joining me now, author of reinventing America Health care let me talk first about the last time we talked was about the ebola epidemic. The theory was it would burn out in africa and not expand. Indeed it has done the very opposite. What do you think has brought us to this point today . Well, i think everyone predicted because all the previous episodes since the 1970s have bufrned out. This was on a border region. I think we were misled by how much it could is spread from person to person. And frankly theres a very inadequate Health System that couldnt deal with the initial cases. I predicted it wasnt going to he about a major issue, thats incorrect. I think it is great that the president has moved on this. I think theres a career recognition, it is really the basics of Public Health, isolation, contact tracing, being able to get Public Health measures out there. It is not going to be the new experimental drugs that will really stem the tide here. The president reiterated it is imperative to act fast and time is of the essence, as it always is in issues of medicine but particularly in this case. How feasible is it they can dispatch all these resources, have 2,000 beds in the country, given the infrastructure and delay between airlifting supplies and getting them up. I think they will get them up fast. We have a good track record of setting up mass you knunits. We can do that pretty well. The issue will be with military troops on the ground and now big philanthropy dollars. Who is in charge . One reason why wellmeaning philanthropy doesnt work is because everyone is replicating everyones work. We have to figure out who is in charge and everyone has to fall in line. That may kpom ocome out of the security counselim. Security council. We have models that vastly under estimate the scope. No doubt about it. What accounts for that. Zeek pointed out, ebola is a flam boy ant virus, but it burns out quickly. It doesnt lay low. It burns out with a flash. So if you circle a village or a village unfortunately dies, its over. But this jumped borders and got on an airplane and went to the streets and got in urban areas. So we dont know how many have died because of the stigma ma. We just know the number of people who have presented themselves to clinics. I think these numbers are part officially low. Zeke, i think we have you back, we had audio problems before. In terms of the effectiveness of who, is or can be, i wonder what you think of the budget question and funding for w. H. O. The fact they dont have the same money they used to has effected the response, the delayed action is attributed to lack of resources. I think theres a general lack of resources in international Public Health space. The cdc have a relatively small budget just a few billion dollars. The problem is epidemics come up unannounc unannounced. We had a big scare in 2009 with the influenza. And here we are again in 2014. The funding has plateaued since about 2010. It has really been flat. That has had an adverse effect on many aspects. I want to say in 2010 the president did give priority to building up these Health Systems recognizing how important the infrastructure is. It turns out to be pivotal to addressing these big problems. Thats a huge point. The Health Care Delivery system is not necessarily about the newest latest drugs. This is about the very, very basic of health, held ng education, aware ness building. On that note. Theres a lot of talk about 400,000 homes, some saying it is being quoted in the new york times, saying we will endanger family members more by encouraging people at home to take care of loved ones and programs transmit the virus to themselves or others. I think he doesnt want them to test at home or misdiagnose or not go in. I think it is inconsequential. The reality is, global Public Health has to be first and foremost a mandate for all of us. The wealthy countries have to give a dam about the poor countries. And we dont do it, if we dont lead the charge, you cannot be fiscally responsible, you cant make money, you cant have a seat on the world stage if youre not healthy. It is countries like liberia that have come out of years of civil war, you have power vac m vacuu vacuums. There are terrorist group thats would love to take up more and more land. So to separate Global Health, economy, terrorism, all of these things are more integrated now than ever before. On that note, let me bring in zeke. Can i pick up one point nancy said, which is, the amount of money were talking about here is by any stretch of the imagination trivial. So we calculated, if this whole epidemic cost 1. 5 billion dollars thats one penny for 400 gdp of the world. Very small amount of 500 million might sound like a lot. But youre talking about the economies of the countries, potential government instability, thats a very trivial investment. And i think it behooves us to really think about the Global Health spaces really, really important, not just in health but also economics and security. Glen, you were talking about sort of cost of doing business not doing business, the cost here of helping stench the ebola epidemic and making sure it doesnt become a more graver crisis. The president said today he has been very much front and center leading from the very front and i wonder, someone who has covered this administration in great detail, you know, some folks will say this is strategy, others will say necessary, either way, president obama is taking on the mantle of leadership in a very, very focused and pronounced way in the last week. I think that is clear in the last week. The one thing that really struck me. He said this thing is spreading out of control. About six to eight weeks ago i was looking at twitter feeds with Doctors Without Borders and were using that same language perhaps earlier than that. The folks on the ground have been saying this thing has been spinning out of control. While this is a robust response, were talking about a drop in the bucket. 1 billion is absolutely nothing. None of this is realized in terms of the federal budget. In terms of bureaucracy, this administration has been criticized that the response has been incremental, sheparded through cdc, nih, department of deaf, now the bulk of it coming from the pentagon budget. Have you written about the amount of power of the white house has, is this run properly through the department of defense. They have experience of setting up mass units. They can do it. I will tell you i covered tom freeman. He is a top flight health official. St theres a lot of confidence in him clearly it is dire. Thank you for being with us. Heres a list of charities that you can find on our websit

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