The responses of the hospital in dallas and the cdc under the microscope today. 22 members of congress leaving the campaign trail to attend the first hearing on ebola, where they grilled officials. And this morning, startling allegations from a nurse at texas presbyterian who told the today show that they were unprepared for ebola. Late today, president obama issues an executive order so he can deploy the u. S. National guard and reserves to liberia. Joining me now from the hospital in dallas is nbcs craig melvin. Craig, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, reverend al. Let me ask you, what preparations are under way to get the nurse on the plane . Nina pham will be boarding a plane thats either just landed in dallas or is about to land any moment now. That information from the local affiliate. That will be the plane she takes to bethesda, maryland, to the National Institutes of health. I can also tell you, we can expect a similar scene to what we saw yesterday, similar in the sense that we will see the folks who are with her, wearing the hazmat uniforms. Shell be in a similar getup as well. But as you indicated, nina pham, the second nurse to be transported from dallas presbyterian over the past two days. Now, this morning, the Dallas County judge, clay jenkins, told you he only wanted one ebola patient treated at the hospital. Then he had none. Is this a lack of confidence . They say no. The hospital has said thats not the case. Theyve said, in fact, that its more of an issue of depletion of resources. Im going to read part of that statement to you. This is again, from dallas presbyterian. With many of the medical professionals who would normally staff the intensive care unit sidelined for continuous monitoring, it is the best interest of the hospital, employees, nurses, physicians, and the community, to give the hospital an opportunity to prepare for whatever comes next. As weve been saying here, weve been given every indication that it is likely that we will see at least another ebola patient here. So what theyre essentially doing, were told, is trying to make some space at dallas presbyterian. They have three beds here that can house ebola patients, and right now, we have the indication that they dont have the resources. They dont have the staff. They dont have the nurses to adequately care for the ebola patients, because so many of their staff is being monitored for ebola themselves. A nurse who worked inside told the today show they werent prepared. What is the reaction on the ground today . We heard from that nurse this morning. Weve heard from a number of nurses and unions over the past few days and theyve echoed similar sentiments. They werent properly prepared, they didnt even have conversations about ebola. They didnt have the proper gear. Talked to a few folks on the ground, couple of nurses were talked to on their lunch break. There was one nurse who obviously wouldnt go on camera, but she was very angry at the hospitals response or lack thereof. And there was another nurse a few minutes later who said, this could have happened anywhere. I believe that our hospital has handled this well. Weve done the best we could do. And i certainly hope, according to this nurse, she hopes this is not something that tanets the hospital forever. One of the nurse downing street say they noticed fewer patients coming into the hospital here at dallas presbyterian. Lot of hard questions and were going to continue to ask them. Nbcs craig melvin, thanks so much for those details. Turning now to the first congressional hearing on ebola. Officials from the cdc, the nih, texas presbyterian, and other agencies, were grilled for nearly three hours. Republicans and democrats calling for answers about the botched handling of ebola patients in texas. But it was cdc director tom frieden who faced some of the sharpest and toughest questions. Authorities thought it would be similar to the 1976 outbreaks, and quickly contained. That turned out to be wrong. Peoples lives are at stake and the response so far has been unacceptable. I still dont feel like we have a good answer of why nurse one and nurse two contracted ebola. The first nurse that was infected, i believe you personally said that the protocols were breached originally. Have you backed away from that . Were looking at what might have resulted you said the protocols breached. Were the protocols breached with the first nurse that was infected . Our review of the records suggests that in the first few days of if you didnt know for a fact, you shouldnt have said it. But tonight, so many questions remain unanswered. Joining me now is congresswoman Jan Schakowsky who was in the hearing today and dr. Nat lay aczar, a Clinical Department in the department of medicine. Congresswoman, were you assist with the answers you got today . I think it was a real wakeup call. The alarm bells rang. I think be ms were justifiablying more concise answers about why the nurses contracted ebola. But we did get answers, that the issue is now training and equipping, essentially, that we establish not only the protocols, but the ability now of our Front Line Health Care workers to be able to implement them. To have the knowledge, the training, and the right protective gear in order to prevent themselves from getting sick. Congresswoman, let me ask you this. A lot of the back and forth at the hearing today focused around the idea of a travel ban. Many republicans want a ban on flights in and out of west africa. Many democrats disagree. Listen. Screening and selfreporting in airports have been a demonstrated failure. If we have a travel ban, wouldnt we just force these people to hide their origin . Even jamaica, as i read in the press earlier this week has issued a travel ban. Is the white house considering a travel ban . I cant speak for the white house. Do you know if theyve ruled out a travel ban . I cant speak have you had conversations with them about it . Weve discussed the issue of travel. Where does that debate stand . Is a travel ban necessary . Well, we know that some airlines have already canceled or cut back on flights, and save the children and Doctors Without Borders have said that has interfered with the relief effort, getting workers there, getting volunteers there that are going to be doing the job in west africa. The one thing we know we dont want to do is actually exacerbate the crisis there, because thats where it all starts from. So i think its a question that still needs to be asked. But is it going to make us safer . Or could it actually make the problem worse . Dr. Aczar, what do you feel . Is a travel ban necessary . I dont think that a travel ban is going to accomplish the goal of preventing infection from coming in to the United States. I really dont. My gut instinct from the very beginning on this is that were going to be using and stretching a lot of resources in order to accomplish appropriate screenings. Theres a lot of questions about what happens to people when they get screened, where do they go, what happens after that . And as weve seen already, we have thhypotheticals, but untile have it caught and appropriately managed, we can say it was effective or it wasnt. I want to reiterate again, the questioning, the breaching of the protocol, lets not forget that Health Care Workers are infected in spite of their best efforts to use appropriate protocol all the time. Dr. Kent brantly and nancy rib old, neath of thither of them k they got infected, and they were supposedly appropriately trained. Lets take a step back from the blame game. We know the hospitals need to have more preparation and more training. Its unfortunate that we had to sacrifice the healths of our nurses, obviously, and were hoping to prevent that from happening again but we may not be able to in spite of our best efforts. Let me ask you this while were talking. I want to go back to something i played for you and the congresswoman earlier. It was stated today by dr. Frieden that we are not he does not feel there will be an outbreak, but he had one qualification to that. Let me play what he said. Theres zero doubt in my mind that barring a mutation which changes it, which we dont think is likely, there will not be a large outbreak in the u. S. There will not be a large outbreak in the u. S. Barring a mutation. We heard him say he did not expect an outbreak unless there were mutations. What does that mean and is it likely to happen . From the Infectious Disease world, i think that anticipating a mutation i mean, what would it need to be a mutation . We already dont have treatment for it. So its not like we have an effective treatment that we can use. We know its highly contagious, so making it more of a super bug, i think that sounds more like Science Fiction than reality. For him to make a comment that we are able to control infection here and not have an outbreak, is still appropriate wordage for the situation. That is, we are going to expect and anticipate some scattered cases. Thats to be expected. But an outbreak is very different from an index patient getting behind the ball and having infected a few others, very, very different from an epidemic. Congresswoman, you were very passionate about the nurses today and what protection the nurses were having going forward, and what happened in the past. In fact, a dallas purse spoke out on the today show this morning. Listen to what she said about protocol. I just flatout asked several Infectious Disease nurses, i asked the cdc. Why would i be pairing two pairs of gloves, three pairs of booties, a plastic suit covering my entire body and then leave my neck hanging out this much . That is your concern there, with the question shes raising, congresswoman . Yes, i think that any exposed skin can certainly make you vulnerable to the ebola virus. But i want to say one other thing about this. Nancy pelosi today called for the Appropriations Committee to come back to congress and have a debate about adding more money to these agencies whose budgets have been cut the cdc and the National Institutes of health. The director of the National Institutes of health said his budget had not been cut, we would likely have an ebola vaccine today. So theres that issue as well. Im going to have to leave it there, congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, dr. Natalie aczar, thank you both for your time tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up, as we mentioned, well have much more on that dallas nurse breaking her silence on what was happening inside. Knowing what i know, i would try anything and everything to refuse to go there be treated. I would feel at risk by going there. If i dont actually have ebola, i may contract it there. And we are awaiting comments from president obama after meeting with his top advisers on ebola. Well have those comments. And turning to politics, fan gate in florida. Its a political debate moment for the ages. Why little fans sent rick scott into hiding . Stay with us. Youre never quite sure what is coming your way. But when youve got an entire company who knows that the most ontime flights are nothing if we cant get your things there too. Its no wonder more People Choose delta than any other airline. For the first time, were learning exactly what was happening inside the texas hospital treating ebola patients. A nurse broke her silence on the protective gear she was given. Ill just be honest. I threw a fit. I just couldnt believe it. In the second week of an ebola crisis at my hospital, the only gear theyre offering us at that time, and up until that time, is gear that is allowing our necks to be uncovered. Last night, we demonstrated in our home studio in new york that problem. Here, im actually protecting any fluid, blood, diarrhea or vomit from getting into my face area. The concern is, the neck is exposed here. The current recommendations again are not to have anything specific on the neck. So how can this countrys Health Care System improve and be ready to deal with the ebola challenge . Thats next. You notice a few things. Like the fact that youre pretty attached to these. Ok, really attached. And thats alright. Because well text you when your package is on the way. Were even expanding sunday package delivery. Yes, sunday. At the u. S. Postal service, our priority is. Was. And always will be. You. The current recommendations ir. Clearly, i am a football fan. Up your game with the new ultimate meats pizza. A large for 12 dollars. Add a mega Chocolate Chip Cookie for just 5 dollars more. Better ingredients. Better pizza. Better football. Papa johns. Youre looking at a live picture of the ambulance in dallas that will take a nurse to the airport, then to nih in maryland for treatment. For the first time, were hearing what happened inside the dallas hospital. Brianna aguirre told matt lauer, the medical staff was completely unprepared for ebola. Never talked about ebola. And we probably should have. They gave us an optional seminar to go to, just informational, not handson. It wasnt even suggested that we go. It wasnt something that they said, you really should try to make it. It was i believe only offered once, if not, twice. We were never told what to look for. I just dont think that any facility in this country is prepared for that at this time. She also said medical staff didnt have the proper protective gear. By the time that i partook in the ebola situation at my hospital, we were already wearing what i guess would be hazmat suits. They were tifex suits. They were dupont suits. And it was basically just like you would have in a snow suit or hoodie. It would zip up to about here. And from there, go into a hood up around my face. Like this, around my whole face. And then on top of that was a mask in front of me that would go under my chin, to here. So from here to here was uncovered. Ill just be honest, i threw a fit. I just couldnt believe it. And the second week of an ebola crisis at my hospital, the only gear theyre offering us at that time and up until that time is gear that is allowing our necks to be uncovered. And i just flatout asked several Infectious Disease nurses, i asked the cdc, why . Why would i be wearing two pairs of gloves, three pairs of booties, a plastic suit covering my entire body, and then leave my neck hanging out this much so that something can potentially go close to my mouth or nose . Then she was asked if she started showing signs of ebola, would she think twice before heading to her own hospital . Ive played that situation out in my head, and knowing what i know, i would try anything and everything to refuse to go there to be treated. I would feel at risk by going there. If i dont actually have ebola, i may contract it there, is how i actually feel. I would do anything to refuse to go there. That is a very telling statement. So how concerned should we be about this . Joining me now is david quamen, one of the first people to report on ebola. Hes traveled to africa 18 times over the last decade, researching the spread of the virus. His new book is called ebola the natural and Human History of a deadly virus. Thanks for being here tonight, david. Its good to be with you. The allegations are disturbing. Should these nurses be concerned . Yes, they should certainly be concerned. It seemed that the preparations in dallas were woefully inadequate in terms of supplies, the protective equipment, and the training in how to use them. We have some very expert people at the cdc in the Viral Special Pathogens Branch and Doctors Without Borders have great expertise. It takes training, as well as the right equipment. Training in how to use the equipment and then close monitoring of the protocols to make sure that they are observed, as people put on and take off the equipment and deal with patients. That doesnt seem to have happened in dallas, and Presbyterian Hospital wasnt ready. Whose fault that was, its hard to say. David, i need a factcheck. People are very concerned. How concerned should we be . How concerned about travel and interaction . I mean, i flew out here today on a plane. How concerned should people be . People should be very concerned about whats going on in west africa . Theres devastation. It could spread and weve heard from the African Union today theyre concerned it could cause destruction across africa. People are entitled to be concerned about the arrival of a few patients in the u. S. , or the transmission to one or two more patients. But frankly, we should be able to control that. We have the resources in this country to do barrier nursing and isolation care of these patients. I think its a good thing that the two patients from dallas have been moved to atlanta and bethesda, where they will be cared for by people who were deeply trained in how to do this. So i think americans should be very concerned about stopping this epidemic in west africa, because nobody is safe around the rest of the world until it is stopped there. Travel bans all right, lets talk about west africa for a minute. Because i mentioned your trips there. What did you learn in your trips to west africa about ebola . What can you tell us about ebola . My trips in connection with ebola have all been to Central Africa where the disease began in 1976. Its a disease that comes from the forest. It lives in some animal, thats called the reservoir host. We dont know which animal. People say it lives in bats. Theyre a suspect, but it hasnt been positively proven. People have contact with the animal, whatever it is, eating it, you know, hunting it for food or whatever, and the virus spills over into a person and then passes from one person to another. But reverend al, there have been almost 20 outbreaks of ebola in africa over the last 38 years, and theyve all been controlled with the death of no more than 300 people, each one of them, total of 1,800 people. And this epidemic got out of control in west africa, because of a peculiar combination of unfortunate circumstances, including crippled governance and lack of health care resources, and the fact that the force in those areas is not very far from the big Capital Cities and the international airports. Is this a pandemic, or was this a pandemic in west africa . I think the accurate terminology in so far as thats important is epidemic. A pandemic is a disease event that spreads