Day. That is roughly 13,000 foreign visa holders living in liberia, sierra leone, and guinea. Any person possibly exposed to ebola should not board a commercial flight. Theyre calling it controlled movement. This after the cdc slammed that second nurse for boarding a flight with a lowgrade fever. Her temperature was 99. 5, below the cdcs threshold. That is why she called them before boarding that flight. They said, go ahead. Seven people in ohio are now in voluntary quarantine with no ebola symptoms after being in contact with vincent. This hour, Dallas County officials are holding a special meeting. Theyre expected to declare a local emergency that could include special housing for those 75 different hospital workers who are being monitored. We start, though, on the hill with luke russert. And youve been watching this since noon all along with us. Give us some of the highlights. Reporter well, abby, in a hearing just under three hours, you saw quite an appearance, shall we say of folks who made it back from the campaign trail to actually participate in that hearing. Cory gardner, two people with Senate Campaigns did appear. The main thing was how political it got. That seems to have been the partisan fault line here between republicans and democrats. Calling for that travel ban, going after dr. Frieden as to why they have not enforced it or brought it forward or considered it. And why whether or not hes advised the white house to take it under consideration. Listen to his answers from the gop. Borders can be porous. We wont be able to check them for fever when they leave, when they arrive. We wont be able to do as we do currently to take a detailed history to see if they were exposed when they arrive. When they arrive, we wouldnt be able to impose quarantine as we now can if they have highrisk contact. We wouldnt be able to obtain detailed locating information which we do now, including not only name and date of birth, but email addresses, cell phone numbers, address, addresses of friends so that we could identify and locate them. We wouldnt be able to provide all of that information as we do now to state and local Health Departments so they can monitor them under supervision. We wouldnt be able to impose controlled release, conditional release on them. So there you hear dr. Frieden giving the reasons as to why a travel ban would not be conducive to protect the United States. Saying it would prohibit his agencys ability to monitor who exactly is coming into the country, what their symptoms are. That was backed up by the commissioner of the customs and border control. Saying, if we were to go down that path, people would find other ways to sneak into the country. Other points i found interesting within the hearing, nih said they really only had two beds they were able to have the biocontainment necessary to treat ebola. Theyre, of course, going to get nurse pham later today. And lastly, though, seems that from the conversations that these folks have with these members of congress in that hearing that we are at the beginning of the beginning of how this will work within the United States. The u. S. Has to be on heightened alert. This is still very much a problem in western africa. Theres this idea that we have it somewhat under control, but the cdc head saying that we expect the possibility of there being more cases to be certainly something that we could keep an eye on. And theres no real clear sense of when this threat ends, or at least comes down a little bit from the level it is right now. So not exactly reassuring at the end of the day. All right. Luke russert uncovering all of this on capitol hill. Thank you for that. We want to head right to the white house. The president has canceled another day of his schedule to monitor and oversee the situation here. I want to get to kristen welker. What can you tell us about what youre hearing from the white house as they look over a hearing that luke was telling us. Focused a lot on the punitive criticism that there should be some sort of better travel ban. That that is the way out for us. Well, the white house continues to express confidence in the director of the cdc and also continues to insist that they are not considering a travel ban. Press secretary josh earnest got tough questions about that, as well. The administration believes putting a travel ban in place would only inhibit the u. S. s ability to fight ebola in west africa and aid in the efforts to contain the disease and make it more difficult to screen people. The message youre getting from the white house from the cdc is that the u. S. Is prepared to deal with this and that the chances of an outbreak here in the United States are very small. Take a listen to what josh earnest had to say. We continue to believe that the that the risk of a widespread outbreak in the United States is exceedingly low. That said, the cdc has taken very seriously their responsibility at the direction of the president of the United States, to communicate in a detailed fashion with hospitals all across the country about what precautions and what measures they should put in place in advance in the unlikely event, just based on the odds that they have to care for an ebola patient. What the cdc is focusing on right now is making sure that the best possible advice about protocols are being communicated to medical professionals all across the country. Now, as you mentioned at the top, president obama did cancel a second day of travel today to deal with this crisis. It underscores the sense of urgency here at the white house and also, it gives you the sense the white house is acknowledging there needs to be a more robust federal response. President obama yesterday met with his cabinet secretaries, announced that s. W. A. T. Teams would be dispatched within 24 hours of a patient being diagnosed wit ed with ebola. Hell be reaching out to members of congress as well as foreign leaders. The administration trying to reassure americans while at the same time make sure the cases are being dealt with properly and making sure the mistakes that have been broadly acknowledged dont get repeated. Back to you guys. Kristen welker at the white house, thank you so much as always. Lets head to dallas and nbcs craig melvin. I know the cdc, theyve been looking into exactly how these two nurses on the front lines there were infected. Have they found anything so far . No. As we just heard during that hearing, theyre trying to figure out precisely how these nurses were exposed. We know that both of them did spend obviously some time caring for thomas duncan. Both of them came in contact with his body fluids. We also know that both of them spent time caring for him on the 28th and 29th and the 30th. And those are the three days that they believe that the nurses became infected. Lets talk about nina pham here specifically. We found out during that hearing that her condition is stable, reasonably well is the language that was used there by the head of the nih. We know she was going to be transferred from here in dallas to the nih later today. At this point, we dont know precisely when thats going to happen. I can tell you, shes not left here. I also just got a statement from Texas Health Presbyterian a short time ago on the transfer, the transferring of nina pham. And keep in mind with nina pham leaving, once shes gone, there wont be any ebola victims at this particular hospital. So ill just read you a part of the statement we just got from the hospital. We believe that transferring nina to the National Institutes of health is the right decision with the medical professionals. Sidelined for continuous monitoring, it is in the best interest of the hospital employees, nurses, physicians and their community to give the hospital an opportunity to prepare for whatever comes next. And that language is important because it sort of echoes the sentiment i got this morning from the county executive who basically said they would prefer not having more than one ebola patient in this hospital at a time. They essentially want to make room. Should they get more patients here in dallas over the next few days, and weve heard from a number of folks theres a high probability that is something thats going to happen. Should that happen, they want to be able to have space for them here. And they only have three beds here. They have three beds, were told, three beds that can accommodate someone infected with ebola. We know about the beds at nih, in nebraska, and emory. Right now, only ten isolation units in this country that the cdc has said if its necessary, obviously, some other rooms can be outfitted. But that is something that i dont think a lot of folks probably knew before, maybe 24 hours ago, guys. All right, craig melvin in dallas. Thank you very much for that report. Many of the questions this afternoon at the hearing focused on the response in dallas where two nurses who treated that deceased patient, Thomas Eric Duncan have come down with the virus. The head of the hospital admitted this afternoon that medical personnel had no actual ebola training before duncan was admitted. One of the nurses, Amber Vincent was cleared by the cdc to fly this past weekend after she selfreported a lowgrade fever. Many americans cant stop wondering if dallas is an isolated incident or if other hospitals in the u. S. Are doomed for the same fate if theyre presented with an ebola case. Right now, there are just four medical centers in america fully equipped to handle a patient with a total of just ten beds, two of those currently occupied. Lets turn our coverage now to the former president of the National Foundation for infectious diseases. Dr. William shaft at Vanderbilt University and mary oneil, a professor of Health Policy and dean at columbia universitys school of nursing. Emory has treated several ebola patients with none of their Health Care Workers catching the virus themselves. What are they doing right . And what and the things they are doing right can they be replicated at other places . Well, i think the things theyre doing right can be replicated. But a word about all these four biocontainment centers. They were specially funded by the United States government. They have a nice accommodate in architecture. So theyre especially wellprepared to take care of these patients. We at vanderbilt have been training our own personnel in the emergency room and our intensive care units and if such a person came to our doors, wed feel we could take care of them effectively and safely. It would require a lot of attention, but we think we can do that. And im sure there are many other hospitals across the country who feel the same way. Well, mary, with regard to the training and the preparation, matt lauer had a pretty remarkable interview with a nurse from Texas Health Presbyterian about how unprepared they were for this crisis. Lets take a listen. I would imagine when you have a possible ebola patient walking into an emergency room given all the attention that had been paid to the ebola crisis and the fear of it coming into the United States that it would be some kind of code red that there be a lockdown that emergency protocols would be put immediately into place. Is that what you experienced . Well, first, i think weve all been watching too much tv. Because we never talked about ebola and we probably should have. You never talked about it prior to mr. Duncan arriving . No. We never had a discussion. Gave us an optional seminar to go to. Just informational, not hands on. And it wasnt even suggested we go. It wasnt, you know, something they said, you know, you really should try to make it. It was, i believe, only offered once if not twice. We never were told what to look for. And i just dont think that any facility in this countrys prepared for that at this time. Does that surprise you what shes saying there . Shes saying basically they had little to no preparation. One informational session, they never discussed what they would do if an ebola patient arrived there . Does that surprise you . Well, i think we have to understand there are hundreds and thousands of different kinds of risks that come before the nurses in these hospitals across our country. Ebola was one that made the huge headlines and made a huge difference in the way we look at infection disease prevention in our e. R. S and icus in particular. But we didnt prepare for everything in detail, for every patient that comes into our e. R. S or icus. There are precautions, universal precautions that must be instituted in every hospital, every e. R. , every icu. But we cant be prepared specifically if hundreds of thousands you say its too high of a bar to expect every hospital in the country to be thoroughly prepared with ebola. We should be looking to the facilities for the detailed and extensive care, yes, but every single hospital has to be prepared to understand what kind of patient can come through the door with kinds of risks that it presents to the personnel caring for them. I think the most important thing we have to remember looking at is this as it rolls out, it is going to be the nurses that will be the first line of defense. If anyone in an e. R. , icu, or regular primary care center where someone might go with symptoms, its the nurse thats going to do the intake history, touch them, going to take their Blood Pressure, their temperature, help them into the unit where theyre going to be examined. Its the nurse who is going to see the undifferentiated patient first. He or she is going to be able to tell the next person to come in, the therapist, what might be going on. But when the patients first seen by a nurse, there isnt any prior warning. Yeah. Of course were going to see if there are further instances of ebola showing up in health care personnel. We shouldnt be surprised if its nurses. Its not because of lack of training. Its not because of lack of prevention. Its because theyre the first line of defense. And that patient coming through the door and just to underscore the point youre making, though. When you say that, are you saying at some level the second guessing going on is perhaps misinterpreting this incident . Saying that, well, obviously the nurse did something wrong or the Health Systems doing something wrong if anybody caught it. Are you saying were overdoing it . I think we have to be very, very careful that anything that comes out of an e. R. Encounter can be inflammatory. Anything. Patients can be missed for all kinds of things in the e. R. Encounters, not just ebola. And is there a sense of urgency in the training of our nurses and physicians about being able to understand anything that comes before them could be something theyre not expecting . In that they have to look at nuanced observations and careful procedures . What happened with the ebola is, to me, not a lack of training or discipline. Its just that we werent ready for this kind of highly infected patient to show up unannounced in an e. R. And to be cared for in the best way possible. Right. And i think we might have been told something different, doctor. I want to get to that, i want to listen to what lisa monaco had to say about this a couple weeks ago on october 3rd. And we now have this isolated case in texas. But we have a Public Health infrastructure and medical professionals throughout this country who are capable of dealing with cases if they present themselves. And as dr. Frieden has said, we are very confident we can stop this and other cases in its tracks. Isnt this why many people are feeling anxious right now . Were told one thing and seems time and time again the next thing we know theres a headline proving that wrong. What should we be thinking at this moment . Well, i think there have been glitches, but there are good spots, too. Actually, the Public Health part, finding all those contacts, monitoring them carefully. Thats going very, very well and by the book. And that will provide reassurance that this is not going to be an infection that spreads widely in the United States. The dallas event actually was a wakeup call for every hospital in the country. Those who hadnt begun training certainly are. And we are reinforcing our training that we have done. So the events are evolving, but were responding to them. Im still very confident that the hospitals in this country can assess patients coming to the Emergency Rooms very, very you know the question, where have you traveled is absolutely powerful in setting the stage and the Public Health response has been excellent so far. And thats a piece of this that is important and can get lost as and i want to broaden it a little bit. When you look at cdc numbers on all sorts of risks and infections, they looked between 1976 and 2006, a death from the flu. And they range from 3,000 to 49,000 deaths per year from the flu, which we know you can vaccinate, only about 46 of people got flu vaccinations last year. Speak to us about where ebola fits in to the larger types of threats we face that we can treat in the United States . Its very, very difficult to overstate the importance of prevention and get the publics attention to taking their flu shots, for instance. When you look at how many thousands died last year were almost sure were not going to get those kind of numbers with ebola in this country. People are far more interested in the highprofile kinds of things that could happen to them. And theyre not as likely to follow up on the vaccinations for things that can be terribly disturbing in their health outcomes. I think its important to know that not only nurses are on the front line of our Public Health prevention as well as acute care, theyre the first people to see patients, the first ones to make a decision about them. We have to Pay Attention to making sure these individuals, these nurses are given every opportunity to take advantage of the prevention, to not be overworked or understaffed in order to prepare themselves to taking care of patients. And this is the time for the public to really think about nursing and how important they are, and to protect them. And by doing so, theyre going to protect themselves. Thats a great reminder. The nurses are the one