Ex-CDC official: No pandemic risk with hantavirus, but stay cautious

0:01 New tonight, one American evacuated from that cruise

0:02 ship on which there wa a deadly

0:04 hantavirus outbreak has now tested positive for the virus

0:08 that former passenger and 15 other americans

0:10 are back in the u .s and under observation at the university of nebraska medical

0:14 center the same facility where some of the first

0:17 Ebola patients were monitored back in 2014.

0:19 But unlike the Ebola outbreak,

0:21 Hantavirus is testing the Trump administration's freshly gutted CDC,

0:26 which waited until late last week

0:28 to coordinate with the World Health organization

0:30 and announced that a crew would retrieve the Americans left on that cruise ship.

0:34 Joining us now, Dr.

0:36 Deborah Howery.

0:37 She resigned from her role as chief medical officer at the CDC

0:40 last year after the Trump administration fired the agency's director,

0:43 she's an adjunct professor at Emory and a senior

0:46 fellow at Yale University School of Public Health.

0:49 Dr.

0:50 Howery, thank you for being with us today.

0:51 We also want to note for the folks at home, we asked Dr.

0:54 Howery in the break and it is HONTA VIRUS, FOR THE PROPER PRONUNCIATION.

0:59 I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT.

1:01 ARE WE AT RISK?

1:02 LET'S JUST PUT IT ON TABLE.

1:03 ARE WE AT RISK OF ANOTHER PANDEMIC?

1:05 WE'RE GOING TO GET TO WE HAVE A RISK OF ANOTHER PANDEMIC RIGHT NOW.

1:13 GOOD QUESTION, AND WHAT I WOULD SAY IS WHAT WE KNOW TODAY

1:16 WITH THE DATA WE HAVE ON THE 900 cases of hantavirus in the U .S.,

1:20 we are not at risk of a pandemic for this.

1:23 I do think it's important to be humble, though,

1:25 with any virus and any disease and monitor it.

1:29 These cases are new to the United States, to have the Andes strain here.

1:36 Different dynamics of the cruise ships.

1:38 So certainly want to be cautious.

1:39 But based on what we know, will not be a pandemic?

1:44 Based on what we know, I'd agree with that.

1:48 But let's just jump into what we do know that the health crisis,

1:56 this health problem at the moment is being managed

2:00 by a team of people who have fired the very intelligent,

2:05 smart doctors and scientists that we would need

2:09 to provide us information and do the testing

2:12 and the research that's necessary to put in place

2:16 the appropriate recommendations and checks and balances in this process.

2:20 We are being managed by a head of our health department,

2:26 who has confessed to his own brain worms.

2:30 So that doesn't give me a lot

2:32 of confidence in his ability to lead the organization,

2:35 let alone to speak intelligently on it after his recommendation to parents

2:39 that they not get their kids inoculated from viruses and diseases that we,

2:43 you know, knocked out 60 years ago.

2:47 So how does the American people, you now begin to understand, I think, Dr.

2:52 Y., why people feel the way they feel about the direction this thing

2:58 could WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T BECOME COVID-19,

3:15 BUT WE REMEMBER WE HAD A PRESIDENT THAT TOLD

3:18 US TO TAKE A HORSE TRANQUILIZER AND TO USE BLEACH, AND HE'S NOW BACK IN CHARGE.

3:25 SO FORGIVE ME IF I'M NOT CONCERNED ABOUT THE LEVEL OF INCOMPETENCE

3:31 THAT I HAVE TO RELY ON, THAT MY FAMILY AND MY COMMUNITY HAS

3:35 TO RELY ON IN THIS SITUATION AND I THINK THAT'S WHERE A LOT

3:40 OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING

3:41 TO FIND THEMSELVES AND YOU'RE HEARING IT ARTICULATED,

3:45 BEING REFLECTED IN SOME OF THE CONVERSATIONS IN SOME OF THE POLLING.

3:48 SO WE NEED PEOPLE like you to help keep us straight,

3:52 but we also need to know that, you know,

3:55 and when this is all said and done, we're going to be okay.

4:01 I agree with you with your concerns.

4:04 Certainly, I resigned because I couldn't work for the secretary.

4:06 It was a horse dewormer.

4:07 Sorry, it was a horse dewormer.

4:09 I'm sorry.

4:10 Yes.

4:10 I was just told it was a horse dewormer.

4:12 Well, you know, and ivermectin is good for parasites, just not for THIS.

4:17 BUT, YOU KNOW, WHAT I WOULD SAY IS

4:18 I DO AGREE WITH YOUR CONCERNS ABOUT THE SECRETARY.

4:22 THAT'S WHY I LEFT.

4:23 YOU KNOW, I FOLLOW SCIENCE AND DATA AND WANT TO TAKE CARE OF PEOPLE.

4:26 I NEED TO FOLLOW A LEADER THAT BELIEVES IN THAT.

4:29 BUT THERE ARE GREAT SCIENTISTS AT CDC.

4:32 WHAT WE NEED IS FOR THEM TO BE ABLE TO DO THESE SHOWS INSTEAD OF ME.

4:35 YOU KNOW, I'D LOVE TO HAVE THEIR VOICES OUT THERE RIGHT NOW,

4:37 BUT WE AREN'T HEARING FROM THEM AT THE LEVEL WE ARE.

4:40 AND THAT'S WHY MANY OF US ARE OUT SPEAKING ABOUT THE SCIENCE.

4:43 THEY DO NEED TO BE ABLE TO DO THEIR JOBS,

4:46 AND I'M CONCERNED ABOUT HOW LONG IT'S BEEN

4:48 TAKING FOR SOME OF THE GUIDANCE TO BE UPDATED,

4:50 AND THAT'S BECAUSE IT HAS TO GO THROUGH LEVELS OF POLITICAL CLEARANCE.

4:53 IF THE SCIENTISTS CAN SPEAK FREELY AND, YOU KNOW,

4:57 PUT UP THE GUIDANCE AND SPEAK WITH THE PUBLIC AND ANSWER QUESTIONS,

5:00 I THINK WE WILL ALL FEEL BETTER.

5:02 I WANT TO FLIP THE CONVERSATION WE'RE HAVING ON IT'S HEAD

5:05 AND ASK YOU WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE IF WE HAD A FUNCTIONING

5:09 CDC WHAT IS IT THAT THEY WOULD BE DOING RIGHT NOW

5:13 AND BEYOND THAT YOU KNOW I HAD NOT FULLY APPRECIATED THE EXTENT

5:17 TO WHICH THE CDC HAD TAKEN ON A GLOBAL ROLE

5:21 AND IN THIS CASE THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE WHO REALLY NEEDED TO STEP

5:26 IN UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CDC WAS NO LONGER FUNCTIONING AT THE LEVEL

5:30 IT ONCE DID AND IT SEEMS TO ME TO BE YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE,

5:34 ANOTHER REMINDER OF THE CONCESSIONS WE HAVE

5:38 MADE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE OF EXPERTISE, OF EXCELLENCE, OF LEADERSHIP.

5:44 AND UNFORTUNATELY WE'RE GOING TO SEE MORE CONCESSIONS ON THAT GLOBAL STAGE.

5:47 DEPARTMENT OF STATE CHANGED THE FUNDING

5:49 FOR CDC'S GLOBAL HEALTH WORK JUST LAST WEEK,

5:51 AND SO WE'RE GOING TO SEE EVEN LESS CDC PRESENCE IN COUNTRIES.

5:56 AND WHAT THAT WOULD MEAN IS LIKE WITH SENEGAL,

5:58 THEY WERE CLOSE TO THE CANARY ISLANDS.

6:00 WE HAD I CAN TELL YOU,

6:14 IT'S BETTER TO WORK WITH PEOPLE WHEN IT'S NOT AN EMERGENCY ALL THE TIME,

6:19 TO HAVE THOSE RELATIONSHIPS AND TO BE

6:21 ABLE TO HAVE THAT REALLY SYNERGISTIC PARTNERSHIP,

6:25 NOT JUST IN TIMES OF SO I'M CONCERNED ABOUT THE ABILITY

6:29 TO RESPOND IN THE FUTURE TO THESE GLOBAL THREATS AS WELL.

6:33 WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT APPARENTLY THE SECRETARY DEFUNDED FOR A LACK

6:39 OF a better term the the investigators that would investigate and do inspections

6:44 on cruise ships to get ahead of something like the hantavirus like what

6:50 it feels like the the professionals THEY ARE NOT EVEN IN THE ROOM,

6:56 THEY ARE NOT EVEN IN THE VACCINITY OF THIS GOVERNMENT.

6:59 DOCTOR?

7:00 WE SAW THAT WITH MANY OF the doge cuts like lead.

7:03 You know, there was a Milwaukee outbreak

7:05 for lead and those staff had been let go.

7:09 Fortunately, they were returned as were the vessel sanitation career STAFF,

7:14 THE COMMISSION CORE,

7:15 THE OFFICERS WERE STILL PART OF THE VESSEL SANITATION, SO THEY WERE THERE.

7:19 BUT THEY ACTUALLY AREN'T THE ONES THAT ARE

7:20 TAKING CARE OF CRUISE SHIPS WHEN THEY'RE INTERNATIONALLY.

7:23 THAT'S WHERE WE NEED OUR INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERTS AND OUR GLOBAL HEALTH STAFF.

7:27 and they have cut some of the global health staff,

7:29 so we've got less people able to respond.

7:33 You know, I guess as we're putting all this together and you have,

7:38 you You know, folks who have come back to the U .S.

7:42 now and they're going through that process.

7:44 Talk a little bit about what they're going to be going through

7:49 as they've been returned home and their health is being checked and tested,

7:54 and I guess there's a period where they're going to be kept in isolation,

8:01 the sort of check that because of the arc of this particular virus is

8:05 a THAT IS A LONG ONE BEFORE YOU

8:07 BEGIN TO SEE ANY TYPE OF MANIFESTATION OF ILLNESS.

8:12 TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT PROCESS AND WHAT AMERICANS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THAT.

8:16 YEAH, AND I'M SO THANKFUL we were able to bring them back

8:20 to the United States where they can have access to medical care if needed.

8:24 What will happen is both CDC and Nebraska and even now Emory, you know,

8:29 scientists and medical doctors will talk with the patients and find out what

8:34 their exposures were to people who had been on the ship with hantavirus,

8:39 but then also have they had any symptoms since then?

8:43 You know, what are their underlying medical conditions?

8:46 Observe them for a few days at a minimum, see how they're doing.

8:49 Some will be able, at least my understanding as of now,

8:53 to be able to stay at home with close monitoring by public health.

8:57 And that means checking temperatures, looking for symptoms,

9:00 not leaving the home, you know, not going on trips.

9:03 And we've done that for other communicable diseases,

9:06 but you need to be close to a healthcare system.

9:09 And with these patients,

9:10 understanding that what they have has a really high fatality rate,

9:14 you know, 30 to 50 percent.

9:16 I'm glad that they are in the close care and contact

9:20 with health departments and these medical SO IF THERE IS A CHANGE,

9:24 WE KNOW WHAT THE DIAGNOSIS IS AND CAN INTERVENE QUICKLY.

9:28 SO I THINK THAT'S WHY WE'LL SEE HIGH RATES OF COMPLIANCE.

9:31 OH, THAT'S GOOD.

9:31 THANK YOU VERY MUCH,