think about. all right, thank you very much, david mckenzie. well, thank you for joining us, we'll see you back here tomorrow night, anderson cooper "ac360" begins right now. good evening from ottawa, thank you for joining us. the new images are striking and so is what we're learning about the man who is in them. the killer who tried, tried to terrorize this city and country. this is new video of the parliament moments just over my shoulder. we're learning about him and also in the wake of all of this people here in ottawa and all throughout canada do not scare easily. there has been fear here but there is also pride and a resiliency to move forward. we also got information that the attack in new york city as it happened, the hatchet attack that sent two new york city police officers to the hospital with critical injuries, it is now raising concerns whether it like the killing here in ottawa yesterday may have been a case

of home-grown terror. we'll have more about the hatchet attack. also more from new york about another potential case of ebola. a city ambulance, the crew observing full biohazard precautions, the ambulance making its way to the hospital. the case is one of a doctor treating ebola patients in west africa. there is a lot to get to in this hour. the doctor's name is craig spencer, he is an emergency medicine physician in new york working with a group "doctors without borders" in guinea treating ebola patients. he posted this picture on his facebook page before he left. now, guinea as well as sierra leone is in the ebola hot zone. here is what mayor de blasio said a short while ago. we can safely say it has been a brief period of time that the patient has had symptoms,

also the fact he is a medical doctor made this a particular situation where he was quite aware to quickly get in contact with the authorities upon feeling that there was a problem. our understanding is very few people were in direct contact with him. >> we want to emphasize that we do not yet know if dr. spencer has ebola. the test results are still pending, poppy harlow, elizabeth cohen, they're working their positions. do we know when he started to feel symptoms? >> reporter: we do. we know a few days ago, anderson, he started to feel sluggish, but got the more severe symptoms of 103-degree fever and nausea, pain, fatigue last night. he came here at the bellevue hospital, the hospital designated to deal with symptoms like this. today they did the test. really the significant symptoms started late last night, early this morning.

>> and how much do we know about his whereabouts or more importantly do authorities know about his whereabouts prior to going to the hospital today? has that all been documented? >> some of it has been, that is a critical question, where has he been in the past ten days since he has been here. we know yesterday he took an uber, to where he was from williamsburg, brooklyn to go to a bowling alley. and that is the concern, when exactly did the symptoms start? you can't contract ebola just by being next to someone. this is contracted by direct contact with a person. but again, that is heightening the alert here, anderson. >> also, do we know has the health department already started to or completed tracking down people that he may have come in contact with? >> reporter: they have. and they say immediately when he came here to the hospital they continued to track down each and every person he came into contact with over the past few days.

but very important to note as you just played from new york city bill de blasio, he has had very little direct contact with people, so just a few people he has come in direct contact with. >> his girlfriend is one of those people, is she under quarantine or just monitoring herself at this point? >> reporter: no, she is now under quarantine, we have learned in the last two hours his girlfriend has been taken under quarantine. that would make sense, she has been taken into quarantine. that is is girlfriend he has been in direct contact with since returning. we don't know about anybody else or if he had had the direct contact with anybody else. the mayor made a direct point today, anderson, saying he is in quote, in good shape. he has communicated with all the health officials here because he himself is a doctor. he called the fdny immediately this morning when he started to feel the severe symptoms and was rushed here. we're told the process of bringing him here to the hospital from his home was done

seamlessly, that is what the mayor is saying. >> all right, poppy harlow, thank you very much. elizabeth cohen joins me now from cdc headquarters in atlanta. how has the cdc been reacting to this latest news? >> reporter: you know, i think it is a very different situation than it was in dallas. right now a team of three folks who were on the cdc rapid response team are at hartsfield airport, boarding a plane to take them to la guardia. and they will meet with health officials, they have a dual purpose, one, to deal with the contact traces. and number two, they want to go to bellevue and make sure they're following the proper infection control procedures. and you know anderson, you and i were at the hospital in dallas, this is a different situation. bellevue is an ebola-designated hospital for this.

>> the people treating him will be monitored, i would assume so? >> right, i would assume so. i have not gotten official word but what they ended up doing in dallas is those folks were supposed to take their temperature twice a day. and they were supposed to be in contact with a local health official. i would assume that is the way they were going to handle it this time in new york and not make the same mistakes they made in dallas. really keep track of these people. >> elizabeth, thanks for the update. i want to bring in the director of the national center for disaster preparedness at columbia university. doctor, you and i have been talking about this for weeks, and obviously officials in new york watched what happened in dallas and have tried to learn the lessons. >> well, it has been extraordinary the amount of preparations done in new york. and of course one of the big motivators was what happened from the health care point of

view in the hospital as well as the public health management of it. i can assure you it is not going to be the case here in new york. i have never seen so much preparation for anything. and it is good that the cdc is sending a team down. but it is almost superfluous, the amount of fire power in new york is extraordinary. and i think a, this doctor who has the possibility of having ebola will have the best possible chance of recovering from whatever he has and getting the diagnosis made quickly. and second of all, i mean, there is literally a complete effort to make sure that every single possible contact is being treated. and new york city has a lot of innovative things it will be doing, including making sure that every family or person who needs to be quarantined will have a lot of services available to them to make it possible for them to actually follow the quarantine guidelines. so the city i think, where it

occurs, people should be really reassured that the chance of anybody else getting it from this particular doctor still remains very slim. >> if somebody wanted to go to another hospital in new york city, would they then be taken to bellevue, the designated place for anybody who has ebola? >> yes, actually, the plan is for four or five different hospitals in new york city to have the capacity to handle an ebola patient. in the meantime, there are still things that would have to be done in the smaller hospital or community hospital that is not a designated center so that every hospital has actually been given the guidelines, is getting help in training their workers and making sure that even in the few hours between arriving at the hospital if that is where they happen to show up and after getting translated to the designated treatment center, that the patient is being treated properly. and people handling the patient know what they need to do. it is a complex process, new

york city is quite immersed in the protocols. >> thank you for joining us. coming up next, the hatchet attack, two new york city police officers wounded in the attack. the question is, was it a home-grown attack in ottawa? and we now know more about the soldier killed in the attack. we'll be right back.

welcome back, we have more breaking news and it raises a

serious chill in the u.s. a case in the borough of queens that may be more than met the eye, it was horrible enough in and of itself. an apparently crazed man attacking four police officers with a hatchet. the attack caught on tape which you're about to see there. officers shot the attacker dead, two other officers shot the attacker dead. now investigators are learning more about the would-be killer, and what they have uncovered raises the stakes considerably. jim sciutto has more about the attack, what have you learn border t-- learned about the attack. >> reporter: well, i'll tell you, anderson, this is a shocking attack in broad daylight on the streets of queens. there were four nypd police officers walking, recent graduates from the academy. somebody asked them to stop to take the photograph. they stopped and this is when the man you see in the video came up and attacked them.

the police don't believe the person who asked them to stop was involved in any way. in fact, he has cooperated with them. in fact, he came up swinging the axe as he did, hitting one police officer in his arm, the other unfortunately in his head. and it is that police officer who is in critical condition. now, what concerns nypd police particularly following the attack in ottawa where you are now, anderson, is that they looked at his facebook page, social media information and elsewhere. and those gave them concern about possible motivation tied to islamic extremism. they're still investigating it. but the things they saw on the facebook page, youtube, et cetera. as a result of this, the attack that they saw on social media, in fact, two attacks this week in canada, they have since issued a bulletin to all officers in new york asking them to increase their situational awareness to look out for

attacks like this. you know, they're taking this very seriously, anderson, and it is exactly the kind of attack that many intelligence officials that i've been speaking to are concerned about. lone wolf attacks, very hard to predict, very easy, unfortunately, to carry out. >> yeah, we have been talking about the threat of this for quite a while now. i mean, and again, it is early hours so there is probably a lot we do not know. i just want to emphasize this. does this guy have a record at all? i know you talked a little bit about a social media profile. do we know if he has a record or mental health history or anything like that? >> we don't know yet. remember, he had had id on him, he did have id on him i'm told but police are working to confirm the id so that they know it is him. these are the questions, and you're right to say it is early. based on the name they looked at the social media pages but they still have to 100% confirm that that is the guy they're talking

about. so i do think we should urge cautious here, but i'll tell you enough concern from police that they immediately issued the bulletin to other officers to look out for attacks like this. >> all right, jim, stay with us. because i want to bring in a professor of the university of ottawa, one of canada's leading counterterrorism experts. and philip, let me start off with you. first of all, what stands out to you in this new york attack particularly a day after what happened here in ottawa? >> well, it brings me back to my old life, anderson, i can't look at it without filtering a few things. a couple of things strikes me, one, we saw an incident like ottawa in the u.k., where an extremist took out a butcher knife and massacred a british military officer. significant here, we don't have a military police officer, but it is civilian. that is significant in my world.

it is harder to convince an extremist to kill a civilian like a military officer in ottawa or a police officer in new york. if this person is not a homegrown, i would be surprised. the reason is, if you're isis or al qaeda and recruit somebody who is an operative who has access to the west, you don't waste that precious bullet with a hatchet attack in new york. it is harder to recruit people like this. my old filter says this is an interesting signal. >> and jim, i just want to be sure. this was the new york city police commissioner himself who mentioned canada in the context of this. this is not a leap that we're making? >> no, it's not a leap we're making. the new york police commissioner mentioned that. i have spoken to my own nypd sources who mentioned the same thing, remember, they're always cautious, they have an investigation to complete here. i tell you when i called my nypd

source, you know, i asked him and said is this something that we should you know, slow pedal here. and he said no, we're concerned and looking into it. that is why they issued that warning. >> professor, in terms of the situation here, and obviously the attack yesterday was a shock, the one two days before that was a shock, as well. how aware are authorities of the threat here and how real is the threat of radicalism? >> i think, anderson, the tendency on countries that don't know canada well is to assume perhaps we're a bit lax on security. in fact, we have invested very, very heavily and take it very seriously since the 9/11 attacks. our current reoccupation has been with the foreign fighter problem. that has been the focus. but what we've seen in the last two attacks the first two successful attacks in canada is something different. these were not foreign fighters coming back, perhaps one of them at least tried to get to syria or iraq. these were homegrown terrorists and according to one expert was

completely off their radar. >> and it was something that all countries are trying to figure out, what makes somebody become a radical. and do you think authorities here have a firm grasp? >> i think what the rcmp, the federal policing agency, the intelligence agency have done and done properly and done well and invested heavily in what they call community outreach program, that is really trying to be in touch with muslim communities that may be at risk where the community may be at risk. that is really the key, i think, to counterterrorism in a democracy when you're dealing with this process from extremism to violence, which is everybody's concern.

>> phil, we like to believe there is something that can be learned from the attack here in ottawa, another kind of attack that there is something that can be learned about the radicalization process, in your experience, and you have a lot of experience you can learn more details about the attack itself. but is there something bigger to be learned? >> boy, a day or two into this i'm already running through my head what lessons we can take to apply to future cases. we already have somebody murdered in ottawa. can we use this to build a better program in canada and the united states? if you're going to do it you have to take a cold blooded look at it and say are there signs there is a financial connection to terrorists, communication with terrorists, trainers? and i'm taking the internet off the plate, anderson, because there is just too much hate speech on the internet to sort through. i don't see anything to get my hands on to tell me we're going to learn here. most people outside the

counterterrorism business will say hey, you have to learn something and apply something. let me give you a reality check, the frustration is there is not a lot to learn and that we'll see this again. >> and jim, just in terms of numbers of americans tied to radical groups or beliefs, are there numbers out there that intelligence officials talked about? >> there are numbers, the numbers you hear most often, 100, the number of americans who attempted to go to syria to fight to join the fight there or who have succeeded in doing so. and about of that 100, a dozen or so americans in particular who attempted to join or have joined the group, isis in particular. but beyond the folks going to fight jihad over there, you've already had a number of cases of them answering the call in effect. and there have been public calls from jihadist groups, isis for certain, but also al qaeda to say you can in effect fight jihad at home, as well. a couple of examples you had and police are still investigating the ties.

but the oklahoma man, the beheading, he had other things on his social media, which indicated islamic radical beliefs. you had these girls in colorado who were looking to go join isis and were stopped as they tried to travel there. but you also had americans who have succeeded in going there. there was a short time ago, number of weeks ago a man from minnesota, he went to fight for isis. and he was killed fighting for isis. you had a florida man who went to fight for the nusra front, who went and attacked with bombings. sadly we have a number of cases like this. >> and people who are not on the radar are of a concern, you don't necessarily have to have a direct affiliation with a contact, you can just watch videos and people who are either deranged, or have a certain type of motivation -- >> security and intelligence people will say there can be

lone actor attacks, but they're really rarely lone attacks. they may be known to their community. there are leads, they're not strong leads or great leads but they have to be developed. >> professor, thank you for your time. phil mudd, as well, jim sciutto, coming up next, from one crime scene to the next, the killer bent on taking even more lives, the terror attack in progress, shedding more light on who the shooter was, we'll take a look at that and talk to canada's foreign minister ahead. i have a cold with terrible chest congestion. better take something. theraflu severe cold doesn't treat chest congestion. really? new alka-seltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. oh, what a relief it is. here we go!

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. well, as we said at the top of the broadcast we have a flood of new information on yesterday's terrible attack here at the war memorial just over my shoulder. also the attack on the parliament building just up the hill. we got our first look at security camera video, documenting the killer's brief and deadly run. and just how determined the

canadians wish to restore a sense of normalcy. and the sergeant-at-arms who saved so many lives was back on the job leading the procession. it was a remarkable show of defiance and resilience. today, we learned more about the scope of the killer's intentions. and what may have motivated this. the first time you see the shooting suspect he is driving away from the war memorial toward parliament. you can see people begin to scatter away from the monument. the video shows him pulling up near one of the front gates of parliament. this person walks toward the vehicle before turning and running away. the suspect runs out of the car with his gun heading full speed toward the center of parliament. the shooter approaches these vehicles, parked outside the parliament building. and he heads to the car parked in front. there is a type of exchange

between the shooter and driver of the front vehicle and the driver eventually runs away. the suspect takes the car and runs toward the parliament building. when the royal canadian mounted police notice they begin to follow the car. the shooter gets out of the vehicle and runs inside. only seconds later the shots ring out. sergeant-at-arms kevin vickers finally shoots and kills the suspect. this is video of vickers just moments after the shooting rampage stops. three others are injured. today, cheers and applause for vickers as parliament reconvened. and law enforcement searched for answers about the shooter. >> he is a canadian citizen and we have information he may have had dual libyan citizenship. >> police say the suspect was not part of the 90 so-called

high risk travellers that canadians were aware of. he recently applied for a passport intending to go to the middle east. >> according to some accounts he was an individual who may have held extremist beliefs. >> authorities say he had been in ottawa, and people at the homeless shelter said he had been seen downtown in recent days. >> saying things like we should be praying for five times a day because the end of the world is coming. >> the imam at the local mosque says he was not known there. >> we have no knowledge of that person, and thanks god we don't have knowledge of such person in our community. >> a lot of questions remain. deborah feyerick joins us now. i know this man had a long drug history. >> well, he did, this was really interesting, there were court records that would find in 2011 he had a psychiatric evaluation. at the time, the judge was determining whether he was

mentally fit to stand trial. he said he was in fact addicted to crack cocaine, he needed to go to jail, a sacrifice he needed to make to pay for his mistakes. he told the judge he was a devoted muslim, and that going to jail would not only make him a better man, but not addicted. >> and the pass port acts, his papers were being held? >> that is exactly right. the great clarification from the royal canadian mounted police, the head of the organization who basically said it was the pass port that figures prominently in a potential motive. that it was central to what was driving him to do what he did. he had either applied or was re-applying for a passport. it was being held up, they were investigating him for his criminal activity, drug use, et cetera. his mother told authorities he said he wanted to go to syria. they didn't know that. the reason the pass port was being held up was simply because

they're doing a thorough background check. he was not one of the 90 who were being investigated. now they really believe because he was not getting the passport, he was really upset, he wanted to leave. >> deborah feyerick, we appreciate it. and the war memorial is where i'm standing right now. you can see it over my shoulder. people have come with flowers throughout the day to lay candles, as well. to pay their respects to the soldier who lost his life anyna joining me now, corporal, how much do you feel you and your government knows about this? do you feel like most of your questions have been answered? >> i think a lot of them have come under focus. we need to get more about the investigation. obviously he was radicalized,

and brutal violence. very peaceful country, we don't have a lot of crime so this has really shaken people. >> how concerned are you about the threat of homegrown terrorism. radicalization. we've just seen the information -- >> obviously our thoughts and prayers go to the family there. we're deeply concerned. we took action over the last three years to criminalize going to fight abroad. we brought in measures to revoke citizenship on dual nationals who become terrorists. we have taken a lot of measures, legislation we introduced to give the intelligence agencies more tools to be able to protect more canadians to look at what happened and look at what else can be done. >> do you understand, all countries are grappling with this radicalization. do you understand how that happens yet or do you feel it is something that needs to be look looked into? >> i think it is something we can look at to identify this, how we can seem to combat it.

obviously we're not alone. there is a deep concern that we all have. >> it is extraordinary how open your democracy is here. how open your -- the institut n institutions of your government are to people. there are yoga lessons on the lawn of parliament. i saw today, the killer was able to get in through the front gates. do you think that will be looked into? that it will be changed? because obviously it is important to canadians. >> i know it changed a lot after 9/11, we want to make parliament an open place, but at the same time we need to keep the people safe there. that may require additional measures and actions. >> what is your message to confirmed canadians? because i have been very impressed how the way people came to pay their respects to corporal cirillo?

>> well, obviously, terrorism is a great problem, and we'll have to take regional measures to make sure we keep canadians safe. >> you were in the parliament building, it is extraordinarily close, it could have been much, much worse. >> he ran right by the room where the entire government caucus was. the cabinet, i was there, we could hear the ringing out of the rifle fire. and then the huge amount of semiautomatic noise. >> did you know at that point what was going on? did you have information? >> well, as it was happening, the first concern was this somebody trying to take parliament hill? was it a group was our initial concern. so until we were able to get you know security officials in to tell us if there was a single gunman taken down we didn't know whether the door was going to be barged open and we would all be sprayed. >> because there was not

security personnel -- >> well, the security detail is actually right outside the door where the parliamentary caucus was -- >> were you there today to see the sergeant-at-arms back. i mean, that was extraordinary again, a sign of resilience. >> well, yesterday, we suffered from an evil person, today we acknowledged a real hero. somebody who literally had the peace of mind to be able to get his firearm and literally walk right face to face with the assailant and take him down. he literally was killed at the door of the library. there was a tourist group there, people who worked there. we could have seen more than a dozen killed had he not taken such quick action. >> foreign minister baird, thank you for joining us. there is more breaking news, we're waiting for major new word, we're told there is a

suspected ebola case. the mayor and new york's governor to talk at the top of the hour. we'll have more on the major announcement, coming up, step by step, we'll take you through the war memorial where corporal cirillo was killed. and kevin vickers, a hero back on the job today where he was greeted with a standing ovation of more of that incredible tribute. and also we want to learn more about corporal scirillo. and the man he was. (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern.

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. this is cnn breaking news. breaking news to tell you about, we have learned just a few seconds ago that test results on the new york city doctor, craig spencer, have in fact come back positive for ebola. cnn's elizabeth cohen has joined us with details. elizabeth, i assume these are preliminary tests. there will be more tests, but right now the initial tests show that he is positive for ebola. >> yes, i tell you, the initial

tests, they are usually right. they did the exact same test that they will do here at the cdc. i have learned that a specimen from dr. spencer will arrive at the cdc shortly after midnight. it is being flown in. there is a team here waiting for it. they will do the same tests and just make sure it is correct. but usually if it is positive at one of these local labs it usually is positive here. >> i also want to bring in the chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. so sanjay, obviously, you're joining us on the phone. this will be a big deal, a big test case for new york city. it seems like the doctor, as soon as he noticed any symptoms telephoned authorities. and it all seems to have been handled as authorities would have liked from the moment that authorities and ambulance first showed up to bring him to bellevue hospital? >> it certainly sounds like that, anderson. and as elizabeth said, i think this is almost certainly going to be a positive test to be

confirmed shortly by the cdc. but he did the thing that you're supposed to do. which is it sounds like when he saw symptoms to go ahead and call the authorities. was rushed to bellevue hospital. my understanding he is in place in the isolation unit. that is the crucial point even before tests come back positive. you want to treat the person as -- in isolation to make sure they can't potentially infect other people. it is important to note, you and i discussed, really that somebody does not transmit the virus until they become sick, as well. and i think that is going to be an important point to remind people of. but also to remember in this case as authorities try to outline his last couple of days as well, anderson. >> sanjay, i have already received tweets from people saying why didn't this doctor when he came back from guinea

isolate himself for 21 days, even as he felt okay, just in an abundance of caution, i'm not pointing fingers. but is that something that is reasonable for people who have traveled to west africa to normally do? >> well, you certainly have heard a lot of it. there is a lot of confusion around this point, you hear about people quarantined, put in isolation. the science is really important here. it could provide a sense of comfort. and that is again that you know someone certainly would be monitored. what that means is they take their temperature a couple of times a day, to make sure they're not developing a fever. that can be one of the first signs of somebody who developed an ebola infection. but unless they are sick they are not going to spread the virus. so if a quarantine is being done to try to protect the public's health it really wouldn't matter in the sort of situation. you would not need to be quarantined because he is not a threat to the public's health. as soon as he or anyone develops

symptoms if there is a concern about an ebola infection they should do what it sounds like he did, which is to call authorities, go to the hospital, be put in isolation. and obviously reduce any chance that he could have spread the virus to somebody else. >> our poppy harlow is standing outside bellevue hospital where the doctor is currently being treated. there is already an isolation ward at bellevue. this was all planned. officials met weeks to look over protocol, correct? >> reporter: absolutely, and this is as we have heard from the mayor of new york city this has gone exactly to plan from the moment that dr. craig spencer called the fdny late last night, early this morning to notify them of his high fever. he was taken in an ambulance. the first responders were wearing those hazmat suits. the mayor called it a seamless transportation from his apartment location to here at bellevue. we have some photos we may be

able to show you also of what the unit here looks like. the way that the emergency department is set up for any possible ebola case, they showed it to the media two weeks ago just to show that this hospital is prepared for a situation like this. i was speaking with a hospital official earlier here today anderson who told me that likely because the first responders knew that he may have ebola they would have taken him not even to the emergency department but directly, directly into -- into isolation. however, you're also dealing with a patient, an ebola patient now that was out and about in new york city, bowling and williamsburg, brooklyn as recently as last night. that is why the officials here, law enforcement is tracking down at this hour every person that has come into direct contact with him. they're going to keep a close eye on them. however, the mayor of new york city only saying very few people did have direct contact with this doctor. so not to be alarmist or for new

yorkers to panic. still, the likelihood of new yorkers getting ebola according to the health department is very slim. >> all right, poppy, i'm going to let you go because i know you're going to go to the press conference. and i'll remind our viewers we'll have the press conference live. we expect to hear from new york's mayor bill de blasio, and governor andrew cuomo. and what we've seen, sanjay, the patients who test positive for ebola, when they receive treatment quickly, whether it is blood plasma transfusions, so it gives the antibodies to the patient, that seems to have worked or be beneficial in several cases. and also any experimental treatments and also treating the other conditions. treating fevers and you know, night sweats, all the

supplemental issues. >> yeah, replacing fluids. people who have ebola tend to become very dehydrated very quickly to the point where that alone could be potentially fatal. so replacing fluid is very important. replacing even normal blood because sometimes as you know people can have bleeding problems if they have an ebola infection. and then as you mentioned, two other big things. the transfusion, it will be important to see if there is blood available that matches his blood. dr. kent brantly, as you know, anderson, you talked to him. he donated his plasma, a few times full of these antibodies. and we talked about it a couple of months ago no human in the world ever received one of these experimental therapies. the doctor will say we're not sure if this worked or not.

we need to study it in many, many patients. my guess is, anderson, those will be options put on the table for dr. spencer as well, blood transfusions and possibly experimental therapies. >> and we should point out that dr. brantly himself received a blood transfusion when he was in liberia near death. he received a transfusion from a 14-year-old liberian boy who he had actually treated and had been cured. i had talked to him, he said he didn't really believe that transfusion was what helped save his life. but he actually started to get sicker after having the transfusion. he credits his faith, as well as the zmapp and all the care he received in atlanta at emory university. dr. seema yasmin, professor of health at university of texas at dallas. doctor, let's talk about what you used to do for the cdc as a

detective. this is what the authorities are trying to do, track down everybody this doctor may have had contact with. see who he was in contact with at the bowling alley in brooklyn, and the uber car he used to get out there and anywhere else he may have had contact. how difficult a process is that? how do you actually go about it? >> it can be quite challenging, anderson, especially when the time has lapsed when the first first became infectious and you're informed about the first time they received the infection. they ask them questions such as where were you, who did you travel where, where to, and reaching out to find out what type of contact they had. you cast the net wide at the beginning and slowly start to narrow it down as you find out what kind of contact people had, and the risk level they have of contracting the disease. >> it is interesting, elizabeth cohen who is also standing by at

the cdc. elizabeth, we showed video earlier that bellevue, that new york officials put out previously a week or two ago of the facility at bellevue of where this doctor is being treated. in it we saw two different health professionals, one wearing full protective gear, the other wearing partial protective gear. it looked like part of the person's head or neck was uncovered, as well. we'll show it to you. clearly, the head is still visible, the neck still visible. we now know the protocols by the cdc have changed. what the other health care worker is wearing may have met cdc protocols two weeks ago, it no longer does. and it is unlikely anyone in bellevue is still currently wearing that partial protective gear. >> right, i would imagine they're wearing that full gear. it was thought sort of back a month or so ago, a couple of weeks ago that if you didn't have direct contact with the patient, if you were not in the patient's room perhaps you

didn't have to wear the whole outfit. but now i think the thinking is different. the thinking is maybe you do need to have all of that equipment. maybe you do need to be completely covered. why not err on the side of caution. >> she has worked in public health and public safety for dhs and others for the department of homeland security. juliet, obviously, in a major city like new york this will get a lot of headlines and have a lot of people nervous, have a lot of people in new york talking. the city when i ride the subway every day, you're brushing up against people, people are touching, sneezing out in public. as a public health professional, what can you tell people about the realities of this? because when i look at who has ended up testing positive in the united states it really is all health care workers except for

thomas eric duncan who came directly from liberia after helping somebody who died from ebola. that, to me is a positive sign that it is not any of the 48 people who had contact with thomas eric duncan, in his day to day life, prior to going to the hospital. >> that is right, i worked mostly in public safety. the basic lesson is always to protect the first responders. so what we're learning here is the pick-up on what elizabeth said, absolutely err on the side of caution in terms of the recommendations made to hospitals, public health areas, where they come into contact with people who have ebola. i know the fact that someone in new york has it is distressing, but once again put it in perspective. this is somebody who was working with patients who have ebola. he self-identified. and the good news is, the system here learned the disasters of

the state of texas. it was ready, they isolated the patient. so each case, we're learning from each instance, and in realtime. that is probably what the mayor and governor are going to address. >> and sanjay gupta, i just want to reiterate, we're waiting for a press conference, the governor of new york, andrew cuomo, and bill de blasio, the governor, we'll bring more to you live from bellevue. but sanjay, just a couple of days ago new york held in their convention center a symposium, there have been high level meetings to deal with the first case, that is where they figured out, okay, bellevue will be the go-to hospital. it does seem as though there has been a lot of attention paid in new york, and hopefully

elsewhere in the wake of what happened with dallas to how to deal with it. >> i think there is for question that dallas as you mentioned has served as a wake-up call. i think for a while over the summer since you know april, even when people started to think about this, we were in west africa in april in guinea, perhaps maybe in the same camp where dr. spencer worked. i'm not sure where he worked specifically. but since that time, people have been talking about this idea that the patients will arrive in the united states and be diagnosed with ebola. that happened at the time. but i think it was until he came -- until we saw how it all transpired in dallas, that there may have been a little bit of

co co complac complacency, you're right, since that happened, emergency rooms, patients, hospitals in general are figuring out their plans, designating specific hospitals and protocols, making sure people are trained. i don't know how much training has gone on so far in bellevue. but we know in dallas, very little if any training happened. so that is training. look, this is the world in which we live now. we don't know where a patient with ebola may end up in the united states. but the assumption is they could end up anywhere. so everyone has to be prepared. >> and sanjay, you and i have done a lot of work with doctors without borders, for years, now and a lot of places, i know you have a lot of respect for the organization. i have tremendous respect for the organization. i raise money for them. i think they do incredible work all around the world. and the work they have been doing in liberia, in guinea, in the hot zones for months now they really have led the way. and their standards, protocols have been adopted by everybody

else. it is now with the cdc, the protocols there are now the same protocols as doctors without borders and likely should have been weeks ago before the tragedy in dallas began. it will be troubling for this organization and they will have to look at exactly how this doctor was -- despite all the protocols they had, how this doctor may have come in contact with ebola. >> yeah, there is no question, and i will just build on what you say by adding that you know the strike team that we've heard about. i am curious if the cdc will employ the strike team i think up to 30 people. elizabeth may know better than me. the strike team will end up in bellevue, as well, which is supposed to be a group of people who go in when a patient is diagnosed with ebola, to make sure all the protocols are found, doctors without borders have been part of that strike team because they have been doing this for a long time. it will be troubling for a lot of people to hear someone who worked with the organization has

tested positive for ebola. i think it will be the third doctor without borders that has tested positive. but keep in mind, anderson, they took care of thousands of patients in the last few decades, and three patients -- >> and going multiple times in the hot zone. >> right, and three people, they're obviously serious infections, but three people out of thousands of patients they cared for have tested positive. where as in dallas, one patient infected two people right away. one patient, two infections where in central and west africa thousands of patients and three infections. so they have done an incredible job. obviously we have to figure out what happened here. was there a sort of protocol breach. sometimes you never know the answer exactly. you have to recreate the entire situation. we may not know, but the track record despite this has been phenomenal. >> i want to go to miguel

marquez who is in this doctor's neighborhood, i believe in harlem in new york city. miguel, i wonder if you talked to people and heard from the neighborhood, if there were thoughts that somebody in the neighborhood tested positive. >> well, we have been talking to folks. and while there is not a great concern right now as that news, that that positive test results starts to seep in here, people will begin to become more concerned about it clearly. folks earlier today were sort of laughing and in some cases they were walking to the stoop up here behind me taking pictures on it. now there seems to be a slight change in the air here, an increased police presence, we may see more health officials coming to the neighborhood. the apartment of dr. spencer has been sealed off waiting for the test. everybody we talked to said look, we are waiting for the test, now that the news came out you see folks who are perhaps a little less you know, making fun a little less and taking this a little more seriously.

and we will see here overnight if anything changes at dr. spencer's apartment, anderson. >> and miguel, as you said that apartment has been sealed off. are authorities still inside, or have they gone through whatever they need to and now just cor n cordoned it off? >> they are not, they are not inside. they say they sealed it off and were not going to do anything until the test result came back. dr. spencer's girlfriend has been isolated now, as well. i spoke to a couple of different -- one person from the public health department. and a politician, one of the council members who was here. they say that the hallways, the door knobs, evacualevator butto none of those things had been cleaned after this. that may be changing, the virus can live for a few hours in a dry state, longer in a wet

state. it is not clear he was sick enough to be contagious at this point. but they feel that the health officials we spoke to feel they have taken every precaution that they can. the one thing they have done, they blanketed the neighborhood earlier with individuals from the public health department to find out if anybody had come in contact with dr. spencer. there is a shop on the corner, the pizza place down the way. everybody seems to see this guy, know this guy. so anybody who came in direct contact with him. the health department wants to know. they collected their information so that they then could get in touch with him if this test is positive. >> all right, thank you very much. we'll continue to check in with you. >> this is cnn breaking news. and for those of you just joining us, good evening from ottawa, canada, it is 9:00 p.m., on the east coast of the united states, 9:00 p.m. here, a doctor just back from west africa has tested positive for ebola. we're waiting any moment to hear

from top city and state officials, the doctor is craig spencer. that is him, a physician at columbia presbyterian hospital. tonight, he is in isolation, he retu returned ten days ago from guinea where he worked with doctors without border. he posted this picture on his facebook page before he left to guinea. he was rushed to the hospital after noticing symptoms. we're waiting from the new york governor and the mayor. we have a team of reporters and experts joining us as well. we'll also have a lot from on the ground here in ottawa. from yesterday's attacks and what we learned about the killer of a canadian corporal just behind me yesterday. i want to go first to poppy harlow, who is at bellevue hospital who joins me now with the latest. poppy, what do we know about when this doctor started to feel symptoms? >> we know that his initial symptoms described as feeling

sluggish, anderson, began a few days ago. but those severe symptoms of the 103 degree fever, the nausea, the pain, the fatigue didn't kick in until late this morning. he promptly, we're told, called the fdny and was transported with all the cautions necessary, with hazmat suits. to bellevue hospital, the hospital designated exactly for this type of situation. we're told he came here about 1:00 p.m., the test happening just shortly there after. we just learned as you noted he has tested positive for ebola. we're waiting for a press conference here to happen any moment now, both mayor bill de blasio of new york city, also governor andrew cuomo will be here to address the public. because this is the first case of ebola in new york city. also concerning to officials the fact, anderson, that he was out in public as recently as last night. we know that he took an uber cab to brooklyn, to williamsburg,

brooklyn to go bowling. it is not clear how late he was there. if he started to feel sick with the symptoms or when he got home last night. a lot of questions we'll ask as soon as they come here in just a matter of minutes. >> okay, if anybody doesn't know what uber, it is basically a web-based car service you can call up. poppy, in a lot of cities throughout the united states and throughout the world. let's zero in on the symptoms, he did not have a fever until today, but in earlier symptoms, he felt fatigued. >> yes, all we know, he felt well enough to go out and about, not feeling any different than somebody would feel a little under the weather. and then we're told late last night, we were not given the exact hour, that is when this all kicked in. 103-degree fever, et cetera. he called the fdny late in the

afternoon because he arrived here at 1:00 p.m. i want to note as elizabeth cohen reported, i think a lot of lessons were learned from what happened in dallas. what the mayor said was it really was a seamless sort of perfect transportation from where he was in his apartment which as miguel said was blocked off completely. you know, completely isolated, if you will, and taken here in the proper way. we're also told by the hospital that he likely never even entered the emergency room because they knew he could possibly have ebola. they would have taken him directly upstairs and to quarantine. we also know they quarantined his girlfriend. it looks like every possible step that should have been taken at least at this hour, what we're told is that it has been taken. >> all right, poppy, thank you very much. i just want to let our viewers know what you see in one corner of your screen that is exactly where the press conference is going to take place. we're obviously just monitoring that. and as soon as we see activities, and as soon as we

see the governor and mayor we'll bring you the press conference live. we want to give you as accurate and up to date information as possible. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has joined us. doctor, we discussed the degree of fever and is actually now what the cdc says is a concern. when somebody feels sluggish for several days but they don't have a fever, does that mean 100% they cannot spread the virus? >> i think people are reluctant to say 100%. let me see if i can explain this well. first of all, it is not a binary situation, not to say that when somebody develops symptoms they are now all of a sudden going to start to infect other people. what happens is, you start to develop symptoms because you have more virus that is sort of replicating in your body. as you get more virus replicating in your body, it

starts to get into your bodily fluids, which is when it can start to spread. as you get sicker you become more infectious. keep in mind, with the case of mr. duncan, here is the gentleman who ultimately caused the infection of two nurses in the hospital. but at the same time he had been at home with louise, someone you interviewed, anderson, people in the home. none of them got infected. he was sick at that time. had symptoms at that time. but was not sick as clearly as he was in the hospital. there was a gentleman named mr. sawyer who traveled from liberia to nigeria. he was on a plane, upon arriving in nigeria he was sick enough that he collapsed in the airport terminal. he subsequently died. and there were health care worker whose cared for him who became infected. but nobody on the plane ride where he apparently started to develop symptoms ever became sick. so as you get sicker, you become more infectious. it is not a binary situation

where all of a sudden you now have a fever therefore everybody is at risk. is it 100% safe? no, i don't think anybody can say that. but very low likelihood that he would have infected anybody during that initial period. >> and cnn medical analyst at fordham university is also joining us, doctor, i'm wondering what your questions are that you hope to hear from this press conference tonight. just in reality, let's get to the core of this, this is really just a matter of time before it -- before new york city and other major cities have a case of ebola, as long as this virus continues to spread. as long as this virus continues to go out of control in west africa. there is no way to completely stop it from coming to the united states. so at this point, what as a medical professional, would you want to know about this doctor and his condition? >> i think we would like to know when he was exposed, again, an

idea of how far into his infection he may be. we would like to know a huge amount of detail about his movements. i think the other part of this story, which in focusing on him, his symptoms, how likely he is to infect somebody in new york city, which i think as sanjay has explained is extremely low. we lose sight of the fact that had is a guy who is now facing a potentially fatal illness in hospital at this moment. and he like some of the other people infected, he says he had been in west africa doing the only thing that keeps us safe in new york. which is rolling back the virus as you say. in terms of press conference, people who were on to see symptoms and tracing, i think they would like to know why at the stage do we not have a procedure for quarantining people for 21 days and isolating them at home.

and my guess would be the best reason for that is it makes it terribly hard for these charities, particularly doctors without borders to do their work. but we would really like to hear more about that. >> and explain that. i think what you mean already the doctor like this man who is making a great sacrifice to volunteer his time, several months at a time to go to whether it is guinea or liberia or sierra leone, risk his life, yeah, risk his life, really. to then ask them and other aide workers to then give up an additional 21 days when they return that they're not working or earning their salary. that that may be one step too far or maybe cut down the health care workers or professionals who are willing to go and dedicate their time if they know upon returning they have to quarantine themselves for 21 days, is that the question you are lodging? >> if you think about it,

doctors without borders sent 300 nationals to work with the doctors without borders. you're talking about two work years with people lost, instead of staying at home. it would make life harder for anyone wanting to go and do it. the problem is that these organizations have a massive crisis. the other big impact of doctor spencer getting sick is that anyone who is thinking of volunteering to work in the epidemic for any charities doing this great work out there will think again. your mother, your father, your children will be asking you not to go. and that creates a huge human resources crisis. now, clearly the city is not going to speak to that tonight. but it would be interesting if they start to discuss the possibility of enforcing quarantine periods of saying you know, it is a voluntary quarantine, effectively, it may not be enforced but people could stay home for 21 days to check in, the way they do if they're being supervised.

at that point it would be nice to know what the system of hospitals, of international organizations would be doing to mitigate the devastating effects of that on the response in west africa. >> it is also -- i mean, i think you raised a good point. i want to reiterate it, there is a tendency because of the fear and general concern that people have about contracting this of pointing fingers at this doctor when we should continue to repeat and keep in mind this is a man who risked his own life to go overseas, try to save the lives of complete strangers. and by so doing really get to the heart of what it is that threatens the rest of the world without people going overseas, and you can say well, people should not do it. we should isolate ourselves as a country without people like this doctor going overseas and risking their own lives, this virus is never going to get under control without people more like him and they need more people like him.

not less. i want to bring in somebody with the experience of dealing with the h1n1 virus. and more about the symptoms, is it about the onset, what is your take on this? >> well, the investigation from a public health perspective is obviously going to follow where he and who he had contact with. but this obviously is going to have national implications. new york city is our major city. the white house now has this new ebola czar, whatever his exact title is. and there is going to have to be further education from the white house through public health and public safety entities about how to deal with the threat or you know with these cases that are going to arise. and now, just given the nature of travel, as sanjay said, just the nature of the volunteer of

the medical force that is going to africa. we should probably hear from the white house relatively soon given that it does now have an ebola czar. i understand them deferring to new york but whether there will be changes in protocols from the cdc or the airport level, those should come out soon, as well. people are looking to the white house to centralize and organize what at first seemed a very complicated and confused response. and i would suspect we hear from them tonight after this press conference. they will defer to the locals and then probably come out later on tonight. >> and dr. seema yasmin is joining us, now with the dallas unless. it is interesting, dr. yasmin, new york is one of the cities, there are talks of trying to basically funnel travellers from the infected countries, like liberia, sierra leone and guinea to five major airports, two of

which are in new york, i believe jfk and newark in new jersey, but often is one terminal into new york city. and try to funnel most of the people coming from those countries in west africa to those airports which can handle and have a higher level of sophisticatedion in screening for passengers coming from the hot zone. but obviously, if somebody is not showing symptoms when they arrive there is not much that can be done. >> that is the challenge, with infectious diseases. we face that challenge all the time, anderson. people may be asymptomatic when they come into the u.s., but because of the incubation period with ebola, they may not develop symptoms until they have been here for a while. let's go back to when they first issued a public health alert just a few days after that, anderson, new york city really stepped up and rallied around

and got together with many hospitals, the public health system steps up with a plan of action. it seems today we're seeing that plan come into action and seeing this fantastic chain of communication. this system where the patient talked to the doctors without borders who talked to the department of health. they talked to ems, and things seem to have gone as planned, very unlike what we saw here in dallas. >> you know, dr. sanjay gupta is also joining us on the phone. you know, sanjay, it is interesting, we keep talking about this 21-day incubation period as if that is a complete hard and fast rule. you and i talked about this i think two weeks ago. a recent study that was done, analyzing all the latest, all the updated information, not just from outbreaks back in the '70s when the 21-day period, that was actually formulated. but a more recent study has been done that showed and correct me if i'm wrong here, but as many as 12% of people who end up

being positive with ebola do not show any signs of it within 21 days. that as many as 21% of people show it after the 21-day period. it is interesting that authorities are still publicly using the 21-day figure as if it is set in stone. >> yeah, these are not exact -- numbers, obviously. i looked at that study, it came out of the university, that looked at the 12% number. the problem is that when you start talking about trying to assign exact numbers here, is -- remember there have not been that many people who have had ebola. so you know you're looking at specific -- trying to draw absolute numbers here, based on very little data. so what the cdc has done, along with the world health organization is try to come up with the best sort of estimates. you know? what you find is the vast

majority of people who will get sick get sick within eight to 12 days. it is not a hard and fast rule, people may be told look if you develop a temperature after 21 days, if anybody develops a temperature they should get it checked out. but it is a pretty wide net when they say, will it be a pretty wide net, the people who seem to get sick, get sick within that first time period. >> and you're seeing the room where the press conference well take place, we're anticipating that any moment, governor and andrew cuomo, it is not clear if there will be other health officials with them, as well. we'll carry that press conference live. and if you are just joining us, this is the first case of ebola inside new york city or in the city of new york.

a doctor, dr. spencer who returned ten days ago or so from guinea, has tested positive. as elizabeth cohen reported, these tests are very accurate. he is in isolation, we're not sure how he is being treated. obviously, it seems that as soon as his fever reached a certain point, he alerted authorities. he was brought to bellevue so the hope is that it was caught as early as they possibly could have caught it and will be treated accordingly. the cases we've seen for people who tested positive for ebola in the united states when it is caught early. they clearly have the best results. we've seen it with the two nurses who tested positive in dallas. we've seen it with the freelance cameraman at nbc, and analysts and observers are standing by not only the react to the press conference but just to try to get it and put it in as much

context as possible. this is a case of a health care worker working in africa in new york city. and the doctor is also still with us. doctor, i just want to reiterate for people in new york city, on the subways tomorrow, this will be on the front pages in new york. the risk to people is miniscule, really non-existent, really health care workers among people who are acutely sick who tested positive. >> yes, that is absolutely right, anderson, from the early stages, dr. spencer is well enough to go bowling. that is not someone who is on the ground, stricken with terrible symptoms. sanjay said it is a gray area where you don't immediately become symptomatic when you have

a temperature. but the level of bodily fluids gradually rise. so what we know, people who are exposed to bodily fluids have a much higher level of virus, many, many times higher than he would have had when he was out. personally, i live probably about five blocks from him. i will be going home tonight without a fear, i would go and have a drink at the local bar without any worries. i would go bowling at the bowling alley. i think the risk of having contact with him will be very small? if you live in new york and feel worried, don't worry about the cases in new york, worry about the cases in west africa. but if you're a public health official in west africa you should be up all night. they should be worried about this and lock down every single aspect of this and be extremely transparent. that was the other thing we saw in dallas, this lack of transparency, we still don't have a full account of everything that happened in

dallas. and that is so important, because as we see now, we need to learn from their mistakes and make sure we have a clear accounting. so learn from the next cases, one thing we can be certain of, a study was published a few days ago predicting between three and eight patients per month will leave west africa with ebola and will be traveling to major western cities. so we know it will happen again. i want to read you something i just received from one of our producers. it is labelled as urgent. the new york city office of emergency management is expected to activate the emergency operation center in brooklyn. a law enforcement official is telling cnn, the official says the immediate focus is to track down anyone who may have come into contact with dr. craig spencer. they're activating the emergency operation center in brooklyn and will try to contact anyone who may have come in contact with dr. spencer.

investigators are taking it seriously. it appears he did not self-quarantine. the same concern, the official said he took an uber car to a bowling alley, the doctor's girlfriend is in isolation. the official is telling cnn. so doctor, when we hear the girlfriend is in isolation, does that mean isolation in a hospital, her apartment, that is not a quarantine, isolation is different, is that something -- officials may stop by once a day or twice a day to take her temperature and she is just staying at home? >> what we know about asking people to self-quarantine, to isolate themselves in epidemics, unless they cooperate it is very, very hard to enforce, especially if we talk about large numbers of people. we see this in the epidemic in toronto, i expect what they have asked her to do is stay at home. what we hope is they will make life easy to stay at home. it is new york, you can order

food on the internet, get stuff pretty easily. nevertheless you want to make sure somebody is there to help with laundry, cleaning, any needs she might have to make sure she can comfortably stay at home. that is the best way of getting people to comply. my personal view it would be appropriate for her to stay in her apartment. we want to make sure, now we know that the apartment had somebody in it, it needs to be cleaned. maybe if she goes somewhere temporarily, the apartment needs to be cleaned. >> elizabeth cohen is also with us. elizabeth, you reported in west africa in the hot zone, i believe you were in liberia if memory serves me correctly. when you came back was there any expectation you would isolate yourself for 21 days? i mean, obviously you did not come in direct contact with anyone you knew who had ebola. you were just there reporting. but there is no one -- when you come into the airport no one says to you, okay, now you have to go for 21 days and isolate

yourself? >> oh, absolutely not, anderson, when i got back september 27th, i was not told anyone. i talked about that a lot on television. now they do tell them you need to monitor yourself and report your temperature. so it is a much different system than a month ago. you know, as you said, i didn't take care of anyone with ebola. i was not exposed to anyone's bodily fluids. i think what happened here will raise questions when health care workers return to the united states from west africa. is there possibly a sort of a higher level of monitoring that they need to be doing than somebody like myself who was not exposed to anyone? should we have sort of a different expectation for what they need to do. i think that is a legitimate question to ask. >> particularly if you -- i mean, if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend or have kids, if you're married or have a family around you and you are returning that is obviously something that obviously a health care worker,

a doctor would know very much about. and would no doubt at least be a consideratio consideration. >> that is right, we know that if there is contact with bodily flu fluids, let say if his girlfriend was helping him, it can be spread sexually through bodily fluids, that is another thing to think about. again, i know all of us were saying thch saying. if i headed to new york and were going by his house, i wouldn't be concerned. if i were his girlfriend and ate off his plate as i often do with my friends, i would be concerned. there is a completely different level of people who need to be concerned and who doesn't. >> you eat off your friends' plates? >> i do, i do. >> what kind of companion are

you, elizabeth? >> we'll have to go out and have dinner sometime, anderson. >> all right, okay. i got enough problems eating. sanjay, you know, it is one of those considerations. i mean, if one has a family obviously you don't want to do anything to endanger them. this doctor clearly felt -- i'm assuming he felt he was not in any way endangering his girlfriend or anyone else he would have been in contact with. and it is a tough thing to expect people to just because they have been in west africa to isolate themselves for 21 days when they return. >> yeah, i mean, i agree with elizabeth. this may prompt a review of exactly what is the strategy and protocol for people coming out of west africa. again, we're not talking about travel bans or anything like that here. we're talking about the fact that somebody may exclude themselves from the general population for a certain time after they get back. >> do you think --

>> well, i'm not sure we're there yet. i think -- keep in mind. so just take the case of mr. duncan, for example. this is -- i bring this up because he is obviously somebody who everyone has heard about and his story. he was at this apartment with his girlfriend or his -- i'm not sure if it was his fiancee, louise, other family members. what we know even at a time when it sounds like he was sick, he went to the hospital initially with symptoms, was sent home, apparently was sick at the apartment for at least a couple of days. they did not get sick. now, should we assume it is safe to put somebody in quarantine when they come back from west africa having had contact with patients. should doctors or health care teams be treated differently

because they have been taking care of patients with ebola and have had a lot of contact with patients with ebola? it becomes a question of really trying to figure out how much risk you think there is. how much risk you think the person has been in, who has been in west africa. and then trying to develop a strategy based on that. you know, there have been doctors without borders coming back to the united states again for a long time, having taken care of patients with ebola. what we're talking about is the first doctor without borders who has come back and subsequently tested positive. this never happened before. so result of this first patient, how much do we change strategies and protocols? you know, i don't know. i'm not sure. the term abundance of caution gets thrown around a lot. and i fully understand that. somebody who was in west africa myself. i have a life, i have three kids just like elizabeth, when i came

back from the specific protocol given to me, perhaps there should be. maybe there should be an abundance of caution and it eased back in the future. we may be headed back in that direction. >> and it is very possible we may never know exactly how this doctor came in direct contact with his skin to ebola, as with nancy writebol, for example, the american missionary who tested positive for ebola. when i interviewed her, she still to this day doesn't even know how she contracted ebola, she dealt with the families of the patients. and we keep seeing some activity, but we want to bring it to you live. we do want to bring you up to date on the other breaking story out of new york tonight. the hatchet attack taking place earlier today, sending two police officers to the hospital. one with critical injuries. the would-be killer is dead.

take a look, you see the hatchet. we should probably lower it. take it off the bottom of the screen, attention is turning to whether this man is actually motivated by radical islam. authorities focusing on items on his facebook page and a youtube video. as we look again at this video, cnn's jim sciutto joins us. jim, it is incredible with this video at a strange angle. you see him raising up the hatchet to directly attack these police officers, jim. >> you get a sense of just how brazen this attack was, 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon. broad daylight on a queens street. just outside, you know, inside new york city. we're getting more details now. we have the identity now anderson of the attacker, he is zale thompson, 32 years old with a criminal record in california. he was discharged from the navy for misconduct. as you mentioned what is truly

concerning police are his social media postings, facebook, youtube, et cetera, raising suspicions that this random attack you see in the surveillance video right there it tied to recent calls by radical groups including isis for random attacks like this on law enforcement. the circumstances of the attack also just so brazen. you have four nypd police officers, they had paused to take a photograph with a member of the public who police do not believe is connected in any way to this attack. and that is when this man who police believe was stalking possibly the police officers. when you see him come out of the upper right-hand corner of the video. witnesses say it appears he was hiding behind a bus stop to conceal himself. and when he saw his opportunity he ran up and attacked the police officers. one of him injured in his apartment, raised the arm to protect himself. the other, unfortunately, anderson, hit in the back of the head with the hatchet.

and you can see it on the ground there, sizeable. he is in critical condition in the hospital. >> and you know for those who have not visited new york, the new york city police officers are very accessible. even in times square you see people asking to have photos taken with the police, pay their respects. so obviously, there is a very disturbing development, our thoughts and prayers are with both of those officers injured in the attack and their families. jim, stay with us on this. i want to bring in cnn national security analyst juliette caim, former homeland security secretary. first of all, what do you make of this attack? if it is confirmed this guy had ties to radical islam or was just motivated through his social media postings. you have two attacks in canada this week and now this.

>> well, look, anderson, this was the first time i saw this video, and the words my god came out of my mouth. i don't get easily spooked. we know the call came out by isis and others for these random attacks of violence. they matter to isis. it shows that they have support and it amplifies their message. and so if there is a relationship even between -- if he is a lone wolf between what he was reading and how he got radicalized and how he went out and attacked armed and uniformed officers, which was what the various messages from isis messages have said. then you said the person has become radicalized. it doesn't matter if he was abroad getting trained or not, the power of the organizations to radicalize those who have never met them and gone abroad even, is the sort of new terrain

of counterterrorism. it is almost impossible to stop. as we've seen. if this is linked, this is the third incident in a western country in three days or four days. >> and i mean, i think this bears repeating, i'm not saying it to make people afraid. i think it should just make people vigilant. this will happen again, this is not something that can be stopped. you can have an individual with a hatchet or gun or knife or any object whatsoever. and other people are going to try this, whether it is again police or civilians on the street. i mean, this is just the age we live in. and one has to be aware of it. and continue to move forward. >> right, we have to remember we have never lived in a perfectly safe society even before 9/11. this is obviously a threat,

there are border controls to try to curb the threat, a lot of intelligence sharing and viewing of social media. but it doesn't take much for someone to sit in their room, to think that they are part of something bigger. and then to get a hatchet or machete or whatever he is carrying and then to attack. and the good news -- i guess we have to look at the good news at this stage and in the world, that these attacks, while violent are not existential, that there are not 3,000 people dying at the world trade center. that these are unplanned, random, and therefore sort of minimal in their impact, even though they are quite d disconcerts. >> disconcerting. >> and jim, once people are aware of this kind of threat

they rise to the occasion. we now see airline passengers subdue other people causing problems on flight. we see people paying attention on the street in ways they have not. seeing and saying something to law enforcement. so if there is any good that can come out of any of these incidents, it is sort of the situational awareness, not fear, but the situational awareness of people, and their willingness to stop this. >> there is a whole infrastructure in place that followed. and law enforcement, working together with themselves and also countries like canada included to watch the borders more closely, et cetera. much more vigilant today than we were 13 years ago. you saw that immediately. right after this attack, the bulletin was issued to police in new york warning them to have based on the bulletin, the heightened level of awareness against random attacks. in that warning you see how

difficult, that is to follow, heightened sense of awareness to random attacks, so by its nature it doesn't have any warning. and that in many ways, intelligence officials talk a lot about this, anderson, with al qaeda diminished as it is. so those grand 9/11-like ambitious attacks, less likely today. but it is also more diverse and dispersed, so many groups who are capable of attacks that require much less planning. a guy with a hatchet, attacking police officers. in canada, a guy with a car driving into a canadian soldier or on wednesday a guy with a gun. so on the good side, less chance of ambitious attacks, on the bad side with a more diverse threat, perhaps a greater threat of smaller scale attacks. >> and really we're about a minute away or less than a minute away from this press conference. so we'll bring it back to that. but also i want to point out one of the signs of resilience and

strength here in ottawa. right behind me is the war memorial where corporal cirillo, others coming to pay their respects to the sergeant. and once again, the sergeant-at-arms who shot the killer dead yesterday. he was back on duty in the middle of a standing ovation. so we saw legislators back at work, parliament open again, the democracy continuing in this country. this country, certainly perhaps more aware than they have ever been before of the threats that they face and that we all face. but certainly not living in fear, continuing to stand up tall and stand up proud in this city and all throughout the great country of canada. again, we are just seconds away now from new york's governor cuomo, new york mayor bill de blasio. and juliette kayyem, we just

heard that the center in brooklyn was being set up to track down other people this doctor may have had contact with. you have been involved in the operation centers. how does it actually work? what does it mean, and i may interrupt you if the speech starts. >> okay, that is fine, when the emergency center gets open, you will have a commander who is essentially taking in information and sharing it among jurisdictions as well as disciplines. the interesting thing about ebola as we switch gears now into this threat of course it is cutting across the public health community. but every community is in contact with the doctor. and so now this is a challenge of information and intelligence-sharing. so the emergency operation center acts as a hub for all of that information, and then also deploying resources. so let's say we heard you know this bowling alley that the doctor went to. now there will be deployed

resources to the bowling alley to figure out where he was, how was he feeling, talk to people at the bowling alley. that is how the investigations unfold. the emergency operations often unfold during a big event like the fourth of july as a way to just sort of centralize what are very disperse investigations across geography and disciplines and of course across time because he has been out and about in the last couple of days. >> and dr. craig spencer is the name of the doctor who has now tested positive for ebola. so the operation center like this is staffed what, from representati representatives, from multiple agencies, from police, and health officials and others? >> right, that is exactly right. actually it is quite physically interesting. because there will be signs. and so there will be this sort of medical unit. and there will be people from the state, the city and county and public and private

hospitals. you will have people from law enforcement, from emergency management depending on the threat. it will be people from the national guard. i assume that this is an all hands on deck so that everyone will deploy people to the emergency operation center. and then those people in the center are communicating with their different agencies. it just sort of is a well-honed way over 40 or 50 years of figuring out emergency management that people have lur learned to communicate. so by opening it up, the city is essentially signifying that we're treating it like any other emergencies, a hurricane ha, an attack, whatever it might be. we'll use the same resources that we do in any other emergency. clearly, i should say public health is part of this center. i mean, they're sort of the subject matter experts. but it is a signal that they're taking this investigation seriously as they should. >> and juliette, who is it that

is actually going out in the field and taking the picture there and showing the doctor's picture around going through his neighborhood. are they health care workers, officials from the health department or again, multi-agencies? >> it is multi-agency, i think anywhere that is viewed as hot, i don't want to sound like a doctor here, any place we might be nerves that others would be exposed would be the public health and medical professionals in the kind of gear. let's hope that the cdc has sort of warned health officials. but you know there is -- he has been out and about. and so figuring out where he has been is a matter of sort of emergency managers, police officers, whoever else might be able to give clues. those pieces of information are then centralized at this emergency operation center. there is computer networks that do this. and so that the entire apparatus, including the mayor and governor, who are ultimately

responsible for this can have realtime information. so this is a familiar routine for those in public safety, public health and first responders. and i should say, it is a way to protect our first responders. i mean, as sanjay and others on the panel have been saying look who is getting ebola, essentially. we need to protect the first responders. we cannot deploy them without the kind of protection that they need. they are our first line of defense and they are getting sick and we need to protect them. so this is a way of making sure we don't send people out who are not protected from a threat that -- from ebola. >> and again, we are waiting for a press conference with the governor and mayor. we had a two-minute warning probably about ten minutes ago. so so much for our sense of time in new york city. but we will bring that to you live. sanjay, how much do you think officials in new york have learned from what went on in

dallas? >> i think they have learned a lot. certainly, i think everyone has learned quite a bit about you know, the situation in dallas and how to not let that happen in their own hospitals. i think what is interesting, anderson, i don't think there was anything particularly novel that was learned here. i think much of what has been done with regard to treating ebola, even in really tough spots, in a remote forested areas in africa, we've known this for a long time. part of it is that some of that basic knowledge was not applied in dallas. was that over-confidence? who knows, but i think that some of those mistakes, i think hopefully will not be repeated. i mean, i think this is sort of a wake-up call from everything from how quickly it sounds like mr. spencer was -- quickly arrived at the hospital. how quickly he was isolated. that will bode well for him. we can't forget obviously this is a potentially life-threatening infection. but also it bodes well for

people around him. and now the whole contact-tracing part. it is a really fascinating sort of process. in addition to trying to find all the people he may have come in contact with they go and ask those people as well. look, we know you were in contact with him. can you think of anybody else that he may have come in contact with. so it is sort of a two-way conversation. you know, they're alerting the person that look, you are now a contact but also trying to glean information from those people as well. that is what is happening right now. we have been saying -- everybody has been saying on the panel tonight, the risk, any of those people, extraordinarily low. and i just think that is so important to keep reinforcing. i know you have, anderson, but nevertheless it is an important process to go through to let those people know that dr. spencer indeed had tested positive with. and who they had contact with. and more importantly they feel if the risk of an infection is

high at all. >> sanjay, we paid so much attention to the situation in liberia. guinea, in the last month or so has not gotten a lot of attention. you were actually there early on in the outbreak, guinea is where dr. spencer was serving with doctors without borders. tell me about the situation from the time you were there. it really felt like it was before this had reached a point that it was completely out of control. it felt like when you were there. doctors felt like they were kind of -- that there was light at the end of the tunnel. >> i was really surprised by that. now. even more so in retrospect, anderson. when we were there in the middle of april, and even at that time talking to some of the sources. when we were looking at the outbreak that this was going to be over soon, the only

organization again that was sort of really starting to sound the alarm. i think when they first heard the news, i can't remember late april, early may, they said it was starting to spiral out of control. i remember even some of the other large health organizations around the world treated that with a little bit of disdain. is this really spiraling out of control, is this fear-mongering, as it turns out the doctors without borders were correct in their assessment and a lot of other people missed the boat. and there is mayor bill de blasio, and governor cuomo, with the press conference. let's listen in.

>> good evening, before i offer remarks i just want to note we are joined by governor andrew cuomo. by health commissioner mary basset of the city of new york, the president of the health and hospitals corporation of new york city. and on the phone, dr. tom frieden, the director of the centers for disease control and prevention. dr. friedlanden will address this after the remarks by the rest of us. 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 there is no reason for new yorkers to be alarmed. ebola is an extremely hard disease to contract. it is transmitted only through contact with an infected

person's blood or other bodily fluids. not through casual contact. new yorkers who have not been exposed to an infected person's bodily fluids are not at all at risk. we want to stress that new york city as the world's strongest public health system, the world's leading experts and the world's most advanced equipment. we have clear and strong protocols which are being carefully followed and were followed in this instance. and bellevue hospital is especially designed for isolation, identification and treatment of ebola patients. every hospital in the city is prepared in the event that other patients come forward. the patient in question is a doctor who treated patients in west africa. and when his symptoms emerged he was taken to bellevue by specially trained emergency medical service workers who

followed all transport protocols. the patient is now in isolation. the health department has a team of disease detectives who have been at work traces all of the we are prepared to quarantine contacts as necessary. there's reports about the patient's movements and these are at work putting together the pieces of the time line but we emphasize again ebola is very difficult to contract being on the same subway car or living near a person with ebola does not in itself put someone at risk. we are working very closely with our state and federal partners to ensure that we protect the health of all new yorkers. people should rest assured that the extraordinary medical professionals of this city and this state are working to ensure that every protection is in place.

a moment of commentary in spanish before i turn to governor cuomo. [ speaking a foreign language ] [ speaking a foreign language ] >> with that i want to welcome comments by governor cuomo who's remained in close communication with us here in the city over the last weeks. his team has been extraordinary in their preparation at coordination with us. welcome, governor cuomo. >> thank you, thank you, mayor. as the mayor said, the past few

weeks we've been preparing for just this circumstance. we were hoping that it didn't happen, but we were also realistic. this is new york. people come to new york. they come to new york's ashts. so we can't say that this is an unexpected circumstance. the -- we have had a full coordinated effort that has been working literally night and day coordinating city, 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. what happened in dallas was actually the exact opposite. dall dallas, unfortunately, was caught before they could really

prepare, before they really knew what they were dealing with in dallas, and we had the advantage of learning from the dallas experience, just the other day, they have been long days but i believe it was yesterday we had 5,000 health workers in the javits situation drilled on just this situation and we also had a fortunate circumstance here that the affected person was a doctor, person, a 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. ebola is not an aarirborne illness. it is 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 our new ebola czar who president obama appointed, ron klain, they were immediate in sending cdc teams, sill very weather behrwell from the federal homeland security off e office, has been fully coordinated. they reviewed everything 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 when you watch it on the news and it was about dallas, it was frightening. that it's here in new york, it's more frighten. new york is a dense place. a lot of people on top of each other but the more facts you know, the less frightening the situation is. we already acted 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 the way we are handling the situation. obviously we wish the best for the doctor, and we hope for a recovery for the doctor but from the public health point of view,

i feel confident that we're doing everything that we should be doing and we have the situation under control. and i want to applaud the mayor and the mayor's team. also a personal point of privilege thank my team for the good work. this has been weeks and weeks of preparation and getting a lot of agencies to work together but the proof was in the putting, and today it worked well. so congratulations to them. >> thank you very much, governor. now, i would like to turn to our new york city health commissioner dr. mary bassett in charge of all the preparations in the city particularly working closely with bellevue as the lead institution that we have designated for handling these cases. dr. bassett. >> thank you, mr. mayor and good evening, everyone. as you all know for the last couple of months now we've been working closely with our city hospital assistant, with our state partners and our federal partners to prepare 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, but i want to share with you what we know at this time. 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 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. during -- 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. he -- we are aware that he went on a three-mile jog, a sign that he was feeling quite well and he also took the subway system. we know that he's ridden on the "a" train, the number one train, the "l" 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 that he has been in close contact with his fiancee and with two friends, both -- 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 rick. on -- today, he -- when he