CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Ebola Outbreak

Interview

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Officials here in New York are trying to tamp down public concerns after learning that that the first case of Ebola popped up in the city. Dr. Craig Spencer is in a hospital in isolation today. He returned last week from the West African nation of Guinea where he had been treating Ebola patients.

My next guest believes there should be a travel ban from those countries hardest hit by Ebola. Maryland Congressman Andy Harris is a medical doctor and he's a member of the Republican Doctors Caucus. Welcome, sir.

REP. ANDY HARRIS (R), MARYLAND: Good to be with you this morning.

COSTELLO: It's nice to have you here. Thanks so much.

A travel ban, though, would it be enough? Because most flights from West Africa have connecting flights that would be difficult to ban from flying into the United States. Are you really talking about visa restrictions?

HARRIS: Well, at the hearing last week, Customs and Border Protection made it clear that they could know who flying on the connecting flights originated in one of the three countries and a travel ban could be in effect. We would probably capture 90 percent to 95 percent of people attempting to enter the United States, even if they come through Europe.

COSTELLO: So you're talking about visa restrictions, ultimately.

HARRIS: That's right. Of course, if it was an American citizen returning, then I think what we need to do is we need to have supervised quarantine and I think the doctor in New York, I think that case proves that. He obviously came in without a fever but he was a carrier and thank goodness it seems that it was caught in time without a large threat of infecting other people. But there are other people who enter this country who might not be as diligent about taking their temperature or reporting back to authorities.

COSTELLO: In your mind, what should this doctor have done when he returned from West Africa?

HARRIS: I think our best policy really should be supervised quarantine for people returning. And we could build the quarantine facilities; they wouldn't have to be harsh facilities. But in return for being allowed to come back into the country from a place where a deadly disease is endemic, you'd have to enter a quarantine facility and be supervised for 21 days.

COSTELLO: I know it's hard to talk -- I don't know what the proper term is -- it's hard to talk logically about Ebola because it's such a scary virus. But I just want to lay this by you. A group of infectious disease specialists conducted a study and found less than three infected travelers would get on a plane and less than one would actually come into the United States. If that's true, wouldn't a travel ban just make a marginal difference?

HARRIS: Look, Mr. Duncan and this doctor both would have been caught up in a travel ban. We would have gotten them. Both of them entered the country, neither of them febrile when they entered the country, and it just indicates -- I don't care what the study says -- two patients have come in, with our current systems in place, and have entered the country as carriers of Ebola. And it is a scary virus. We should do everything we can to make sure we contain it to a smaller (sic) number of people as possible.

COSTELLO: And of course, as you well know, the government did put new restrictions into place. All travelers from West Africa have to come into five airports. There is enhanced screening. Those people are supposedly monitored for 21 days. So is that effective at all in your mind?

HARRIS: You know, it's -- look, it's self-monitoring. Again, if you're diligent like this doctor was, then self-monitoring might work, but the vast majority of people who are coming in are probably not going to be as diligent. They may mistake their temperature. They may go 12, 24, 36 hours being infectious, not knowing that they're infectious, if they ultimately do self-report and turn themselves in before they're very sick like Mr. Duncan was.

COSTELLO: I understand. And, you know, we always like to be responsible in our coverage of Ebola and you're a doctor. If you were in New York City, would you ride the subway today?

HARRIS: Oh, I would ride the subway today. But I'd also wish that the government would take further steps to make sure it doesn't happen again.

COSTELLO: All right, Congressman Andy Harris, thank you so much for being with me. I appreciate it.

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