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CNN Live Event/Special
Anthrax: Anthrax Scare Affecting American Citizens
Aired October 16, 2001 - 05:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You know with all of these stories coming out these days about anthrax, are you doing things differently, you know? How much of an impact has it really, really had on people?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: OK, you and I went upstairs together yesterday, we checked our mailboxes.
HARRIS: That's right.
PHILLIPS: I thought about it as I looked at my mail but I...
HARRIS: You did?
PHILLIPS: ...I didn't really panic. What about you?
HARRIS: I didn't even think about it.
PHILLIPS: Well, Jeanne Moos found a different story. This is what Americans are saying to her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If only there were a suit that could shield us from all the scary news. Remember when opening the mail was mindless? These days you need instructions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be cautious about packages marked personal or confidential.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, MAYOR OF NEW YORK: Leave it where it is, call 911.
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MOOS: And folks have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the envelope, white powder came out of the envelope. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 10-4.
MOOS: Bomb scares have given way to anthrax anxiety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I just went to the bank and took a deposit envelope and thought about the possibility that somebody had tampered with it.
MOOS: "New York Times" columnist Maureen Dowd calls it the "paranoia of trivia," worrying about mortal threats in everyday actions. For instance, driving through a tunnel...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like today, we took the ferry so we wouldn't go through the tunnel.
MOOS: ... or riding the subway.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm really bad because the other day this guy was on a train and he was, I don't know, like Arab, whatever, and I got off at the next stop. I was scared because, you know, I'm paranoid.
MOOS: But is it paranoia when a visitor to New York cancels plans to go to the top of the Empire State Building.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to call my mom to say I'm going to the top of the Empire State Building and then I'm an obituary in the newspaper the next day so.
MOOS (on camera): Wow. Gees, that's (INAUDIBLE)...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry to be such a chicken.
MOOS: No, no, that's all right.
(voice-over): Still, most of the folks we talked to say they're not doing anything differently despite the climate of fear.
(on camera): Nothing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing. I lived through...
MOOS: What is your...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... World War II, this means nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is New York, I mean what else are we going to do? We're going to what, buckle down to them, absolutely not, no way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know what, I'm actually more scared when I'm at home, when I'm at home sitting in front of the TV and I can't turn the TV off. I actually stopped watching TV right before I went to bed because I think that's what made me have the nightmares.
MOORS (voice-over): Some say the media inflate fears with wall- to-wall coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know it was Gary Condit before. OK, now they don't have Gary Condit, they have the anthrax.
MOOS: Apprehensive about anthrax, this woman was trying not to touch the flyer she'd just been handed on the street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said don't take it, it might have -- it might be laced with something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So both of us like, oh...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm like don't touch it.
MOOS: Not long ago we were preoccupied with e-mail viruses, never dreaming real bacteria would soon be in the mail.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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