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American Morning
Anthrax Investigation: Brentwood Facility in Washington Shut Down and Being Called a Crime Scene
Aired October 24, 2001 - 10:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We have CNN reporters posted along the many point of this story this morning. We begin with Jeanne Meserve at the Brentwood mail processing center in Washington.
Jeanne, hello to you, and good morning.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.
This is the facility that processes all the mail for the city of Washington, including the Capitol and the White House. It's been shut down since Sunday, and now it is being called a crime scene, because the number of individuals associated with that facility who are suspected of having anthrax continues to grow.
Here are the numbers of those associated with this facility. Two postal workers have died, their deaths confirmed cases of inhalation anthrax. Two postal workers have been hospitalized in Virginia with confirmed cases of inhalation anthrax, and here is where we see the change. Six are now hospitalized in the state of Maryland, suspected of having inhalation anthrax. There were two at Holy Cross Hospital in suburban Maryland. Overnight, that number went up to five. These people checked in with flu-like symptoms and respiratory problems.
Today, their condition is described as stable. All their vital signs are good. In addition, one 60-year-old man checked in yesterday to Greater Baltimore Medical Center. All of these individuals now being treated with antibiotics.
The postmaster general was asked this morning if the situation was such that it warranted shutting down the postal system, and here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN POTTER, POSTMASTER GENERAL: Right now, the risk we have very defined incidents in four locations around the country. I don't believe that there is a need to shut down the Postal Service. You know, life is filled with risk, and you could you die crossing a street, you could you die driving a car, and that's not to minimize what's going on here, because we did lose two of our own, but it's to suggest that you just don't shut the Postal Service down. You know, if you think about it, how would you ever start it up?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: The postmaster general says that starting today, masks will be distributed to some postal workers and he said they are working feverishly to set up a better reporting system so that when a hospital has a suspected case of anthrax, they find out quickly if it is a postal worker, and the postal system finds out, too, so it can take appropriate steps.
In the longer term, the postmaster general says they are purchasing irradiation equipment. This would sanitize the mail. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said they will handle these cases differently in the future. If there are future cases, there will be immediate environmental tests, and workers will immediately be put on antibiotics.
All right, Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Jeanne, thank you. We will be back in touch later this morning. Now we will backtrack further, the routing of the anthrax-laced letters.
CNN's Michael Okwu live again this morning in Trenton, New Jersey. Three letters were postmarked there in Trenton.
Michael, hello to you.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.
You know, the U.S. Postal Service here and health officials in New Jersey are asking people who dropped off business bulk mail here at this Hamilton Township processing center as well as the post office in nearby Ewing Township, New Jersey to begin a 10-day course of antibiotics immediately. Now they make the point quite emphatically that are these areas that were only within the work areas of the building, and that the general public, who walk in to buy stamps and to mail letters in the general area did not enter any areas that might have been contaminated with anthrax spores.
Now, as you know, New Jersey state officials here, health officials, believe that a woman, a middle-aged woman, who is a mail sorter at this particular facility , has come down with inhalation anthrax. She is presently in serious, but stable condition, undergoing a battery of antibiotics, and they say that she is holding her own.
So between this particular facility and the nearby Ewing Township facility, which is just 15 miles from here, there are now two cases of cutaneous anthrax, one possible case of cutaneous anthrax, and this woman, an inhalation case, makes a total of four cases of postal workers here in New Jersey.
Now, for the time being, the mail is being sorted inside tents, outside the building. That's because there are at least two contaminated hot zones. These are particular hot zones that cover some 8,500 square feet. This is what postal officials had to say last night. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VITO CETTA, POSTAL SERVICE DISTRICT MGR.: Tonight, we're urging all postal employees from the Trenton mail processing facility, which includes the carrier annex, the vehicle maintenance facility, to visit the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital immediately for medical evaluation and to obtain 10-day preventative prescription antibiotic treatment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OKWU: Now you are looking at live pictures of a flag at half staff. This is obviously a tribute to those postal workers who lost their lives in our nation's capitol. In the meantime, the FBI is awaiting the test results of three mailboxes that were seized along the route of a female mail carrier, who tested positive for cutaneous anthrax. All of this as the FBI's investigation widens beyond the general Trenton area -- Bill.
HEMMER: Michael, in order to get back it speed, a hundred percent of that facility behind you, certain things are going to have to be cleaned. Can you give us a sense of how the cleaning goes, how they do it, how successful they might be at it.
OKWU: Well, it's now been going on for several days now, at least since Thursday night.
There is no indication of now much they have cleaned at this point. We do know that there are hundreds and possibly thousands of letters still inside this facility that may be contaminated as a result of coming into contact with some of the machines that first processed these three letters that we know were contaminated and addressed to NBC, "The New York Post," and of course the Senate majority leader Tom Daschle. Very slow going. At this point, they are still conducting some environmental tests. They want to be sure they tested all of the areas before they can obviously do all of the cleaning that needs to be done -- Bill.
HEMMER: Michael, quickly, there is talk of burning some mail on Capitol Hill. Is there talk about doing the same thing there?
OKWU: We have not heard anything about burning mail here at all, Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Michael. Michael Okwu, there live in Trenton, New Jersey. Michael, thank you.
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