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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview With Tom Day, U.S. Postal Service

Aired January 15, 2003 - 06:32   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to the anthrax scare in Washington now, where testing results are due back this morning after traces of the bacteria were found on a letter.
CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us from the U.S. post office headquarters in Washington.

What's the latest from there?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, what we're expecting are some results later on this morning, perhaps around 11:00, of this postal service on V Street in Washington, D.C. that was shut down last night. That's because of a preliminary test result that came back actually from the Federal Reserve, which has a second layer of security, a second level of testing, that it performs after the postal service irradiates mail.

Now, with us this morning is Tom Day, who is the vice president of engineering with the postal service.

Tell us about the test, anything that you found specific at this point.

TOM DAY, V.P. OF ENGINEERING, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: We don't have any results back yet. We did complete all of the sampling during the course of the night. We took about 35 samples -- actually 36 samples during the course of the night, and it's very specific targeted sampling. We went to all of the places in our facility, where this mail that goes to the Federal Reserve would have been processed.

KOCH: Now, the Federal Reserve conducts these tests in trailers near the Federal Reserve. They're not postal facilities. Are those being tested as well?

DAY: The mail inside of those trailers has been tested as part of their routine testing. They found some preliminary results from what's called PCR, which is a very basic test. And then, they followed up with a lab test. A series of those cultures were done, and they got one positive out of that. So, they've done continuing testing on that mail.

KOCH: What are you telling right now people who come to work at that facility on V Street? Obviously, the Brentwood facility, where the original anthrax letters came through in October, 2001, that is still shut down.

DAY: Right. Well, one of the things we did is we shut down our operation last night. We needed to send crews in there to take the samples, and so we didn't want our employees there when that was going on with all that had to be done with that. So, we've closed the facility, and we'll keep it closed until we get the results back later this morning.

This is a purely precautionary test, and we do anticipate later this morning that all of those samples will come back. We believe they're going to be negative, and when they are, then we'll reopen the facility.

KOCH: Tom Day, U.S. Postal Service, thank you very much.

And again, Carol, that is the hope, that is the expectation. The Federal Reserve has had other false positives before in the past. They're testing for anything, whether it be for bombs in suitcases that go on planes or for anthrax-laced letters. There are these false positives that happen from time to time. So, really no need for anyone to get overly concerned at this point.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: OK, Kathleen Koch reporting live from Washington, D.C. this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired January 15, 2003 - 06:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to the anthrax scare in Washington now, where testing results are due back this morning after traces of the bacteria were found on a letter.
CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us from the U.S. post office headquarters in Washington.

What's the latest from there?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, what we're expecting are some results later on this morning, perhaps around 11:00, of this postal service on V Street in Washington, D.C. that was shut down last night. That's because of a preliminary test result that came back actually from the Federal Reserve, which has a second layer of security, a second level of testing, that it performs after the postal service irradiates mail.

Now, with us this morning is Tom Day, who is the vice president of engineering with the postal service.

Tell us about the test, anything that you found specific at this point.

TOM DAY, V.P. OF ENGINEERING, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: We don't have any results back yet. We did complete all of the sampling during the course of the night. We took about 35 samples -- actually 36 samples during the course of the night, and it's very specific targeted sampling. We went to all of the places in our facility, where this mail that goes to the Federal Reserve would have been processed.

KOCH: Now, the Federal Reserve conducts these tests in trailers near the Federal Reserve. They're not postal facilities. Are those being tested as well?

DAY: The mail inside of those trailers has been tested as part of their routine testing. They found some preliminary results from what's called PCR, which is a very basic test. And then, they followed up with a lab test. A series of those cultures were done, and they got one positive out of that. So, they've done continuing testing on that mail.

KOCH: What are you telling right now people who come to work at that facility on V Street? Obviously, the Brentwood facility, where the original anthrax letters came through in October, 2001, that is still shut down.

DAY: Right. Well, one of the things we did is we shut down our operation last night. We needed to send crews in there to take the samples, and so we didn't want our employees there when that was going on with all that had to be done with that. So, we've closed the facility, and we'll keep it closed until we get the results back later this morning.

This is a purely precautionary test, and we do anticipate later this morning that all of those samples will come back. We believe they're going to be negative, and when they are, then we'll reopen the facility.

KOCH: Tom Day, U.S. Postal Service, thank you very much.

And again, Carol, that is the hope, that is the expectation. The Federal Reserve has had other false positives before in the past. They're testing for anything, whether it be for bombs in suitcases that go on planes or for anthrax-laced letters. There are these false positives that happen from time to time. So, really no need for anyone to get overly concerned at this point.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: OK, Kathleen Koch reporting live from Washington, D.C. this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.