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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anthrax Scare: Jeb Bush to Visit Palm Beach County After Second AMI Worker is Infected

Aired October 16, 2001 - 08:11   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we move south to Florida and that is where we find CNN's John Zarrella who has the very latest from Boca Raton.

Good morning John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Paula.

Well the latest is that Florida's Governor Jeb Bush is planning a visit here to Palm Beach County this afternoon. Approximately 3:00 p.m., he's going to go to the Emergency Operations Center and meet with local, state and federal health workers. Then he is going to hold a news conference and may have some announcement -- undisclosed announcement.

That meeting will be followed later today, we understand, from here in Boca Raton, of a town hall meeting. We don't know whether the governor is planning to attend that or not. The governor, of course, here because of a level of anxiety increasing in the wake of the news coming out late yesterday that Ernesto Blanco, the second individual who also worked at American Media, has now tested positive for anthrax -- has come down with the anthrax bacteria.

Initially it was thought he had only been exposed to anthrax. That was about nine days ago. No longer the case, he is in Intensive Care, but apparently is not really showing the signs or the symptoms of anthrax. Now Blanco interestedly enough worked in the mailroom and was believed to be a close friend of Bob Stevens, the first American Media employee who died.

And because Ernesto Blanco worked in that mailroom, there were heightened concerns about the delivery system of the mail. The Boca Raton Post Office was checked and certainly because of that, and in fact found small trace amounts of anthrax spores at the Boca Post Office.

Decontamination teams, environmental protection agency teams went in there last night to begin a process of decontamination. The post office was never shut down. It was isolated to a small area of the post office, but the decontamination was considered a relatively simple job.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP) FRED STROUD, EPA SPOKESMAN: There's a low risk here with the anthrax bacteria and it appears that about a .5 percent solution of sodium hydrochloride will do the job. It's like disinfection, like you have to, you know, clean up the mold in your bathroom. This is what we're doing. It's not supposed to be there and so we're going to get rid of it by using this bleach solution. It's just a mild bleach solution like you would buy at the store.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now it was contained in a non-public area of the post office in what's called the five-by-five area. So there was no concern for the public. Thirty-one of the postal workers who worked in that post office were checked for anthrax exposure, given nasal swabs. We understand they have all come back negative.

So, again, here from Boca Raton later this afternoon, Florida's Governor Jeb Bush will be visiting Palm Beach County to try to allay some of the fears that have certainly spread through this entire South Florida community.

This is John Zarrella reporting live from Boca Raton, Florida. Paula.

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