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CNN Live At Daybreak
Postal Workers are Angry Over Apparent Delay in Anthrax Testing
Aired October 24, 2001 - 07:17 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: Already, several postal facilities in Washington, New York, New Jersey and south Florida have been tested for anthrax contamination and for the first time business bulk mail customers who dropped mail at a postal processing center in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, are being told to begin taking antibiotics immediately.
More than 1,000 postal workers there have already been tested for exposure. Some workers are resigned, others angry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty scary. I just can't believe what's going on. I can't believe the post office waited so long to have us come get checked out when people in Washington, thousands of people in Washington are already being tested right off the bat. Now, it's been, what, a month and a half later, a month later? I'm just coming here now? It doesn't seem right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a little bit of nervousness, but, you know, everything is kind of, I mean after the World Trade Center, this is really nothing, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It kind of puts it in perspective?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Coming up in the next hour, we're going to be going live to CNN's Michael Okwu at that postal facility in New Jersey.
Certainly there is even more concern this morning after it was revealed that more workers at the Brentwood center have suspected anthrax.
Let's join a postal carrier from Washington's Mount Ridge postal facility.
Ralph Coates joins us this morning from Washington. Thank you very much for being with us, sir.
RALPH COATES, MOUNT RIDGE POSTAL FACILITY: You're welcome. ZAHN: How are you feeling this morning?
COATES: I'm feeling OK. How about you?
ZAHN: Do you have -- I'm doing OK, too, but I haven't been handling any letters lately. Give us a sense of how you and your colleagues are reacting to what has gone down at Brentwood?
COATES: Well, we feel that we should be tested a little earlier than we were, and we are actually not being tested. We're just going down to D.C. General and getting pills for preventive maintenance.
ZAHN: So wait a minute, did you try to get tested and they wouldn't test you or you were simply told not to get tested?
COATES: Well, we weren't told not to get tested. What we were told was the bus would come pick us up to take us to D.C. General to test us. We got to D.C. General, we didn't get tested. They just gave us pills and gave us a little information on anthrax.
ZAHN: And did they tell you why they wouldn't test you?
COATES: Well, they gave us a little information. They told us why we weren't being tested anymore.
ZAHN: And can you remember what they told you?
COATES: Basically what they said is the swabs they were doing, they didn't need to do it anymore because it's not really conclusive.
ZAHN: Oh, OK. So they thought that just to be extra safe you should take these antibiotics.
COATES: Right.
ZAHN: So you're taking them now?
COATES: Yes, I am.
ZAHN: And I understand people have various reactions to this medication. How is it making you feel?
COATES: I'm OK with it. Some people, you know, everybody's body is not the same so everybody's body is going to react differently to it.
ZAHN: I don't know whether you could hear any of my conversation with Dr. Satcher, the surgeon general, earlier this morning, but he was saying he very much understood why so many of you are angry at the government right now, but he wanted to make it clear that the CDC wasn't aware of the fact that you could actually get anthrax from a sealed envelope.
What is your reaction to that? I mean you guys really are on the front lines now of this war in many ways. COATES: Well, from what I understand is this is a disease that's not known, you know, it's not a lot known about it because it's an animal disease. So that's probably why it's taken so long.
ZAHN: And, of course, the delivery of the anthrax is so new and foreign to this country, everybody says they're learning as they go along.
COATES: Right.
ZAHN: Do you feel safe right now doing your job?
COATES: Somewhat. Somewhat safe. But I think our building and every building, every post office building should be tested because a lot of the mail from Brentwood comes to a lot of the stations in D.C.
ZAHN: And would you like to see the government shut down these postal offices for a while to ensure that every single, you know, corner of these buildings are tested?
COATES: Not really shut down, just postponed for a while.
ZAHN: Meanwhile, though, you head back to work and you're committed to doing your work.
COATES: Yes.
ZAHN: Are you wearing any kind of protective clothing now of any kind when you do your job?
COATES: Well, they've given us rubber gloves and they've given us masks. But I heard last night on the news that the masks are no good because the spores will seep right through it.
ZAHN: But do you feel somewhat safe, though, now that you're on Cipro?
COATES: I feel somewhat safe.
ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your coming in to talk about this. We know this is difficult at a time when there are so many unanswered questions.
Ralph, good luck to you.
COATES: Thank you.
ZAHN: And stay safe.
COATES: You do the same.
ZAHN: Thanks.
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