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American Morning

Anthrax Investigation: Powdery Substance Found on Northwest Flight

Aired October 19, 2001 - 09:18   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: Health officials have been warning us against taking anthrax antibiotics prematurely, particularly as it hasn't been proven that you have been exposed to any sort of anthrax. But dozens of people on a flight from Detroit to Vermont this week are told to do exactly that as a precaution. A powdery substance was found on the Northwest Airlines flight on Monday. Initial tests do not indicate anthrax, but a second test has indicated some bacteria that may include anthrax.

Deborah Markowitz was passenger on that flight. She also happens to be Vermont's secretary of state. She joins us from Burlington this morning.

Thank you for being with us.

DEBORAH MARKOWITZ, VERMONT SECRETARY OF STATE: Sure. It's a pleasure to be here.

ZAHN: Thanks. Boy, you listen to this testing, and I can't imagine how you feel this morning. Have you learned anything addition in addition to what we just said.

MARKOWITZ: No, we expect to have our final results sometime later tonight. You know, in addition to myself on the plane, my three children and my husband were there, too, so it is really been a family experience here.

ZAHN: And you were told as a precaution that your whole family should go on Cipro?

MARKOWITZ: Yes we were, and you know, what -- I think what we are learning from the Vermont experience is that, you know, we have -- there is a lot of risks in our life. We teach our children to look both ways before they cross the street because there is risk of getting run over by a car. Anthrax is a new risk. We're in a new era, and we need to learn how to manage this risk as well, so our health department, emergency management team, are being very conservative. They are really handling this very professionally, and they want to make sure there is no risk to us.

And while I feel really confident it won't ultimately be anthrax, by taking Cipro now, either way, we're safe.

ZAHN: Yes, I can't even imagine what your kids are thinking right now. You have a 6-year-old, an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old.

MARKOWITZ: Yes.

ZAHN: I know in my family, very different what you explain to the young kid from the older child, but what do you think is their understanding of what happened on that flight?

MARKOWITZ: One of the things we haven't done is personalize it. It's not, you know, a bad guy after us, right? It's that on the airplane, there may have been some germs that could be dangerous, and, you know, kids know germ theory, and, you know, that if you are sick you take medicine, so now we are taking medicine just in case there were bad germs on the airplane. It is frightening for kids, because, it is -- because of how the adults respond, and so my husband and I have tried to take this in stride, and to just be very matter of fact, and calm, and confident, and that, you know, then they experience that as well.

ZAHN: It's so striking, because when I think of your home state, which I think is close to heaven as you can actually get, it must be so hard, in particularly for you all, to accept that you were exposed to this potential bacteria as you are traveling home from a family vacation in San Diego. Do you feel violated?

MARKOWITZ: Well, that's also the other lesson, that we are in all this together, that we may be here in bucolic Vermont, you know, pretty far away from New York and Washington D.C., but we're all in it together. It could really reach out anywhere, but the other part of it is that we are prepared. The state of Vermont was right in there with the health department and the emergency management folks, and you know, they knew what to do, they have handled it well, and I would believe that is true in all 50 states, that even though you are far away, it could happen. There are folks who are prepared.

ZAHN: Folks, before we let you go, can you explain to us what made anybody even aware of the fact that this powdery substance was on board and sort of walk through chain of events here?

MARKOWITZ: Sure. What happened is we came in pretty late night, quarter of 11:00. Vermont is a pretty small airport. We close down pretty much at 11:00. So it was one of the last flights of evening. We waited for our bags, and they didn't come, which is highly unusual. Everyone else is closing down. We're looking for information, and apparently, in taking the bags out of the plane, one of the workers for Northwest noticed a white powdery substance on some of the bags and in the baggage hold.

And after a quick check indicated that it wasn't just spilled talcum powder or something obviously spilled, they proceeded cautiously, and they called in security folks and the police, and finally made the decision that there was enough reason to be suspicious, because there was no obvious cause, and then we were quarantined actually for a few hours. I didn't get home that morning until 2:30 in the morning, which was late, and you know, they talked about anthrax and the risk and asked to us wash ourselves with soap, and they let us know that they would be in touch with us. They kept our bags. We still don't have our bags back, because they are testing it.

ZAHN: Maybe you don't want those bags back.

Deborah, I know you said it is your hope that when the final tests comes back, it will show that you weren't exposed to anthrax. I really do hope is that your case for everybody on that flight all the workers at your airport.

Thank for you sharing your story with us. It's remarkable.

MARKOWITZ: Thank you. Deborah Markowitz, of course secretary of state in state of Vermont.

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