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American Morning
New Jersey Letter Carrier Diagnosed With Anthrax
Aired October 19, 2001 - 10:12 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: Law enforcement officials looking into possible links to the anthrax found in New York and Washington and in the state of Florida. Congress and several media companies have been among the targets, but experts saying confirming a common source is difficult because anthrax is relatively easy to grow, and before the 1990s it was commonly studied in research labs.
Meanwhile, the total number of cases stands at 41 right now. Six people have been infected, and of those only one of the six has died. That was the American Media employee in Florida, Bob Stevens; 35 others have been exposed.
In New Jersey now, investigators are retracing the route of a mail carrier who may have handled letters sent to NBC. She has tested positive for cutaneous -- that's the skin form of anthrax.
And CNN's Brian Palmer now joins us live with an update on that part of the story.
Brian, hello.
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, the postal facility behind me, the Trenton Processing and Distribution Center, as well as one in West Trenton, New Jersey are closed today as investigators from a wide range of agencies are trying to determine how that letter carrier became infected with anthrax. As you said, she tested positive in both blood and skin tests for cutaneous anthrax. That's the less severe form of the illness.
The letter carrier delivered mail in the area to about 250 homes and businesses. As you said, again, authorities are not sure whether she came into contact with any of those anthrax-tainted letters -- the one sent to Senator Tom Daschle, the Senate majority leaders or to NBC TV news anchor Tom Brokaw.
Another employee, a gentleman who worked at this facility, may have been exposed to the anthrax virus. We have no more information about that. We only know that both the letter carrier -- the confirmed case -- and this gentleman who may have been exposed are being treated, are receiving medical treatment.
Now, acting governor, acting New Jersey Governor Donald DiFrancesco, outlined the first steps in the investigation yesterday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD DIFRANCESCO, ACTING GOVERNOR, NEW JERSEY: As a result of the positive test results, we are collecting additional environmental samples as we speak from within the facility to further test for the presence of anthrax. Representatives from the department of health are meeting with employees and working with the union leadership to provide information and collect samples from the employees. We're working with the CDC, who are en route to New Jersey, to develop recommendations as to whom may need other immediate or preventive treatment. At this point, we are aware of no other cases at the facility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PALMER: The U.S. Postal Service also had an announcement to make yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Earlier today in Washington, the U.S. Postal Service issued a notice of a reward up to $1 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for mailing of letters containing anthrax to Tom Brokaw and Senator Tom Daschle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PALMER: Postal officials have briefed the workers in both these facilities. They say the mail will not be disrupted -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Brian, thank you; Brian palmer there in New Jersey.
Now to Capitol Hill and CNN's Kate Snow, where there is quite a stir this past week. Kate, good morning to you.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, what strikes you on Capitol Hill is how quiet things are up here today. Both the Senate and the House now out of session. That's not so abnormal for a Friday, because many times the House and Senate go out on Fridays. But normally there would be a lot of Capitol Hill staffers, staff people, walking around.
Today that is not the case. They have shut down the U.S. Capitol on the House side. They've shut down all of the House and Senate office buildings. Overnight last night they were doing environmental screening in some of those Senate office buildings, and also in some of the Capitol itself. You're looking at a live picture of the Capitol right now.
Eventually, after they get the results back from environmental testing, they tell us that they're going to do decontamination only where needed. And they've brought in some equipment and gear on loan from the Coast Guard to do decontamination work. We expect that to happen over the weekend. And again, at this point, Bill, it appears that everything is contained -- all of the anthrax is contained in one part of one Senate office building. But they are trying to err on the sides of caution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN HARRY REID (D), NEVADA: We have thousands of people that work in these buildings. And they were anxious. And we felt that discretion was the better part of valor. And why not just sweep everything and make sure, once and for all, that it's clean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Again, the number of people that have shown positive for exposure to anthrax stands at 31 people. That's exposure, not infection. All of those people working in and around Senator Tom Daschle's office in that one building. There's been no sign of any anthrax anywhere else in the U.S. Capitol complex at this point.
Bill back to you.
HEMMER: Kate, quickly, Monday or Tuesday for the House and the Senate?
KATE: The House is going to be back in session on Tuesday, technically. The Senate, we're told their offices will be back open on Monday; but they probably won't have any votes until Tuesday as well.
HEMMER: Are they making a big deal about this war between the two houses of Congress? We've heard the rumblings about some people saying the House did the wrong thing and the House saying no, we were prudent. You just mentioned it, but how many legs, I guess, does that story have there in Washington?
SNOW: Well, I think it's more of a media creation than anything else. The senators and House members I've talked to have tried to downplay the division between the two. They say it was just a matter of miscommunication -- one side had different information than the other side, perhaps. They thought they were all making the same decision; they made it a little bit differently. But they say there's not that much of a distinction.
HEMMER: I heard one member of the House say it's not the first or last time the two houses will disagree on something.
SNOW: That's right.
HEMMER: Thank you Kate, talk to you later. Kate Snow on Capitol Hill.
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