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American Morning

Anthrax Investigation: Postal Employees Hardest Hit; Roundtable with Three Mayors

Aired October 24, 2001 - 09:02   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: Let's go back to the issue of anthrax right now. It seems that every day we hear new cases of the deadly disease, and postal employees have been of course the hardest hit.

CNN reporters are covering different angles of that story this morning. Jeanne Meserve is live from Washington with the latest on the six people there who are being treated with possible symptoms. CNN's Michael Okwu is live from Trenton, New Jersey, where there are new warnings for some postal customers there.

Let's first, though go, straight to Jeanne for her update.

Good morning again, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

This Brentwood mail facility is not only closed. It is being called a crime scene, as a number of people associated with it, and suspected of having anthrax continues to grow.

Here are the numbers as we know them now. Two people are now confirmed to have died, people who worked here, of inhalation anthrax. Two postal workers are hospitalized in Virginia with confirmed cases of inhalation anthrax, and here is change, six individuals now hospitalized in Maryland, suspected of having anthrax. Three more checked into Holy Cross Hospital in suburban hospital last night, complaining of flu-like symptoms and respiratory problems. They joined two others who were already there. All are described today as being in stable condition with good vital signs.

In addition, one 60-year-old man checked himself yesterday into Greater Baltimore Medical Center, same symptoms. All of these individuals being treated with antibiotics.

Meanwhile, environmental swabs of this building behind me, 19 of 24 of them came back positive, all of this causing the Postal Service to take action.

The postmaster general today announcing steps they are taking to protect postal workers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN POTTER, POSTMASTER GENERAL: We are out on the market buying electrobeam -- electron beam equipment that can penetrate the mail and kill any bacteria in the mail. We are going to begin receiving that equipment in early November. Our long-term plan is to make sure that all mail that comes in has either been treated or is from a known source of manufacturer of mail, like a periodical, a magazine, or advertising mail, so we are going to make sure that we have a system, that -- where we irradiate mail and eliminate, sanitize the mail, so to speak, eliminate any anthrax in the mail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Let me correct myself it was 14 of 29 environmental swabs here that came back positive. This in addition to news that a remote White House mail-handling facility had some traces of the anthrax spore. The White House saying no signs of anthrax contamination at the White House.

President Bush saying definitively last night, I do not have anthrax.

And now to Michael Okwu at a postal facility outside Trenton, New Jersey -- Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jeanne, good morning.

New Jersey health officials are asking doctors and hospitals to review recent deaths to try to determine whether those deaths may have been caused by anthrax. In the meantime, the U.S. Postal Service, has as well as New Jersey health officials are asking or urging really customers who dropped off business bulk mail at this Hamilton Township facility, this processing center, to begin a-10 day regimen of antibiotics immediately.

As you know, New Jersey state health officials and the CDC believe that a middle-aged woman, a mail sorter who works at this particular facility, has come down with inhalation anthrax. She is presently taking a number of antibiotics, and as of yesterday, she was in serious but stable condition.

Now between this facility and a post office in Ewing Township, some 15 miles from here, two people have skin anthrax, a third likely has it, and of course, this woman at this particular facility, makes four overall cases of anthrax.

At this point, more than a thousand postal workers have been tested and are on antibiotics.

For the time being, mail is being sorted inside tents. That is because there are at least two contaminated hot zones covering some 8,500 square feet inside the building.

You are looking now at a live picture of a flag just outside the Hamilton Township facility. This flag is at half-staff, and that of course is a tribute to those postal workers who died in Washington D.C. It will be this way, at half-staff, until those funerals take place. We understand on Wednesday.

Now, this otherwise nondescript building has become so recognizable in the past week three contaminated letters passed through here, were postmarked. The FBI is now going to be widening its investigation, because we understand that the day that the Daschle letter was postmarked from here, they received overflow mail from another county. So, Paula, the FBI has its work cut out for them.

ZAHN: Certainly does. Michael Okwu, thank you.

Ewing Township, which Michael just mentioned in New Jersey is a quiet suburban community, that has developed a sudden case of anthrax anxiety. Authorities believe that at least three letters laced with anthrax were mailed from a local post office. And the news of that hit the people of Ewing Township right where they live.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never thought it would be us. So if any of us are infected, it probably has already happened. As far as working the mail now, we are just taking precautions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would hate to think someone in neighborhood did it, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I can say is I hope they get them and I hope they make them pay.

It is little disgusting to think we have come to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, It crosses your mind you think about it. But like said, the mail has to go through got to go through. We've got to do the job. That is our job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm really not very scared. I'm angry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a sad thing, you know. Ewing is a peaceful community, and -- as you can see, and it disturbed our way of life, and we have to come back somehow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And while postal workers in the Trenton, New Jersey suburb are being treated for anthrax in that town, we know for a fact that other cities are taking steps to defend residents and workers against not just anthrax, but a whole variety of other possible dangers.

We want to talk now with mayors of Ewing, New Jersey, Houston, Texas, and San Francisco, California about preparedness. Mayor Alfred Bridges of Ewing Township says his town is doing all it can right now. Mayor Lee Brown of Houston says security has been stepped up at the city's water plant and its port. Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco says his city's emergency response was already streamlined, prepared for earthquakes.

And it's very good to have all three of you with us this morning. Good morning gentlemen.

MYR. ALFRED BRIDGES, EWING TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY: Good morning.

MYR. LEE BROWN, HOUSTON, TEXAS: Good morning.

MYR. WILLIE BROWN, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Good morning.

ZAHN: Mayor Bridges, I'm going to start with you this morning, particularly because there are so much intense reaction to this new alert for the whole people in the state about anthrax, and in particular, in a -- customers who might have sent some bulk mail out. They are now even being asked to take antibiotics. First of all, the reaction to the news from your community.

BRIDGES: Well, the reaction has been shock. And it started off as concern, but that concern has moved to fear as more cases of anthrax, particularly inhalation anthrax, are becoming apparent hour by hour. Our community was first alerted to a case of anthrax about a week or so ago. Caught us off guard, to be quite candid, but we have been doing everything we could do since that time to keep the public informed and to keep people as calm as we can.

ZAHN: What kinds changes have you made in the operation of your city since September 11?

BRIDGES: Well the post office itself, the interior of the post office is still closed while testing is being done. Testing is being done both in public area and the workstation area, and we do have some information that workstation in back of the post office has tested positive, and workers and people who were associated with post office back area are urged to get tested and treated properly.

ZAHN: All right, and, Mayor Brown, we mentioned in your introduction that you have stepped up security at your water plants and at the port. There have been a lot of attention focused on the potential vulnerability of your ports there south of Houston. Can you, without completely giving away whole plan here, tell us generally what you have done to protect it from a potential attack?

L. BROWN: Well, we have what we call an "all hazard emergency plan" for either manmade or natural disaster. I visited the port and I visited with the plant managers, chemical plant managers personally in my office. As could be expected, they have planned in case of explosion that could happen at plant like that. But we have also beefed-up our security at airports, our port, as you mentioned earlier, all of our public buildings, and we also have we call medical strike team, made up of 150 people, police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, hazardous material technicians, as well as our Department of Health emergency management.

We drill now quarterly, and we displayed -- deployed our equipment strategically throughout our city. Our police officers, firefighters, they now train on that equipment weekly. We have not had any information that would suggest that Houston has been a target of any threat, but prudence suggests we should be prepared for everything. I met with our school superintendents. I have a medical task force chaired by Dr. Ralph Bigen. As you know, we have the largest medical center in the world, and we are using that expertise as well.

Two years ago, I asked the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University to look at our preparedness for nuclear, chemical, or biological warfare, so they have been looking at that for sometime.

All that is to say that even though being a part of the FBI, antiterrorist task force, where we get information at timely basis, we have not had threats, but prudence suggests we should be prepared for anything. We have done about all the things we think of at this time to make sure we are prepared.

ZAHN: All right, let's address my next question to the other Mayor Brown. I mean, this is very unusual to have two Mayor Browns on at one time here.

Mayor Brown of San Francisco, you heard what Mayor Brown of Houston just said, that basically, they are preparing for anything and everything. Is San Francisco prepared for just about anything and everything?

W. BROWN: Well, San Francisco has had the threat and lived with the threat of earthquakes very long time, we have also had some significant fires in California, and we have had floods. In all of those situations, we have always been able to put together a kind of program and response that was appropriate to protect the security of the citizens.

And so when September 11th came, it was almost natural act for the elected official family of this city to move very quickly, to do all the things that we have drilled, and rehearsed and trained to do. All of our people were in place where they were supposed to be. We closed public schools, we closed every public building in San Francisco, including state and local buildings. As well, we took the extra precautionary measures to protect the bridges with our relationship with the Coast Guard. We had a relationship with the state level, in which we still have, where we do all kinds of connections, and coordinating and exchanging of information. Our water system was similarly protected, as well as our airport.

And so having to be on through this drill, having to experience an incredible amount of catastrophic confrontations caused by nature in California and in San Francisco, in particular, we were uniquely prepared and we still are prepared for any eventuality.

San Francisco is basically safe.

ZAHN: I would like to talk to you, all three now, about the challenges of leaders of the cities in providing the public with what you believe is necessary information and not causing panic at the same time.

Mayor Brown of Houston, we heard Vice President Dick Cheney again warn last night that there is the potential of more terrorist attacks here in the United States. How are you balancing that very fine line you have to walk?

L. BROWN: Well, we have asked all of our citizens to remain calm. We support the president, we support decisions that will be made, and as necessary, we call press conferences. For example, on the issue of anthrax, we called the press conference to give out information, factual information, about what people can do. we took advantage of our expertise at our medical center here, used our doctors, and just provided information. My two major objectives in Houston right now is to make sure that our city is safe and also that we are unified. We do not want a division in city by virtue what occurred September 11.

One of the great strengths of Houston is diversity, and we remind everyone constantly that people who lost their lives represent probably 80 different nationalities. There were Arab-Americans, there were Muslims, and we don't want anyone singled out for retribution because of their faith or their nationality. So we spent a lot of our time, with other people, for example going to mosque, or having people of the Muslim faith to educate other people in community about their faith.

So the major two priorities is to make sure that Houston is safe, and that we remain united.

ZAHN: Sure.

And Mayor Bridges, unfortunately your population feels much closer to this threat, because of basically being next door to Hamilton Township, where anthrax has been found. How are you balancing, handing out the right information, and not causing panic? Mayor Bridges?

Unfortunately, he is not hearing, so let's go back to Mayor Willie Brown in San Francisco. What is the level of concern there?

W. BROWN: Well, information is the key, Paula. We know that in fact, anthrax, for example, is not contagious, but panic is, and when people live in fear, they tend to react to just any kind of debris, yelling that that possibly could be a substance. That is always a problem.

But let me tell you, information is the key. And we do our best to make sure that everybody has every bit of information that we have. We have weekly public information briefings, in which all of the various PIs from all the units of our government come together, make themselves available to all the press, organizations. Our Web Site, carries the appropriate information. We always use the doctors and the experts to really deliver the message, so there is no question, there is no political spin. And our people are reasonably well informed, and being well informed equips them to make intelligent, rational decisions at each stage.

We also have an incredible response operation. The minute you see something that appears to be a threat, you telephone 911, and within just a few minutes, all of the units of government that can respond appropriately and should respond, they are there. And we publicize the fact that we have done that. And as a result of that, there is absolutely no evidence of panic in San Francisco.

ZAHN: All right, Mayor Lee Brown, Mayor Willie Brown, and Mayor Bridges, we are sorry to have shortchanged you there. Unfortunately, you couldn't hear my last question, but it was really a very insightful to have all three of your perspectives this morning. Appreciate you all joining us, particularly Willie Brown, who had to get up very early for us this morning. We won't do that to you again sir.

BROWN: Thank you.

ZAHN: Thank you again.

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