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American Morning

New Jersey Officials Expand Anthrax Letter Investigation

Aired October 25, 2001 - 09:16   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: In New Jersey there has been a new development in efforts to track the anthrax letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. For that we turn to CNN's Michael Okwu. He has that story from Hamilton Township, New Jersey good morning.

Good morning.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you Paula.

At this point state officials here in New Jersey say that they will expand their anthrax testing to focus on areas beyond the two postal facilities here in central New Jersey that they had currently been focusing on. Officials say that they will test for anthrax, as well as try to provide some antibiotics to at least 104 postal workers at a postal facility in Carteret, New Jersey. Now, that's some 25 miles away from this particular location in Hamilton Township.

Now, that's because they believe that the Daschle letter passed through that facility after it was postmarked here. Now to be clear, the Carteret, New Jersey facility is essentially a transportation hub. What happens is that letters that are postmarked here and processed here are put on, essentially, tractor trailers. They are taken to Carteret, where they are off-loaded and then put on vehicles to go to their ultimate destinations. Officials also say that they will likely test, at other locations here in New Jersey, some five to 10 to 15 minutes away from this particular facility in towns, like Lawrenceville and Yardville. Now again, to be specific, they're talking about post offices at those locations.

Now, last night at a town meeting state officials here announced the formation of what they're calling the New Jersey Anthrax Investigative Task Force. Now, this task force has been assembled, essentially, to investigate and arrest the people or the person who is responsible for this anthrax scare.

Last night some 400 residents turned up in Ewing Township, which is 15 miles from here, and they voiced their concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you pick up anthrax from a mailbox if there's a spore there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question you're asking about how it was spread goes back decades.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you've made contact with the article, you want to wash your hands with soap and water.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU: Now, to recap the cases here: There have been two confirmed cases of cutaneous anthrax, or skin anthrax of postal workers between this facility and the facility in Ewing Township. There is one suspected case of cutaneous anthrax, and there is one suspected case of inhalation anthrax. That woman, we are told, is still in serious but stable condition; and she is responding well, we are told, to antibiotics.

In the meantime, samples taken along the route in Ewing Township of a female mail carrier who tested positive for skin anthrax are coming back negative. But we expect to get test results maybe as early today (sic), from samples taken from three mailboxes that were seized by the FBI last week, and this particular mail carrier's satchel.

Back to you, Paula.

ZAHN: So Michael, I know you've been busy working, but just based on the reaction you heard from townspeople asking officials questions, one would believe there's got to be even a great deal more concern this morning about this expanding area that they're going to search.

OKWU: Well, officials clearly don't want to upset the public; they don't want to sound alarmist. They're trying to backtrack, and they're trying to be as cautious as possible.

It's obvious at this point that, essentially, this letter, might have left some kind of a trail, particularly within this build, when they're getting more and more cases of people who didn't necessarily handle the letter, but might have just been using the machinery that the letters were sorted on. The concern among postal officials and health officials, of course -- and you've been hearing it also in Washington, D.C. -- is that this -- these anthrax spores actually might have seeped out of the envelope. So they just want to be very, very careful about that.

But yes, the fact that they're expanding beyond these two particular locations has caused some concern, and there's been much concern posed -- pretty much voiced by some of the workers here and some of the residents that, essentially, there's a lot of cross- contamination going on. But, of course, officials will not confirm that -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Michael Okwu thanks so much for that update.

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