just saw it on CNN. The DC area is telling postal workers that are in facilities that receive mail from the Brentwood facility to go in for treatment.

They say the rest of us are not at risk.

yeah, right.

bite my ass!

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

Answers

Response to the two dead postal workers have been confirmed anthrax

http://www.boston.com/news/daily/23/anthrax.htm

Death of two postal workers confirmed to be caused by anthrax

By Laura Meckler, Associated Press, 10/23/01

WASHINGTON -- Officials confirmed anthrax Tuesday as the cause of death in two local postal workers, the latest victims in the nation's bioterrorism war. A mail employee was hospitalized in New Jersey, also believed to be suffering from the inhalation form of the disease.

"We now know the two deaths that were reported to you now are confirmed cases of inhalational anthrax," District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams said at a news conference.

He spoke as a Postal Service official said roughly 3,400 employees across the nation's capital had been evaluated and given antibiotics in 72 hours.

Thomas L. Morris Jr., 55, arrived at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington at 5:55 a.m. on Sunday with "potential exposure to anthrax and other medical concerns." He died 15 hours later, The Washington Post reported.

The Post identified the second postal worker who died yesterday as Joseph P. Curseen, 47. He had been examined at Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton, Md., the day before by doctors who were not aware he worked at the Brentwood facility, the Associated Press reported. The doctors diagnosed his illness as the flu and sent him home.

Curseen was rushed back to the hospital about 5:45 a.m. yesterday, suffering from respiratory distress, low blood pressure, a fast heart rate, and flu-like symptoms, a hospital official said. He was given high doses of antibiotics and put on a ventilator, but died six hours later.

Ivan Walks, the city's top health official, also announced an expansion in the number of people who should be treated as a precaution.

In all, Walks said, the city knew of two patients hospitalized with inhalation anthrax; two postal workers confirmed dead of the disease; four cases listed as suspicious. He said another 12 cases are being watched but are of "very low suspicion" for anthrax.

In addition, Walks said environmental testing proves anthrax spores are in the back work areas of the city's central Brentwood mail facility. That means all employees need treatment, he said.

"We do not need to do further testing, but we need to treat and we need to treat quickly," he said.

Not just postal workers but anyone who visited the back mail- processing area of any Washington postal facility that received mail from Brentwood needs to get the antibiotic treatment, added Deborah Willhite of the U.S. Postal Service.

She said the Brentwood facility has been declared a crime scene.

The disclosure came as New Jersey Health Commissioner George DiFerdinando said a postal worker in his state had contracted inhalational anthrax was hospitalized in serious but stable condition. She works at a facility that processed at least three anthrax-tainted letters mailed to Washington and New York.

The twin developments came as Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson pledged a more aggressive testing and treatment effort if additional tainted mail is received. He spoke after federal officials had spent time on Monday defending a delay in testing at the Brentwood facility.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

thanks, Brooks. I cannot access news sites even with images turned off. The internet speed I have here at the hotel sucks.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

>They say the rest of us are not at risk.

Oh? And I'd like to know how they've come to that conclusion when they're not sure how the workers were infected in the first place.

Or is there something that TPTB aren't telling us about this particular situation? It wouldn't surprise me.

Practice clean work habits, Barefoot. I'm told the workers at our main post office are still mumbling about striking if procedures don't improve soon.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

they can mumble all they want, but there is a clause in our contract that says we cannot strike.

slowdown, yes, strike, no.

I wouldn't strike, even with the contract negotiations bogged down. I need the money.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

after listening to the news reporters talking about the 'path of the letters' and sites in the postal facilities that show positive for anthrax, I have to laugh because they are going on the assumption that the mail was being done correctly. there are mistakes and misdirected mail all the time.

we get mail here that was mailed in say New Jersey with that local postmark, and delivery address in New Jersey but yet it is here in Miami. We then have to send it back to them.

So, I can only hope they are checking all over the facility, and not just those machines that are supposed to handle that particular mail stream. Makes a big difference!!!!!

We have certain machines in our facility that are programmed for local mail, just as they have, and those machines take mail that doesn't belong and puts it in one bin that is taken to another machine to be resorted correctly. If it is still wrong, as in the OCR sees the address wrong, then we do it manually. That is were I come in. I do it manually.

Having fun yet, you ask? I think I may take up drinking on the job. LOL

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001