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Boston Fire Lt. Richard Parker, center, removes his gloves today after investigating an anthrax scare downtown, one of dozens of incidents around the region. (Globe Staff Photo / Jonathan Wiggs)
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Officials recommend face masks, gloves at Boston-area post offices
False anthrax scares abound
By Leslie Miller, Associated Press, 10/24/01
BOSTON -- Postal officials recommended for the first time on Wednesday that workers in Boston-area post offices wear face masks and gloves after a series of unrelenting anthrax scares.
Two Washington D.C. area postal workers have died after anthrax exposure.
No anthrax had been found in Massachusetts as of Wednesday morning, though 762 specimens had been tested since Oct. 12, when an NBC News employee was diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax, said Roseanne Pawelec, a spokeswoman for the state Public Health Department.
"None of these disruptions that have gone on have crippled the mail, but they certainly are annoying," said Bob Cannon, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Massachusetts.
Bay State post offices have had about 25 anthrax scares a day since Oct. 12, Cannon said. The Amesbury post office was evacuated Tuesday and closed Wednesday after an employee spotted a brownish, powdery substance in a mail tray, he said.
The post office's 27 employees were tested for anthrax as they awaited the results from the state laboratory, which can take up to 72 hours, Cannon said. The tests had not come back by Wednesday afternoon.
Any suspicious substances from post offices are tested before specimens from other places, Pawelec said. The Boston Postmaster's office has appointed a special liaison to work with the public health department, she said.
Postal workers are being trained to identify anthrax as well as suspicious letters, Cannon said.
"Carriers, clerks, mail handlers and drivers have been told more times than they want to hear how to spot a suspicious package," he said. "If someone spots it, we want them to get out of there."
Evacuating post offices drives up overtime costs, he said, because postal workers have to work extra hard to make up for lost time.
On Oct. 14, 150 employees at the Shrewsbury mail processing center were kept from working for three hours after a powder was found on the surface of an envelope, Cannon said. That meant 450 working hours had to be made up to prevent mail delays, he said.
In other developments:
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, along with the state departments of Fire Services and Public Health, is meeting around the state with local fire, police and health officials to answer questions and talk about ways to respond to bioterrorism scares.
Two more groups of National Guardsmen are being called up for homeland defense and overseas duty.
In addition to the 34 Army National Guardsmen getting ready to relieve those at Logan International Airport's security checkpoints, another 33 will be posted around the airport perimeter and at the jet fuel farm. They'll be processed on Thursday at Guard headquarters in Milford.
The 212th Engineering Installation Squadron will send 13 members overseas to support Operation Enduring Freedom on Thursday. They'll install and maintain telecommunications equipment.
More than 1,000 Massachusetts National Guardsmen have been called up since the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.
Acting Gov. Jane Swift will hold her daily meeting with public safety officials by teleconference while she attends a Republican Governors Association event in Washington, D.C.
