Anthrax Scare

[whitesatin]

Last Tuesday, my local Safeway grocery store was shutdown for three hours due to an Anthrax scare.  I never heard anything about it until Friday when our local paper came out.  Have any of you had any local anthrax scares?



At my grocery store, an employee found some powder that was wrapped up in a piece of wax paper on a shelf in the liquor department.  They called in a HAZMAT team.  I had been in that store the same day after it reopened.  As of Saturday, they still hadn't determined what the powder was.



People flocked to the nearby Urgent Care Center to get Cipro.  My husband asked me if I knew what was going on at Long's Drug Store, because there was a line from the pharmacy, clear out the front door into the parking lot. I thought maybe they were dispensing vaccines until Friday, when we got the paper.  Yikes.  Probably someone's idea of a sick joke.



WhiteSatin

 

[sueg22]

Yup, we've had a couple.  We had one employee we had to terminate - he left an envelope on a co-worker's desk with powder in it and although the co-worker would have realized it was a joke, another person saw it and called the police.  We had an employee who was moving and saw white powder on one of the boxes and called facilities and the police.  We had actual anthrax in one of our buildings late last week, but not a floor where our offices are.  



Our mail people are wearing masks and gloves, but they were told not to wear them when delivering the mail to the departments because, "people might get panicked".  I love the company I work for, but they are really handling this very poorly.  We have yet to get any kind of advice as to what to do if we get something suspicious.  The two incidents where the police were called pi##ed off our HR department because of the "negative publicity".  We have over 80,000 employees - there are GOING to be calls made because people are concerned.  



I had printed off the tips from this site and also the two page health advisory from the CDC about what to do - better to be prepared.  So I now have directives, but nothing from the company.  Just reminders not to play jokes or you'll be fired, be tolerant of our middle-eastern employees and the advice that if you get something suspicious, call building management and not the police.  Argh.



 

[chris68]

Only thing we had was a week or so ago they closed down our major post office here where I live, and yep lo and behold on the rare occasion I go to the post office that had to be the same week.  However, it was reported no anthrax was found, thankfully.



Just have to use common sense people, otherwise the terrorists win, if they feel they have us scared they win.  There is bound to be more of this kind of thing in the news before it's all said and done, it's gonna be a matter of how well we deal with it.



Chris68

[whitesatin]

Oh my God!  Did they put that guy in jail?  I heard that pulling a stunt like that is a felony, which it very well should be.  I can't believe your company is being so lax under such an enormous threat.  They are more concerned with keeping up appearances than in the health and safety of their employees and the community at large.  That stinks!!!!



Two more postal workers are suspected of having died from the inhaled form of anthrax and two others have tested positive for the inhaled form of anthrax.



This is not a joke.  Granted, we shouldn't panic, but we do need to be aware and diligent and not take the "It can't happen to me approach".



Stay safe everyone!



WhiteSatin

[radaro]

Okay, I just found out that our offices have NO policy.  I received a hand addressed envelope.  It was addressed "Rush" and "Personal to John Bossie (insert my boss's name here) as per our telephone conversation".  



I dropped the letter and called my boss.  My boss says he wasn't expecting this letter.



I checked the address on Canada 411.  No listing.



I called facilities and asked them what to do.  The director of facilities came up, picked up the letter and declared it "safe".  He would now dispose of it.



While most of me feels that yes, this letter was probably okay (knowing my boss, someone told him like 3 weeks ago to expect something and he has since forgotten) but at the same time, there is this nagging doubt at the back of my head.



Unfortunately it's an all or nothing scenario.  I either feel the letter is safe, or I call the police.



BTW two men were arrested in Ottawa for dusting their neighbour's mail with talcum powder.  What a stupid prank to pull with all this going on!

[jadegrniiz]

Personally, I wish the media would quit publicizing the Anthrax scares. I see these Anthrax scares the same way I see a bomb threat - the chances are slim to nil it's for real (unless you work in government/news media), it terrorizes those who it would effect if it had been real, and the idiot who sent the *&!@$ thing is sitting at home in all his glory whispering "Mission Accomplished".



Then, you add to that the children of America and what they must be thinking. My daughter won't get the mail out of our mailbox anymore. I forced her the other day, because it was looking like rain and our box leaks... she came back in udder tears, panic stricken.. and ran to the bathroom to wash her hands when she put the mail on the counter. And this, I might add, is the reaction of a child who DOES NOT watch the news at home. Scares me to think what kids like her who DO watch the news must be feeling.









 

[juspeachy]

Several of you know, I work on a military base.  We have had increased security at the gates coming into the base since September 11.  I wouldn't expect us to have an Anthrax scare unless it came through the mail and the mail room is being especially cautious these days.



Well, last Wednesday, we evacuated our building for a little over an hour because someone discovered something on their phone that "wasn't there before lunch."  Though they determined almost immediately that it wasn't Anthrax, they haven't told us exactly what it was, either.  From the description given, it sounded to me like foundation makeup.  At least the weather was beautiful!  



They said that it was a good "drill" and they have reviewed the actions taken to come up with a better plan in the case of future threats.  



JusPeachy

[execsec]

My youngest daughter (5th grade - 10 yrs old) comes home almost every day with some lurid tale she heard in school about anthrax and what it can do to you and where it could turn up next.  She's pretty frightened about it.  She doesn't watch the news either but hears most of the stuff from her friends.  I tell her not to worry about it but I remember back in the early sixties when I was starting school and all the bomb drills we went through.  It is enough to frighten a child who doesn't really understand what's going on in the "big" world.  I certainly hope it's not her teacher telling the students stories. (I'll find out, parent teacher conference coming up at the end of this week!)

[chris68]

My theory on this Anthrax is, you have to keep your eys open all the time even at home for suspicious looking mail.  If it's something you are not expecting to see, I throw it out and not even open it.  Wash my hands afterward and am done with the issue.



It's cold and flu season folks and they are saying that the chances of you catching the flu and dying are more than you getting Anthrax.  Think of it you are hearing of 6-8 people who actually have Anthrax out of how many people in the US and they are catching this early and putting it out there for us to see and judge for ourselves.  We have to act responsibly and not overreact to things.



Get your flu shots folks and just be extra cautious.



Chris68

[radaro]

You are right Chris68, thanks for being the voice of reason.

[sueg22]

WhiteSatin, we didn't hear if the guy was arrested.  When people are fired from the firm, they just disappear (that's not as ominous as it sounds), but you never hear what happened, who it was, were they relocated, fired, arrested, etc.  There have been a bunch of people arrested for this type of thing, so it is very possible that he was dismissed and summarily arrrested.  You would think though, that we would receive some sort of communication about what we are supposed to do.  We get TONS of mail each day and have people sorting through this.  A lot of it is angry mail too - on a regular basis these people are scared.



I agree that perhaps the media is jumping the gun on this - they feel they need to report something, and if there isn't anything new to report, then just keep re-hashing the same thing.



However, I think companies that are susceptible to this kind of attact need to better prepare their people.  Sure, I printed the CDC thing and now I know what to do, what if the woman next to me gets a suspicious letter and freaks out?  We have fire drills in case there is an emergency and we are all mature enough to know that the building isn't actually on fire and we learn what to do in case of a real emergency - why can't we be informed of what to do in this type of emergency without causing a panic?