DAY FORTY TWO:Oct. 22:
The nation's public health leaders are facing a crisis of public confidence. The death of two Washington D.C. postal workers to inhalation anthrax, hospitalization of two others due to the disease and identification of nine more who show symptoms of inhalation anthrax, raise serious questions about decisions made by the Postmaster General, HHS and the Centers for Disease Control officials since October 15. Why didn't they test the mail workers immediately for exposure to the organism? Why wasn't prophylactic antibiotic therapy initiated for the mail workers as soon as it was for employees of the U.S. Senate? Why weren't tests done, using powder and envelopes, to determine whether the rapid sorting machines in the postal center would encourage release of anthrax spores?
The Postmaster General may have an excuse: in two press conferences in recent days he referred to the anthrax "virus". Clearly no expert on the microbe, he had to trust to the opinion of the CDC. But what can explain the CDC's decision to do for the DC postal workers none of the things they previously did for the employees of NBC?
My Columbia University students wanted to know tonight these and another key question: "Is the government merely in reactive mode? What will it take to get ahead of the terrorists, of the crisis and of the microbes?"
NBC Science Correspondent Robert Bazell came to the class, the students having read his book, HER-2, the story of development of herceptin for cancer therapy. When I asked Bazell to come to the class, a few months ago, we thought the discussion would focus on the hype and politics of cancer research. But Bazell was, of course, swamped by anthrax reporting, with many of the students' questions paramount for him, as well. Exhausted, often interrupted by urgent pager messages, Bazell bemoaned the CDC's errors and expressed great sympathy for those scientists who made the decisions.
The CDC is spread too thinly, as are the public health departments of Washington DC and New York. Everybody is exhausted, and poorly trained, under-qualified people are performing delicate tasks, even reaching decisions. The system is simply overwhelmed.
Many of my colleagues are asking how long journalists can maintain their pace, as well. Certainly our activities are far less essential to the nation, but the media have worked at an unusually feverish pace for more than six weeks, and it has been a costly time to all of them. As finances strain, and reporters and editors grow increasingly tired the pressure to return to "normalcy" will rise.
Ah well, time to focus on Yankee Fever. Having trounced the Mariners 12-3, the Yanks now head into their fourth straight World Series. The pinstripers were a class act, and their victory sends a thrill through the whole city. Security will be intense for the World Series, and it would be an obvious target for terrorism, But that won't keep New Yorkers away from Yankee Stadium, or from a ticker tape parade, should they win the World Series. As I imagine such a thing a shiver runs up my spine. Traditionally the ticker tape victory parade starts down by the World Trade Center and then proceeds uptown along Broadway. Where will it begin this year? How will security be handled?
But I know that won't much matter. Even the smoke that still belches out of Ground Zero, fed from deep fires that astonishingly still rage in the bowels of that horror six weeks after 911 won't deter them. It will be the most joyous day this city has felt since September 11, and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers will gladly brave the terrorist threat to stand and scream for the Bronx Bombers.
Let's go Yanks!
Oh, by the way, Shep in Seattle - you owe me that salmon, man. Sorry, no New York bagels for you: Mariners lose.
Be well. Stay safe. Stand defiant.
Laurie Garrett
