A close relative works for the USPS here in northern NJ. Back on October 15, the USPS stated that it would immediately provide gloves and masks for all mail-handling personnel, in light of the recent anthrax attacks. See link to Wash. Post article here:

USPS to Warn Public of Biohazrds in Mail

Well, it's a week later, and the office where my relative works has seen neither hide nor hair of ANY kind of protective gear. No gloves, no masks, NOTHING. Said relative went out and bought gloves on their own to use. She's not sure what kind of masks to get, because airborne anthrax is so small it will go right through regular painter's dust/mist masks.

What in hell is going on here?? There's been another possible two deaths from inhalation of this stuff just in the past day in DC, and the PO seems to be doing nothing but foot-dragging! I have my own suspicions as to *why*, but without further proof I'll keep them to myself.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Answers

Better link, sorry! Link

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Better link, sorry! Link

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Your relative should go to the union and bitch.

That's what we were doing, not that we had to since they were already bitching to the management.

We have been bitching about the use of forced air to clean the machines for years. So many people working near those machines, and all that dust, a lot of people have a hard time breathing that. Add anthrax and it gets really interesting.

What is really annoying is that the management has to be told to stop the use of forced air, they couldn't just switch to vacuums until they were told to do so. Now all facilities are using vacuums. course that doesn't mean they have the right filters, or any filters for that matter...

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

NYDailyNews - http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-10-23/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-12950 2.asp

Bosses Handling the Crisis At Snail Mail's Pace

n the first floor of the Times Square post office on W. 42nd St., it was business as usual yesterday afternoon.

More than 20 customers waited calmly on line to be served by one of the four clerks working behind the main counter. But upstairs, it was a far different story.

There, around 10 a.m., police and firefighters hastily cordoned off a portion of the second floor and evacuated workers to other parts of the four-story building after a mysterious powder was discovered in an area where letter carriers prepare their deliveries.

Even as tests were being done here, the news came out of Washington that two postal workers were dead, almost certainly of anthrax; two others were ill from the most deadly form of the disease: inhalation.

Given the sudden and alarming rise of anthrax cases among postal workers, employees are furious that the top brass have been so slow to protect them.

"People are scared to death, and we can't seem to get any information," said one worker at the Times Square station. "Today, they clear out the second floor, and a little while later they tell us to go back to work and keep this our little secret."

Given the rash of attacks with anthrax-laced letters sent to the news media and Congress in the past month, it seems that the last places investigators have gotten around to checking are the local post offices that processed those deadly packages.

In Miami, for instance, postal union leaders say they complained for nearly two weeks after the first anthrax case surfaced at American Media before they got the Postal Service and federal investigators to conduct tests at the Boca Raton station that processed that mail.

'Playing With Our Lives'

Once they checked there, investigators found anthrax spores in a mail slot. Though postal officials tested some of the workers at the post office, union leaders are still demanding that the entire workforce at the station be tested and given antibiotics as a precaution.

"They [the Postal Service] are violating their own guidelines for dealing with anthrax," said William Smith, president of New York Metro Area Postal Union. "They're playing with our members' lives."

Nearly two years ago, on Oct. 8, 1999, a Postal Service internal memo instructed station managers on proper emergency procedures in cases where a letter or parcel is suspected of containing anthrax or other hazardous materials.

The memo says: "Make sure that damaged or suspicious packages are isolated and the immediate area cordoned off." The memo also directs supervisors to implement "mechanical shutdowns (including air handling equipment), isolation and evacuation."

Last week, several postal workers who attended anthrax training sessions telephoned or e-mailed me that their supervisors were downplaying any dangers.

Tests Delayed

A supervisor at one Brooklyn post office told his employees, "All the letters received with anthrax were very tightly sealed so the recipient would be the initial person to make contact." According to one worker, the supervisor also assured his charges they had "nothing to worry about."

It was not until Sunday, more than a week after the anthrax case at NBC was revealed, that postal officials conducted environmental tests at the Times Square post office — which handles mail for the Rockefeller Center area — and the Rockefeller Center station, which is downstairs from the NBC offices.

And it was not until Friday that postal workers at those stations were tested for anthrax.

The results of those tests won't be available for several days, said Postal Service spokeswoman Pat McGovern.

But that hasn't stopped business from returning to normal. Yesterday, out front at the Times Square station, people bought stamps and mailed packages to grandma.

But in the back rooms and upstairs, the workers mourned their dead colleagues — and worried that they'd be next.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001