By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
October 31, 2001
The headlines scream NEW YORK WOMAN DIES OF INHALED ANTHRAX or 4TH ANTHRAX DEATH! Do 4 deaths make a nationwide epidemic? No. Should the media be giving anthrax the O.J. Simpson or Gary Condit style news coverage, .i.e. all consuming and 24 hours a day? Is it so important that it should overshadow the thousands of deaths that occurred on September 11th at the World Trade Center?
I don't think so.
When news broke that anthrax was found at the Princeton, New Jersey Post Office, however, I admit that I did call my daughter who lives in the Princeton area to ask if she or any other member of her family had visited the Princeton Post Office recently. She laughed and assured me that she was communicating by e-mail and had, in fact, told her away-at-college daughter, who wanted her winter coat mailed to her, that she probably ought to buy a new coat instead.
As we talked I expressed puzzlement that anthrax seemed to have somewhat wandered off its previously established course by showing up in Princeton. At that, Gail made a comment that I have not seen in the news, but which certainly makes sense. "Oh," she said, "They figured that out here. It is the mail bins. They don't just stay in one post office. They think one of the bins that held the Daschle letter ended up at the Princeton Post office."
In Indiana, anthrax showed up in a facility that repairs mail machines. In New York, anthrax was found on four sorting machines. It sounds like we may be dealing with a simple case of over-looked possibilities. If you deal with a lot of mail, at some point you probably have had a post office plastic bin in your office. They are stacked up in the back of the post office, easily available to both the Post Office staff and to the public to carry piles of mail.
Much is being made of the fact that the latest death not being connected to the media or to post offices known to have processed mail containing anthrax.
We are also being told that the Daschle letter contained enough anthrax that it could have killed 2 million or more people. If, as it appears, that letter "leaked" enough anthrax to sicken or even kill postal workers in at least one post office - it undoubtedly DID leak the anthrax onto a mail bin. That could, as my daughter indicated, point to a possible explanation for the death that occurred in New York.
That suggests a couple of courses of action. Action number one would be to thoroughly disinfect ALL those plastic bins. That could be done in every post office in the country as a precaution. It might not only eliminate some anthrax bacteria, but also cold and flu bugs as a bonus. The second course of action would be for people to remember that the best way to avoid any disease is personal hygiene. Wash your hands. Before penicillin, families were very careful to teach the children to wash their hands before eating and after going to the bathroom. Today, how many teen-agers wash their hands, do you suppose, before they eat their fast food snacks or meals? Not very many.
If, as we are told, the Daschle letter contained enough anthrax to kill 2 million people, just think how much of a failure the bioterrorist who sent it must feel like these days. Obviously, there was enough anthrax in that letter to wipe out the Senate. And, the Senate staff. So far, not a single Senator, not even Daschle, has come down with anthrax.
Why, do you suppose, the letter was so ineffective? THAT's the story someone in Washington needs to write. Why is it that such quick and effective action was taken? Could it possibly be that there was some efficiency along the way in the postal service, the Police Department, the Justice Department, the doctors and nurses involved in all the thousands of people who are now taking CIPRO? I think there could be. Perhaps its time for someone to write a story about how amazingly successful the fight against bioterrorism has been so far.
Compared with the six thousand deaths on September 11th, it appears that a bioterror attack aimed at wiping out at least the Senate completely failed. The use of hijacked airplanes as bombs were apparently planned kill up to 30,000 at the World Trade Center and thousands at the Pentagon. The fourth airplane failed to reach its target because of the bravery of a handful of Americans It was probably headed for the White House or the Capital building.
We have much to be thankful for these days, folks. It could have been, it was intended to be, much, much worse. The President has it about right. Pay attention. Report anything suspicious. I would add, wash your hands often, get a flu shot and take sensible precautions, such as my daughter not sending her daughter her winter coat! But don't become paralyzed with fear. In a bioterrorist attack, fear kills more people than the germs do. Go to the ball game. Go shopping. Most importantly, stay calm, don't fall for propaganda designed to destroy your confidence in America.
Remember, even with six thousand deaths what we are experiencing today is not even close to what the world experienced in World War II. In Poland, 6,123,000 people died. Of that number, only 123,000 were the Polish military. Six million Polish civilians died. That was about 17.2 % of the Polish population. The majority of those people were Jews. Some of the survivors now live in Israel. In Yugoslavia, 1,706,00 people died, 10.9% of the population. Nearly all were civilians, most of them were Serbs. The United States, from December 7, 1941 to August 6, 1945 lost about 500,000. That was .4% - less than one half of one percent of our population.
If in the present attacks on America we were experiencing comparable death rates, instead of 4 deaths from anthrax and 6000 deaths from destroyed buildings, how many deaths could we expect? If we were experiencing what the Serbs experienced, for example, we would have about 27 MILLION deaths. If we allowed it to get to the level of Poland, we would have about 46 MILLION deaths. If we experienced the level of deaths in this war on terrorism we experienced in World War II. .4%, we would have about a million deaths.
We do have a lot of enemies out there. I get e-mail from some of them who really believe we are going to fall apart. They really believe in their own propaganda. However, united and courageous, we are unstoppable. Divided and frightened, the terrorists might win.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com