Mail carriers to bring drugs in anthrax attack

[Thor_MN]

Source: Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Government mail carriers would deliver emergency supplies of antibiotics to people in U.S. cities in the case of an anthrax attack, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials said on Wednesday.

The system has been tested in three large cities -- Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston -- and a pilot program is set to begin soon in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said there was no evidence any attack was imminent but that it was important for authorities to have a quick distribution system ready.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4906HH20081001

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Extraordinary coincidence that they got this ready just in time for election season. I really dislike the amount of attention that the rethugs are lavishing on Minnesota. I refuse to believe that Minnesota is actually in play.

[SheilaT]

1. This is yet another in the

constant "Be afraid, be very afraid" crap that's posted and stated regularly.

Such a report makes it seem likely that an anthrax attack is likely to happen and affect a lot of people, when in reality it's not all that easy to pull off. It also assumes that people receiving the antibiotics would take them correctly. And it assumes that the mailmen in question would really go out door to door if there really were such an (incredibly unlikely) "anthrax attack". And it assumes that there really are enough doses of the antibiotic and that they will magically be located where they are going to be needed. Yeah, I read through the article and saw where it claims millions of doses are already stockpiled. It doesn't exactly specify which antibiotic, what it's shelf life is and just how it needs to be stored.

In short, this is one more of the usual scare tactics we've been bombarded with almost constantly for years now.

[Wizard777]

2. That's actually kinda smart.

If they can deliver the anthrax in the attack. They can deliver the antedote too. Why not?

[bikebloke]

3. Now I feel real safe.

My local post office takes delivery days off. Like today. No mail delivery in my building. It happens about once a week. And judging by Netflix returns, they don't always send those out until they feel like it.

[htuttle]

4. So we're putting the safety of the country in Newman's hands?

I have friend that's a mail carrier. I'll have to ask him what he thinks about this idea...

[Edweird]

5. Dumbest. Idea. Ever. Postal carriers are not military. You cannot "order" them to deliver the drugs.

When there's an attack, they will be home with their families JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE! Even without an attack, they aren't exactly Johnny-on-the-spot.....

[proReality]

6. Who are they going to send to force us to take the antibiotics?

'Cause I'm allergic to them and I'm not taking any drugs!!!

[frylock]

7. through rain, sleet , or nuclear-biological-chemical attack..

you've gotta be fucking shitting me with this.

[Snazzy]

8. from ap version

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081001/D93HUSRO0.html

...

Some 700 letter carriers who deliver to 20 ZIP codes are eligible for the Minneapolis pilot project. Medical teams will screen volunteers to be sure they are appropriate candidates for a prescription of doxycycline. The carriers also would have to be physically fit enough to wear a special anthrax-protective mask while walking their mail routes.

Volunteers receive extensive education, including a prohibition on dipping into their stored doxycycline for any other reason. Raub does not think that is a big threat. In a different test, medication kits went out in advance to emergency responders in St. Louis to see if they would store them properly without using them; more than 98 percent of the kits were returned intact.

....

(and 2% experimented with snorting the stuff?)

[Javaman]

9. well given the fact that weaponized anthrax is small enough to pass through

the walls of an envelop, I don't see how the mail carriers will be able to deliver "antidotes" when they themselves will probably be sick as well.

more fear and stupidity brought to you directly via homeland insecurity.

[tom_paine]

10. Ah, but poltically savvy fear and stupidity brought to you by the Bushigandists.

They need to keep Minnesota close enough to steal. It's got all the earmarks of a Bushie Target, including the virtue of surprise.

How often do you hear "Minnesota" in connection with where people are afraid concentrated Bushie Electoral State-Supported Fraud is going to happen? (Minnesota has a Loyal Bushie Gov and SOS, right? That's all that is required for them, you know)

The Shock Doctrine. It worked for the Nazis. It worked for the Bolsheviks and Stalinists. It works for the Bushies.

Minnesota as Prime Target of Bushie Electoral Fraud Ops would be a stunning flanking maeuver no one is ready for.

Gawd. I just realized that. Uh-oh.