DEP Press Advisory on Deer Hunting Cancellation, October 2, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Experts say more needs to be done By LUKE CYPHERS, TERI THOMPSON and ROBERT INGRASSIA If an outbreak in the city turned out to NEWS SKFF WRITERS bc Widespread, the federal government j^th Attorney General John Ashcroft warning of a “clear and SSSSSnSS present danger” of a followup terrorist attack using hazardous sites around the country. materials, city officials are redoubling efforts to protect against a Each of those federal facilities con- ” tains 50 tons of medical supplies — vac­ cifinical or biological assault. cines, syringes, IVs, antibiotics, anti­ ilhe city has a plan to respond to any efforts to prevent the spread of any bio- dotes, gas masks and ventilators — that bibterrorism, but security experts and chemical attack. can be rushed to attack locations. health offidals said the city and federal To that end, a computer system main- _ _________ government must do more. tained by the city Office of Emergency laKIHg HO CHailCeS S“We can’t forget about this threat once Management evaluates daily input from Trucks loaded with such supplies — the World Trade Center attack cools off,” 911 calls, hospital admissions, sales of flu and enough medicine to treat 10,000 peo- said Stephen Morse, director of the medicine and other health data, accord- pie for anthrax, the plague and other dis­ Public Health Preparedness Center at ing to Jerome Hauer, a security expert eases —arrived in New York within hours Columbia University’s Mailman School and former director of that city agency. of the Sept. 11 Trade Center attacks. oTPublic Health. *We have to keep build- “If you see a spike in emergency room The attacks also triggered parts of the injg^ur response system.” admissions, you can track it quickly and city’s bioterrorism response plan. Within Some terrorist experts warn that bio­ investigate it,” he said. “It could be bad hours, a specially trained National Guard logical and chemical attacks, such as the tuna fish at school or it could be some- unit from upstate Scotia was testing for release of anthrax or the spraying of sarin thing more threatening." airborne chemical or biological agents. -gas, arp thp next frontier of terrorism. The Health Department also has The city Health Department sent doctors Others downplay the likelihood of framed emergency'loom workers and—to-i5 sentinel hospitals to look nut for such warfare, saying biological agents family doctors to report the appearance unusual illnesses. are difficult to obtain and even harder to of odd diseases. That program helped While the city is workmg hard to spread in a way that would infect large the city recognize the presence of the make sure that its response plan is numbers of people. West Nile virus in 1999. adequate, any perception of ./ Despite the uncertainty, New York offi­ readiness is speculative — cials have established a program designed Mobilization planned public-safety agencies have to detect any sudden outbreak of disease. At the first recognition of an out­ never handled a large- Quietly, simulated attacks have been break, health officials would mobilize scale biological or conducted to test response efforts. trained staffers to interview sick people chemical assault Special squads of firefighters have and physicians to determine where vic­ “We should­ been created to handle chemical inci­ tims were exposed. n’t mislead dents, though many of them are believed The city would activate up to 300 cen­ people by to have perished in the World Trade ters across the five boroughs to distribute saying how Center collapses. antibiotics or antidotes. It also would cre­ ready we Those squads, which usually respond ate alternative care sites so hospital beds are,” said to gas leaks and other possible poison­ could be reserved for the seriously ill. Dr. Rex ings, are equipped with chemical and Last week, the Greater New York Archer of biological agent detectors, nerve gas Hospital Association conducted a semi­ Kansas 1 antidotes and protective suits. Squad nar for hospital workers, and, officials City, Mo., members also are trained to summon said, the training will be expanded in the who chairs W trucks to decontaminate victims. coming months. a bioterror- Sj Experts warn that if terrorists were to “This needs to be done not just in hos­ ism panel for succeed in unleashing smallpox or pitals, but for physicians in private prac­ a national anthrax germs, the attack could go tice,” said Dr. Allan Rosenfield, dean ©f group of health unnoticed for days. Columbia’s Mailman School of Public officials. “On a readiness Early detection of an outbreak is con­ Health. “In a lot of these cases, doctors scale of zero to 100, even the sidered a key to New York’s plan for aren’t familiar with the agents, and that best-prepared cities like New treatment of bioterrorism victims and its has to be a big part of the program.” York are probably a 10.”

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