New York Daily News – by Erin Durkin
A massive anthrax attack will hit the city Friday — or at least that’s what 1,500 staffers from a dozen city agencies will hear first thing in the morning, setting off the biggest surprise emergency response drill the city has ever attempted.
Preparing for the possibility of a biological attack, the workers — aware they’re participating in a drill — will respond to calls starting at 5:30 a.m. and scramble to set up 30 sites around the five boroughs, handing out drugs to combat the deadly agent.
“We’re exercising a worst-case scenario,” said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, first deputy commissioner at the Health Department. “Whether it’s a released biological agent or whether it’s a naturally occurring disease epidemic, we want to make sure every New Yorker has access to life-saving medications.”
The city will simulate a scenario where anthrax is released in a crowded area, and people exposed to it disperse to their homes and jobs, potentially spreading contamination city-wide.
Fake doses of antibiotics cipro and doxycycline will be rushed in under NYPD escort from warehouses at secret locations in the region.
Officials will set up distribution points at 30 different spots, mostly public school buildings, staffed by multi-lingual workers who will urge visitors to pick up free medications for themselves and at least five other people.
The goal is to get as many New Yorkers on the drugs as fast as possible — because without quick action, an anthrax release could quickly become a disaster.
“The thing about anthrax is it has a very high fatality rate,” said Barbot. “It would be catastrophic.”
The exercise is expected to cost $1.4 million, paid for by federal Homeland Security funds.
Besides the Health Department and the NYPD, the Department of Education, Office of Emergency Management, mayor’s office, Transportation Department and a slew of other agencies are participating in the drill.
Again, WHAT THE HELL IS A BASE FOR IF THEY DON’T DO SIMULATIONS THERE? Oh yea, that’s right. It is to house the illegals.
Hang ’em all!! 😡
Got gas masks, Angel?
LOL