Washington-area post offices closed for anthrax testing
Eleven Washington-area post offices remained closed Friday morning while officials looked into potential anthrax contamination.
The Postal Service closed the facilities Thursday afternoon when an air sample from the Naval Consolidated Mail Facility in Southeast D.C. tested positive for anthrax. Most mail handled at the Navy facility also passes through the V Street N.E. Post Office, which services federal agencies.
Postal Service officials decided to close the eleven facilities "out of an abundance of caution," according to spokesman Azeezaly Jaffer. The Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Md., is conducting further tests.
Employees at the 11 closed facilities reported to work at alternate locations on Friday morning, according to Jaffer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that five contract employees who were potentially exposed to contaminated air take antibiotics as a precautionary measure, said Lt. Mike Kafka, a Navy spokesman.
The number of spores detected at the Navy facility fell well below the threshold considered infectious by the CDC, and workers handling mail at the facility wear protective gear, Kafka said. "We're always going to err on the safe side," he added.
Routine air quality tests at the Navy facility produce approximately one positive anthrax result a month, Kafka said. When positive results appear, the facility submits samples for follow-up tests and decides whether the office should remain open based on those results. In the current situation, one of eight follow-up tests showed a weak positive result, Kafka said.
"We think it was appropriate for them to close the post offices as a precautionary measure," said Sally Davidow, a spokeswoman for the American Postal Workers Union, adding it was too early to further assess whether the Postal Service handled the situation appropriately.
A spokesman for the National Association of Letter Carriers declined to offer any comments.
Postal Service officials said they would reopen the facilities "as soon as possible," with minimal disruption to mail service.
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