au- thorities could be performed in fifteen minutes to determine if anthrax spores were present; however, it was often unre- liable.
Newsweek reporter Jonathan Alter was a lot closer to the crime scene than he wanted. His desk was about fifty feet from where the exposure took place. As part of his part- time job as contributing correspondent for NBC News, he kept an office on the third floor of 30 Rockefeller Center. That floor was now sealed off by men in Hazmat moon suits. Only a short time before, employees had been eating pizza near where the powder had fallen. Alter wondered if they were safe.
The cast of Saturday Night Live was rehearsing floors above in Studio 8-H. They had been on hiatus from June through August and recently returned. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Darrell Hammond, Rachel Dratch, Jimmy Fallon, and the rest of the comedy stars were evac- uated from the building. Marci Klein, the show’s talent co- ordinator, who lived downtown near the World Trade Center, was not at work the day they discovered anthrax at 30 Rock. “I was at home,” she reported, “and when I called my office after hearing the news, a lot of people there were obviously hysterical. Drew Barrymore was the guest host for that week’s show, and she said, ‘I am going to leave, calm myself down, and go back to my hotel.’ I completely understood. Then I made sure to tell everyone that if they didn’t feel comfortable staying in the building, they should go home. Some people did say, ‘I am getting out of here, and I will come back when it is fine.’ It was a very scary situation, just horrible. I calmed Drew down, but I felt bad for her. Everyone thought she had left town and she didn’t. She stayed and she did the show. And this show is really scary to do under the best of circumstances.”
Steve Higgins, also of Saturday Night Live , said, “Marci was in control on the anthrax crisis, and so it’s one of those things where you go, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth. If they need me they will call me.’ I did talk to Drew about it after she talked to the doctor. She was freaked out in the beginning, but then in the end she put on that game face and went ahead with it.”
At midday, O’Connor sent word she was more concerned about her coworkers at NBC than about herself. “Anthrax is not contagious,” Alter wrote, “but fear is.” At 30 Rock
the line of people waiting to be tested “looked like a soup kitchen at Thanksgiving. Two hours, minimum,” Alter said. People were given an option to come back later or wait. Most waited. People even cut in line to be tested. Inside, they filled out several forms and were asked about symp- toms: “Where and when were you in the building in respect to the hot spot?” “What about vents in offices?” After ques- tioning by agents, they had their nostrils swabbed, but that is not a reliable test for anthrax.
The NYC Department of Health had little data on inha- lation anthrax. Once pulmonary symptoms appear, the spores have already germinated and begun to release toxins like a deadly flowering garden. Thirty “Rockers” were given Cipro starting immediately after exposure. Since the mor- tality rate for inhalational anthrax was so high—90 percent— a patient must take the antibiotic for two months to be effective.
“I had been on the third floor,” said an MSNBC staffer. “I remember the date because it was my boyfriend’s birthday—October 8, 2001. And they didn’t take away the letter until the twelfth of October. I came over from New Jersey when it was announced that Tom Brokaw’s assistant had cutaneous anthrax. At MSNBC we had a lot of military, terrorism, and former FBI people all sitting around. I told them, ‘Oh, my God, I was in the building.’ ‘You better go in,’ they said. ‘You don’t know if it was weaponized.’ I went in Friday and the line was so incredibly long that I couldn’t get in. I went back two days later and went right in
Newsweek reporter Jonathan Alter was a lot closer to the crime scene than he wanted. His desk was about fifty feet from where the exposure took place. As part of his part- time job as contributing correspondent for NBC News, he kept an office on the third floor of 30 Rockefeller Center. That floor was now sealed off by men in Hazmat moon suits. Only a short time before, employees had been eating pizza near where the powder had fallen. Alter wondered if they were safe.
The cast of Saturday Night Live was rehearsing floors above in Studio 8-H. They had been on hiatus from June through August and recently returned. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Darrell Hammond, Rachel Dratch, Jimmy Fallon, and the rest of the comedy stars were evac- uated from the building. Marci Klein, the show’s talent co- ordinator, who lived downtown near the World Trade Center, was not at work the day they discovered anthrax at 30 Rock. “I was at home,” she reported, “and when I called my office after hearing the news, a lot of people there were obviously hysterical. Drew Barrymore was the guest host for that week’s show, and she said, ‘I am going to leave, calm myself down, and go back to my hotel.’ I completely understood. Then I made sure to tell everyone that if they didn’t feel comfortable staying in the building, they should go home. Some people did say, ‘I am getting out of here, and I will come back when it is fine.’ It was a very scary situation, just horrible. I calmed Drew down, but I felt bad for her. Everyone thought she had left town and she didn’t. She stayed and she did the show. And this show is really scary to do under the best of circumstances.”
Steve Higgins, also of Saturday Night Live , said, “Marci was in control on the anthrax crisis, and so it’s one of those things where you go, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth. If they need me they will call me.’ I did talk to Drew about it after she talked to the doctor. She was freaked out in the beginning, but then in the end she put on that game face and went ahead with it.”
At midday, O’Connor sent word she was more concerned about her coworkers at NBC than about herself. “Anthrax is not contagious,” Alter wrote, “but fear is.” At 30 Rock
the line of people waiting to be tested “looked like a soup kitchen at Thanksgiving. Two hours, minimum,” Alter said. People were given an option to come back later or wait. Most waited. People even cut in line to be tested. Inside, they filled out several forms and were asked about symp- toms: “Where and when were you in the building in respect to the hot spot?” “What about vents in offices?” After ques- tioning by agents, they had their nostrils swabbed, but that is not a reliable test for anthrax.
The NYC Department of Health had little data on inha- lation anthrax. Once pulmonary symptoms appear, the spores have already germinated and begun to release toxins like a deadly flowering garden. Thirty “Rockers” were given Cipro starting immediately after exposure. Since the mor- tality rate for inhalational anthrax was so high—90 percent— a patient must take the antibiotic for two months to be effective.
“I had been on the third floor,” said an MSNBC staffer. “I remember the date because it was my boyfriend’s birthday—October 8, 2001. And they didn’t take away the letter until the twelfth of October. I came over from New Jersey when it was announced that Tom Brokaw’s assistant had cutaneous anthrax. At MSNBC we had a lot of military, terrorism, and former FBI people all sitting around. I told them, ‘Oh, my God, I was in the building.’ ‘You better go in,’ they said. ‘You don’t know if it was weaponized.’ I went in Friday and the line was so incredibly long that I couldn’t get in. I went back two days later and went right in
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