|
|
Oct. 22, 2001
Feingold to Back Human Rights Request
By Melanie Fonder
"One of the most pressing and disturbing issues of our time (is) the threat of germ weapons used by terrorists. That threat is real. Although the threat has low probability, I would argue strongly that there is an increasing probability - with huge consequences."
-Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a physician, on Oct. 3, 2001
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- My co-worker Alex is on Cipro, a drug I didn't know the name of until a few weeks ago. Last Monday he was in the Hart Senate office building, where an anthrax-laced letter was opened in Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office, infecting -- at last report -- 20 of his staffers, two of Sen. Russ Feingold's staffers whose office is next door and six Capitol Police officers.
Like Tom Brokaw noted the other night, our new mantra seems to be, "In Cipro we trust." And, as just about everyone knows by now, Cipro is post-Sept. 11 lingo for Ciprofloxacin, one of the antibiotics that can be used to treat anthrax.
These days, a small white pill also used to treat urinary tract infections is almost a badge of honor. Among the other random facts I've memorized on this topic-of-the-month: Anthrax vaccine is contracted to be made in a plant in Lansing, Mich.; it is not contagious; the Bayer Corp., which holds the patent on Cipro, has stepped up production of the drug threefold; and we still don't know where it's coming from.
We're all learning this new language, perhaps somewhat slowly, as was evidenced by the response on Capitol Hill last week. I would venture to call Wednesday, Oct. 17, the most confusing, often panic-filled day since Sept.11.
The day also marked an unprecedented shutdown of the House -- but firsts haven't been exactly hard to come by in the last month and a half.
Dueling press conferences between representatives and senators resulted in conversations between reporters like this as they dashed from the House side to the Senate side:
"Well, Daschle just said it's absolutely fine and they found it in his office anyway, so he must be right."
"But Hastert must know more because he's third in line for the presidency and he said it was BLOWING through the ventilation system - why else would everyone be outside?"
"Still, Frist is a doctor and he was out with the Senate leadership -- he must know it's fine to be here more than anyone."
We sounded about as informed as former Wisconsin guv-turned Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson confidently proclaiming that the first anthrax case in Florida, that of the photo editor who died, was "isolated."
The contradictory facts quickly made their way onto cable television -- which must be right -- and caused much more panic outside the Beltway than in. By the time we figured out what was happening, it was too late.
My friend called from halfway across the country to demand that I stand in the growing line (located in the Hart building), filled with hundreds of nervous Capitol Hill staffers, and get my nose swabbed.
My mom, the nurse, had more medical questions than I did. Staffers, reporters and members of Congress who did get tested were given a three-day supply of Cipro. A more select group was given a three-month regimen.
A phone call would come only if the test results turned out to be positive for anthrax exposure. I don't need to be tested (so far). I wasn't in the southeast corner of Hart on the fifth or sixth floors on Friday or Monday -- and I felt just fine, unless you count lack of sleep as an anthrax symptom.
Anthrax isn't exactly tasteful to joke about yet, but we've all been doing it -- either out of nervousness or habit. And maybe because it is remarkably fun to yell it out like the duck says ``AFLAC.'' My editor (before the Daschle letter was opened and was thought to be only at New York and Florida media outlets) even put some salt in an envelope and handed it to another colleague.
Now, on Saturday as I write this, the first traces of anthrax were found on the House side of the Capitol Complex, in the mailroom of the Ford Office Building. The anthrax was found in a sorter that sends mail to the Longworth House Office Building, where the offices of Wisconsin Reps. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee, Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison and Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, are all located.
This could certainly mean more people were exposed than originally thought. But it could also mean the opposite. The point is: we don't know. Officials will almost have completed the environmental sweep of the Capitol complex by the time you read this.
Some parts of Capitol Hill might still be closed down when the House and Senate reopen for business early Tuesday morning.
But they will reopen. My colleague Alex will be nervous when he answers the phone for a while. Cipro will be dutifully taken for three months by some 120 employees. And even though cable news has proven useful since Sept. 11, you should never believe the initial reports you see on TV.
Melanie Fonder is WisPolitics.com's Washington correspondent and a staff writer for The Hill, a weekly newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. Write to her at: info@wispolitics.com |
