IAMA State employee quarantined due to an anthrax scare. AMA

Since you work at the DMV do you think emergency services are purposefully taking a long time to get you out? Some sort of poetic justice perhaps.

They actually were there and had the building evacuated within 15 minutes of us reporting it. They just didn't move us or send in the hazmat guys until like 2 hours later.

So, they arrived on time but it still took a couple hours to get their business done?

Yup, sounds like the DMV to me.

Florida's DMV isn't bad unless you're in Miami or Orlando.

Literally the two cities I live in. Magical.

They're still not too bad. The wait times can approach 45 min though. The goal is to ove people through in about 15, but obviously depending on what their issue is it can take longer.

2 hours, 1 answer. OP is dead.

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That video has made my day.

Sorry guys, they moved us into a more secure quarantine and then we had to strip down and shower and seal all of our possessions and clothes into a bag. I just got home. Field tests came back negative, but we're waiting on official results now.

any * ahem * proof photos?

They're in the original post.

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OH god. And I thought the quarantine was bad.

Now that the building's ventilation is turned off, are you concerned if any of your coworkers ate a large amount of beans?

Well, there is this one guy in our office who lives on Taco Bell...

and you're talking on the internet? great, now my computer is gonna catch the virus.

seriously though, hope you get through it ok!

Never bail on sarcasm.

Normally I wouldn't but I also don't want OP to die.

Thanks for the concern :)

did you read the letter in it's entirety?

Well, another co worker opened it, and then said it was talking about anthrax, so I scanned through it until I saw the word.

Did this guy just post an AMA answer a question and then fuck off?

Sorry about the length of time. Didn't have internet access from the time they moved us to the time they sent us home.

So you're not dead? Don't take this the wrong way but I'm a bit disappointed.

Not dead. And yea, I can understand that.

Are you getting paid over time?

Nope. We don't even get tomorrow off.

You could always "find" a letter with a mysterious powder in it

No thanks. Repeating today would not be worth the hassle.

Wow, nice employers.

I know right :/

This is probably going to sound horrible... but does it help any small measure to know that Anthrax is the name of a metal band and have you at all been inclined to listen to Anthrax during your quarantine? I would.

No, more of a bluegrass person, myself.

I was quarantined after being exposed to anthrax when I was in the military. I didnt think they still did stuff like that. Then shortly before I deployed I was given a smallpox vaccine by a corpsman who didnt read my paperwork and see that I had someone under 6 months living in my house. He gave me the shot and then realized he made a mistake, so I got locked up in the barracks for a week. You should be ok.

Yea, I'm not too worried about it. I think our office will be fine.

Everyone lets get to the real question here. What does it taste like?

Talcum powder :P

Tallahassee!

Yup!

RIP OP.

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Maybe it was one of those letters like "Don't stop reading this, if you do then your whole family will die of anthrax and you will have a billion years of bad luck, only way to avoid it is to share this to all your friends"

no, it was more of an "I hope you die from this" kind of letter.

Been in the same situation, also a state employee. They've probably done a number of things. One is the gag, two is it's possible they are currently trying to decontaminate OP. This can be a scary time for those involved. Ours turned out to be plain old chalk dust, however in this day and age you can't take chances.

Decontamination was pretty annoying. It wasn't really scary until I heard them walking down the hall with their boots, suits, and respirators. That sound is a bit chilling for some reason.

Did the letter look like it had powder on it?

Also, are you nervous that the threat might be legit? I get the feeling no one thinks the letter actually has anthrax on it.

I don't think it did. I mean we go through enough mail that everything kind of feels powdery from paper dust, but I didn't open it. The lady that did said she didn't feel any, but it could have just fallen out.

What is it like working for the government? Is there any encouragement from upper management to work more efficiently?

God no. It's such a bureaucratic nightmare it's ridiculous. It took them a month just to change a signature on the letterhead a while back.

Has anyone started foaming at the mouth and gotten increasingly hungry for human flesh yet?

No reports yet, but the z-virus has not been ruled out as far as I know.

What happens immediately after you have determined that this is a potential threat?

We have a plan called the SAFE plan in which we call some office up stairs. They then alert FHP, who is in the building with us and evacuate the rest of the building.

Do you like Anthrax, the band?

They're ok. I prefer bluegrass mostly, but out of the big 4, Megadeth and Slayer were my favorites.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/29/3370743/florida-highway-safety-agency.html

*edit

Jones said if no further problems were reported, employes would be asked to return to work at 1 p.m. Monday.

We got the rest of the day off. But yea, everyone else should be back to work by now.

Did a bunch of people in white suites show up and wash you down er what?

Yellow, but yea pretty much.

I suppose the good news is that anthrax isn't contagious person-to-person, and even if you have a confirmed exposure 60 days of antibiotics will usually clear it right up. Also, the chances of the substance being anthrax is extremely small.

Why do they quarantine then?

Just in case. Look at the recent Ricin incidents. If precaution hadn't been taken, things could have gone south fast.

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Thanks

Is this connected the Maryland prison inmate that has been sending them all over the country?

Possibly.

Are people in hazmat suits as creepy as they are in movies? It seems like it be pretty scary seeing someone dressed in one while your just sitting there in your everyday clothes.

When you can't see them, as they're coming up the hall, yeah. It's pretty chilling. But once they get in the same room it's not as bad.

Can anyone comment on the legality of quarantining a group of people? I understand the laws may differ from state to state. What would happen if you try to leave (jail, fines?).

They could probably Baker act you and then hold you for 72 hours.

Dude...I'm in Tallahassee. Surprised I haven't heard of this yet, but then again I'm down at the college.

It's all over WCTV, TDO, and everything else.

Are you waiting for CDC to come in and take care of things? If so, do you know what kind of process you'll go through to get decontaminated?

CDC mainly took care of most of it. Our locally trained Biohazard unit came in and went through their routine with assistance from local PD and Highway Patrol.

What are your theories on why the letter was sent or who might have done it?

Someone who was angry and probably crazy.

Knowing that mortality is a possibility, how are you coping with such thoughts?

Coping pretty well. Wondering why we were never trained to handle these types of situations.

What if there was no anthrax in it

Better safe than sorry.

So what happens if you try to make a run for it?

They probably would have tazed us.

Well I was wondering why traffic was particularly bad over there this morning...

Yea, we had like 3 firetrucks, and what seemed like every TPD and FHP car rushing to us, along with a few ambulances.

Did you have any training on opening suspicious mail?

I opened a large volume of mail for a state agency and we had a GIANT red button installed to stop the air system in the whole building in the event that we got a letter with powder in it OR a letter that said it had a dangerous substance on it.

Not at all. The main bulk of the mail is contracted out through Pitney Bowes. We handle the mail for the Records department only.

Possible Anthrax. Of course the first logical thing to do is to come on reddit.

Might as well. Not like we had anything better to do. Twiddle our thumbs for 2 hours? Naa, Reddit sounds much better.

Are you hungry? What would you eat if you could have anything?

Someone was supposed to be bringing me balsamic glaze salmon. I ended up still getting it, but not until about 20 min. ago.

Just to alleviate any questions as to why /u/stray_0 might not be replying.

In order to stop misinformation and to keep the situation under control through proper channels of communication the internet and phone lines may have been disabled. That along with a gag order telling them not to spread information even with their web connected devices.

No, none of that. We're allowed to talk to the media, but I don't really care to. We just had to wait as they ran field tests.

Just guessing, are you an IT guy?

No, I might as well be though. Our IT guys kinda suck.

How you feeling?

Definitely feeling shaken up. It's starting to set in just how serious today could have been.

Where are you located? Because I live in Boca Raton.

Tallahassee

Why do you guys fear heavy metal music so much?

It's the devil's music! :P

Do you feel like you are going to die? How many times have you masturbated since you found out?

No, no feelings of death.

Did you get to take a decontamination shower with any females? Did you offer to wash their chest carefully to make sure there was no stuff on it?

No, it was same sex, single showers. We actually have a gym at our building so they had us use the showers in that.

Did you live or die?

Live...for now

You happy it happened? You want it to happens again?

It tests the response pretty well. It was a bit stressful though.

Isn't your mail irratated or whatever to kill any living pathogens?

Not that I know of.