With Tests Inconclusive, Crews Clean Post Office

Decontamination crews cleaned a post office Sunday in the Trenton area because anthrax tests at the facility were inconclusive.

The U.S. Postal Service wanted to take advantage of the long Veterans Day holiday weekend to clean the facility in Allentown as a precaution, said Sam Bolen, a postal service spokesman for central and northern New Jersey.

“They want to make sure we open up all clean Tuesday,” he said.

Nineteen samples from the facility tested negative, but one was uncertain; that sample was being retested by the Atlanta-based federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Dennis McGowan, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services.

If the sample is positive, Allentown would be the eighth New Jersey postal facility contaminated by anthrax bacteria. Five people in the state have confirmed cases of anthrax and there are two suspected cases.

On Saturday, four central New Jersey post offices that tested positive for anthrax contamination--Jackson Township, Princeton Borough, Rocky Hill and Trenton--were reopened after being cleaned.

All four are linked to the Hamilton Square processing center that handled three contaminated letters sent to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, the New York Post and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Health officials believe the four received mail that had been tainted at Hamilton Square, which remains closed.