CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Workers at the state capitol complex tackled the ‘what if?’ Tuesday when a live exercise featuring Anthrax exposure took place.
Dozens of volunteers from all three branches of state government took part in the campus’ Closed Point of Dispensing (Closed POD) project.
“This is a way to make sure that the folks who work on this campus and their immediate households are protected,” state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety spokesman Larry Messina said. “Another major goal is continuity of government in the time of emergency.”
The scenario included some workers being exposed to Anthrax while others were not. The Closed POD protected those who were not by dispensing medicine to them.
“If there were an Anthrax exposure here on campus we would put the Closed POD into effect. There are folks around campus who have already been trained in how the Closed POD would work, just as we prepare for things like fires and we have fire drills,” Messina said.
The exercise ran three different times during a three-hour period.
Messina said state government has learned of no specific threat to the capitol complex but it’s wise to be prepared.
“It may be that this never occurs but we know that in some things that we have endured emergency planning is very important when it comes to protecting public health and the government continues to operate,” he said.