Mail delivery at AU should return to normal today after being halted Friday when the possibility of anthrax spores shut down 11 D.C.-area postal facilities.
The false alarm shut down the Friendship Station Postal Office, AU's last stop for mail, when suspected anthrax spores were found at its mail-sorting facility in Anacostia.
A sensor in a sorting machine at the Naval Consolidated Mail Facility in Anacostia indicated the presence of anthrax spores Wednesday, according to a U.S. Postal Service press release.
According to an e-mail Don Myers, vice president of finance and treasurer, sent to the campus community Friday, "We currently have no reason to believe that our mail has been affected."
Mail processing returned to normal after test results showed Friday night that there was no anthrax, a press release said.
Anthrax is a deadly infectious disease, spread by spores that can cause fever, flu-like symptoms and possible death.
The Friendship Station facility, at 4005 Wisconsin Ave., was shut down Friday along with nine other D.C.-area post offices and a sorting facility on V Street. Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan said that the Friendship Station, like the others, was shut down because the Navy picks up mail from there and takes it to the Anacostia sorting facility.
AU mailroom manager Siraaj Abdullah said that Mail Services employees go to Friendship Station around 7 a.m. weekday mornings to pick up AU's mail. When they went Friday morning, they found the post office closed, which is why there was no mail on campus, he said.
"We're going to try on Monday to pick the mail up," Abdullah said Friday afternoon.
Abdullah said that before AU's mail arrives at Friendship Station, it is processed at a facility in southern Maryland that was not affected by the anthrax scare.
Mail delivery to Park Bethesda did not appear to have been affected either.
"The mail came today," Park Bethesda concierge Danny Rehr said Friday.
The 11 facilities that were shut down were all tested for anthrax, a press release said.
In fall of 2001, two letters with anthrax spores were sent to Capitol Hill. The Brentwood postal facility in Northeast D.C., which processed mail for both Capitol Hill and AU, has been closed since Oct. 2001.
The incidents in 2001 also affected AU. "Mail was delayed for a while, and some people didn't get their mail," Abdullah said.
Abullah was grateful for the new equipment the Postal Service has to catch potential anthrax, he said.
"The good thing is that they have this equipment in place because of 2001," Abdullah said.