ERs are reopened after chemical quarantine

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 1, 2008

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) -- Two hospital emergency rooms were mostly reopened Sunday, a day after being shut down under quarantine when eight people sickened by a dangerous chemical's release sought treatment.

Price McCarty, an FBI spokesman in Springfield, Ill., said the chemical release Saturday at the Ro-Corp. plant caused no deaths, countering a statement earlier Sunday by an East St. Louis' city official that two people had died.

The chemical, which authorities said was likely the highly toxic material nitroaniline, was released when a barrel was dropped at the Ro-Corp. plant.

The eight people sickened -- identified by the FBI as mostly Ro- Corp. workers -- remained hospitalized Sunday.

Three were in good condition at SSM DePaul Health Center in Missouri's St. Louis County.

The hospital reopened its emergency department Sunday afternoon after quarantining it the previous night, spokeswoman Jamie Newell said.

Three others were in satisfactory condition at St. Anthony's Medical Center. Most of the hospital's emergency department was reopened Sunday following decontamination, the hospital said on its Web site.