Two million pieces of standard A mail are now stranded at the U.S. Postal Service’s mail processing facility in Bellmawr, NJ.
The plant was closed on Wednesday after an employee was suspected of coming down with anthrax. First class mail was shipped out that day.
The facility processes a total of 5 million pieces of mail per day, according to USPS spokesman Ralph Stewart.
It was not known at presstime who sent the Standard A mail.
Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association, said that first class mail normally takes priority over advertising mail, and that he was not overly concerned.
The mail processing center is still closed, pending the outcome of tests by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Centers for Disease Control and New Jersey state Dept. of Environmental Protection, said Stewart.
According to news reports, the installation near Camden, NJ was closed Wednesday after an employee, a 54-year-old man, was suspected of having the skin anthrax.
That employee, whose name was not disclosed, is still awaiting the results of a biopsy.
The Bellmawr facility will remain closed until tests show that no anthrax is present. Stewart did not give a timetable.
This latest case follows an outbreak of anthrax at the West Trenton, NJ post office and nearby Hamilton mail processing center.
The Bellmawr plant serves 159 local post offices and delivers mail to 1.1 million locations in southern New Jersey and parts of Delaware.
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