NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Vice President Dick Cheney -- who has not made many public appearances since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- visited "Ground Zero" in New York City Thursday and attended the annual Alfred E. Smith dinner.
Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani escorted Cheney to the 16-acre site where the World Trade Center once stood.
Later Cheney was the featured speaker at the $800-a-plate Smith gala dinner, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which raises money for numerous charities of the Archdiocese of New York.
The annual dinner, named after the New York governor who was the first Roman Catholic candidate for president, is considered a "must go to" for New York politicians and is often attended by presidents or presidential candidates.
New York City officials begged residents to not flood emergency rooms to be tested for anthrax, despite a third case of cutaneous anthrax by an employee in Dan Rather's office at CBS news. The CBS employee is being treated and is expected to recover fully.
"We've gotten a number of calls from hospitals that people are asking for nasal swabbing and this is really taxing valuable emergency room resources," said Dr. Neal Cohen, New York City health commissioner. "Now that we are 17 days out when this employee had an exposure to some granules that were delivered by envelope, we don't believe there is a public health concern in the building or on the floor but certain locations will be cordoned off in the course of this criminal investigation."
Cohen explained that nasal swabbing is not a test for anthax or anthrax illness. It just gives a sense of whether or not a person has been exposed and often only a few spores are evident. However, it takes about 8,000 to 10,000 spores to make someone ill with anthrax.
"It's very likely that in the event of exposure in the course of several days these spores won't longer be there any more so it doesn't provide useful information," Cohen said. "Swabbing should be limited to individuals at the scene of exposure because it allows the health department and the Centers for Disease Control to determine the dispersal of anthrax sores and the potential of any public health impact, if at all," said Cohen.
Giuliani said people are scared and "it's all right to be scared" but people should remain calm and not overreact because the chance of being exposed to anthrax is very small and "we must not be emotional about this."
"We've got 500 tests back form NBC last night negative for anthrax and 350 more tests back today -- all negative," Giuliani said. "Out of 70 tests at ABC, 59 have been returned negative and we're waiting for the results of the rest."
The New York City Board of Education official is testing the air of Stuyvesant High School located blocks away from Ground Zero because students have been complaining of headaches and sore throats.
The high school was the first of the seven schools closed as result of the attacks on Sept. 11 and its 3,000 students returned last week. Some parents were concerned of the air quality but school officials said the air had been tested on numerous occasions.
"We're trying to ascertain whether they have any base-line health conditions that could be impacting or influencing these problems," Cohen said. "The air quality in that immediate area continues to be well within the limits of health and safety standards."
However, school officials have said that part of the problem may be that the air-conditioning vents had been closed at the request of parents to keep out the air from the World Trade Center where smoldering fires still exist.
School officials think that carbon monoxide emitted by a building full of people breathing was not allowed to escape so beginning Thursday, the vents will be opened 40 percent, rather than the 10 percent of the past week.
The school board will also test for smaller particles of asbestos and start testing for fiberglass and silica particles.
Giuliani said he supported the Board of Education's resolution passed Wednesday night to require public schools to lead students in the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of school days, school assemblies and school events.
"Young people should recite the Pledge of Allegiance," the mayor said. "We're not in some foreign country or on Mars."
According to the resolution, similar to a 30-year state law ignored by many schools, students and staff do not have to participate.
The New York Civil Liberties Union has objected because many students in the New York City system are not American and could be "scapegoated or targeted for harassment" if they didn't participate.
Meanwhile, according to city officials:
-- 4,515 people declared missing by the police
-- 458 have been declared dead
-- 408 bodies have been identified
-- 121 people declared dead in court
-- 1,665 death certificates applied
-- 285,365 tons of material and rubble removed
-- 23,473 truckloads of debris removed
--64,285 truckloads of steel removed
--349,650 total tons of WTC debris removed
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(with reporting by Alex Cukan in Albany, N.Y.)
