Livingston students participate in federal bioterrorism drill

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

If pneumonic plague is ever released in the area surrounding Kean University as part of a bioterrorist attack, 30 students from the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston have a pretty good idea of what to expect. They played victims as part of last-week’s TOPOFF 3, a four-day bioterrorism preparedness exercise run by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

The nation’s largest-ever antiterrorism drill, staged April 4-8 at an estimated cost of $16 million, TOPOFF imagined a simulated bioterror attack that “killed” more than 6,500 people in New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Kushner students were among 120 who participated, including students who came from Seton Hall University, Bloomfield High School, Nutley High School, and Montclair State University.

At the Department of Parks and Recreation in Nutley on April 6, the Kushner students volunteered to play victims and onlookers and were assigned roles; physical conditions were specified before they were sent off to be “treated.” They were among 263 volunteer nurses, physicians, trained emergency personnel, and “actors” from around the county.

During the exercise, pneumonic plague was “released” at Kean in Union from an SUV; the drill posited that it would have traveled to the Nutley area carried by college students who were exposed. “It’s a college student who comes home from Kean, then goes to the Recreation Center where he’s sweating, sneezing. That’s how it gets transferred,” said Nutley Mayor Joanne Cocchiola, speaking with the press outside the exercise area (journalists were not permitted inside the exercise area).

By midday on Wednesday, the “death toll” had reached 2,100, according to Erica Woods, health educator/risk communicator at the Essex Regional Health Commission. The pod at Nutley had run out of the medicine it was dispensing — not a planned part of the drill. That left 30 Kushner students standing around in the parking lot for about an hour, waiting to participate.

Evaluators from the federal government observed the exercise and are expected to issue their report in a few weeks, according to Woods. It is not expected that a full report will be released to the public, she said.

Some Kushner students said they felt things were a bit disorganized. “I really don’t know if they’re really prepared,” said 17-year-old Chayim Cohen of West Orange, who played a 37-year-old male who was exposed to the plague but was asymptomatic. “I was in three lines back and forth and then I waited on line for half an hour, and it didn’t move at all. If this was a real terrorist attack, people would be hysterical. There would be a lot more chaos than there is now, and I don’t know if they would be able to handle it.”

Others had a more positive experience. “I thought it was pretty organized. They did a pretty good job considering the number of kids there and what they had to deal with,” said Jessica Blank, 15, from Livingston. She portrayed a 21-year-old female who not only had been exposed but also had symptoms: she had a fever of 104 and she was coughing up blood. “I thought it was a nice experience because we got to see what would happen in case this, God forbid, actually happened.”

Debbie Rubenstein, 15, of West Orange said she gained insight into what it will take for the state to be ready for a bioterrorist attack. “You could see all the work and preparation that has to be done. And that more and more practice needs to be taken. One practice is good but we need a lot more…. It feels good to know they are actually working on it and trying to be safe.”

The students were recruited by Kushner guidance counselor Rabbi Richard Kirsch, who told NJJN he believes it’s important to get the students involved, volunteering in the community. “It’s a real kiddush hashem [sanctifying God] that we’re doing this. It’s important to show the broader community that we as a Jewish day school care not just about our fellow Jews but about the wider community.”

He said he also believes there is a lesson in participating for the students, beyond learning what to do in the case of a bioterrorist attack. “I explained to the students that it is a civic responsibility. We have to volunteer in these types of situations that benefit humanity.”

Adina Paretzky, 15, of Edison, said she wasn’t sure there was a particular Jewish imperative to participate; rather it was simply a matter of “moral values” to take part in the exercise. “It’s a moral obligation to help out in case of emergency.”

Johanna Ginsberg can be reached at jginsberg@njjewishnews.com.