200 Evacuated at Costco [Salem, Oregon]

Statesman Journal.com ^ | 11-19-03 | Jody Lawrence-Turner

[Victoria Delsoul]

Holmstrom said investigators also considered food poisoning as a possible culprit and asked store officials whether food samples had been offered for an extended time. Samples weren't offered until 11:30 a.m. - about the time of the initial call."

Hmmm, so food samples aren't free after all.

[stlnative]

KATU 2 News - Portland, Oregon
www.katu.com

Salem Costco evacuation mirrored those in other states

November 28, 2003

- SALEM - The authorities still don't know what made 28 people sick at a Costco in southeast Salem.
Dr. Karen Landers, Marion County Health Department medical officer, initially suggested that victims fell ill at the sight of other people becoming sick.

But Marlene Ivey, 46, of Salem, one of the first five people to become ill last week, does not buy that.

"I understand the doctor's logic," Ivey said. "But I think she needed to consider each individual in making her assessment. I found it really patronizing and a fairly easy label."

The Salem case shares similarities with two other evacuations at large retail stores.

In April 2002, authorities evacuated a Wal-Mart in Mirimar, N.J., after 17 people began complaining of nausea and vomiting. The store was closed for more than three hours while the cause was investigated.

In June 2003, The Publix supermarket in St. Petersburg, Fla., was evacuated after several people complained of throat irritation and coughing. Twenty-five people were affected.

The three incidents had common elements. Customers complained of symptoms such as throat irritation, nausea and dizziness; store officials evacuated their buildings; and public safety officials - mindful of anthrax scares and terrorist attacks - increased their response. In the Salem incident, even the FBI was notified.

In all three cases, investigators could not detect what caused the sickness.

Steve Hester, coordinator of Salem Fire Department's hazardous-materials team, said workers tested for several telltale gases but nothing was found.

Ivey, a former social worker, arrived at Costco about 11 a.m. on Nov. 18, "feeling great" and with 30 minutes to spare.

"I bought a shirt and went into the restroom to try it on," she said. "When I came out, I noticed two people laying down, but they were being assisted, so I didn't worry about it."

Ivey said she was engrossed in her shopping and returned to the clothing area. Soon, employees were evacuating the store.

"I was exiting the building and it hit me," Ivey said. "I started to get dizzy, and I felt like I was going to drop. I told them, 'I think I'm going to throw up."' She was taken outside and told to put her head between her legs.

"The employees treated the situation like it was a disaster," she said. "They practically pushed me into the ambulance.

Bryan Lee, a Salem paramedic, said it was after evaluating the patients that he felt something going on with his own throat. The incident commander encouraged him to have it checked out.

Lee was one of six paramedics who ended up in the emergency room.

"I don't know what caused it," Lee said. "We may never know."

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[stlnative]

Costco incident similar to others


ANDREA J. WRIGHT / Statesman Journal

Marlene Ivey of Salem was at the Salem Costco earlier this month when several people fell ill, forcing the store’s evacuation. “I felt as if I was going to pass out,” she said. “I’ve had some post-physiological symptoms and reactions I’ve never had before.”


As with the other scares, officials have been unable to find a cause.

JODY LAWRENCE-TURNER
Statesman Journal
November 28, 2003

Whatever made 28 people sick at Costco last week remains a mystery.

But such incidents are not unheard of.

Evacuations at large retail stores in New Jersey and Florida in the past 18 months mirror what happened Nov. 18 in Salem.

Officials cannot say what caused dozens of people to suddenly become sick at Costco on Hawthorne Avenue SE, at a Wal-Mart last year in Mirimar, N.J., and this summer at The Publix supermarket in St. Petersburg, Fla.

In each of the emergencies, one sure fact is that public-safety agencies were tied up for several hours. Another is that the people who became sick say their symptoms were all too real.

Dr. Karen Landers, Marion County Health Department medical officer, suggested at the time of the Costco incident that victims had reacted to the circumstances of the event rather than exposure to something toxic. They became sick at the sight of other people becoming sick.

It may have started with one person having a seizure and hitting his head, she said.

Marlene Ivey of Salem, one of the first five people to become ill, does not buy that.

“I was light headed, dizzy and had a little bit of a sore throat,” she said. “I was staggering. I felt like I was going to fall over. Then I heard someone say, ‘We’ve got a fourth one.’”

Salem paramedic Bryan Lee was one of the first to arrive at Costco to tend to the victims.

“I would say the first five patients were definitely experiencing symptoms that needed to be looked at,” said Lee, a paramedic of 12 years. “They seemed to be genuine.”

Ivey, 46, said this week that she still feels ill.

“I understand the doctor’s logic,” she said. “But I think she needed to consider each individual in making her assessment. I found it really patronizing and a fairly easy label.”

In April 2002, authorities evacuated a Wal-Mart in Mirimar, N.J., after 17 people began complaining of nausea and vomiting. The store was closed for more than three hours while the cause was investigated.

In June 2003, The Publix supermarket in St. Petersburg, Fla., was evacuated after several people complained of throat irritation and coughing. Twenty-five people were affected.

The three incidents have common elements.

First, several people fell ill. They complained of throat irritation, nausea, dizziness — or a “metallic taste” in the mouth.

Store officials decided to evacuate, setting off a public chain of events. Public-safety officials — with anthrax scares and terrorist attacks in the back of their minds — ratcheted up the response. In the Salem incident, at least, even the FBI was notified.

Ambulances and the media arrived. Hazardous-materials teams donned protective yellow suits and gas masks.

Ivey, a former social worker with the state Department of Human Services, arrived at Costco about 11 a.m. on Nov. 18, “feeling great” and with 30 minutes to kill.

“I bought a shirt and went into the restroom to try it on,” she said. “When I came out, I noticed two people laying down, but they were being assisted, so I didn’t worry about it.”

Ivey said she was engrossed in her shopping and returned to the clothing area. When she returned to the restroom, employees indicated that they were evacuating the store and told her to hurry up.

“I was exiting the building and it hit me,” Ivey said. “I started to get dizzy, and I felt like I was going to drop. I told them, ‘I think I’m going to throw up.’”

She was taken outside and told to put her head between her legs.

“The employees treated the situation like it was a disaster,” she said. “They practically pushed me into the ambulance.

“I’ve never had anything like this happen before. I haven’t felt well since then. I’ve been super tired. I’ve felt sick to my stomach.”

The Record, a newspaper in New Jersey, reported that one of the Wal-Mart customers said he couldn’t see anything or smell anything but that there was a “metallic taste to it.”

A hazardous-materials team tested the environment and found nothing to explain the illnesses.

In St. Petersburg, a member of a hazardous-materials team told the St. Petersburg Times: “It either dissipated, or with the technology we have, we were unable to see anything. That’s a large building with a lot of air space in there and a good ventilation system. It goes away pretty quickly.”

Steve Hester, coordinator of Salem Fire Department’s hazardous-materials team, said it was the same at Costco. Workers tested for several tell-tale gases but found nothing.

Last month, firefighters in Keizer evacuated about 40 people from a Safeway grocery store on River Road N after several people complained of throat and eye irritation, rashes and difficulty breathing.

Hester said that members of the hazmat team were unable to figure out what caused 15 people to feel ill.

In that case, all of the people were near the front doors in one place and immediately felt the effects.

“By the time we got there, the victims were recovering,” he said.

The people at Costco became ill in different locations.

Lee, the paramedic at Costco, said it was after evaluating the patients that he felt something going on with his own throat. The incident commander encouraged him to have it checked out.

“I’ve experienced slight irritations similar to this after fires, but I thought I should have it looked at,” Lee said.

Lee was one of six paramedics who reported to the hospital’s emergency room after the incident.

“I don’t know what caused it,” Lee said. “We may never know.”

Statesman Journal librarian John Marikos contributed to this story.

---

Costco scene calm but confused

JODY LAWRENCE-TURNER, TARA MCLAIN AND DENNIS THOMPSON JR.
Statesman Journal
November 19, 2003

Firefighters and police officers descended on Costco about midday Tuesday in a fuss.

A helicopter hovered overhead. Media vehicles lined Mission Street SE. The commotion seemed to scream “this is something big” to onlookers.

Several people stood in the parking lot, while others driving by craned their necks to get a peek.

Local authorities, Costco employees and its customers were responding after five shoppers became ill and fell to the cement floor inside the store.

Amity resident Ann Detrick said she had been in the store for a half-hour and was standing near the checkout area when she became shaky.

“I was just standing there, and all of a sudden, I just started having a seizure,” said Detrick, 59.

She said she didn’t fall but was unable to understand what paramedics were saying to her when they arrived. She said she had a brain injury earlier in the year and is predisposed to seizures.

Detrick said she didn’t smell anything but had a chemical taste in her mouth afterward.

Detrick’s aunt, Mary Dollar, said she did not smell or taste anything.

About the time that Detrick had her seizure, Dollar noticed two people on the floor near the front of the store.

“Because there was a man here and a woman over here, I thought there may have been a fight,” Dollar said.

Other customers were generally calm but confused and curious about what was going on.

Vanessa Hunt was with her 6-month-old son, shopping near the meat and cheese department at the back of the store, when she was ordered to leave.

Hunt left her full cart and exited out the front of the building. She said she saw a person on the floor at the front of the store.

She said she spoke with a man who was standing in line near another man who collapsed. Hunt said it was odd that one man had fallen ill while another next to him was unaffected.

Traffic around the shopping center continued to flow, although it was tough for people who wanted to go to businesses across Hawthorne Road SE such as the Denny’s restaurant or the Mill Creek Inn.

Bend resident Jim Bailey, 48, said he got stuck in traffic when he tried to turn right onto Hawthorne Road from Mission Street to get to the motel.

“I got in the turning lane and the traffic was getting out of the turning lane,” Bailey said. “I was stuck for a few minutes.”

Bailey ended up using a side road to get around to the inn.

The evacuation created a flood of customers for Denny’s as Costco evacuees went across the street for something to eat.

“We got nailed,” said restaurant manager Karen Muzgay. “I had to take a wait list. I can seat 200 people, and I was full for about two hours.”

Muzgay said she overheard many people talking about the evacuation. “There were people stranded, not knowing what was going on,” she said. “I had folks who were planning on shopping and were kind of confused about what happened.”

Muzgay didn’t see anyone suffering any illness. “Everyone here seemed okay,” she said.

---

[Salvation]

Has anything like this happened in the Portland area?

[Salvation]

Thanks for that link!

I wasn't just imagining the possibility of such things happening then, was I?

[Salvation]

Thanks for those links and articles, brigette!

[stlnative]

Here is a thought...

Large stores use sweeping compounds and sweeping compounds are made from sawdust, sand, and oil. I am not sure... but it is possible that some type of sweeping compound was being used AND possibly this sweeping compound may have had Spanish Cedar sawdust in it? Spanish Cedar sawdust is highly irritating even in small amounts. It leaves a metallic taste in your mouth and will give you a sore throat and will make you feel like you can't breath and that your throat is closing up. It takes very little exposure to it and all the symptoms start right away when you are exposed to it even in very very small amounts. If I was on the HazMat team, this would be one item I would be looking for in the stores, to see if they had someone pushing sweeping compound around the store when the problems occurred. I would have it tested to see if it had Spanish Cedar sawdust in it. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, this would explain why some got sick and not others. Spanish Cedar sawdust is very small in particle size, it actually comes out like a powder when you cut it on a saw and it does not make large pieces of sawdust like Pine or other woods do. Spanish Cedar sawdust can become airborne easily. Is it possible that Spanish Cedar sawdust is being mixed or mistakenly mixed in when they made the sweeping compound? Do these stores use sweeping compound and if so, was it being used when the people became sick?

Sweeping Compound

Spanish Cedar has natural oils in it, so it may be used in sweeping compounds. Just some thoughts and maybe a possibility of what may have caused these instant illnesses... Sweepers move around stores pushing the sweeping compound with a dry flat mop and the human sweepers also tend to shake out the dry flat mops causing the dust to float into the air.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Very disturbing story. Please post any updates if you find them.

[Hank Rearden]

I know. They were handing out those bean samples again.

[blackie]

I don't know ~ I live in Eugene. :)

[Timesink]

Technically it's known as "Mass Sociogenic Illness" these days, given the negative connotations of "hysteria."

Mass Psychogenic Illness

---

What is mass psychogenic illness?

Mass psychogenic illness is when groups of people (such as a class in a school or workers in an office) start feeling sick at the same time even though there is no physical or environmental reason for them to be sick.

Is mass psychogenic illness common?

Mass psychogenic illness has been talked about and written about for hundreds of years, all around the world and in many different social settings. No one keeps track of these outbreaks, but they are probably a lot more common than we realize.

What causes an outbreak of mass psychogenic illness?

Many outbreaks of mass psychogenic illness start with an environmental "trigger." The environmental trigger can be a bad smell, a suspicious-looking substance or something else that makes people in a group believe they have been exposed to a germ or a poison.

When an environmental trigger makes a group of people believe they might have been exposed to something dangerous, many of them may begin to experience signs of sickness at the same time. They might experience headache, dizziness, faintness, weakness or a choking feeling. In some cases, one person gets sick and then other people in the group also start feeling sick. 

How do we know an outbreak of sickness is caused by mass psychogenic illness?

The following might indicate that a group sickness is caused by mass psychogenic illness:

• Many people get sick at the same time.
• Physical exams and tests show normal results.
• Doctors can't find anything in the group's environment that would make people sick (for example, some kind of poison in the air).

The patterns of the outbreak (for example, the kinds of illnesses that are reported, the kinds of people who are affected, the way the illness spreads) might also give evidence of mass psychogenic illness.

However, if the following are true, you should see your doctor to be checked for a different reason for your health problem:

• Your illness lasts several days.
• You have a fever.
• Your muscles are twitching.
• Tears keep coming from your eyes.
• Your skin feels like it has been burned.

Why do people with mass psychogenic illness feel sick?

Think of how "stage fright" can cause nausea, shortness of breath, headache, dizziness, a racing heart, a stomachache or diarrhea. Your body can have a similar strong reaction to the stressful situations involved in mass psychogenic illness. Outbreaks of mass psychogenic illness show us how much stress and other people's feelings and behavior can effect the way we feel.

People who feel sick in an outbreak of mass psychogenic illness really believe it is possible that they have been exposed to something harmful. For example, when several cases of anthrax infection were confirmed in the United States, it was easy for people to believe it could happen to them too.  

An outbreak of mass psychogenic illness is a time of anxiety and worry. During an outbreak, a lot of media coverage and the presence of ambulances or emergency workers can make you and other people feel more anxious and at risk. At such a  time, if you hear about someone getting sick or if you see someone get sick, it can be enough to make you feel sick too.

Does this mean that the sickness is "all in my head"?

No, it doesn't. People who are involved in these outbreaks have real signs of sickness that are not imagined. They really do have headaches, or they really do feel dizzy. But in cases of mass psychogenic illness, these symptoms are not caused by a poison or a germ. The symptoms are caused by stress and anxiety, or by your belief that you have been exposed to something harmful.

Psychogenic illness can affect normal, healthy people. Just because you reacted this way to the threat of something dangerous does not mean there is something wrong with your mind.

How can an outbreak of mass psychogenic illness be stopped?

Most of these outbreaks stop when people get away from the place where the illness started. The signs of illness tends to go away once people are examined and doctors tell them that they do not have a dangerous illness. It is important to keep the people who feel sick away from the commotion and stress of the outbreak.

After experts check out the place where the outbreak started, they can tell people whether it is safe to go back to that place.

(Created 9/00)
(Updated 3/02)

[Minutemen]

bump

[Calpernia]

JustPiper, didn't you ping me to an incident with a subway? Similar incident?

[Salvation]

Officials stumped by scare at Costco

Officials stumped by scare at Costco

LORI CAIN / Statesman Journal

Salem firefighters wait to go inside Costco on Nov. 18 after several people fell ill. Officials haven’t determined the cause of the incident.

No dangerous substances found.

Statesman Journal
November 28, 2003

The Salem Fire Department hazardous-materials team used several tests to determine what caused 28 people to become ill at Costco.

Steve Hester, the team’s coordinator, said that nerve gas immediately was ruled out because the symptoms of the patients didn’t indicate that it was a factor.

The team used pH paper to measure acid and alkaline substances. The paper, used in most chemistry classes, changes color when coming in contact with either of the elements.

They first tested for three gases: oxygen, carbon monoxide and ammonia.

By testing for oxygen, the team was able to determine whether the oxygen level was increasing or decreasing, either of which could indicate that something is burning.

The team also used a device to measure for a gas caused by a refrigerant leak coming in contact with a heat source. The gas is called phosgene.

Symptoms from exposure to phosgene include coughing, a burning sensation in the throat and eyes, watery eyes, blurred vision, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting.

None of the gases were found in the air at Costco, but officials said that the gases could have dissipated before crews got into the building.

[JustPiper]

Local officials called in state and federal authorities to assist because the incident was being considered as a possible terrorist attack.

Sure did the subway story has been around a few weeks and again recently at WND. But hat is that connection with Costo Cal?

[JustPiper]

Local officials called in state and federal authorities to assist because the incident was being considered as a possible terrorist attack.

Sure did the subway story has been around a few weeks and again recently at WND. But what is that connection with Costco Cal?

[JustPiper]

Green Onions

[Calpernia]

I don't know if there is a connection. I just remembered something about an odd smell (pepper spray?) making people sick. There have been a few of these stories popping up lately.

Don't know if it is mass hysteria...or prank...or a test on response time.

[LayoutGuru2]

Oh please!!!! Did you have to post the Katz pic???

[JustPiper]

Don't know if it is mass hysteria...or prank...or a test on response time.

I go for the latter