Longmont(CO) girl's death prompts Hazmat response

LONGMONT - Longmont police, donning Hazmat gear, are investigating the death of a 6-year-old girl who died Monday morning. Pollice say she went to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. Cmdr. Jeff Satur said investigators have sealed one unit of a four-plex apartment in the 700 block of Darby Court where the girl lived. Satur said there is no danger to the public. Investigators are wearing Hazmat suits as a precaution, Satur said, as they investigate the building. The street is closed near the apartment, he said.

I find it interesting that the entire street was blocked off. It states she was taken to an area hospital, yet hazmat still cordoned off the fourplex she lived in. I wonder if they had reason to believe that this could be some kind of very contagious virus. The article says it was for "precautionary reasons" , however, I have never seen this kind of response for ordinary "flu like symptoms". Anybody else ever seen this kind of response for the flu? Will be interesting to keep an eye on. www.9news.com...
www.thedenverchannel.com...

Where is Longmont ? I want to be sure to stay away!...I feel badly for the girl who died and her parents...I can't even imagine! Hazmat suits? Really? Sounds like the black plaque....or anthrax.

lol at there`s no danger to the public,but they are wearing hazmat suits?

It sounds like they are saying there`s no danger to you commoners, if you catch a deadly virus and die it`s no big deal but we need hazmat suits to protect ourselves because we are a notch above you peons we are too important to risk catching something deadly.

I never realized they need hazmat suits to investigate a potential flu death. I hope that it's not something else since I go to the community college in Longmont. I also give my sympathies to the parents of the child. No parent should have to bury their child.

reply to post by scholarwarrior


That was my thought as well, it very well be dare I say drug related(ingestion of)? I hope not as well. Strange at any rate that they would wear these suits, close down the street, and evacuate the fourplex, yet there is no threat to the community?

reply to post by thesmokingman

Ok, will keep an eye on it for sure. Let a few friends know too. A family member older like myself or middle aged ended up in the hospital with the flu but this is different I think. Either they have set new rules for safety precautions ( well perhaps DHS has ) or they suspect something rather contagious. When I was a girl
back in the fifties and sixties a little 6 year old got on our bus one morning but was feeling sick so got off.
People, that little girl died of meningitis and those who got close needed some meds just in case. Do you suppose it could be that or is this a hint of something much worse to come..now didn't some folks get exposed to that disease carried in mouse feces in Colorado here of late? Do you think that could be what happened?

I seem to recall a year ish ago..reading an article about a mass grave dug up and the bodies were all from the bubonic plague era! I don't remember where, but it was mid west somewhere..not close to me or the east coast. And I remember thinking..now that it's been reexposed.. if the wind could carry it or not carry it, am I in danger? Or how long before it kicks in again? ....hmmmmmm...

could it be tuberculosis?
denver.cbslocal.com...
articles.latimes.com...

There is a NOVEL SARs virus that is from Qatar going around maybe it's that.

There was a case a few years back where a woman arrived at the ER with solvent on her skin, apparently used for pain. The change in temp and pressure caused the chemical to transform into a variety of nerve gas. It took years before they got the mechanism of the chemical reaction figured out....and even now it is still only considered a "best guess."
As someone trying to overcome the flu myself, I don't think it was just exposure to flu that prompted Hazmat suits. Most likely case for a bug would be TB. But the most use first responders get from a suit would be meth labs. A meth lab is toxic in the extreme, but usually is contained to a small area, so managing the scene would not need to involve much more space than a single apartment.

Sounds to me like it could be methamphetamine related. But until there is more info, we are all just speculating.

reply to post by heyitsok


That's the best take on this one I've seen so far, so you get the Star ! Actually, as far as this part of Colorado, it's a wonder everyone is not sick here, the flu season has really been that bad this year!

I'd also say a meth lab or someone was storing toxic waste material or someone was hording mass quantities of pets/animals and there was a lot of fecal matter/urine (also very common in peoples homes) Some people store crazy stuff in their homes...
I'd also say that a TB outbreak wouldn't warrant the use of hazmat suits because TB is very common nowadays and fairly widespread especially in closed quarters, it's not a death sentence anymore like it was back then...you can take antibiotics for a few weeks to a couple months and consider yourself cured.

83

The apartment block they sealed off,are their people inside? Weird that the whole street is blocked off.Sounds like something out of the movie Quarantine,aka Record.

Originally posted by Meldionne1
Where is Longmont ? I want to be sure to stay away!...I feel badly for the girl who died and her parents...I can't even imagine! Hazmat suits? Really? Sounds like the black plaque....or anthrax.

Longmont is about fifteen minutes south of boulder, 45 south of Denver. I lived there in 2010.

Damn, sounds crazy.

From a search on quarantine on cdc.gov

How long can quarantine and isolation
last? What is done to help the people who
experience isolation or quarantine?
The list of diseases for which quarantine or isolation is authorized is
specified in an Executive Order of the President. This list currently
includes cholera, diphtheria, infectious tuberculosis, plague,
smallpox, yellow fever, viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa, Marburg,
Ebola, Crimean-Congo, South American, and others not yet isolated
or named), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and
influenza caused by novel or reemergent influenza viruses that are
causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic.

There has been a recent outbreak of birdflu in Mexico, along with a re-emergence of SARS in China. This would mean she travelled, or was exposed to someone that travelled recently. Barring that, there was also an announcement of a totally antibiotic resistant tuberculosis in another country, I cannot recall atm.

For whatever reason, they are very concerned about spread, or potential.

Originally posted by unb3k44n7
I'd also say a meth lab or someone was storing toxic waste material or someone was hording mass quantities of pets/animals and there was a lot of fecal matter/urine (also very common in peoples homes) Some people store crazy stuff in their homes...
I'd also say that a TB outbreak wouldn't warrant the use of hazmat suits because TB is very common nowadays and fairly widespread especially in closed quarters, it's not a death sentence anymore like it was back then...you can take antibiotics for a few weeks to a couple months and consider yourself cured.

83

Actually, it can take 6 months to a year to get rid of TB.

mobile.usnews.com...

There are now totally antibiotic resistant strains in South Africa and it has also now been found in India. All it takes is someone that is exposed and unaware to travel, and infect millions. Just the same way flu is spread.

Originally posted by Meldionne1
I seem to recall a year ish ago..reading an article about a mass grave dug up and the bodies were all from the bubonic plague era! I don't remember where, but it was mid west somewhere..not close to me or the east coast. And I remember thinking..now that it's been reexposed.. if the wind could carry it or not carry it, am I in danger? Or how long before it kicks in again? ....hmmmmmm...

Umm... wouldn't the pathogen be dead by now? I don't think any virus can last that long buried in the soil. Not trying to be sarcastic at all. Just saying.

This could be something but it really could also be nothing. I once spent 3 months (waiting for a job to start) delivering and collecting medical equipment for Care Homes. If there was an infectious disease present, we had to get kitted up to go into rooms to collect equipment (mattresses, etc) by order of "Health and Safety" (duh duh duh). Officially, they were "Hazmat" kits but do not be fooled into thinking they were anything impressive like the military kits. No, it was cheap plastic rubbish - that admittedly still looked highly impressive from a distance!

I aren't saying there is nothing to this story. On the contrary, it is very interesting and raises interesting questions. However, there really is the possibility that this is simply standard practice in such cases and therefore it isn't anything sinister.

reply to post by thesmokingman


For this type of response, if it were a dangerous bug, it sounds more like an Ebola-type virus. Something that spreads quickly and is very dangerous. Or, more likely, it may be nothing but an overreaction.