[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...;ArticleID=6370

[quote]Merchandise To Be Destroyed, Store Still Closed
Liz Claiborne Outlet being disinfected after employee comes to work with ‘infection.’

Amanda Haverstick
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Liz Claiborne Outlet Store at Lighthouse Place was suddenly closed Saturday after an infected employee came to work.

Company officials have declined to say if the infection was methticillin-resistant staphyloccoccus or some other type of infection.

Reports of MRSA infections have been reported around the country, and in some instances, have led to deaths.

On Wednesday, the store remained closed, and company officials said it will remain shuttered until its merchandise is removed and destroyed and the store completely disinfected.

The company did not say how much merchandise is in a store the size of the one at Lighthouse Place, but its value runs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Michigan City store is one of 76 the $5 billion retailer operates at outlet malls in the United States.

A paper sign taped to the door of the store on the south side of the sprawling outlet mall said, "ATTENTION. Sorry for the inconvenience but our store will be closed. Thank You. Management."

Jane Randel, vice president of corporate communications for Liz Claiborne Inc. in New York City, e-mailed a statement to The News-Dispatch about the store being closed.

"An employee of the Michigan City store did have an infection, but the diagnosis of MRSA is unconfirmed," Randel said. "Regardless, we took all necessary precautions including closing the location and disinfecting the store. Moreover, the merchandise will be destroyed and replaced. The safety of our customers and employees is paramount and we will not re-open the store until it is safe to do so."

Chris Juricic, general manager of Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets, said she has receive no information coming from Liz Claiborne regarding the incident.

"We don't know what happened," Juricic said. "We have heard nothing."

As for the rest of the outlet center, Juricic said mall management regularly disinfects public areas such as benches, restrooms and playground equipment.

"Common areas through the center are always kept clean," Juricic said.

Earlier this year, an athlete at a high school in Virginia died from the disease. And on Oct. 14, a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy died of the so-called "superbug."

MRSA is spread by skin-to-skin contact or by skin-to-object contact. The Indiana State Department of Health describes MRSA as staph bacteria that has developed an immunity to the first lines of antibiotics, those related to penicillin.

The agency has created a MRSA task force to make sure state and local officials are prepared to handle an outbreak of MRSA.

Most cases of MRSA can be treated. The majority of patients recover without further incident from MRSA, but a few cases, among those with compromised immune systems, could suffer serious and potentially deadly complications.



Contact reporter Amanda Haverstick at ahaverstick@thenewsdispatch.com[quote]

[Roger Kaputnik]

I vote for lice.

[JHeath]

I vote for lice.

Although it's just not a pleaseant thought, lice cannot live very long without a host...I'm not so sure about that theory.
eMedicine overview of lice

[Roger Kaputnik]

theyannounced it was a possible mrsa infection

[JHeath]

They definitely would not have a reason to start with little old MC, but how coincidental is this?

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=l...&id=5750157

FBI: Al Qaeda may strike U.S. shopping malls in LA, Chicago

November 8, 2007 - The FBI is warning that al Qaeda may be preparing a series of holiday attacks on U.S. shopping malls in Los Angeles and Chicago, according to an intelligence bulletin distributed to law enforcement authorities across the country Thursday morning.

The alert said al Qaeda "hoped to disrupt the U.S. economy and has been planning the attack for the past two years."
Law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com that the FBI received the information in late September and declassified it yesterday for wide distribution.

The alert, like similar FBI and Department of Homeland Security terror alerts issued over the past five years at holiday times, raised questions about the credibility of the information.

The bulletin acknowledges that U.S. intelligence officers are "uncertain" as to whether the information is real or "disinformation."

Law enforcement officials at three different agencies told ABCNews.com the FBI alert was based on a source who has proved reliable in the past.

The source reportedly had only "indirect access" to al Qaeda and word of the actual threat came to U.S. intelligence officers "through a lengthy chain" of contacts.

With the shopping season approaching, however, the FBI officials decided it was necessary to share the information.

For the past few years, jihadist chat rooms have regularly posted comments from anonymous individuals who have suggested or boasted about similar plans to attack such soft targets as shopping malls.

[Southsider2k12]

MRSA isn't the stuff that terror is made of... It isn't that deadly, and it isn't easily spread.

[Ang]

MRSA isn't the stuff that terror is made of... It isn't that deadly, and it isn't easily spread.

SSder, I think she posted that here for the mall correlation, not the MRSA

[Southsider2k12]

SSder, I think she posted that here for the mall correlation, not the MRSA

Ah, gotcha.

[JHeath]

SSder, I think she posted that here for the mall correlation, not the MRSA

Exactly.

[Dave]

I vote for lice.

Considering how recent the elections were, I'm not sure this is something to be bragging about!

[RexKickass]

The Chicago Tribune reported that it wasn't MRSA.

[JHeath]

http://heraldargus.com/archives/ha/display.php?id=388631

Shop ’til you drop?
11/09/2007, 11:28 am

Merchandise to be destroyed at Liz Claiborne after employee found to be infected with undisclosed bacteria, but it’s not MRSA

MICHIGAN CITY -- Something made an employee at a Michigan City mall sick, but it wasn’t methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a potentially deadly form of bacteria that led to the death of a high school student in Virginia over the summer.

Whatever the infection, the Liz Claiborne store at Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets took it seriously enough to close until Nov. 16. And beginning today, all the clothing inside the store will be destroyed and the store will be thoroughly cleaned.

Speculation had been that the employee’s infection could be MRSA. But late Thursday, a spokeswoman for the company said that wasn’t the case.

“We just learned from the employee that her test results were negative for MRSA,” Dana Stambaugh, director of corporate communications for Liz Claiborne, told The La Porte County Herald-Argus.

The La Porte County Health Department found out about the possible MRSA scare through local media reports.

“We just found out about this today,” Joanne Hardacker, nursing supervisor with the health department, told The Herald-Argus Thursday. “We are trying to find out why they closed their doors, and get the facts.”

Asked why the health department wasn’t notified directly, Stambaugh said the diagnosis was unconfirmed, “and this happened on the weekend so we took immediate and prudent action (ourselves).”

Stambaugh also issued a statement that said, in part, “The merchandise will be destroyed and replaced. The store was also tested, and no traces of the bacteria were found. The safety of our customers and employees is paramount and we will not reopen the store until it is safe to do so.”

The company did not indicate the value or quantity of merchandise that will be destroyed.

Causing a stir

While it has been determined that the incident wasn’t a case of MRSA, it has drawn significant attention because of recent reports of the drug-resistant infection. Single cases of MRSA were reported at Michigan City and La Porte high schools last month.

After the story broke Thursday, media outlets from Chicago and South Bend converged on the outlet mall, which is one of the area’s most popular tourist destinations.

The county health department and the Indiana State Department of Health are investigating the situation at the clothing store.

“We understand the residents of La Porte County may be apprehensive, but there is no reason to believe anyone in the community is at increased risk,” said Paul Trost, administrator of the county health department.

MRSA can be spread by direct skin contact with an infected person; contact with contaminated surfaces such as towels, razors, soap, deodorant, bedding, clothes, bandages, athletic equipment, and benches; picking at wounds; and poor hand hygiene.

The Michigan City Liz Claiborne store is one of 76 the New York City-based retailer operates at outlet malls in the United States.

[Roger Kaputnik]

ridiculous overreaction

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs....110499/1013/Biz

M.C. Liz Claiborne update

Liz Claiborne is expected to reopen on or about Friday at Lighthouse Place in Michigan City, or about two weeks after the company abruptly closed the outlet store when an employee came down with an infection, says Dana Stambaugh, director of corporate communications.

Not only did the company destroy the merchandise inside the women's apparel shop, but it also disinfected the store. As you might have read on our blog, the company has learned the employee's test results were negative for MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, an antibiotic-resistant strain of staph.

The store will be receiving all new merchandise, Stambaugh says.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.wsbt.com/news/11152881.html

(WSBT) An infected worker, who caused the Liz Claiborne store at Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets in Michigan City to close, has been cleared to return to work.

Related ContentEmployee's Infection Closes Liz Claiborne Outlet Store in Michigan City
Michigan City Store Destroying Merchandise Over Employee's Infection
Company officials were forced to close the store over the weekend after the employee came to work with an infection.

They say the employee tested negative for MRSA, but the store was disinfected.

A spokesperson for the store says the cleaning process left an odor on the apparel in the store. The apparel did not meet their "standards for sale to consumers and will be removed from the store."

The spokesperson said items in boxes such as perfume, shoes and accessories would not be replaced if they were undamaged by the cleaning process.

The store is scheduled to open again Friday, Nov. 16.

[Roger Kaputnik]

I am not sure what is in a Liz Claymore store, but it still is hard to see why they would throw out all the stuff. I wonder how their employee will be treated.

[JHeath]

I'm wondering if the co-workers were also checked and cleared. Also, would any of the other stores in the mall be affected if this person patronized them?

[Roger Kaputnik]

What about all the places this festering mobile infection visited? do we need to empty the City and scrub it down?

[JHeath]

I drove past the store last night, on my way to a different part of the mall. All of the racks are empty and have been pushed to the center. Other than some slippers, mannequins, and the register areas, that's all that remains in the store. It's still a little surreal...isn't it?

[Ang]

That sounds very extreme to me. Kinda like something from a Stephen King novel, eh?