By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Health officials in Missouri and Illinois will be conducting a large-scale exercise tomorrow to test their response to a biological attack.
The exercise will simulate how health officials and emergency responders would handle an Anthrax attack in the St. Louis area.
The activities will be conducted behind closed doors and not out in public.
Nancy Bush with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says they'll be tested on how they distribute medicine and supplies through the Strategic National Stockpile.
"We are going to be working with our local partners, which include some hospitals and some local public health agencies, to dispense that medication to the public," Bush said.
Officials will also practice setting up warehouses where medicines would be distributed to the public in an emergency.
"The exercises that we are holding are for a Strategic National Stockpile, which is a program that the states have to dispense medications in case there is a terrorist event that may deal with a biological agent," Bush said.