ASSATEAGUE ISLAND, Va. -- Roughly 30 volunteers, park rangers and members of the Virginia Department of Health swept the beaches on Assateague Island on Thursday. They did their best to pick up what's left of the medical waste that washed ashore this past weekend.
Fill up a bucket, dump the trash, rinse and repeat. It about sums up the day of the volunteers who looked for medical waste and any other trash.
"Water bottles and buckets, bucket lids," said Ossetalina Delouche.
Lighters, bottle caps and random scraps made up most of the trash found on Thursday. However, there was the possibility of volunteers coming across a far more dangerous item: syringes.
Protective gloves and first-aid kits were handed out, ensuring people had the right equipment and knowledge before making the short drive from the Herbert H. Bateman Administration Center to the Assateague shoreline.
"Of course we had folks that were trained to handle that kind of thing if we did encounter it and appropriate containers to dispose of it," said Jon Richardson with the Virginia Department of Health.
Longtime nurse Helen Lasalle was one of those trained volunteers. Meaning she knows how to pick up a needle safely and is well aware of the dangers a rogue syringe could possess.
"Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, those are the big ones that come to mind right now in my head," said Lasalle. "There's a risk there, whether it's a minimal risk at this point but there is a risk."
After five hours of combing the beaches four syringes were found.
Richardson said the beaches look much better compared to earlier in the week, so the hope is the needles found on Thursday are the stragglers and not a sign of more prickly problems hiding around in the sand.
Needles sticking around days after washing ashore is a big reason Assateague beaches, much like several others across the peninsula have been closed off to the public.
"We don't walk folks exposed to a needle, originally not sure how many of those were washing ashore, whether it was going to recur over a period of days or if it was a one time event," said Richardson. "Still unsure obviously of where this all came from so I think operating on the side of caution and just keeping people safe was the right way to go."
Assateague National Seashore Superintendent Hugh Hawthorne told us they're hoping to do a phased reopening of parts of the beaches starting on Friday or Saturday. He said people can expect more information from park officials on Friday morning.
