> Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said that smallpox can be lethal “even after it is freeze-dried.” For context,

> Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said that smallpox can be lethal “even after it is freeze-dried.” For context, the vials were probably found in a -80C or liquid nitrogen -140C freezer, so they are highly unlikely to be freeze dried (assuming they were properly sealed). For additional possible context, it's not at all uncommon in the biomedical research world for vials to be forgotten in these freezers for decades. The classic situation is that a student or postdoctoral fellow has boxes in the freezer, and graduates or leaves without cleaning out the boxes. The boxes remain protected and ignored by producing a powerful "Somebody Else's Problem" field [0], usually until the need for freezer space becomes desperately dire (which I'm guessing is what happened here). Given that likelihood, AND that this was a lab working on vaccine research, and that they found vials labeled "smallpox" and "vaccinia" (virus used to make the smallpox vaccine) side by side, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the CDC's concern were justified. [0]: Obligatory Hitchhiker's Guide reference: https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Somebody_Else%27s_Problem_Field https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Somebody_Else%27s_Proble...