The Ontario government has declared a state of emergency

Canadian Medical Association Journal ^ | March 30

[MrPeanut]

The declaration gives the premier power to direct and control local governments, facilities and equipment to ensure that necessary services are provided. Health officials in the Greater Toronto Area

[Publius Maximus]

Captain Tripps in North America.

Won't be long before this gets wild.

I bet it was Chinese biochem experimentation that set this off. Started in China, the dude who died in Hong Kong had visited some remote province in China where some "bird flu" was rampant to see family.

[Dog Gone]

This was breaking news on March 27, 2003, 9:34 am

[willieroe]

The linked article is dated March 27. How is this breaking news?

[dwilli]

Is this the liberal version of martial law?

[MrPeanut]

The dude in Hong Kong who died KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE HAD and told health workers to isolate him.

[Mr. Mulliner]

I would have expected Canada's epidemic to hit Vancouver where there is a huge Chinese population, mostly from Hong Kong where the disease has been traced to.

[blam]

SARS: state of emergency

Date: March 27, 2003 Time: 9:34 am

The Ontario government has declared a state of emergency yesterday amid fears that thousands of people may have been exposed to the mysterious severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) while visiting the Scarborough Grace Hospital in suburban Toronto.

The declaration gives the premier power to direct and control local governments, facilities and equipment to ensure that necessary services are provided. Health officials in the Greater Toronto Area are now trying to track down everyone who visited the Scarborough hospital after Mar. 16. "We are all taking this disease very seriously," said Dr. James Young, Ontario's commissioner of public security. "Health officials and health care workers across the province having been working hard to prevent infection. Now, we are using all arms of the government needed to make sure that the spread of this disease is controlled."

Scientists at Health Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg reported yesterday they have found human metapneumovirus in specimens from 6 of the 8 cases they are studying; it is part of the paramyxovirus family. These findings are consistent with results released previously by scientists in Germany and Hong Kong.

The NML findings are significant in that a common thread has been found in a majority of cases in Canada. While these findings will not alter current treatment for SARS patients, the scientists consider it a "a promising step" in the ongoing investigation.

27 probable cases, 5 suspected cases and about 30 cases are under investigation in Ontario Ontario's Provincial Operations Centre has been activated, bringing together representatives from all provincial ministries involved Local public health units are helping Toronto Public Health conduct follow-up surveillance on people who may have come in contact with SARS patients Health ministry officials are developing a plan to increase Ontario's isolation bed capacity, potentially using new, unopened facilities to isolate patients Health Canada continues to supply expertise and emergency supplies.

Scarborough Grace Hospital continues to restrict services A hotline (416-338-7600) has been created for people who may have been in contact with SARS through that hospital Mt. Sinai Hospital has closed its emergency department and intensive care unit to prevent the spread of SARS

— Steve Wharry, eCMAJ Copyright 2003 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

[MrPeanut]

Forgive me....I will never check that "breaking news" box ever again.

[WarSlut]

Seems the Breaking News Police have found you in material breach of the sacred charter of something or another...

Don't sweat it. Some of us still think this Captain Tripps story is something to keep an eye on.

[Sabatier]

I read this somewhere today, too. So the guy knew he had something real bad, apparently? Bad enough to demand the hospital he went to should quarantine him, etc., but it was too late. The guy had stayed at the Metropole, a hotel in a run-down part of Hong Kong, speculation is he sneezed in the elevator on the other passengers, and the rest is history. So what did he know and when did he know it?

[WarSlut]

The dude in Hong Kong who died KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE HAD and told health workers to isolate him.

If either of you have a link to this story, I'd really like to read it.
-- Thanks

[MrPeanut]

He told the hospital to put him behind double doors and lower the air pressure in his room to keep the virus from leaking out. Sounds like a bad science fiction movie.

[MrPeanut]

I know I read it on a valid news site.

[George from New England]

Don't you feel like you dialed 911 for a cat in the tree?
Off with your head.

[MrPeanut]

NYT..The disease apparently first appeared in Guangdong Province, adjacent to Hong Kong, over the winter, and has infected about 800 people there. But it spread to Hong Kong through just one patient, a Chinese medical professor who had been treating patients in Guangdong and who went to the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong on Feb. 21 and then fell ill.

The professor infected six tourists from other countries and one local resident, a 26-year-old Hong Kong airport worker, Hong Kong health officials said.

The professor went to the Prince of Wales Hospital, told the staff that he was highly infectious and demanded that he be given a mask and put in an isolation ward behind double-sealed doors and with reduced air pressure to prevent any viral particles from leaking out. He then gave doctors a brief history of the illness before he became extremely sick and died, a Hong Kong official said.

[aristeides]

It wasn't some remote province. It was Guangdong (the province of Canton,) where Foshan is located.

[willieroe]

U.S. Warning on Respiratory Disease - the doctor's illness is noted at the bottom of the story.

[Revel]

The moderators or JR have decided that Breaking news durring war time can only be about the war.(They post a thread about it) "Metor Destroys New York"-Don't post it to breaking news. It is nothing personal I am sure. You just have to play along these days.

[Quietly]

Captain Tripps really happened... in 1918. We are *way* overdue for a nasty pandemic.

This sounds *so* much like the 1918 influenza. The first wave was virulent, delibitating, highly contagious. The second wave was simply deadly.

This entire fall and winter, the flu (and oppportunistic bugs striking afterward) have been worse than I ever remember. Schools and sports teams have been shut down because of illness. The complaint this year has also been that whatever we get, seems to last forever. I'm not alone in having something that just won't quit months after having the flu.

Flu, especially, is a peculiar bug. It mutates so fast there's really no catching up with it, and when it goes berserk it puts its usual partner, the common cold, far back in the dust. It can give pneumonia a good run for the money any time. It can't be underestimated simply because it goes dormant.