Posted on 04/06/2003 6:29:31 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
IT WAS a nightmare come true for teacher Pang Chew Ching.
The 26-year-old's only sister, Jeannie, visited her boyfriend's mother, originally thought to be suffering from dengue fever, at Changi General Hospital last month.
When news came a day after the visit that her sickness was actually the dreaded Sars, Miss Pang's family was shocked.
'I was worried as I'm asthmatic,' said Miss Pang.
Added Jeannie, a 22-year-old student: 'I was so scared that my parents would get it, as they are in their 50s and I don't think their health could take the virus.'
Miss Pang, Jeannie and their parents decided to swing into prevention-mode. They quarantined themselves at home, even though they had not received any letter from the Ministry of Health.
Their main concern: They didn't want to infect others, should they develop symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars.
After 10 days, no one fell sick. Now, life is back to normal.
Said Miss Pang on Saturday: 'I realise it's not so easy to contract it. The family of Jeannie's boyfriend didn't get it, not even the maid who took care of his mother.'
Miss Pang now goes shopping and meets friends for meals.
'The Government has taken so many steps to contain Sars, like closing schools and all. I'm much more confident now,' she said.
Sars has been uppermost, if not the only, thing on Singaporeans' minds as the death toll and number of people infected mounts.
Six have died and 106 are infected.
Worry and fear seemed to be the order of the day during the peak last week, with Singaporeans talking, thinking and trying hard to tackle the problem.
But today, as more is known about the virus and the situation appears under better control, some Singaporeans are breathing easier.
One sure sign is that a sense of humour has begun to show through: 'My colleague told me Sars stands for Singaporeans Are Really Scared,' said 31-year-old engineer Loh Kar Kheng.
An SMS message doing the rounds says: Nobody cares if I live or die but everyone cares if I cough.
Other people point to the high recovery rate.
Darren How, a 28-year-old executive feels reassured that around three-quarters of the 100 or so people infected have recovered.
Yet many are not taking any chances.
Madam Patricia Koh, a 32-year-old realtor, is staying home until the outbreak blows over. She uses an anti-bacterial spray persistently.
'I spray everything I use, like my telephone and the lift buttons before I touch them.
'I know it might not really help, but it gives me peace of mind.'
She was only able to lay her hands on cheap masks with 'only a thin layer of cloth', so she wears two for 'double protection'.
Like Madam Koh, many Singaporeans are eschewing shopping centres, cinemas and other public places.
The numbers on train journeys started falling even before the peak of worry last week.
A Singapore MRT spokesman said the average drop in daily Mass Rapid Transit ridership for March 24 to 30 fell by 7 per cent on weekdays and 26 per cent on weekends.
Neighbours have also become fearful of those working in what they deem as Sars-threatening jobs.
Madam Yip Meng Fong, a 47-year-old flight attendant filed a police report after a neighbour harassed her.
Her job requires her to fly to and from Hongkong which, with Guangdong province, is one of the top Sars-hit places.
The mother of two teenagers said: 'My neighbour screamed at me when she heard my voice in my condominium compound.
'She told me to quarantine myself.
'She said: 'Look here, you're so selfish. You want to infect and kill everybody in our condo?'
'She has no right to demand that I be quarantined as I'm not sick.
'I have a job to do and a rice bowl to keep. If Sars goes on for the next six months and I stop work because of it, how do I feed my children?'
Private psychiatrist Tan Chue Tin finds the anxiety among some, inevitable.
'Sars rekindles the fear of the unknown and death, and resurrects the survival instinct in all of us.
'We put up the maximum defences to avoid death and that leads to panic, fear and anxiety.'
Dr Tan explained that when faced with such a deadly disease, people tend to adopt the simpliest approach: They generalise and categorise information.
For example, they believe they will be safe by avoiding anyone from Hongkong, Hanoi or China.
This fear could be fuelled to some extent by the e-mail and SMS messages about it that are circulating like wildfire.
Engineer Zeng Huimin, 26, has been bombarded non-stop by information on Sars since the outbreak dominated the news last month.
On average, she receives 'at least one or two' SMS or e-mail messages. Some offer facts, others rumours and even jokes.
However, one e-mail which caught her attention offered a traditional Chinese medicine formula which it claimed would keep Sars at bay.
This formula has made the cash registers of Chinese medical halls ring non-stop.
The manager of Thye San Medical Hall in Chinatown, Mr Mervyn Chan, said: 'People are now crazy for ban lan geng, a Chinese herb for treating virus symptoms such as fever, chills and body aches.
'In two days last week, all our stock of the herb ran out.
'Even our supplier has no more stock.'
The rush has driven the price of ban lan geng up from $2.70 per 100 g, to $13.
But there appears to be a downside, said one family doctor, who is now treating more cases of diarrhoea because people have taken too much.
Meanwhile, vitamins, masks and other products to keep one in the pink of health have been flying off pharmacy and health shop shelves.
Businessman Eddie Goh, 42, went to several pharmacies to look for masks.
'They all said they have no stock.
'My friend told me some people were bidding for and selling masks on the Internet. A box of 20 goes for more than $100,' he said.
But for most Singaporeans, life goes on.
A few are using the slower pace of life to bond with their family.
Madam Ann Tay, a 35-year-old mother of two, said she and her husband are hugging their children more often now and communicating more with their parents.
The family now spends more time indoors, playing board games and watching movies. She said: 'The crisis has brought us closer emotionally.' -- Additional reporting by Wong Sher Maine, Arlina Arshad and Tracy Quek
After the day's business, DBS Bank's Harbourfront branch is cleaned to get rid of any possible Sars bugs.
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