In China's Capital, 'We're Panicking'

Washington Post ^ | April 18, 2003 | John Pomfret

[mabelkitty]

If need be, we can whip up a manufacturing facility in no time. America has the resources and facilities to handle it.

[myprecious]

Perhaps "Made in the USA" will rise, as a result.

Except that we lack modern factories, skilled labor, raw material.... Can you imaging retraining all those IT professionals to sit on a stool and package widgets into boxes?

[Judith Anne]

I tend to agree with mabelkitty, here.

[wolf6656]

" Interesting ... I wonder how it affects Chinese assembly plants ... and will the virus cling and survive on the surface of manufactured goods."

Viruses are extreme survivors, perhaps the dominant lifeform in the universe. Some can survive extreme conditions in space for astronomical lengths of time. They arrive here daily in comet dust, and on meteorites.

http://www.panspermia.org/virus.htm
Viruses: Imported Genetic Software. by Brig Klyce

http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov/
NASA's Origins Program

http://www.astrobiology.com/exobiology.html
Exobiology | The Astrobiology Web | Your Online Guide to the Living Universe

I would think that the trip from Hong Kong or China would be relatively easy.

[Dead Dog]

That's why God gave us Mexico.

[riri]

They say the virus dies after about 3 hours on a dry surface.

[Walkingfeather]

how exactly would that explain how 29 people attending a funeral of a SARS patient came down with the virus?

[riri]

Maybe a close contact was ill and contagious. Much hugging and consoling going on. I don't know, I am just trying to have a bit of optimism.

Then again, I should not be answering these questions and the press, not you, should be asking them. So, in the absence of real information comes wild speculation and fear.

[SauronOfMordor]

how exactly would that explain how 29 people attending a funeral of a SARS patient came down with the virus?

It's interesting how "experts" who up until a couple of weeks ago weren't sure if SARS was a bacterial or viral infection can have such detailed knowledge of how long it takes the virus to survive

[Walkingfeather]

I am not condeming you .... People should know this is not a red herring media inspired hysteria. This could be a world wide disaster. What y2k fear instilled could be a reality here.

[Amalie]

That would be wecome news, indeed, but I'm not holding my breath. Too much global money and too many negatives hoops in the US business game. But, yes, that would be great.

[Judith Anne]

Yes, I'm just hoping, that's all. Still...you never know...

[aristeides]

Interesting article on contagion: How one person can fuel an epidemic .

[R W Reactionairy]

"I wonder if Peking has the same kind of plumbing as Hong Kong."

I suspect the whole urban high rise world has the same problem --- except possibly for the presence / absence of floor drains.

I read a report yesterday on the Hong Kong Health Department SARS site about the Amoy Gardens outbreak that talked in great detail about "waste stacks" [which in those buildings go straight down] and floor drains [which are in every bathroom which have traps that tend to dry out if no effort is made to pour in a little water every few days -- sinks toilets and showers tend to get filled often enough through normal usage patterns.] I don't have the URL and am on a slower than slow dial up. Look for it uner "news" under the main site.

The picture painted was fairly clear. Human waste failing several stories would create a nasty aerosol that could easily pass through the untended [empty] floor drain traps and onto bathroom floors and elsewhere in these apartments.

The alpha case for the cluster apparently was a visitor who had severe intestinal symptonsfrom his SARS infection. Viral loads in his waste -- who knows, but clearly enough to be transmissable. The initial outbreak of Amoy Gardens infections tended to cluster in vertical planes with apartments 7 and 8 on each floor being the hot spots for infection. From there the infections spread out into the rest of the complex with about a three day lag.

I am not a plumber, but the message is that any dry trap could be serious problem and any dry trap in a high rise is a problem waiting to happen. If not from SARS, then from whatever disease someone on the floor above has cooking in their intestinal tract.

[per loin]

I believe that standard practice for such floor drains in the US is to install a trap primer, which trickles a bit of water into the trap each time any cold water is run. Sounds like the builder skimped on safety to save a couple of bucks.

[Domestic Church]

We still have the ability to jump start most manufacturing here fairly quickly but the microchips, an essential part of our civilization, are all imported now.

[Domestic Church]

"Russia does. How in the hell did that happen?"

It's not uncommon for several Russian families to share a small apartment.

[Domestic Church]

"the virus dies after about 3 hours on a dry surface"

I hope and pray you are right. I recall reading initially it was 24 hours on metal.

[cynicom]

Maybe we could loan them a few billions. If they cannot afford, maybe we can make a gift.

[green team 1999]

it`s SARS the one that will wipe out 80% of the world population as predicted (remote viewing) by major Ed Dames on art bell??