HK SARS deaths reach new high

CNN Asia ^ | 4.18.03

[stlnative]

I thought I would catch up with the news on it. When the story first broke, my mother's boss was sent to China by his company the same day. He was due to return in the middle of April... My mother emailed me late this evening and said she is sick and was going to bed. I don't know if her boss has returned from China yet and if he is back to work or even if he is ill himself. But they both work in a enclosed QA Tech Lab for industrial type factory. So I am begging my mother to keep a close eye on her on illness and to check for a fever (I emailed her as it was too late to call her last night). I would not be worried about her, if her boss was had not been in China during all this. I will try to call her Monday to see if he has returned from China yet. My main concern is that someone may be a carrier of it and not know they are running fever and expose others to it while they are running a fever or before they suspect having it. Hopefully all she has is just an early spring cold, but I worry about her as she 63 years old and has had a pneumonia before.

[stlnative]

I am a native of St. Louis also, now live in Southern IL, about 100 miles south of STL

[Judith Anne]

I probably will stay up too. I'm waiting for someone in the US to speak out the way the Chinese doctors did...I can't believe the US case load is so low...and that there are no US deaths.

[Judith Anne]

Small world, isn't it? You and me and per loin, keeping watch....

Does your mom work in St. Louis?

[per loin]

I understand your worry, and when it's personal, it's hard to stay real about what a small percentage of people coming from China might carry the disease. Let us know how she is after you chat with her.

[per loin]

Art Bell was back on his show the other night, and he had Linda Moulton Howe as a guest for a while. She told about a case of SARS in North Carolina in February.

[stlnative]

Yes... and lives there also. She works for a company that just sold out to China. They are moving all of it to China in about 20 months or so. That is why there is heavy contact with China and her company. They were suppose to get the 2nd bunch of the Chinese workers to come over in early April but she said they were having problems getting out of the China (not sure why or if it was due to SARS), but her boss went over there the same day the SARS story broke. He has been there about a month.

[Judith Anne]

I haven't ever heard Art Bell or Ms Howe; I think the CDC is probably wrong to use far east travel or contact as an exclusionary factor for SARS, and I find myself cranky about that for an entire day, and I have sprouted tinfoil right and left.

brigette, have other people come from China to where your mom works? Dumb, leading question, I know, sorry...

[stlnative]

I know I am not in panic over it, just concerned due to the contact she has with her boss and since he has been in China over the past month. I am not sure if he has returned yet. If he hasn't as of yet... I will be less worried. I guess they are only stopping travelers who are running temps when they aboard the planes to come back to the USA. The illness is such a mystery that is why I am concerned. Who's is to say it is not being spread also through the air in airplanes also.

[Judith Anne]

I think there have been some cases transmitted during flights, that's why the airlines over there are reporting air travel down so much.

[per loin]

Speaking of travelers, China has 94 million migrant workers, people who work in the cities and then periodically return to their homes in rural areas. Not very easy to monitor that much internal traveling.

[stlnative]

Yes... they had a bunch at the factory that left in the middle of March. I am not sure when they originally came over. The next bunch was due to come in the beginning of April, but were stopped in China and they have not arrived yet in the USA or STL that I know of. Her boss is an American and was due to return in the middle of April from China. I posted this right after SARS was reported and people were telling me I was crazy to be concerned, even when her boss returned... but now it has gotten worse since then. I talked to my mother a week ago and he had not returned as of then. But he may have returned in the last week.

[per loin]

Art Bell was the best night talk show I've heard. Kinda like sitting around the campfire, telling ghost stories till the wee hours. As a night person, I miss his company. But as a night person, who woke too early today, I'm off to the pilow. Good Night, folks.

[Judith Anne]

Good night, per loin. Sleep well and God bless.

brigette, I have a LOT of family in St. Louis, so I'm not asking out of idle curiosity, or prying...

It looks like you were correct in your concern...do you know where in China? Beijing? Hong Kong? Those are two hot spots.

[lotus]

Everyone points out how this is being made into such a big deal with such a low death rate.

I've searched the cdc site pages, and unless I missed it they covered everything possible about sars, except the condition of those recovered.

The reason for the seemingly panic is likely:

The Deaths + Condition of the Recovered

Correct me if I'm wrong???

[stlnative]

Well I going to try to get some sleep and will call her today to see if she stayed home from work. I emailed her some information about SARS and to make sure she stays home if she is running a fever and to call me right away if she has fever or get medical attention right away. She normally reads her email in the morning before going to work. But I have been warning her about it since it broke in the news as I was concerned about her being around all the chinese people in her factory, but they have been gone since the middle of March, then I found out her boss was sent over there the same day the news broke about it and that he was to return in the middle of April. Good Night you 2 - Thanks for listening!

[stlnative]

I don't know exactly - nor does she - Her company keeps things quiet. They just found out recently and after a year of all these Chinese people being in and out of the factory that they were closing it down and moving it to China. They make some type of valve control for industrial use. Emerson Electric owned them at one time, but the company went under a different name. I don't know the name of the place now.

[Judith Anne]

Good night brigette. Please accept my prayers for your mom's health and well-being...

[Judith Anne]

I've been wondering the same thing. No information that I know of, except the one case posted here on FR by aristeides, I think, of a nurse who recovered enough to go home but is still very very sick...

[stlnative]

I just went to look it up... It is in Hong Kong (Emerson still owns it, but it under the name of Copeland-Corp now)