No end in sight in Hong Kong (coping with SARS)

Toronto Star ^ | April 21, 2003 | MARTIN REGG COHN

[Free Trapper]

Terrible news but thanks for the link.

If our troops in Iraq can get halfway settled in before SARS gets a foothold over there,do you think they will have much of a chance to keep it at a tolerable level?

[iceskater]

I'm not sure it's going to take that long. People travel in the summer so I'm thinking more outbreaks here starting in the summer.

[Judith Anne]

I don't hear much about SARS in the southern hemisphere, but that could all change quickly...there was something about SARS in Africa recently...and a possibly index Capetown case...

[Judith Anne]

Yes, I thought of tourist season here in my area...millions typically come from all over the world.

[Dog Gone]

Not really. I don't think we can put the toothpaste back into the tube at this point.

There have been some extraordinary measures taken to control SARS, including quarantining thousands of people. But new cases are showing up every day in new countries. Nobody yet has come up with a brilliant way to eradicate it

[aristeides]

On the two suspected SARS cases reported Saturday, he said one was a 20-year old man from China while the other was a 26-year-old woman from Kangar. The Chinese national left China for South Africa on April 7 and stayed in Cape Town from April 8 to 18. He fell sick with high fever, cough and body ache on April 12.

He then took a flight back to China, transiting at the KL International Airport (KLIA). The cabin crew on the flight, sensing that he was not well, isolated him from the rest of the passengers and upon arrival at the KLIA he was taken to the Klang Hospital.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=18357.

[aristeides]

It's not just the bride. According to the article, other members of her family also have the disease.

[iceskater]

So one or two of the millions comes to your area and they have SARS. How long before things get bad, perhaps quarantines, and the whole tourist business in your area shuts down? The human toll and the economic toll could be devastating. It seems like SARS travels very easily.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks, aristeides. So much genuine information here...every time Fox does news on SARS, it's already all old hat to me...

[Judith Anne]

We see tourists in the hospitals all summer long...just a matter of time, I guess.

[Dog Gone]

The groom can't be too pleased with his choice of wife today.

And the wedding guests and the priest can't be thrilled, either.

[Free Trapper]

My wife said she heard of at least one case in Texas but couldn't swear to it.IIRC,it was Collin County.

That's around Plano,isn't it?

[Dog Gone]

Yes. I think there's another case in Houston, and several others they're not sure about yet.

[aristeides]

I read this on flyingchair.net, from Hong Kong:

The government announced tonight that senior high school students would return to classes tomorrow. Schools in Hong Kong have been closed for three weeks.