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I don't think it was designed to get out of the lab - call it a 'beta' I guess. Chances are that a lab worker was somehow exposed and took it home.

There are a number of things I have yet to hear about SARS that I think are important for all of us to know so we can protect ourselves:

1. The ACTUAL transmissibility. i.e.: When you have X number of people in an enclosed area with the virus, what percent of them will come down with SARS? So far, the official statements are all over the place on this.

2. What actually KILLS the virus for disinfection of surfaces? Gamma radiation? UV light? I've read that chlorine works, but that kills us as well in many forms. Ozone?

3. Official reports state that the virus can survive on smooth surfaces for over 24 hours. How about on porous surfaces? Like paper money? What about inside vacuum packaged or other packaged goods? Basically, what about all of the crap that comes here from China? Longshoremen here in Tacoma have already refused to unload a couple of arrivals from Hong Kong and China - thankfully.

4. What's it going to take to get the borders sealed against this? (Yes, I'm dreaming, I know.....) If not sealed, then when is the government going to set up quarantined areas for all who are entering the country from effected areas? 10 days - with or without symptoms if you arrive here from China, Hong Kong, Toronto, etc. In the case of products instead of humans, they should be required to be fully irradiated or otherwise treated upon entry, plus have to sit for the 10 days. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!!! If the SOBs are going to make me wait three days to buy a gun, then why not make someone who is positively going to kill with a virus wait for 10 days?

5. If this starts getting out of hand here in the US, what can each of us do to avoid it?

Any ideas out there?

Officials baffled by spread among health workers

Toronto has called in experts from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find out why SARS is continuing to spread among the city's health-care workers.

They are expected to arrive today.

Despite strict infection control procedures that now include masks, face shields, double-gloving and wearing double gowns while treating patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome, public health officials said yesterday the total number of Ontario health-care workers with probable or suspect cases of SARS has grown to 66.

"This is critical," Dr. Donald Low, chief of microbiology at Sunnybrook hospital, said.

"We thought the precautions we were currently implementing would be adequate to protect workers, but what we are seeing is that, despite those precautions, they are still becoming ill.

"Why is that?" Low asked.

"We want the CDC and their experts to specifically look at that."

Health Canada has also been asked for assistance in determining how SARS is spreading to health-care workers here.

The decision to call in extra help comes hard on the heels of news that two more health-care workers are sick with SARS and may unknowingly have exposed others to the flu-like disease: