Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

[Aggressor 0]

This week has been pretty interesting on the medical front especially here in Canada. SARS has caused all hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area and in Hamilton to close to all non-essential staff, visitors and students.

This has meant the cancellation of all clinical sessions at all hospitals.

Although SARS is something that should not be taken lightly, I personally feel that it would have been a good learning experience for willing nursing students such as myself and a few others to get the experience of treating SARS patients.

So is SARS in your area?

Info:

Health Canada

Centers for Disease Control

[Zebb 7]

Yeah, we've had it over here in the UK for a couple of weeks now, i hope they get on top of it soon its a bit of a worry, worldwide viral epidemic.......

[snakebite1967 0]

Im in and out of toronto most days i did till last week deliver equipment to area hospitals , thats obviously on hold for the moment.

as a father of three kids i do worry about virusses and illnesses, im just more worried about the nile virus amongst other things than SARS

[budgie 1]

Hong Kong seems to think its pretty much ground zero but the real epicenter is a couple hundred miles northwest in Guanzhou province. Hard to get figures from there though because as usual the Chinese government is covering up the extent of the problem - in fact they've been doing that for months before this even hit HK.

I have the day off work because most of my students have cancelled today. The high schools were the first - all schools in HK are close until the start of next week, possibly longer. Then the attendance started dropping off at corporate classes and finally some of the companies postponed scheduled lessons. The parents who used to come to daytime classes are off to care for the kids who aren't at school. The Japanese and Korean housewives who make up the bulk of our morning lessons are fleeing the country to wait it out like there was a war on.

And many of our private adult lessons are cancelled because people just want to go straight home after work. Some housing estates have been quarantined and yesterday I was at the airport for classes (cancelled for the next two weeks and they are my biggest paying lessons at about US$50 per hour) and the whole airport, busiest in the world was on the verge of panic. The talk yesterday morning was that the whole city would be quarantined. I'm supposed to go to the Phillipines for a holiday over Easter but neighboring countries are talking about barring incoming traffic from HK.

To top it of 2/3 of the city are walking around in white surgical masks. Looks like a freaking Klan party minus the burning crosses. This town has gone crazy and shut down, and since I get paid by the hour, I'm losing big time. Biggest joke is it is not that easy to catch for a young healthy person but thanks to the citywide panic and media scaremongering, I have to wait till sanity returns. 600 cases and only a dozen (mostly elderly) fatalities in a city of 7 million filthy, spitting, coughing and sneezing residents is hardly an emergency.

Edited April 2, 2003 by budgie

[Havok 30]

yeah my girlfriend works at bloorview macmillan in toronto and all her volunteers are not allowed to come in and she has to wear a gown and mask for now.... the scary part is all these cases in toronto and yet they say the incubation is like ten days iirc so who knows how many more are out there...

[XRW_Hotdog 2]

heck i have been wanting to go to a hospital for the last two weeks to get my arms checked ( i think i have tendenitis in both elbows ) but i am not going to the hospital untill they are clear.