Canadian Health Official order hundreds into quarantine-----
http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=0E32EF05-23BB-4A30-A905-69138FCCC312
Make that thousands. They’re suggesting that anyone who set foot in a Toronto hospital after March 16th to quarantine themselves at home.
I’ve counted roughly 2 out of every 10 here in Hong Kong wearing protective masks. Looks like a giant hospital ward. Sad.
And I just wanted to know if its a coincidence that they named it S.A.R.S after Hong Kong SAR? Doesn’t bode well for tourism hey.
An update on the Toronto situation. My work has cancelled or postponed all travel to Hong Kong, Singapore, mainland China, and Hanoi.
BTW, I am flying to Bangkok via NYC, Frankfurt and Singapore tomorrow. Can anybody recommend a good mask?
HK Says Identifies Deadly Virus, Closes Schools
According to this, Hong Kong confirms that a completely unknown corona virus is responsible for SARS.
ShibbOleth, I don’t suppose you can get one of those masks that has its own air supply, can you? Wouldn’t be practical, I guess. At least make sure you get one with a filter fine enough to filter out whatever size viruses have been mentioned so far (CoV still may not be the actual culprit). 
Hey, it’s still only got about a 4% fatality rate. The way I see it, even if I manage to contract this illness, the glass is 96% full. Although the downside is a bit of a bummer.
Another Toronto update: the Globe and Mail says that WHO is recommending that all air travellers leaving Toronto on international flights be screened for the disease.
Mystery Disease Hits Connecticut–
I work at a hospital in Toronto and the atmosphere here has changed significantly overnight. Yesterday, our premier declared SARS a provincial emergency and the following directives were handed down to all acute-care hospitals in Toronto:
[ul]
[li]All staff in the ER must wear gowns and gloves.[/li]
[li]No visitors are allowed in the hospital except for parents of children and visitors of the critically ill. These visitors must check in with the security posted at all entrances and must wear a surgical mask.[/li]
[li]Volunteer services are suspended.[/li]
[li]The number of hospital entrances should be restricted to control access.[/li]
[li]No transfers from hospitals outside of the Greater Toronto Area.[/li]
[li]No non-urgent transfers between healthcare facilities in the GTA.[/li]
[li]Each hospital must establish a SARS-specific isolation unit.[/li][/ul]
At our hospital we are taking some extra precautions because we are closely associated with the Grace Hospital (the hospital where SARS first appeared in Toronto and which has essentially been closed down as a result), and because we have one case of (reportedly) confirmed SARS in our ER. Everyone in our hospital must wear a surgical mask, all our out-patient services have been suspended, and staff are being asked to limit their movements through the hospital. The upshot is that our usually-bustling hospital is eerily quiet today.
A colleague of mine who works at the Grace started her 10-day quarantine today. She (as well as most of her co-workers – apparently around 1200 people) is restricted to her home, must wear a surgical mask when around others, and cannot sleep in the same room as anyone else during this time.
No one’s panicking, and I think most people understand that they are not at high risk of contracting this disease as long as precautions are followed, but I would say that SARS is definitely on the minds of many Torontonians, ranking up there with the war. I saw on the news last night that suppliers of N95-100 masks are having hard time keeping up with local demand. Not only are healthcare facilities buying them, but apparently regular folks are purchasing boxes to send to friends and/or family overseas.
The numbers here haven’t hiked up seriously over the past day, I think something like 5 or 6 new cases, no deaths. However the government has ordered a strict quarantine scheme (finally) like the one implemented in Singapore.
We’ve been told to stay away from crowded places… but we’ve got the rolling stones concert (not too sure whether it’s still gonna take place… I read somewhere that it’s been cancelled but my friends say it’s still gonna happen) and the Rugby 7s starting today! Where annually 100,000 people get together to watch!
Three teams have already dropped out and the other teams are being ordered to restrict themselves to their hotels and the rugby pitches. But the show’s still gonna go on…
I’ve got a few spare masks… anyone???
Toronto, Canada has gone on its highest alert since 9/11.
Source: http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoNews/ts.ts-03-27-0002.html
This city, including its hospitals is going into lockdown mode.
Now, Canadiens don’t panic easily, except when it comes to hockey or other selected winter sports. For them to be acting this way speaks volumes of how serious this may be.
The N95 masks are quite effective at filtering out microbes. I suppose an N99 mask would be even better, but I haven’t actually seen anyone with one of these. If an N95 isn’t available, then a TB mask would be your next choice. If that’s not available, then a surgical mask is better than nothing. (Looking over my previous post I notice that I incorrectly referred to the masks that we are wearing at our hospital as surgical masks; they are, in fact, N95 and TB masks. Oh, and the ER staff are of course wearing their masks in addition to the gowns and gloves! Good grief. I blame it on my having to breathe my own exhalations all damn day.;))
It’s being reported now that the University of Hong Kong has confirmed the CDC’s contention that SARS is caused by a coronavirus, and that researchers have developed a diagnostic test for SARS. Interestingly, the article goes on to say that the virus can only survive in the air for 3 hours and confirms what someone said earlier in this thread: that the biggest factor in spreading this virus has been inadequate handwashing.
Hong Kong’s Public Health Boss Trashed in Newspaper–Triad Hoodlums Peddle Useless “Surgical masks” to fearful public-----Statistical Breakdown of HK cases, a very worthwhile table of data.
A first suspected case was reported in Alabama yesterday (actually on Friday, I guess). I mentioned it at a party I attended Saturday night and everyone asked where?, but the internet info said that health officials were keeping names, locations, etc. secret - I guess they only release names of those who die.
Anyway, was listening to an “inform the community” type interview show on late-night Sunday radio awhile ago, and some doctor was being interviewed about SARS, and let the cat out of the bag. The suspected case is in Jefferson County, which means Birmingham, which means right next door (and where I was partying last night).
Damn. And West Nile Virus season is just starting here, too.
The way this thing is spreading in Hong Kong is pretty scary - their reported cases seem to be jumping by about 40 per day! Anyone have an idea why the situation is so much worse in HK than it seems to be elsewhere? They’ll be passing China’s total pretty soon, and apparently SARS has been circulating in China since November!
Isn’t the Hong Kong area more densely populated than rural China? That would explain it. Oh, and perhaps China health officials haven’t published the total number of cases.
The guy who identified the virus and took care of some of the patients died of the disease. He was younger than me. Since it’s an airborne cold virus, the best way to protect yourself is to wash your hands regularly and avoid shaking hands with people, if you live in an area where there are a number of known cases (like SE Asia). I’d carry around some of that antibacterial gel you can wipe on your hands if you’re touching public rails, doorknobs and stuff. I have always advised people to sneeze into the crook of their elbows instead of their hands, but I haven’t had much success.
In the meantime, if you live in the US or other parts of the world that have had very few cases of SARS, wear your seatbelt, don’t drink and drive, quit smoking, get some exercise and use condoms.
Hospitals around here (in MI) don’t seem to be too concerned about it. My sister was hospitalized this weekend for a respiratory illness (that turned out to be pneumonia) and no one ever mentioned SARS, even though her symptoms were frightening. She started out with cold / flu-like symptoms and suddenly spiked a fever over 104 and got really sick, really fast. They gave her antibiotics and she is responding well, so it’s not viral, but I did wonder about it. We’re not too far from Canada.
So, is it confirmed for sure that it’s a coronavirus? I’m only asking because I haven’t had the second series of my MMR shots, and I’m a little concerned that I might be more susceptible to this (yes, I’m paranoid, why do you ask?)
So, I’m going to get my MMR sometime in the next month, but should I put a rush on it, do you think?