Just wondering, SARS was one of the big stories last winter, but not much has been around about it. Has it gone away? Will it come back? And how hard will it hit if it’s had a whole summer to stew and mutate? The economic damage to China and Southeast Asia had to be pretty big last year. If it comes back in a big way it could destroy tourism and business travel to those countries.
Anybody here work for the CDC or a similar agency and know if they have a big battle plan ready? I recall that a few of our valiant doctors from the board were fighting it on the front lines.
Dunno, but HK’s certainly preparing for another comeback. It would be totally disastrous if it did, the economy’s just starting to pick up, tourists are back and the unemployment level is finally decreasing.
actually, even with SARS China is on track for about 9% GDP growth this year. It was a blow but not a critical one in terms of GDP or Foreign Direct Investment.
China seems to be pretty ready this year. Everyone knows this is critical and that cover ups will not be tolerated. Likely to err on the side of caution.
I’ve noticed that “wild” animal sales in restaurants has been severely curbed. A lot of the places I go to that used to offer snake and other critters don’t have them in stock this year. (Theory that SARS jumped from wild animals destined for the cooking pot).
Lessons learned from last year. If there is a SARS outbreak, screen people entering hospitals and doctor offices carefully, average person has to really attend to washing hands frequently, and masks do seem to help.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t things like this always peak in the colder months (when we’re all inside with other people too much) and subside in the warmer ones? News people were shocked in september that there were new reported cases, and I couldn’t figure out why they thought it was gone…
I hadn’t seen the new reported cases in September. IANAV, but am fascinated with how these things apparently go “dormant” for the summer months. Someone or something is obviously carrying it during this time, unless it’s able to live outside of a host for many months at as time.
I think SEARS will make a comeback. The holiday season is here, and most folks seem to have money for festivities and such. Although, Walmart seems to be kickin’ their as… OHHHHH SARS!!!
I know Canada is worried about it, especially around Toronto. Health Canada has been having free flu vaccinations lately, and really advertising them, since the early flu symptoms are very similar to those of SARS. They don’t want a repeat of this summer (the outbreaks here weren’t in the colder months, by the way) and since all people presenting to the ER/clinics with “flu-like” symptoms have to be treated as if they have SARS just in case, the fewer people getting the flu, the better. I’d like to think they have the quarantine and diagnosis stategy pretty much ironed out at this point, but you never know who might slip and spread the infection further.