Posted on 05/28/2003 4:52:38 AM PDT by IYAAYAS
This eems like a duplicate post, the important part is the second part. The first domino.
Student developed symptoms Lack of staff shuts TGH emergency
May. 28, 2003. 07:03 AM
Only 25 per cent of SARS victims develop pneumonia - the rest suffer only fever and cold symptoms. SARS victims have 95-98 per cent chance of recovery. Common pneumonia kills at a much higher rate than SARS - up to 50 per cent when it is spread amongst the ill or elderly at hospitals. - Star staff
1,500 Markham students in quarantine Student developed symptoms Lack of staff shuts TGH emergency
NECO COCKBURN AND KAREN PALMER STAFF REPORTERS
More than 1,500 students and staff at a Markham high school have been ordered into quarantine, after a student with SARS-like symptoms attended the school last week.
Anyone who attended Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy on 14th Ave. between May 21 and 23 must quarantine themselves at home for 10 days, officials said in statement released last night.
Officials were still tracking the student's movements last night and will continue to do so. York Region spokesperson Patrick Casey said in an interview that the suspected case isn't isolated and there is a "definite link to North York General (Hospital)."
The hospital is the source of the latest SARS outbreak.
New cases of SARS originated in the hospital weeks ago but remained undetected. The new outbreak has prompted several city hospitals to close down wards and authorities to issue quarantine orders.
The male student showing symptoms of SARS attended the Markham secondary school until May 23. Officials were notified late yesterday, said Casey.
People who attended the school should call York Region Health Services Health Connection immediately at 1-800-361-5653 for further directions. Families or other household members of a quarantined student or staff member do not have to remain at home, the statement says.
The school has been closed until June 3 as a further precaution, as "it is impossible to identify all students and staff who may have come into contact with this student," it says.
Dr. Murray McQuigge, a public health physician consultant for York Region Health Services, was to hold a news briefing at 11 a.m. today to discuss the case.
Meanwhile, the emergency room of Toronto General Hospital stopped accepting new patients last night because of a shortage of staff.
Last Thursday, more than 15 hospital staff members were sent home into isolation because of possible exposure from a patient later found to have SARS.
The hospital stopped accepting ambulances last week because of the staff shortage. Yesterday the hospital decided not to accept walk-in patients as well.
All walk-ins are being diverted to Toronto Western Hospital, by ambulance if necessary.
Also, four hospitals in four corners of the city are forming an alliance against SARS by establishing specialized units for treating the illness.
St. Michael's, North York General, the Etobicoke campus of William Osler and Scarborough General hospitals will share supplies and resources and produce a plan for moving severe acute respiratory syndrome patients from one hospital to another, depending on the care needed.
"What we are doing is concentrating the treatment and expertise of SARS at these four key sites ... to ensure that we can quickly identify and contain the disease during this new wave of cases," Health Minister Tony Clement said, noting that the health-care system needs to be open and working to deal with the "other 99 per cent of patients."
"These are not SARS hospitals," St. Michael's president Jeff Lozon said. "We are just stepping forward at this time to deal with the latest cluster of cases in a more co-ordinated fashion."
The city's sickest SARS patients will be sent to St. Michael's. The others will be treated at one of the three alliance hospitals, unless they are already being cared for at another hospital.
Clement said hospitals asked for specialized centres. "This is not a panacea," he said. "This is not an announcement on how we're going to solve SARS."
Responding to criticism that hospitals let their guard down too soon, Clement said: "Nothing could be further from the truth. We live in a state of vigilance on this. We can never let down our guard."
Deputy Liberal leader Sandra Pupatello charged in question period yesterday that a public inquiry is needed to determine how Conservative government policies made it more difficult to contain the virus.
She cited funding cuts to hospitals and public health agencies, nursing layoffs and the casualization of the nursing profession, which allowed health-care workers to unwittingly risk transmitting the disease from one facility to another.
Clement said it was unfair to level such accusations when government and public health experts are working hard to contain SARS.
Stringent infection-control measures were relaxed about two days before four potential SARS cases were found at the St. John's rehabilitation hospital last week. That infection was traced back to North York General.
Active probable cases rose slightly yesterday to 12, with 24 suspected cases. Some 4,942 people are in quarantine, including 185 health-care workers — numbers expected to grow.
with files from Stan Josey, theresa boyle AND STEVE KRAVITZ
And also, please post a link.
And if they don't?
Why not?
I wonder, do they take the time to decontaminate the ambulance after transporting a SARS patient?
You also had better hope there are not more cases than negative-pressure hospital rooms.
The recommendation that patients be treated in negative pressure is fine, as long as the number of cases is very small.
The specter of lawsuits has alredy been raised, however-as the CDC guidance may establish a "standard of care" which will not be able to be followed if there are more than a few cases.
Where is York?
Never heard of them. Where are they?
Link?
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