Posted on 03/27/2003 1:59:54 PM PST by Lucas1
3,000 SARS HERE? 'Unprecedented' emergency as T.O. officials fear mass exposure
By ROB GRANATSTEIN AND GEORGE CHRISTOPOULOS, TORONTO SUN
Top officials in Toronto's medical staff believe up to 3,000 people may have been exposed -- directly or indirectly -- to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, according to Toronto Sun sources.
"It's out of control," the source said.
An "unprecedented" quarantine of thousands of Torontonians has been ordered to stop the deadly spread of SARS, which has also been declared a provincial emergency.
10-DAY ISOLATION
Anyone who has even visited the Scarborough Grace hospital since March 16 has been asked to voluntarily isolate themselves in their homes for 10 days since their last visit.
"We realize this is a substantial number of people," said Dr. Sheela Basrur, Toronto's medical officer of health. "It could be in the thousands.
"This is an incident of unprecedented scope and magnitude," Basrur said. "It's a daunting task.
"This is a pretty unusual step for us to be requiring healthy individuals to be under quarantine," she said. "The concern with SARS is we do not know when people become contagious and we want to take an extra step of precaution."
That announcement hasn't eased the escalating panic gripping the city that's seen a run on surgical masks, the closing of a school and of two hospitals' emergency and intensive- care units, and a call by the province's nurses that no one should visit family in hospitals or long-term care facilities.
The number in Ontario of suspect or probable cases with the atypical pneumonia has jumped to 32, up nine from Tuesday, while the symptomatic cases have been upped from 25 to 30.
"Once it gets started, it's very hard to stop," Basrur said.
"We can't say that it's under control," said Dr. James Young, Ontario's commissioner of public safety. "We can say we're taking more vigorous controls to ensure no new cases come out."
Two of three patients who died of SARS were at Scarborough Grace.
NEW CASES
New suspected cases of SARS prompted Premier Ernie Eves and Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement to declare a health emergency.
"It means that we have set up a command centre that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week in ministry offices, and that there are dedicated staff to this issue," Clement said.
The last time the Ontario government declared such an emergency was Sept. 11, "Health officials are now working under this regulation to contain this disease as soon as possible," Clement said. "Clearly, we're dealing with a particularly virulent form."
Clement said West Nile virus wasn't declared an emergency and SARS has been because it is potentially an airborne disease.
"I think we have to at least consider that it might be airborne in which case the degree of spread could be quite exponential if nothing is done," Clement said.
In other developments yesterday:
- Mount Sinai has closed its emergency and intensive care units to acute care cases for 10 days and sent its staff in those departments home to quarantine themselves. The hospital admitted a patient transferred from Scarborough Grace that they didn't think had SARS, but later showed signs of pneumonia. He's now in isolation at Toronto General Hospital.
- Scarborough Grace remains essentially closed: No new cases, no visitors, no elective surgeries.
- Plans are underway to open extra isolation beds -- including at new, unopened facilities -- for future expected cases.
- SARS cases have spread to York, Durham, Peel, and Simcoe. An Ottawa man has also been isolated as a suspected SARS case, the first in that region.
- Sunnybrook has 11 SARS cases, and hopes to discharge two or three in the next couple of days.
- A SARS clinic opens at 9 a.m. today at Women's College Hospital. It uses a separate entrance, and air from that room is not circulated into other parts of the hospital.
- Toronto Public Health has asked the Canadian Red Cross to help the people in isolation get the necessary food they need.
- David Lewis Public School in Scarborough remains closed until Monday after three kindergarten students developed fevers yesterday morning. The TDSB closed the school despite objections from Toronto Public Health.
Ontario Nurses Association president Barb Wahl wants people who may be visiting friends and family in hospitals, long-term care facilities and nursing homes to think twice.
"Stay home," Wahl said. "Use the telephone. Don't go to the problem. If you stay away you're aren't likely to come in contact with it and you aren't likely to spread it. It's not going to hurt anyone if you stay home, but it might if you decide to go," she said
Can you?
Torontonians????
That be me.
Torontinites? Torontians? Torontonistas?
Beats me.
Voluntary must have a different meaning in Canadian than in English.
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