SARS worry hits Hewlett-Packard office in Toronto

Reuters via Forbes.com ^ | 4/10/03

[Heartlander2]

Hewlett-Packard Co., the No. 1 personal computer and printer maker, said on Thursday that it had sent home nearly 200 workers at a technology services office near Toronto after two employees were suspected of having SARS.

SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, is a pneumonia-like illness that has killed more than 110 people and infected almost 3,000 worldwide.

About two weeks ago, Palo Alto, California-based HP closed one of its two main Hong Kong offices, sending home about 200 workers after an employee came down with SARS-like symptoms . HP reopened those offices on April 1.

In Canada, the two employees have not been at work in the offices since April 1, HP spokeswoman Monica Sarkar said, and the other employees were quarantined as of Tuesday. There are 102 HP employees and 95 contract employees assigned to the facility, in Markham, she said.

The company brought employees from another facility into the offices to cover for the employees sent home, she said.

She said the company is working with Canada's public health officials on a daily basis to figure out when the employees will be able to return to work. It was those officials who she said suggested sending the employees home.

Canadian health officials told reporters in a briefing on Wednesday that it had ordered 200 employees of an area company into quarantine after one of the employees attended work despite have SARS-like symptoms.

It did not identify HP as that company, but Canadian newspaper reports did. Sarkar said HP was unable to confirm or deny whether any HP employee had attended work with SARS-like symptoms.

[LPStar]

As the CDC person said, SARS will hit workplaces. The economic effect of this illness will be enormous.

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