Posted on 04/25/2003 4:00:34 AM PDT by Clive
April 25, 2003
WHO's kidding?
You're safe enough in Toronto, just watch out trying to get there By MARK BONOKOSKI -- Toronto Sun
OTTAWA -- As the World Health Organization screamed that the sky was falling over Toronto, the chief medical officer here went on prime-time radio to assure residents of the nation's capital that there were better odds of dying in a traffic accident on the way to Toronto than contracting SARS if they happened to arrive safely.
This, of course, is cold comfort to someone like me who, as fate would have it, lives out of a suitcase in both cities, and drives 1,000-plus round- trip klicks a week in order to make the twain meet.
But, Dr. Robert Cushman -- unlike far too many Chicken Littles out there - - was finally catching up with reality.
The SARS outbreak in Toronto can be traced to its original clusters, is confined to hospitals and, most importantly, it has not escaped those confines to the point that it is stalking the unsuspecting.
The simple solution, therefore, is to steer clear of those hospitals and, if you happen to be driving to Toronto, keep your eyes on the road , both hands on the steering wheel and, for Gawd's sake, turn off the damn cellphone.
At this writing, there have been 16 confirmed SARS-related deaths in Greater Toronto and, according to Dr. James Young, Toronto's commissioner of public security, not a single "casual transmission" of the disease has been documented.
"It is perfectly safe to walk down the street in Toronto," assured Dr. Young.
Walk down the street, sure.
But, if you are afraid of falling skies, do not dare try to cross it.
So far this year, 14 pedestrians have died trying to cross the streets of Toronto, two less than have died of a SARS-related illness. Total traffic fatalities have hit 21, which is five more than the number of fatalities due to SARS.
There have also been 15 homicides.
Will WHO soon be putting out a travel advisory warning tourists about those potential health risks? And, if not, why not?
The National Post tossed a little more perspective on the odds of dying from SARS in Greater Toronto, noting yesterday that they worked out to one SARS death for every 292,681 residents.
According to the Canada Safety Council, the odds of accidentally strangling one's self to death in bed are one in 10,779.
But that's not the impression out there.
Looking back with the advantage of 20-20 hindsight, however, a goodly portion of Toronto's present pariah status in the world was self-inflicted by its own health authorities.
Because of the initial mysteriousness of the disease, health officials let their own paranoia take hold -- telling anyone with a headache or a fever to go into self-imposed quarantine and, as human nature so often dictates, the resulting panic created the perception of a full-scale crisis.
Now that cooler heads prevail, it is too late.
There's something very wrong with this number. Given the oft-quoted 4 million people in Toronto, this would amount to 371 bed strangling deaths per year. Has anyone ever heard of a real person who has been involved in an accidental bed-strangling death? I've heard of some wacko rockers who strangled themselves as part of "auto-erotic asphyxiation", but not usually in bed.
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