SARS: A costly error

Globe & Mail ^ | 2003-05-31 | Staff

[Diogenesis]

They knew. Canada knew they lied to WHO, too.

[Judith Anne]

Barb Wahl, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, said some nursing homes told nurses to remove their masks because wearing them "frightens" the elderly patients.

Better to have the patients frightened and alive, than comforted, and dead.

[Dick Vomer]

butt-kissing bearucrats are in "public health"...doctors have been turned into that in Canada....... look at your future ain't it a beautiful thing.

[buffyt]

Why is Toronto having so many SARS cases?

[aristeides]

A lot of people here on FR also spotted the problem in the clinical definition weeks ago.

And the nurses in Toronto had a good idea they had SARS well before May 22nd: SARS alert ignored: Nurses.

[Cachelot]

They knew. Canada knew they lied to WHO, too.

Of course they knew. But:

"That week, that advisory definitely changed our psychology

they're blameless. The bad WHO "changed their psychology".

[aristeides]

US experts heading to Toronto for recent outbreak .

[Cachelot]

"Changed their psychology" is a talking head phrase in the rest of the world to explain

And they really are trying to spread the disease - there's no other explanation for this:

SARS concert - Toronto to hold event for 70.000 people

[jacquej]

Please, let's not pile on the doctors in Canada. This same pattern of behavior is going on in various communities in the US. If anything, Canada is our "canary in the coal mine", telling us what very well could happen here in the US.

Toronto was just the unlucky city to get hit first. Some city was gonna be first, and what if it had been an inner city hospital in Chicago, or New York. Many of us would be screaming at our own health care system then, and the liberals would be using it as an excuse for more government control of health care.

Canada didn't invent this disease, but has suffered from it. What would you be saying if NYC had been put on WHO's list, and all heck had broken loose there?

[Cachelot]

What would you be saying if NYC had been put on WHO's list

If NYC in that situation arranged a concert for 70.000 people, saying "come on in, the water is fine", I'd be saying exactly the same.

And let's not forget - the first thing Canada did when put on the WHO travel advisory list, was to actively promote international sports events in Toronto.

[vetvetdoug]

FIPV in cats should be the animal model for the SARS. I read these posts and articles everyday and SARS is doing the same thing in humans as FIPV does in cats. The elusiveness of diagnosis, the myriad of disease symptoms, the carrier state versus the full blown diseased individual, the absolute contagiousness of nasal droplets and fecal particles, the use of the immune system for spread and virulence and the persistance of virus on fomites all make FIPV the animal model.

I have maintained since the virus was found to be a Coronavirus and not a Paramyxovirus that we are in for a long arduous and dangerous time in controlling the disease. Pfizer has a feline vaccine and I look for them to lead the field in a successful vaccine for SARS.

[CobaltBlue]

>>With no known new cases after 20 days, the city had laid down its gloves. On May 16, health staff in area hospitals were instructed that they no longer needed to wear full protective gear.

May 16 is emblazoned with regret in Dr. Low's mind: "As soon as the masks and the gloves came off, you can see this dramatic spike in the cases." <<

What's weird is that plenty of us here on FR and on other places that blog about SARS, I would say most of us who take the threat of SARS seriously, thought that Toronto was screwing up their handling of SARS for political reasons.

This exposes yet another reason to not have socialized medicine - when it's provided by the government, doctors answer to politicians.

Some have pointed out similar problems with HMOs like Kaiser Permanente - the doctors answer to insurers.

Which is why it's remarkable that WHO and CDC, both government organizations, have shown far more independence than the medical establishment in Canada and China. Maybe because they perceive their mission as providing results rather than kowtowing to expedience. Or maybe because they know that kowtowing to politicians doesn't save lives.

[jacquej]

I am not responding to argue with you... but wanted you to know I read your post.

I understand that you take exception to my ideas on this, and am interested in what you have to say, but do not want to debate the points. I think a better use of time is to follow the story, to learn as much as I can.

I am hoping to find some really good news, such as they have discovered a quick and effective treatment for this.

[jacquej]

Excellent post! Your thoughts make excellent sense, and might I ask you about something I read a few days back?

Someone said that the vaccine in cats sometimes did more damage and caused more problems... Is that true?

I do not believe everything I read, so when someone shows up who knows something, and has had hands-on experience, I ask for verification and opinion.