Life 'Surreal' for Nurse Under SARS Quarantine

Health Central.com ^ | May 30, 2003 | Amanda Gardner

[aristeides]

Health workers nervous about SARS in Taiwan.

[Chemist_Geek]

It's spelled "martial law", derives from Mars

Yes. Too many times, though, I've read it around here spelled as "Marshall," to think that people are just making typos. I think they really believe that martial law is correctly spelled "Marshall Law."

It's rather like reading immigration threads about "sealing the boarders" (sp).

I suppose if a lot of people insisted on breaking quarantine and the civilian authorities were overwhelmed, martial law might be called for, but most people in the US are law-abiding, either because they recognize the wisdom of the law, or because they fear the consequences.

The problem with a communicable disease like SARS, is that no quarantine is perfect, and it won't take much of a breakdown in quarantine to allow the disease to spread.

Already, we read in the media reports from Canada about whining and how terrible and hard quarantine is... I fear, that too many people will not put their community's health above their own selfish desires. Then, we also include the economic and employment situation - too many people fear, with good reason, their employers jettisoning their jobs if they aren't at their desk all day every day, no matter how ill the person might be.