[Bilbo Baggins]

"Mother, can you dig your man?
He's a righteous man,
Tell me Mother, can you dig your man?"

-- Larry, leaving NYC heading for Sin City

[Mother Abigail]

Elsewhere, conditions are described as grim in the Prince of Wales Hospital, where the bulk of Hong Kong's SARS victims were infected — by a Hong Kong man who visited the Metropole while the professor was there.

 Patients, including dozens of hospital workers, are under quarantine and some staff who aren't sick have been staying in hotels, hoping to avoid any transmission of the disease to their families.

The hospital wasn't designed to handle infectious diseases, said orthopedic surgeon Dr. Leung Ping-chung, who said basic needs aren't being met.

The intensive care unit is "overloaded," the hospital doesn't have enough sinks, while officials just got around to buying full-body protective coats for "frontline" doctors, Leung told The Associated Press.

"We're waiting for backup," Leung said, but he believes authorities have "given up" on the hospital.