[MatthewViti]

pride cometh before the fall

[IYAAYAS]

THERE IS NO SARS IN TORONTO, I DEMAND ALL AMERICANS COME TO BUY THINGS!!!

[per loin]

The risk of getting SARS in this kind of setting (a school) is very low,

Based on what evidence?

[Beck_isright]

Do, dooo, dooo, dooooooddoooooo,
Don't worry,
dodododododooooo
be happy
dodododoooooooooooooo

Don't worry, be happy......

[TBall]

SARS, isn't that like a really bad cold?

[hole_n_one]

Reuters
Hindustan Times
Yahoo

SARS Shuts Toronto School, 6,400 in Quarantine
Wed May 28, 2003 12:50 PM ET
By Rajiv Sekhri

TORONTO (Reuters) - Concern about SARS shut down a Toronto-area high school on Wednesday, sending staff and students into quarantine and raising fears the virus may have spread from hospitals to the broader community.

More than 6,400 people, including 2,000 from the school, are now in quarantine in greater Toronto after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome resurfaced six days ago.

Before then, Toronto had thought it had beaten the disease -- no new cases were reported from mid-April to mid-May.

Health officials said a student at the school, located just north of Toronto, appeared to have symptoms of SARS, and that prompted the quarantine call. One of the student's parents worked at Toronto's North York General Hospital, epicenter of the latest outbreak.

"The risk of getting SARS in this kind of setting (a school) is very low," said Dr. Murray McQuigge, a physician in the region where the high school is located.

"We are not aware of any other student in this school who is symptomatic right now."

The Toronto area is the only place outside Asia where people have died of SARS. There have been 27 deaths around Toronto and there are 12 probable cases now.

Doctors say six patients are in critical condition and they are monitoring about 30 more people for infection.

"In retrospect, we think we let our guard down too early," said Dr. Donald Low, chief of microbiology at Mount Sinai Hospital, one of the leaders in Toronto's fight against SARS.

Doctors think the virus lingered in hospital wards for weeks and infected nurses, patients and visitors after the authorities eased rules on wearing masks and gloves.

Nurses this week said they had noticed patients with SARS-like symptoms after the rules were relaxed, but doctors and hospital administrators did not listen.

"Unfortunately, they were not taken seriously," Doris Grinspun, executive director of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, told Reuters, describing it as "ridiculous" that no one paid attention.

"This is not the first time in the history of this profession in this country or another when nurses speak with expertise and are not listened to. This has to stop."

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Toronto's problem was under control.

"This is not a problem that is serious ... It is not dangerous to travel to Toronto at all," Chretien told a news conference in Athens, Greece, after a summit between Canada and the European Union.

His aides said Chretien had not been aware of the possible outbreak in the school when he made his comments.

The World Health Organization this week put Toronto back on its list of SARS-affected areas after 12 days off that hook. But the U.N. agency stopped short of recommending that travelers avoid Toronto.

Worldwide, SARS has killed nearly 750 people and infected more than 8,200. The virus, which originated in China's Guangdong province, produces symptoms that include a high fever, dry cough and difficulty in breathing.

[Grig]

Toronto is now so short on health care workers that they have what is called a 'working quarantine'. Health care workers who SHOULD be in quarentine are allowed to come to work as long as they keep a face mask on and don't use public transit. No kidding.

[Prince Charles]

A 'Superspreader' of SARS How One Woman Touched Off Beijing Outbreak

Yu said the hospital waited three days to transfer her from a room she shared with other patients to her own room in the respiratory ward. Chen credited a young doctor who searched for information about the new illness on the Internet.

At least one Chinese doctor was on the ball.

[Reagan is King]

Canadian Health Minister Anne McLellan said there "is absolutely no reason not to visit Toronto, to eat in the restaurants and go to shows and lead life in a normal way."

Yah right, I'll fly right up there and visit. Just like I would fly to Taiwan or China right now. NOT! They don't need to worry about tourist dollars right now, they need to take the SARS seriously and quit worrying about WHO travel warnings and their tourism.

[Future Useless Eater]

SARS Mortality Rates [reflects treatment] for 'PROBABLE' cases only Based on World Health Organization daily tables                 (Revised:  May 28 pm)
Area	Recoveries to date	Deaths to date	Recent** Death Rate		Active Cases still in Danger	Projected Future Deaths	Projected Cumulative Mortality
China	3036	325	8.7%		1962	170	9.3%
Taiwan	111	81	63.8%		418	267	57.0%
Hong Kong	1295	270	11.1%		165	18	16.6%
elsewhere [30 countries]	449	70	11.9%		61	7	13.3%
**  Recent deaths are based on findings from the Imperial College of London...... that deaths take 12 days longer on average than recoveries on average..... = (12-day recent deaths) / (12-day recent deaths + prior 12-day recoveries)

Observations - Treatment:
• Taiwan only reports 'probable' cases when they are the most obvious, or in CRITICAL condition, which is why their recent death rate is so high.
• Taiwan maintains an additional shamelessly high 'suspected' SARS count exceeding 1150 patients.
• China's numbers are grossly underreported.
  China abruptly STOPPED classifying ANY NEW 'PROBABLE' cases in their 'outland' areas about 2 weeks ago.

Trend - Active Cases Still in Danger [reflects containment] for 'PROBABLE' cases only
Date	China [Bogus]	Taiwan	Hong Kong	elsewhere 30 countries	World-wide all 33 countries
May 13	3061	153	374	89	3677
May 14	3046	170	343	85	3644
May 15	3034	196	309	78	3617
May 16	2969	193	297	79	3538
May 17	2918	221	276	76	3491
May 18 (est.)	2870	254	263	73	3460
May 19	2799	249	250	70	3368
May 20	2700	268	236	69	3273
May 21	2618	295	227	65	3205
May 22	2526	349	217	62	3154
May 23	2438	396	209	59	3102
May 24	2326	386	196	68	2976
May 25 (est.)	2259	386	184	61	2890
May 26	2170	401	183	58	2812
May 27	2057	408	174	59	2698
May 28	1962	418	165	61	2606
May 29	...	459	...	...	...
(includes new daily cases... excludes cases resolved by death or recovery) (some tables are supplemented with government data when WHO data is missing)

Observations - Containment:
• Taiwan's 'probable' count should be FIVE or SIX HUNDRED higher.
• Taiwan is withholding less-serious 'probable' cases and calling them 'suspected'.
• This raises their 'probable' cases' mortality rate, and obscures their real containment.
                              May 29  (459) ACTIVE 'probable' cases
Apr 30   (41)      [a eleven-fold increase in one month]

---

• China's 'official' numbers in the charts and their recent 'improvements' are bogus.
• They abruptly stopped ALL REPORTS of NEW 'PROBABLE' cases in most places (besides Beijing) about 2 weeks ago.
  Here are some examples...

---

Inner Mongolia (province) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                               May 28 (285 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (114 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change occurred May 10]

---

Guandong (province) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                               May 28 (1512 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (1395 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change occurred May 10]   ...vertical scale = 1350 to 1520

---

Tianjin (municipality) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                               May 28 (175 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (43 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change occurred May 14]

---

Shanxi (province) - TOTAL 'probable' case count
                               May 28 (450 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
April 28 (243 TOTAL 'probable' cases)
[abrupt change about May 14]   ...vertical scale = 200 to 450

---


The only way these graphs could flat-line SO ABRUPTLY is China cheating
on their reporting, and to stop reporting any new SARS cases as 'probable'.

[Rummyfan]

I guess Chretien will have to go eat a steak in the school cafeteria now, to prove that neither SARS nor Mad Cow disease is a problem!

[b4its2late]

Nurses are usually out of control anyway... ask any doctor.

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding.....:-)

[Nita Nupress]

Is there a registration name/code that Freepers use for the Washington Compost?