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...my concern is that SARS will expose all the weaknesses.

A reasonable cocern, but I would stipulate that it is nearly impossible to maintain a position that would be able to absorb the effects of any pandemic. The O&M costs would be staggering. I am not saying that we shouldn't take reasonable steps which would allow us to move to a full up defensive posture more rapidly if this SARS turns out to be more deadly in the second round as was the Spanish Lady.

I have followed all of the SARS threads (or most of them). I dropped off posting early on in the SARS discussions because the uninformed naysayers were getting on my nerves. I note that you have hung in there from nearly the beginning. Kudos to you.

The latest round of speculation in the press is that we have paid too much attention to SARS to the detriment of more menacing problems, the latest being the West Nile problem. I guess some folks think everything is a zero sum game. The concept of parrallel processsing and dynamic response is totally foreign to their pea pickin' intellects.

Thoughtful remarks, and you're right. As the system is now, there is no way to maintain a defensive posture all the time. I don't know what measures would enable us to ratchet up in case of outbreak(s). I am concerned about being caught with my (N95) mask off and my scrubs down, so to speak.

One of the scenarios I imagined at the beginning of these threads was a person with a broken bone or appendicitis, coming down with SARS all unsuspected, while in the hospital for the more ordinary illness.

Now I see that in Canada, it's happened, the man died, healthcare workers were exposed and sickened, and other patients infected. Not reassuring. And some called us panic-mongers for our speculation...

"The latest round of speculation in the press is that we have paid too much attention to SARS to the detriment of more menacing problems, the latest being the West Nile problem. I guess some folks think everything is a zero sum game. The concept of parrallel processsing and dynamic response is totally foreign to their pea pickin' intellects."

Let's not forget the frightening realization that now, due to decades of misuse, antibiotics are becoming impotent, especially in orthopedic surgery. Just this week there was an obituary in the local paper for a woman felled by a simple knee operation.

A friend of mine is a pharmacist at the local VA. We were just discussing the looming threat superbugs pose to healthcare.

I am not so sure that we aren't in for a very rough ride in the coming years.