Why isn't international air travel from Hong Kong and China being discontinued?

[Urban Ranger]

From what I have gathered, there are like 341 cases in the PRC, a bit over 300 here, something like 80 in Vietnam, 40 in Singapore, 4 in Taiwan, a few in Canada, a couple in Sweden, 1 in Macao.

Quarantine does work, but the virus is not very infectious, so it's pretty much a judgment call. Singapore can get a bit heavyhanded at times.

[Urban Ranger]

D'oh. Dumb me. Here are the WHO official figures for 03/26.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
From what I have gathered, there are like 341 cases in the PRC, a bit over 300 here, something like 80 in Vietnam, 40 in Singapore, 4 in Taiwan, a few in Canada, a couple in Sweden, 1 in Macao.

Quarantine does work, but the virus is not very infectious, so it's pretty much a judgment call. Singapore can get a bit heavyhanded at times.

Singapore does go overboard, but when Ontario is doing the same thing, I start to wonder about the HK gov't approach.

What the government should be doing is using quarantines while at the same time telling people not to worry so much. Like you said, it is not very infectious. If the infected people are in quarantine then the likelihood of spreading is much lower.

But instead the government is running around with its head chopped off, again.

[Mr. President]

Interesting. That many infections but comparatively few deaths. You know, no disease (not even smallpox) kills all or even most of the people it infects. So you really shouldn't be too afraid, especially if you're healthy. (My mom is a public health person, so blame her if you don't believe me.)

[Tingkai]

That's what I think, and if the Stones can handle 40 years of boozing and drugs then this thing ain'yt going to hurt them.

Note: Someone has bought face mask and handing them out in the office.

[Mr. President]

if the Stones can handle 40 years of boozing and drugs then this thing ain'yt going to hurt them.

True.

I have a friend who's afraid of both this disease and biological retaliation from Iraq. I pointed out to him what I posted above, and also that you can die while watching TV, or while playing Alpha Centauri, or while surfing the internet, or while reading a book, or while kissing your girlfriend, or while sitting around and doing nothing; and that the chances that you will die while doing any of these things are actually larger than the chance that you will die at the hands of Fedayeen Saddam. I also pointed out that he rides a motorcycle, so his fear is clearly not based on any actual risk assessment. Needless to say, he did not appreciate these things being pointed out, as they disrupted his entire worldview; but I thought he would have wanted me to tell him.

[our_man]

The problem with diseases like this is that although they are not particularly fatal, this is mainly because people can receive correct care and overcome the disease.

In a situation where a greater number of the population were infected and health services were overwhelmed, you could expect the percentage of fatalities to be much higher. That's why containment is so important.

[Mr. President]

Can you imagine if it got to Africa? There's so many places without basic healthcare facilities.

[Urban Ranger]

Bad Sh!t

Just heard on the news that three persons in Iraq, two Kuwaitis and an Asian, seemed to have contracted SARS. What's more disconcerning is, the two Kuwaitis haven't been to cities where there is an outbreak.

This can turn out to be very bad for the Iraqis.

[Lancer]

Asian countries suffering under SARS are now limiting travel, MSNBC reported. I don't know if that's travel overseas or within the countries. Kind of too late for a restriction on international air travel to spare the US and Canada now. Seventy KNOWN cases in the US, who knows how many in Canada.

It spreads through the air, lasts 3 hours on surfaces...