sylvestm wrote: > I have a Chinese student in my class who also works at a Chinese > restaurant with lots of chinese on staff. The student who sits next to her > is concerned about the SARS disease which has killed people in Asia. > Is her anxiety justified? and how should I react?
No it isn't, unless the student has come back from Guangdong or that region in the past 10 days, or is currently showing symptoms. Here in Toronto (the North American "hotspot") every person who is even suspected of having the disease (about 150 people, mostly hospital personnel) had *first degree* contact with a person who had recently returned from southern China (and a few smaller southeast asian countries) or had recently returned him- or herself. It has not spread beyond that group. By the way, despite what you might have seen on TV, life here in Toronto is going on almost completely normally. The outbreak is mainly confined to two hospitals, one in the eastern suburbs, the other in the northen suburbs. Many other hospitals are now working on under various kinds of less stringent restrictions to keep it from spreading further. One school has been closed for a few days because a parent who should have quarantined herself went on field trip with some of the children, but it is scheduled to re-open on Monday. The pictures that have been broadcast of people wearing masks are mostly of hospital workers who are on break, or just leaving the hospital. People are *not* generally wearing masks, nor are they confining themselves to home (except those who are under 10-day quarantine). Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 phone: 416-736-5115 ext.66164 fax: 416-736-5814 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
