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Sunday, March 30, 2003At noon, his chief of staff announced that the hospital's own doctors and nurses had begun filling up the emergency wards as patients. They reported trouble breathing, severe muscle pain and high fever. Their mystery illness wasn't responding to treatment. The healthy staff took to dressing from head to toe in protective gear. To avoid infecting his family, Cockram kept to a separate bedroom and wore a surgical mask at home. Many of his colleagues slept in their offices. In a few days, the wards filled up with more than 90 patients. "It was heartbreaking," he says. "This was a new disease, and we didn't know what to do. We felt so helpless." In other news, the CDC released guidelines for patients and their close contacts to help minimize spread of the disease. Don't cough, don't sneeze, don't drink out of the same glass as others, wash your hands, and stay at home for ten days after you're feeling better. And here's the WHO's summary of yesterday's developments: The number of cases in Viet Nam remained at 58 for the sixth day in a row, indicating that the outbreak in Hanoi is well-controlled. The largest increases occurred in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, with 45 new cases, and Canada, with 8 new cases. The United States of America reported 8 additional suspect or probable cases. It's reassuring that in Vietnam things have remained steady, with no new cases for so long. They may be near stopping the spread. It's also reassuring that such large countries as Canada and the United States have seen only small increases in cases (all the new cases were in travellers returning from southeast Asia), but Hong Kong, where healthcare workers were especially hit hard remains worrisome. One of the reasons Canada has been able to keep local spread to a minimum is that they're practicing universal respiratory precautions: In Toronto, all hospital workers should be issued protective gear to stop the spread of SARS. Dr. James Young, the Ontario commissioner of public safety, told reporters that hospital staff must wear masks, gowns, gloves and eyewear. "We are all taking this disease very seriously," said Young. "Health officials and health care workers across the province have been working hard to prevent infection. Now, we are using all arms of the government needed to make sure the spread of this disease is controlled." Health Canada, meanwhile, said it has received reports of 37 cases of SARS in Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba. There have been three deaths in Canada. Here's a tally of cases in the United States (still no deaths here, thankfully) UPDATE: Canada has taken the unusual step of closing two hospitals that cared for SARS cases, and quarantining their workers: Most cases involve health care workers at Scarborough Grace Hospital and York Central Hospital who became infected while treating initial victims, all of whom had traveled in Asia or had close contact with other victims. "What we're seeing in the last week is mostly health care workers that are young, healthy people and we have to realize if we start to see individuals and families that are older, that they are more susceptible to a worse outcome," Low said. Frank Lussing, president and chief executive of York Central, said anyone who has worked there since March 16 has been asked to stay home for 10 days. The hospital has a staff of 1,800 workers. The quarantine advisory extends to those in close contact with the hospital workers posted by Sydney on 3/30/2003 08:07:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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