X-Message-Number: 21477
From: "Mark Plus" <>
Subject: SARS IN CANADA: Ontario declares 'health emergency'
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 10:05:05 -0800



http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030326.ubugga0326/BNStory/National

Ontario declares 'health emergency'


Globe and Mail Update with Canadian Press

Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement has declared a "health emergency" to 
fight an outbreak of a mysterious illness that has killed three people in 
the province and left dozens sick or in quarantine and forced the closing of 
a Toronto school.

Mr. Clement announced on Wednesday that he has activated an action group 
under the province's emergency powers legislation to try to counter the 
outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which has spread 
rapidly internationally and made hundreds around the world ill.

"We're taking this very seriously," he said. "By characterizing it as a 
health emergency, we are giving ourselves the powers that we need and the 
information that we need at the most appropriate time to ensure that we can 
contain this disease as soon as possible."

The move means that a command centre is being set up and will be staffed 24 
hours a day, co-ordinating all information from hospitals and health workers 
on SARS.

About 25 people in Toronto showing symptoms of SARS, many of them 
health-care workers, have been told to stay home for 10 days.

But public health officials warn the total quarantine count could be in the 
hundreds.

Those under quarantine are obliged to wear face masks indoors while 
interacting with other family members, and they are forbidden to leave their 
homes to go to work, school or even the grocery store.

Sheela Basrur, Toronto's medical officer of health, said Tuesday that her 
office is racing to track other patients or friends who came in contact with 
those sick health workers, a search that has already led them to join forces 
with local school boards.

"The number of people to be quarantined has yet to be determined," Dr. 
Basrur said. "But we expect that this number could reach into the hundreds."

David Lewis Public School in Scarborough announced on Tuesday it would close 
and not reopen until next Monday as a "precautionary measure" after three 
junior kindergarten students developed high fevers, one of the symptoms of 
SARS.

Other schools have sent notes home urging parents to watch for symptoms of 
the atypical pneumonia, such as dry coughs and soaring temperatures, and to 
keep sick children at home.

Vancouver and Edmonton have reported one suspected SARS case each. But 
Ontario now reports 48 suspected or probable cases, including those of the 
Scarborough health workers, and three deaths.

The Toronto situation has taken on an eerie resemblance to the one unfolding 
in Asia. Some schools have closed in Hong Kong, and the government of 
Singapore has already ordered 740 people under house quarantine. They could 
face fines of about $4,400 if they disobey.

The Asian experience prompted Health Canada to upgrade its travel advisory 
on Tuesday, saying "Canadians should defer all travel until further notice" 
to Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and China's south province of Guangdong, 
where an atypical pneumonia first broke out last November.

Internationally, labs continue to come up with different answers about the 
agent behind SARS. Both a coronavirus, which is linked to the common cold, 
and a human metapneumovirus, associated with mild respiratory ailments, have 
been identified by several labs.

"It is not very easy to fight against an infectious disease when we don't 
know what the cause is," said Atilla Turgay, chief of staff at Scarborough 
Grace Hospital, which has closed its emergency department and restricted 
admissions and visitors.

Health workers at Scarborough Grace took no precautions when they dealt with 
a SARS patient in early March, since they knew nothing of the disease at 
that point. The patient had contracted the illness from his mother, who had 
recently returned from Hong Kong. He died March 13.

From March 15 to March 21, health workers began falling ill. Not realizing 
their symptoms signified more than a routine respiratory bug, some of the 25 
health workers continued to work last week, health officials confirmed.

Their families are now being confined to their homes. Public-health 
officials are phoning them twice daily to ensure they remain at home and to 
record their temperatures. Protective face masks are to be worn around other 
family members and changed three times a day, since SARS is thought to 
spread through respiratory droplets.

The health office suggests these households have friends or family leave 
food on the doorstep, or order it through the Internet.







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