One of the books we read this time was "Night" by Elie Wiesel. There is a striking section of that short book where an escapee from a concentration camp came back to their town to tell people what they were in store for. Although there would have been time to escape, no one believed him. Elie's parents wanted to send their children away and stay themselves, but their children refused to go. In the end, everyone perished except for the young Elie Wiesel.

Watching the progression of this epidemic inexorably reminds my wife and I of that story. Are we stupid to stay? Flying on an airplane over the Pacific seems to be about the most dangerous thing we could do now, but I wonder if it will be any safer when we're supposed to return in late June. At the same time, this is a virus, and I wonder if there's any chance that it *won't* spread all around the world. The latest news (not locally, although perhaps they'll announce it tonight) is that they've closed and quarantined a hospital in Beijing. Reports are mixed on whether or not the students on campus really have SARS, but people are certainly going crazy. Stores are crowded with people loading up. I had to go visit the Gonganju (Public Security Bureau) yesterday near Yonghegong (The Lama Temple) to pick up our passports, which had been extended beyond 3 months. In contrast to last week, when I dropped them off, the place was crowded with young non-Chinese Asian students, presumably getting approval to leave.

Biking around, the city is actually very pleasant. The streets aren't very busy, and the buses that pass, even during the rush hour, are only half full at most.

I didn't get to watch the news tonight, but on Monday I watched a report showing the center in Beijing that's tabulating SARS cases. I expected to see them putting together a database, but the camera showed a room full of workers, all in white lab jackets, and zoomed into a show a piece of paper full of the 5-stroke character zheng (upright) that is used in tabulation. It would certainly make it easy to miscount if that is really what they are doing.

Efforts are being made to improve sanitation. I was pleased to see a pump bottle of soap in the men's room in the building where I work, and constant spraying of some kind of disinfectant everywhere. I was jealous to read that Shanghai is raising the fine for spitting to 200 yuan from 50 (divide by 8 to get dollars) -- even the idea that there's any sanction against expectorating from mouth or nose would be a big change here.

The big question in my mind is whether Shanghai will have a sudden increase in SARS cases from the 2 that they currently acknowledge, and what that number will turn out to be. If so, it will be a big blow to the credibility of the government. If not, it will raise real questions about sanitation in Beijing and Guangzhou.  It¡¯s a lose/lose scenario.