There are signs that life is starting to get back to normal. I went for a long run today down around the Temple of Heaven, and there were noticeably more people on the streets and in buses. I was surprised going by a big department store downtown to see a crowd that clearly exceeded the recommended limit of 50 people. By their dress, many of them seemed to be workers in the mall, and they were going inside in groups.  

As an example of what persists, here's a picture of an informal bird market along the moat south of the Temple of Heaven. The bird cages are beautiful, and one of the nice parts of going out early to any park in Beijing is listening to all the songbirds that old men bring, hanging their cages from the branches of trees.

Some things are certainly different, though. When I was running, I noticed neighborhood committee members with their red armbands sitting outside on the corner of most residential blocks. They have a responsibility to identify suspected SARS cases in their housing units, and I assume they were out watching and/or communicating whatever information they'd received.

Finally, here's a picture of an ambulance I saw bringing a patient to a hospital. I noticed as I ran by the hospital that there was a special entrance marked for people with coughs and fevers. The reorganization of medicine that's going on here, separating out those who might have contagious diseases from those who don't, is something that the U.S. might have to confront if this continues to spread. The other thing that's striking about the picture as well as the news reports I've seen of ambulances in action, is how many people go on an ambulance run. Given the shortage of medical workers and the fact that they are very much at risk with this disease, I wonder if they will need to reconsider this practice.

On campus, the university seems to be making a big effort to compartmentalize student life so that any cases of SARS won't spread throughout the entire campus. Students are now not allowed to leave, and wear color-coded ID cards that identify where they're supposed to eat (instead of eating in any dining hall) and bathe. The campus itself is being divided into regions, although this is not enforced as far as I can tell. When we came back into campus, we were told that we should be using the East gate rather than the South gate, so that we would enter by the gate closest to our apartment.

One final point. Last week I was impressed with the fact that drugstores were serving customers at the main door rather than letting them enter the store, but that this had changed by the afternoon. Having watched this change several times now, I think I was wrong to believe it is a special SARS policy. Rather, it seems to be something that drugstores do during the times when they are short of staff, presumably to cut down on shoplifting. In the presence of a strange phenomenon, it's far too easy to over-interpret what may be random or unrelated events, and I've been guility of that at least once, so far.

Today's panel: Early isolation

The cartoon shows a health worker walking by a sign that says "isolation ward"

Because SARS is relatively contagious, it can be transmitted through the air at close range through flying droplets and through touching the secretions of patients, therefore we must unite to treat SARS patients in strict isolation. Strengthen the management of SARS wards. Those who enter the patient wards should wear a facemask with 12 layers of cotton yarn, a hat, shoe covers, and wear an isolation suit. SARS patients must be treated in special hospitals wards, and suspected patients and those definitely diagnosed with SARS should be put in different wards.