Canuck

  Thursday, 24 April 2003

 < 11:47:42 PM>.

TheStar.com - Panic replacing logic on SARS, says former chief MOH 'People in Toronto have a far greater chance of dying from influenza, a car crash or smoking than they do from SARS, says Dr. Richard Schabas, who's among health professionals in the SARS trenches nearly round the clock.

"This terrible panic that has seized Toronto is leaving the popular impression that the SARS outbreak is growing and it's spreading in the community ? nothing could be further from the truth," Schabas, chief of staff at York Central Hospital in nearby Richmond Hill, said in an interview today.'

 < 11:28:39 PM>.

TheStar.com - WHO admits missteps in travel warning 'Meanwhile, leaders of the team that has worked round the clock for six weeks to contain Toronto's SARS outbreak for the past six weeks felt a similar admission ought to be made in terms of the decision to issue the travel advisory itself.

They took part in a conference call today with Health Canada officials and counterparts at the WHO. At the end, they barely attempted to contain their contempt for the way the organization made its decision or the facts upon which it was grounded.

"It was disappointing that they didn't provide to us rational arguments as to why we should have a travel ban in this country," said Dr. Donald Low, one of Canada's leading infectious disease experts and a vocal critic of the decision.

"And when we argued about the theoretical reasons, they weren't able to stand by them. . . . None of the arguments that they have hold water." [...] There hasn't been a new case found in the community - in other words, outside of health-care workers and the workers' close contacts - in 19 days. That's almost two incubation periods. The WHO appeared to be unaware of that fact, Low noted.'

I live and work in downtown Toronto. Since the SARS outbreak I've seen exactly one person wearing a mask. This was a kid on a field trip with his class in an auditorium with 3 thousand other kids from around the city. Nobody who lives here is freaking out about it. It's astounding then, to turn on the tv and see tourists at the airport wearing masks cutting their vacations to Toronto short. Hello? The panic is worse than the reality of the situation.

< 11:10:29 PM>.

< 11:06:26 PM>.

< 2:35:14 AM>.

The precise legal ramifications are unclear, since many experts argue that the US is already in breach of international law by holding any of the detainees indefinitely without trial or charge, regardless of their ages. [...] The three boys are not the only inmates under 16 to have been brought to Guantanamo Bay. Canadian officials have been seeking for months to gain access to Omar al-Khadr, a Canadian national who they say is being held at Camp Delta after being captured on July 27 during fighting in eastern Afghanistan. He was 15 at the time, they said.'

Evil doers.