As someone living in a "SARS-affected area", I support Dale's comments. The
WHO is making strenuous efforts to quantify the problem(s) and make the
necessary arrangements to contain the thing, but it is up to each one of us
to take responsibiliity for our own actions and be socially responsible
(i.e. not subject ourselves, and therefore others, to any more-elevated
level of risk than is necessary.
After all the upset about the ineffectiveness of the Chinese government
and, to a lesser extent, the Taiwanese government, in being open about the
outbreak and containing it, the situation should now improve. The survival
time of the virus outside of the body, I heard, is 24 hours on normal
surfaces and up to 4 days in sewage (though I doubt many folks are
importing that). On how viability changes during those times, there is no
info, but if you think you might be at risk, it would be wise to adopt the
measures we adopt here to get advance warning of anyone coming down with
the disease . Singapore has won the praise of the WHO for the measures the
government has implemented:
* wash hands frequently,
* keep hands away from eyes and mouth,
* take your temperature at least once a day (we have to take ours twice and
record it on a central register).
* If it rises above 37.5 C, see a doctor immediately and quarantine
yourself as quickly as possible.
* Make a note of where you've been in the previous 3 to 4 days, and when,
in case contacts need to be traced should you prove to have caught SARS.
* If you go anywhere that's affected, the quarantine period is 10 days so
don't return to work during that period. The disease is only communicable
with the onset of fever, though.
* Isolate and destroy waste materials from affected areas - packaging
materials and so on.
Some folks here are even refusing to buy any items that come from China,
especially food.
Living with SARS is more a slight inconvenience than anything else - if we
enter public buildings, we often have our temperatures checked and have to
sign a declaration about our health and where we've been - but life pretty
much goes on as normal. If everyone behaves responsibly, there is very
little danger. Even if you do catch it, survival rate is 90%+.
Finally, a lot of people are making an awful lot of money out of this,
playing on people's fears. "SARS Kits" are being sold widely, containing a
thermometer, protective mask (even respirators) and gloves, and vitimim C
tablets. Apart from the thermometer, which is probably over-priced, the
rest of the kit is useless, and largely unnecessary anyway.
SARS is serious, but panicking about it is worse.
Peter
Dale Ritzen <[log in to unmask]> 19/05/2003 10:19 PM
Sent by: TechNet <[log in to unmask]>
Please respond to "TechNet E-Mail Forum."; Please respond to Dale Ritzen
To: [log in to unmask]
cc: (bcc: DUNCAN Peter/Asst Prin Engr/ST Aero/ST Group)
Subject: Re: [TN] SARS and the electronics industry NTC
Brian,
I would normally be the last to start banging a drum and trying to bring
this to everyone's attention, but it is worth some caution since we don't
know what is and isn't true concerning the SARs outbreak (please note that
I
stopped short of calling it an epidemic, since it isn't unless you believe
everything CNN and the news media would have you believe). If the virus can
survive even for a short time (24-48 hours), it is plenty of time to get
trapped in a bundle of components or PCBs from a Taiwan or Chinese shop
(where the shipping person coughed as it was being shrink-wrapped),
possibly
make the trip to other points via air, then be released into the Receiving
areas of an electronics manufacturer. Since this virus may not care if it
exists in a vacuum or in the open air, I would hope that all businesses
that
receive materials from the affected regions of the world would exercise
some
caution in this regard.
Again, not trying to cause mass hysteria - just suggesting that we use some
caution in what has the potential to be a growing world wide issue.
Dale Ritzen
Quality Manager
AMS
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Brian Ellis
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 2:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] SARS and the electronics industry NTC
Are we not getting paranoid about this? OK, it's a nasty disease, but
not nearly as nasty as many others, such as malaria. I've never heard of
anyone hesitating to unload a container of electronics components
because it may have a female anophales mosquito therein, waiting to
pounce. Ditto for a tse-tse fly from a sleeping-sickness endemic area,
for which the chances of coming out alive are very slim (I have a friend
who did get it and has survived, but he is intellectually and physically
but a shadow of his former self, not because of the disease, but because
of the drugs).
Officially, even in the worst affected areas, SARS is far from having
reached epidemic proportions. I believe the official definition is when
3% of the population needs to seek medical aid during one month. If we
take Hong Kong, for example, this would mean that about 204,000
individuals would have needed to be hospitalised or otherwise medically
treated for it to qualify. In fact, 1,425 cases had been reported up to
28 April, with 122 deaths. This represents 0.021% of the population
reported and 0.0018% of the population died. To put this in proportion,
in 2002, 171 persons died in traffic accidents, 3,426 were seriously
injured and 17,003 were slightly injured, requiring ambualtory hospital
treatment, in a country with a remarkably low traffic accident rate.
(There are many more, where I live, with only 1/6th of the HK population
:-( ).
Relate this to the USA where there are an average of 43,000
fatalities/year from gunshot wounds, 45,000 from traffic accidents and
450,000 from tobacco-related diseases. The latter represents about 0.17%
of the population, nearly 100 times greater than SARS-related deaths in
HK. In fact, it is probable that tobacco-related diseases (cardiac, lung
cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, digestive tract problems etc.)
has reached epidemic proportions, according to the official definition.
By all means, take reasonable precautions (and wearing masks is not
one!), but let's not become paranoid and panic.
Brian
Ed Popielarski wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I happened across an interesting article regarding the impact SARS is
> having on the global electronics industry. Just thought I'd share some
> casual reading with you.
>
>
http://www.e-insite.net/electronicnews/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA
298953
>
<
http://www.e-insite.net/electronicnews/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=C
A298953>
>
> Regards,
>
> Ed Popielarski
> QTA Machine
> 10 Mc Laren, Ste D
> Irvine, Ca. 92618
>
> Phone:949-581-6601
> Fax: 949-581-2448
> Cel: 949-337-2578
>
> WWW.QTA.NET <http://www.QTA.NET>
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