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> > --------------------------------------------------- > Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e > To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text > in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet > To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to > [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) > To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to > [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest > Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives > Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm for > additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or > 847-509-9700 ext.5315 > ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- [This e-mail is confidential and may also be privileged. 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