SARS discussions - March 16 to May 22, 2003

Life Health & Fitness
,
401

Did anyone notice that the China Post claimed that the wife of the man who committed suicide at Heping Hospital didn’t have SARS, only he didn’t wait for the diagnosis, whereas the Taipei Times said the whole family had SARS and that was why he hung himself?

The TV report I watched said the death certificate of the elderly man who died at Heping says ‘SARS’, but that authorities claim that this is not confirmed. The reporter also pointed out that SARS victims are supposed to be cremated within 24 hours but that the body in question, while sent for cremation, had been left in the hospital for more than 24 hours.

It’s hard to figure out if anyone’s got the right information…

402

Its not hard at all really, its easy. What you read in the papers here is mostly rumor, speculation and unfounded allegations. The only thing you can be 100% certain of is that none of the facts will have been checked prior to publication.

403

[quote=“Boss Hogg”]This SARS thing has spawned forums now. This Forum really takes the cake. Not just a clever name, it really is SO SICK!

I think I know where the flamers from Tealit and the banned from forumosa have gone. One again This Forum sucks so much that I didn’t even bother to post and tell them how pathetic their site is.[/quote]

Agree with you 100%. I looked through some of their discussions, and was simply appalled at some of the stuff people were saying. Apparently this is a HK website. The posters are actually blaming Taiwanese for SARS and sayin how Taiwan is incompetent in dealing with SARS. They’re saying HK is so much better than taiwan, etc etc…WTF?? It should be the other way around shouldn’t it?? But no, we don’t blame the HK people (even though they ARE incompetent) because at a time like this there’s no use in blaming others. We might as well work together and solve problems instead of being negative, but I guess the HK people don’t get it. Like Boss Hogg I am not even going to bother arguing with them cuz I think they have Sh*t for brains and there’s no point in wasting my time. Even arguing with Blueface is more interesting. Honestly, I always thought HK people were materialistic, arrogant, cultureless wussies. Now I am going to add “ignorant” to that list.

404

Well, some poor chap with bacterial septocemia was treated for an imaginary SARS virus and died as a result, being labeled “Taiwan’s first SARS victim,” then that’s pretty incompetent. He was a victim of many things, that’s for sure, but not, I think, SARS.

405

What I don’t understand is why the Taiwan immigration control people let this group from HK in in the first place? Why has almost everyone in Taiwan been dummed out by this thing?

“The group from HK arrived in Taiwan April 23 and toured Kaohsiung in
southern Taiwan and Taichung in central Taiwan before proceeding to
Taipei Saturday, when the child began to show SARS-related symptoms,
including coughing and fever.”

So they’ve shuttered the hotel where they were staying, the little girl is in hospital and more SARS virae (plural for virus, what you say WOLFMAN?) are floating around Taipei Central…

As for the SARS paranoi sites, they are dead wrong. This thing is real, guys, stop fooling yourself. It is NOT that we are gonna die, we are NOT gonna die. But society is going to ground to a halt in a few more days (maybe weeks here) and there will be no more teaching jobs at closed schools, no more paychecks, the entire nation is gonna come to a stop. Not so many deaths. The problem is that we are all gonna be out of work. Don’t believe me? You didn’t believe me a month ago when I said all this happening today was gonna happen … and I am sure you don’t believe me about the future closures.

Watch. (and be prepared)…

and yes, Paogao, the only thing we can really do is wash hands, and stay home. This is war. The microbes have attacked. SARS ATTACKS!

The paranoia websites are a natural reaction, as are conspiracy theories, etc.

But this thing is real. What is it with human beings that they can remain in denial for such a long time…???

Figure this one out yet? “On Monday, KMT’s Hsinchu City Mayor Lin Cheng-tze led a group of local
residents to block the transportation of 4 SARS patients from the
Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital to the Hsinchu Hospital. The Hsinchu
district prosecutor has begun looking into the case.”

It’s interesting see how the society we live in, as expats, and even ourselves, as posters here, react to this thing. Again, it’s not a life and death thin; it’s an open society or a shuttered society thing. We are slowly goin down the path of being closed up. One hotel already. More to follow. More hospitals to be infected. Warner Village a ghost town on Sunday? You should the national train system? Empty cars everywhere.

It is a slow freak to nowheresville. Fortunately, I’ve got some money saved up for the long term and I aint worried about work. I am worried about everyone else though.

“Wu’s remarks came one day after an announcement by the Executive
Yuan that the government will wait two weeks before it makes a final
decision whether to impose stiffer measures to contain SARS.”

2 weeks? Too late the pharathope!

406

Formosa, you’re excellent…keep up the good work.

I hope that someone is keeping copies of some of Formosa’s posts (he keeps deleting the funniest parts) as there have been some classic quotes. Here’s a couple off the top of my head:

SARS ATTACKS!!
It’s not that I could SEE the future, I have no powers for that.
(to Sandman) You’ve got your head in the sand, man!

407

mark0938L Here’s an even scarier item:

2000 villagers in rural China torched a school earmarked as a SARS quarantine centre, ransacked government offices and overturned cars in China’s first reported instance of social unrest related to SARS.

408

Wayall, I reckon dem bugs haint a-gonna git me dahn dere – dose suckahs caint dig.

Question. Is Vietnam “closed” as phoarmosa so accurately (I’m sure) predicts for Taiwan? Last I heard this morning, it had been declared (almost) SARS-free. Maybe I should start reading the local press for the REAL TRUTH.

Fergit them sissy book-larnin’ types over at the CDC and all them other high-falutin’ “scientific” places – I’s a-gonna get me some TRUTH from Taiwan’s impeccable fourth estate. :unamused:

409

Sandman, your question is a good one: " Is Vietnam “closed” as formosa so accurately predicts for Taiwan? Last I heard this morning, it had been declared (almost) SARS-free. "

Actually, you bring up a good point here and that is that yes Vietnam seems to have successfully stopped SARS in its tracks there. It’s a good positive sign, and if Vietnam can do, surely Taiwan can too.

Let’s keep looking for positive signs and hope for more of them, yes. I think we’re gonna win this one, but it’s going to be a long haul. I’m with you, man!

410

Indeed yes, you run a very high risk of drowning if you do it wrong.[/quote]

And all that chlorine is bound to make the SARS virus stronger.

411

Can I get SARS just from opening email?

412

Yes! And if it’s from someone who’s been swimming in a public pool—ooh boy, then you’re really in for it.

413

You guys are suckers for the media… SARS is not a major threat at all… It’s way overblown… If it weren’t happening in rich cities, you’d never hear of it again! It’s like you hear about it when OJ kills the blonde, but not when the white trailer park trash guns down his entire family for no reason… SARS is small, nothing like the influenza epidemic of 1919… Phewww!

pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

414

Okay, since not everyone agrees that sars is so serious, and some even think it is a media creation and not a real medical problem … let’s begin listing facts and fiction about sars (and yes I am lowercasing it in order to put into proper perspective):

Facts:

Fiction:

Comments and annotations, please. The alarm bells have stopped ringing, now is the time for a stiff upper lip reality check…

BTW, just to make this sars story more Taiwan-oriented, so we can how personal it is… the Associated Press reporter below Chris Bodeen used to be a reporter here in Taipei for many years, and is married to a Taiwanese woman. He’s been in China now for about 4 years, I heard, and then this sars thing happened, ground zero. Maybe some of you know him, or knew him. He might even be lurking here…

"Report: Beijing Running Out of Drugs

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 29, 2003; 10:06 AM

BEIJING - Beijing hospitals treating more than 1,000 patients with SARS are running short of drugs and surgical masks, a report said Tuesday, while Chinese leaders are ordering officials to keep the economy growing as they fight the virus."…

415

Formosa, if I ever write a book you’d make the basis of a great comic character!

416

It’s nice to see that that SARS has now “peaked” in most countries, and will shortly disappear forever. How jolly convenient, and, of course, we owe our lives to those noble chaps at the WHO and the global medical community whose pragmatic policymaking helped contain the “epidemic” before it had a chance to decimate humanity.
I for one think we shouldn’t thet these idiots off the hook so easily … I want to see a SARS virus under an electron microscope!
They’ve scared us shitless over SARS, found ways to test for the virus, and devised treatments for it, so let’s see what the little buggers look like!

417

I got this from a forwarded bilingual email this morning and am posting it here for anyone who might find it useful or calming. If too long, it can be deleted later by mods.

[quote=“Parco M. Siu, MPhil, PhD Candidate”][size=75]Overseas advice on preventing SARS

418

Thanks Parco, i will take extremely care.

419

I’ve come to my own conclusions about SARS based on all the information I could find.

Bacially it’s completely overblown hype. Sure the government should eb careful, but no point getting hysterical.

We should probably be getting more worried about scooter acidents, bee stings, lightning strikes or food poisoning, as these c\kill many time more people than SARS.

Formosa, your claim that you ‘predictions’ are coming true is ridiculous. Your first prediction was 5000 dead in Taiwan, including 800 foreigners by the end of the year. Well it’s one (possible) so far.

Since you started reading this message, a few more children have died of malaria in Africa, and nobody died of SARS. Which gets the most media attention and government funding?

Brian[/quote]

420

Brian, you’re right, of course. Many many more people are actually dying of other diseases at this very moment around the world, and it is a very sobering thought.

To keep in mind as this sars thing happens.

I agree with you 100%.

As for my earlier predictions, well, it aint over till the fat lady sings. i think 1o are dead now. So I was off by 4990… just wait. There’s more to come, unfortunately.

BRIAN, whose posts I always admire, had written: “Formosa, your claim that you ‘predictions’ are coming true is ridiculous. Your first prediction was 5000 dead in Taiwan, including 800 foreigners by the end of the year. Well it’s one (possible) so far. Since you started reading this message, a few more children have died of malaria in Africa, and nobody died of SARS. Which gets the most media attention and government funding?”

Brian, you’re right.