In the 2003 SARS coronavirus outbreak, 95% of cases and 93% of deaths were in the PRC or areas near China with significant Chinese populations (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines). The one outlier was Canada, which accounted for 5%-6% of deaths.
A few days ago, an article appeared on globalnews.ca entitled "Doctor on front lines of SARS outbreak says Canadian hospitals prepared for coronavirus". A quote from the article:
Quote:
But [Dr. Michael] Gardam says if any cases are reported, hospitals in Canada will be ready.
“Canadian hospitals learned a great deal from SARS, and then we learned more from H1N1 in 2009, and then we learned more after the Ebola scare a few years ago,” said Gardam.
...
“Our experience with SARS was that it’s not great to make stuff up as you go along,” the doctor explained.
“We didn’t know what the virus was, we didn’t have a test for it. We didn’t focus on handwashing in hospitals, which is all you hear about over the last decade; we didn’t have stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE).
“We didn’t screen people for fevers.”
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I'm sorry. Hospitals didn't focus on handwashing until after 2003? Washing your hands is something 21st century health professionals needed to be told?
Is this a Canadian thing? I know hygiene issues are a big problem with disease outbreaks in the Third World, but I did not realize Toronto was in the Third World.