A news broadcast last night stated that the SARS infection has broken out in Canada. This is serious and sad. I hope it will not be the downfall of the French Kiss a Brush meet.
Posted by Randy Campbell (Member # 2675) on :
Never Bill !!!! Posted by Pierre Tardif (Member # 3229) on :
I really hope not! For the moment no case have been discovered in the province of Quebec. French Kiss A Brush is in 4 months...stay tuned.
Posted by Ted Nesbitt (Member # 3292) on :
SARS has been a terrible thing, but as with everything these days, the media sensationalization is just making a bad situation worse. Don't get me wrong, there have been 14 deaths here in Canada, mostly in the Toronto area, but in a population this size (approx 9 million in the province of Ontario, 5 million of that in the Greater Toronto area), 14 deaths ain't that much! Yes, there are a couple hundred cases on the go in Toronto, but again, is that alot?
Granted, the medical community doesn't have a great handle on this yet, and by no means can anyone let their guard down. That said though, chance of exposure in the day to day happenings in this area are slim.
Realistically, the flu kills more or as many people as the SARS thing has.
And as Pierre pointed out, there have been no cases in lovely Quebec!
Posted by Kathy Joiner (Member # 1814) on :
Hang tight. All will be well. Last year while we were planning "Coupe du Main" here in Louisiana there was an outbreak of the West Nile Virus. It too was sensationalized by the media.
We were all bitten---we ALL survived! Who could let a little thing like impending disease or death stop you from attending a meet Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
until further notice... "French HUG a Brush"
Posted by Chuck Churchill (Member # 68) on :
For the Americans that are considering going to the French Kiss a Brush meet in Quebec City a little geography lesson is in order. Quebec City is in the province of Quebec along the St. Lawrence River and a good distance North and East of Montreal. Quebec City is almost straight North of Boston, Mass.
Toronto where the bulk of the Canadian SARS cases have occured is in Ontario on the North side of Lake Ontario. It is due North of Buffalo, New York. Toronto and Quebec City are about 500 miles apart as are Boston and Buffalo. It would be very unlikely for the virus to get anywhere near Quebec City unless this new virus becomes a pandemic.
The Toronto and Ontario governments and health care providers are taking extraordinary measures to get this thing stopped. Anyone that shows the symptons of SARS is being quarantined at home till all symptoms are gone (a minimum of 10 days). Heaalth care workers and anybody entering a hospital are having their temperature taken on the way in (elevated temperature is the key symptom of possible SARS exposure). Visitation to hospitals has been virtually stopped. We are very confident that it will be stopped in the Toronto area and not "exported" to other parts of Canada or the U.S.
If for some reason SARS does become pandemic in Canada no one will be going anywhere. Keep inoformed about the spread of this virus but don't change your plans for French Kiss A Brush unless this spreads to a lot wider area than Toronto.
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