SARS: Our Canadian government is too slow to act
It looks like this epidemic may spread out of control. The mortality rate is somewhere between 4% to 10%. Meanwhile our Canadian government is doing what it does best... nothing.
Some sensible steps to combat the SARS epidemic would be:
1. Immediately invest 100 million dollars and recruit top researchers to develop a preventative vaccine and/or antiviral medication.
2. Ban travel to countries affected by SARS. Quarantine anyone returning from those countries for 14 days.
3. Commence a public education campaign so people will recognize the symptoms of SARS and know where to go for diagnosis and treatment.
4. Dedicate one hospital in each major urban area as a SARS centre, to avoid cross-infection of other patients and staff.
Unfortunately our government is dropping the ball on this one. I am not impressed with our government's inaction when the lives of my family may be put at risk.
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