The protective gear worn by Toronto nurses treating SARS patients may not be sufficient to prevent them from getting the deadly disease, a respected microbiologist who is helping lead the city's battle against the virus said yesterday.
Dr. Donald Low, chief of microbiology at Mount Sinai Hospital, said that there is evidence that some procedures, such as inserting breathing tubes into patients, are extremely risky, and the transmission of the SARS virus can occur even when all precautions are taken.
PHOTO:CP
Two of the new SARS cases in the past week occurred in nurses who were inserting breathing tubes into a SARS patient. SARS nurses in Toronto wear, at a minimum, two layers of gloves, a mask and a gown.
Health officials meanwhile said yesterday that Toronto's latest SARS outbreak was tapering off, with the number of people in quarantine falling to about 1,000 from about 5,000 on Tuesday.
Low made his comment as hundreds of angry and exhausted nurses set up picket lines in front of a suburban hospital and demanded better gear, a safer working environment and more input into the handling of the outbreak.
"Clearly, the experience in Toronto is that these people are at an increased risk of acquiring SARS," Low said. "People just don't understand the kind of risk they [nurses] are putting themselves at working in these wards."
Low said nurses in SARS units could soon be wearing equipment resembling space suits to protect themselves. One hospital already requires such suits for nurses treating SARS patients, he said.
But even space-suit-like gear may not be the best thing to prevent infection, said Dr. Andrew Simor, chief of microbiology at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Center in Toronto. "We do not know for sure if that is the answer or not," Simor told a news conference.
Recognizing the risk, four hospitals in Toronto have said they will double the pay of nurses working with SARS patients. Senior nurses could get C$66 (US$49) an hour.
Yet for some, extra pay is not enough. Doris Grinspun, executive director of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, said nurses are overworked, need time to rest and require more training in infection control.
"More money alone will do nothing," she said.
In an open letter to health-care workers, Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement said, "We are aware of your concerns ... we are taking appropriate steps to help prevent the spread of SARS and other infectious diseases. I want you to know that we are listening, that our government will keep listening to you."
But he did not calm the fear nurses have that they might be ordered to work in new SARS wards being created in the city despite new evidence of risk.
"The cluster is tapering off but we need to be hypervigilant," said Dr. Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's chief medical officer of health. Twenty people are in critical condition, he said, adding that an additional 221 people are being monitored for possible infection.
Health officials said no cases were reported from the nearly 1,700 pupils and teachers who went into quarantine at a high school and that five more cases being investigated at a hospital were not SARS. Two possible cases in the town of Parry Sound, north of Toronto, and one in Ottawa also turned out not to be SARS.
Toronto, with 32 SARS deaths, is the only place outside Asia where people have died of the respiratory disease. There were 79 probable and suspected cases of SARS in Toronto yesterday, up from 77 on Tuesday.
The disease, which originated in China, has killed 772 people worldwide.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese