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canada has come a long way since sars: says doc
h1n1, ebola: why previous global epidemics has canada better prepared than ever before for the coronavirus
jan 27 2020
4 minute read
it’s understandable how the new coronavirus can bring up memories of the sars virus. but it’s not 2003 anymore. there are stockpiles of supplies, staff have been trained, and airport screening has vastly improved. communication is faster, better, and clearer. canada is more ready than ever.
but don’t take it from us. we talked to dr. susy hota, an infection prevention and control medical specialist at the university health network (uhn) and associate professor of medicine at the univerisity of toronto, and asked her everything you were afraid to ask.
diana duong: should canadians be worried?
dr. susy hota : i have noticed things have been escalating, especially in the last 24 to 48 hours. i’m hearing people talk about the virus in scary-sounding words such as the “deadly coronavirus.” a healthy dose of concern is always important in these kinds of scenarios and you should be doing as much as possible to be vigilant about the situation. people in my shoes are paying a lot of attention and taking this very seriously, but that doesn’t mean you need to panic. this is not the time to panic, this is the time to focus and to be rational about what’s happening.
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dd: why has the who not declared this a public emergency?
sh : most of the decision has been based on the fact that there’s still a limited number of cases outside of the area that’s considered the epicentre of the outbreak. it’s concentrated in wuhan, and the chinese government will take some fairly aggressive efforts to control things. whether or not those are effective remains to be seen, but there is quite a bit of effort to try to contain this.
i think the emergency committee appreciates that. i think what will turn the tide is when there is transmission beyond those first few cases elsewhere. any locations where there are cases outside of wuhan (currently, the u.s., canada, thailand, japan, taiwan, france, vietnam, singapore, nepal, macau, and south korea) are being watched very closely. those cases are all linked to wuhan. if there is transmission beyond that initial case that has been exported somewhere else in a location outside of wuhan — that is, if we start seeing more cases arrive from those original exported cases, it will be very concerning.
dd: what is the difference between now and 2003 (sars) in canada’s preparedness?
sh : there’s a huge difference. think about what’s happened between sars and now: we’ve had an h1n1 pandemic, which was relatively mild. it had an impact, but thank goodness, it was not as big as it could have been. it was a good trial run and it definitely did shine a light on the importance of maintaining infection prevention and control within healthcare systems and for the public to be protected.
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there was also the ebola outbreak in west africa in 2014/15 which we all prepared for here in case a case ended up coming over. so, we’ve been through quite a bit and learned a lot. technology has advanced, as has our ability to detect viruses quickly and identify clusters of infections, for example. beyond that, we can now communicate with each other rapidly. back in 2009, during the h1n1 pandemic, i was leading the hospital response from an infection prevention control perspective here at uhn and i only had a smartphone. now i can facetime. these are all critical gains that we’ve made.
dd: what advice do you have for people who are feeling anxiety and fear?
sh : this new coronavirus is another respiratory virus. we see more than 200 different respiratory virus-caused infections around this time of year, including influenza and other more common ones. in general, they’re all transmitted through large respiratory droplets that are generated when you cough and sneeze. the virus can get dispersed into the air, travel up to two metres, and if you happen to be in that zone, you may pick it up, for example, if your hands get contaminated and you touch your face.
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so knowing that and how it transmits, the kind of advice i give people are the same things i say during flu season. cover your cough if you’re starting to feel sick, so you can protect others around you. stay home from work if you’re not feeling well, for your own self but also for the sake of others. and it’s really important to be washing your hands, very carefully and frequently, especially after you’ve been in public areas and touched things. also try not to touch your face as much as possible. simple things like that are quite important.
i think this is an important issue but it’s not a reason for people to panic. we have people who are working on this and are spending a lot of time to make sure that we’re doing the right things to manage people who would come in with this infection, but also prevent it from getting to others. those are important jobs that people are doing now to protect canadians.
diana duong is a writer and editor at healthing. find her on twittter @dianaduo.
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