Forget the stats. SARS is not the flu. It's very serious. The hospitals are doing are doing their best to contain this, but as in most restrictions, there are leaks. Every newspaper's front page and every news programme on the radio includes the latest update on SARS. It's like listening for the weather report.
I and my loved ones have been affected by this outbreak in a myriad of ways, some minor, some major. Most of you do not live or work in Toronto. From a distance, it must seem like numbers and risks, but to me it's about the people I care about in my life.
* My father-in-law, bedridden from a stroke, is waiting for life-saving surgery - he hasn't even been able to see his surgeon since the beginning of the SARS restrictions. He is lonely; we are limited to only one family member per day to visit him at his residence.
* My niece's husband sits in worry on a park bench outside the hospital, not allowed to be with his wife during her weekly ultrasound- my niece is enduring a very stressful high risk pregnancy, with twins.
* I was unable to visit a music friend of mine (only 52 years old) when she was dying in hospital, and then, sadly, I was not able to go to her funeral last week, either, because I had a bit of a cough from allergies and didn't want to scare everyone.
* A friend's friend lost first his father, then a few weeks later, his mother, to SARS.
* Some of my friends are afraid to go on the subway, or to go out to a restaurant or a movie. I'm trying to keep living life around as 'normal' as possible, but you have to wonder if this is going to get better or worse. And if it just stays the same, that's bad enough.