Black walnut, thanks for the report. I've been wanting to get a handle on the human face of this while so far it has been numbers.

So far, the human face for me has been knowing friends who may or may not be there later this week. Also there is a large Library Convention scheduled there for late in June. In both cases it's trying to answer the question of "Should we go," based on little concrete knowledge.

That there is so much that is unknown is a big part of the problem. We don't know if people are contagious before they show symptoms. We don't know really how easily spread it is. The CDC says 'close personal contact' but that's vague enough to mean about anything.

My hope for all people is that the severe restrictions on things like your father-in-law's wait for surgery & niece having to go to ultasound alone will turn out to have been unnecessary. Given how the news changes daily, I don't think the precautions being taken now in Toronto are over-reaction. My hope is also that a vaccine can be developed quickly.

My fear is that the genie is alreay out of the box, SARS will get worse and it will eventually spread world wide. Quarantines may slow it, but not stop it. We will have severe problems if they do not find out how to stop the health care workes from getting sick. Until there's a vaccine we have a lot to worry about.