SARS

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak is putting Canada on the front pages outside of Canada.  Not the way we want to be there, but hey, as long as they spell our name right, who cares?

SARS is a variation of the Corona Virus, which is the carrier for the common cold and causes an extreme form of sort-of pneumonia that fills your lungs with fluid and can, untreated, kill you.  The Corona Virus is as common as, well, the common cold.  It transmits, they think, via contact, coughing on people, sneezing in someone’s face, shaking hands, the usual contact kind of stuff.  This isn’t really new, as this is how the Common Cold is transmitted too.  The new part is the virulence of SARS.  It moves damn fast from person to person and is highly contagious.

The symptoms include a low-grade fever, sore muscles and headache.  Just like a cold, or feeling “punky” as my Father-In-Law called it.  Not really sick enough to keep you from going to work, but sick enough to feel off your game.

The cure is quarantine away from people for 10 days.  Fluids, Tylenol, rest and industrial strength hospital care if you develop a cough or trouble breathing.  As best as the experts can tell, quarantine keeps it from spreading.  Except the symptoms are so much like everything else, including the side effects of plenty of prescription medications, that people just ignore it and keep going.

My solution to SARS is simple.  Everyone is sent home for two weeks, except police, fire, water, hydro and medical workers.  You have to stay home.  Don’t go out.  Spend the day reading a book, or online, getting drunk, screwing around, playing video games, or just sitting in a corner weaving macramé owls.  Shut down the continent.  Nobody in the stores, shops, offices, worksites or farms.  Only hospitals can be open.  The rest of us have to play cards, copulate or have a two-week nap.  This would effectively break the SARS chain of transmission. 

It would also let the economy settle down for a bit, as everyone would have to buy supplies before the two-week rest.  Then, when the quarantine is over, the economy gets a jumpstart.  All the micromanagement of tiny little business minutiae would be recognized for what it is:  Bullshit.  Life will go on just fine.  The polloi will have a nice rest and maybe even reconnect with their family members over the crokinole board or cribbage. 

On second thought, reconnected families?  Perhaps there is a downside in this…