Job Discussion Forums

[davis]

My point exactly. The actual disease and it's containment have very little in common from province to province and city to city. What is true in Guangxi may or may not be so in Guangzhou. Precautions in Nanning may be different in Beihai which is in Guangxi. In truth 99% of the marraige physical had no bearing on whether a couple should be permitted to marry or not. It should be confined to cummunicable disease period. Not to my heartrate,blood pressure, etc. How accurate can that be when diagnosing a nervous Laowai. Do they really need to know how well I can see? Maybe they're afraid I'll wake up and think my wife's ugly tomorrow? As far as I can see ignorance and unsanitary conditions plus ineptitude are to blame for the SARS epidemic more than household pets,foreigners,or any other current rumor. Still...I suppose it's much more convenient to suspend marraige to foreigners than to clean up the germpits.

[yaco]

To understand the situation in China you must understand the human psyche !!!!!!!!

Why are airline bookings down substantially across the globe ?

Why do so many people think they will get sick ?

Why are people not attending restaurants in so many countries?

Lets face it humans are particularly concerned about their own immortality.

I cannot understand at my campus why the students must be in their dormitories at 9.30pm instead of 11.00pm.

Does this mean the school thinks you can only catch SARS between 9.30pm and 11.00pm.

I am baffled ?

Please can someone give me advice !!!!!!!!

[Steiner]

I'm not exactly sure what happened to the dog. It belonged to a little kid, maybe 5 years old. It was a cutie and the kid and his dad seemed to take care of it--the dog went absolutely nuts when they washed it the other day. It was definitely a pet, not livestock. I know, I know that it's not always that clear. Haven't seen the kid around lately, either, but I think they're both fine, just moved. Hope you can all sleep sweetly tonight now....

[hubei_canuk]

Hi Davis in Nanning!
..
sorry i got the name wrong in that quote.
Ok, so far on hthis board i see reports of Quarantines in Dalian, Hunan, west of Changsha and your city Nanning.
..
I am getting the impression that these quarantines are protective of the students from migrants during Mayday etc rather than outbreaks in the city or am i wrong?
Can you determine is there was a genuine need to quarantine your school?
Were there cases at your school?

Are there case of people being infected from street life in Nanjing is that why they closed the school?
..
Was there any genuine reason to close the school that you can determine?
What is the word on the street or the grapevine as to the size of the outbreak in Nanjing?
Guanxi "official" stats report 16 cases, 8 released 3 deaths.

[davis]

HC...As far as I know it's mostly preventative at this stage. But it's either half assed or over done. My school is cool as far as I know. But then again...what do I know???

[Roger]

In reply to several questions about the situation here in Guangdong:
- In my school, nothing untoward going on. People still greet me, touch me and laugh about my features!

- Last night, the missus informed me (she was giving me her version of the latest news from the TV newsreel in Cantonese) that Guangzhou (or was it Guangdong?) now had over 1000 confirmed cases of SARS. I did not know until then the exact tally, but it seems that the locals are beginning to worry.
There is no panic-buying of staples!
Dogs still bark!
Buses still ply their routes, but they are obviously less croweded than before.
I was at the Guangzhou Hard ROck Cafe recently. Business as usual.

- My contract: I have my airfare tacked on my monthly salary, so I don't need to worry whether they pay up or not.

I don't know, but here seems to be a calm island. Judging by some of you guys' accounts, I might be right in the eye of a typhoon!

[Seth]

There was a riot of 10,000 people near Tianjin yesterday, I'm sure you'll hear about it soon enough.

Oy vey.

[arioch36]

In Zhengzhou, Henan situation normal, all fouled up (SNAFU) Students must show their special ID to enter or leave. But Chinese and foreign teachers are still teaching classes, going home every day, students still living 6 to a room.
Of course, no one cares about the other diseases that are killing lots of people in Henan.

I feel bad for the local farmers and night markets. Somehow everyone feels fresh food will make you sick now. So let me get this straight...you eat the the school canteen, hundreds/thousands of students packed together. Food is cooked en masse and left to sit there for hours. This is not a health problem. But going to the night market, where the food is cooked fresh right before your eyes will give you a virus. Drinking an awful tea will prevent the virus from entering you.

And best of all, the government reccommends wearing masks, which students are always taking off and putting back on.

Now let's see..most people get viruses and bacteria from work (hospitals and prisons) or their loved ones (doctors and prison guards). So every one is supposed to stay locked up with only these people all day> Sounds like the twighlight zone. Beijing's reaction has little correlation with scientific fact, accepted medical isolation procedure. And the poor people are the people who are really being hurt, as their source of income dries up, income that they use to eat each day. All because of panic

[chinasyndrome]

[quote="arioch36"]

[arioch36]

Sorry mr china, Iwas thinking of a medical hospital (army Hospital) where I have some friends nearby. Their family members (everyone in china I guess) are supposed to stay home 24 hours a day, not answer the phone (in case the disease spreads through the phone). But if there was a SARS problem in Zhengzhou, staying at home if my family included a doctor would be the last thing I would want to do.

So this girl who was a student of mine, is finally getting her visa to Australia, after a year wait. Her father is a doctor. She is deathly afraid she might get SARS, and not be allowed to go to Australia for school ( she already missed some school) So she stays home all day. If my father was a doctor at a military hospital, and I believed that SARS was terrible, I would not be living at home!!!

[dishuiguanyin]

I'll try to make it quick, but am not known for brevity:

I'm in my 6th year in Jiangxi (current SARS stats: 2 suspected cases in a city over 3 hours away - that's the official line and other info sources haven't suggested any more), 3rd year at this college. I've been getting sicker and tireder of the leadership throughout the last 9 months.

Our college leaders have stopped all student entry or exit, though teachers, workers, labourers and materials for the building site that is half of the campus are allowed to move constantly in and out.

Any animal found on campus will be killed. Two foreign teachers witnessed dogs being beaten to death today outside the gym.

Dogs being walked as normal in the city.

College leaders decided that, since the students have nothing to do (cos they're not allowed out and cos all entertainment has been cancelled due to this bloody SARS threat) then we can all work a 6-day week.

14 foreign teachers, en mass, said, "we don't work on Saturdays".

Oh, we get Thursday off for the holiday, but no more.

Even English Corner has been cancelled by the leaders. I guess I should be thankful for that one though....

Last Tuesday, the Vice-President promised my two Pekes would be ok. Today the President sent a message that they had to go. I responded with, "if they go, I go. I want an airticket to London and my shipping allowance."

Don't know what his response will be, probably find out tomorrow.

Of course, if he does agree, then I can't take the dogs back to Britain, so I've still got a problem.

Aye well, I just wanted to share this with the world (or a small segment of the world). Thanks for reading.
Fi

[hubei_canuk]

That's awfulllllllllllllll!!!
...
How about put the dogs up off campus with a friend?
Impossible?
..
Of course it's too difficult to take the dogs back. China is .. i forget the term.. anyway you have to quarantine the dogs for 2 weeks or 2 months because of China's rabies status. I know this b/c i took a dog out of Taiwan but Taiwan had a first world rabies status so no prob, i just got the vaccinations and the doc's paperwork and there was no quarantine.
..
Omygod just rmembered a teacher i brought here has a dog... got to call her up.

[hubei_canuk]

They will beat your dogs to death.
They'll beat their own too.
They'll even bury them alive!
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http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/232822.htm
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CHINA
Pet culling as SARS fear spreads
Cindy Sui
Posted Wed, 30 Apr 2003

China is rounding up dogs and cats from SARS patients' homes and killing them for fear canines and felines will spread the deadly disease to humans, officials said on Wednesday.

Although veterinary experts said there is no evidence Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome can be transmitted to humans from household animals, the furry beasts are nevertheless coming under suspicion.

The Beijing city government recently issued an order for police to seize pets from homes where people have been infected with SARS, an official at the city's police department office in charge of pet control told AFP.

"Pets can spread diseases. People can take measures to prevent diseases being spread, but not pets," said the official.

"If a family has SARS and they have pets, we will catch and kill the pets regardless of whether they show SARS symptoms."

Several SARS dogs found

Authorities have already found several dogs with SARS, said the official, who declined to reveal her name.

China requires pet owners pay stiff fees, reaching several hundred US dollars a year, to own pets.

While Beijing police have sometimes turned a blind eye to illegal pet ownership, they appeared now to be actively enforcing the law.

"If we find any stray dogs or cats or if anyone make reports to the police about people illegally raising pets, we will send people out to catch the animals and deal with them," the official said.

183 dogs caught in Hangzhou

In the eastern city of Hangzhou, police recently netted 183 dogs, after receiving an unusually high number of reports from people telling on their neighbours illegally owning pets, the China News Service said.

Some of the pets were collected after pet owners called pet control officials to collect them, while others were abandoned by their owners, who became worried the animals could spread SARS.

In several neighbourhoods in the city, abandoned dogs were seen aimlessly wandering around in a filthy state, searching for food, the report said.

Dog thrown six floors in Beijing

A pet owner in Beijing's Fengtai district tossed his Pekinese dog from his six-floor apartment Monday because he suspected the dog had SARS, the Beijing Star Daily said Wednesday.

The dog had suffered from a high fever and had not eaten for days.

It did not die right away, but the man buried it alive, the report said, citing an official from the neighbourhood committee.

Police later arrived to disinfect the burial site.

Pets not known to transmit virus to humans

A veterinarian at the China Agricultural University's veterinary hospital in Beijing told AFP dogs and cats have all along carried a form of the coronavirus, but have never been known to transmit it to humans or between dogs and cats.

"It's not necessary to disinfect pets or discard pets," she said.

Beijing is the worst affected city in China, with over 1 300 cases and 75 deaths officially reported. Across China, people are stocking up on masks and medicine.


AFP

[arioch36]

Far fewer people in Zhengzhou are wearing masks. Some people are staying in their house and not coming out. Other people have given up caring about it (such as me).

Students with no symptoms quarantine for two weeks because they went home a half hour away. I have never heard of this medical practice. Leaders come and go. I had a semi-important meeting a student was going to go with me to. As we were leaving the gate, the guard said the student had to have written permission from the department head.

So let me understand...this is a virus that you can not get as long as you have a written note.

Bars closed at 11:00 ... good to know the SARS virus only comes out late at night.

The real reason for all this quarantine stufff???

Becaue of concern of students? Because worries of the disease.
Get real...because our school is trying to upgrade to have graduate students, and it would be an embarrasment to them to have a SARS student.

This is becoming more ridiculous then the shut down of all the internet bars last year. I feel like I am in the early stages of Nazi Germany

[hubei_canuk]

"This is becoming more ridiculous then the shut down of all the internet bars last year. I feel like I am in the early stages of Nazi Germany"
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You are in a dicatorship. a totalitarian state.
Same thing.
Not the early stages, but the advanced full population mindwashing stages.
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Why are so many people under the illusion they are in a free country?
..
Perhaps because the illusion is so well developed from 50 years of experience.