Having lived through the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the early 2000s, I can safely say that we have learned about a good number of notable and useful factors which led to the current coronavirus global pandemic called COVID-19. Scientists had learned a great deal from the epidemic of SARS that began in November 2002 and ended in June 2003. Health researchers and authorities eventually came up with very sensitive diagnostic tests and new treatments to fight any further SARS outbreak, and the knowledge gained helped them find and treat previously undiagnosed human diseases caused by other coronaviruses.
We also learned that such viruses can quickly be transmitted across the globe because of international travel and trade. Our ability to cope with the impact of new viruses in our health care systems will be even more challenged by COVID-19 than was the case with SARS. The fact that the new virus is so easily transmitted, makes its containment even more difficult. For this reason, makeshift hospitals and quarantine centres will be needed to shore up a health system that has virtually no give. The most vulnerable, seniors and those with underlying health issues, will have to be particularly protected. This time, a much broader community approach will have to taken in comparison to SARS which primarily hit frontline hospital and emergency services staff in North America. People are being asked to “socially distance” themselves and to self-isolate in the event that they become symptomatic or have been exposed to the virus. Numerous countries, including Canada and the U.S., have enacted international travel restrictions and mass closures of sporting, entertainment, and other major events to limit the potential exposure to the virus. Unlike SARS, the economic impact of such measures will be severe and will lead to a global recession.
Governments are hoping that by closing down much of social and business activity, they will be able to mitigate the impact on the health system and provide more needed time for researchers to develop a vaccine and treatment for COVID-19. However, as we now know, doctors finally beat the deadly SARS, but it did not happen overnight. Indeed, it took three years from the SARS outbreak for scientists to develop a simple therapy that promised to decrease the extraordinarily high death rate from the disease. At this time, no one really knows how long we will have to continue the shutdown of social and business activities in the battle against COVID-19. On the ground, there are already greater concerns around supplies of gowns, gloves, masks, oxygen, drugs, ventilators, and laboratory capacity for virus testing than was in the case of SARS.
Since the outbreaks of COVID-19 are much more wide-spread than SARS, a greater national and global approach is required. Mitigation efforts must be more community based involving the cooperation of each and everyone of us. By implementing social distancing and good hygiene practices, there is a good likelihood that Americans and Canadians can reduce the impact on our health care systems and the overall number of COVID-19 related fatalities.
FROLITICKS 