SARS: Class Issue In China?
The SARS news isn't exactly getting better. In China, in addition to the health and economic threats from the disease, there are also potentially social consequences, as the central government will have their traditionally heavy-handed methods challenged by this epidemic.
This particular story is about Chinese villagers rioting over a suspected plot to have SARS victims quarantined in rural areas. While there doesn't appear to be any direct proof of that taking place in this story, I can't say it wouldn't surprise me. China's already had to come clean on their underreporting of SARS in the first waves of the disease, an intentional oversight that perhaps already has had disasterous consequences. Given the economic devastation that infected areas are seeing in such a short time, China or any other community would have ample motivation to downplay their own outbreak. That's not necessarily to say governments or communities are consciously making a decision to put their citizens' health at danger to avoid damaging the economy. Rather, I'm saying that there is a natural tendency to downplay the results, because the outbreak still can be characterized as statistically small, and because the spread pattern of the disease is still unknown. It is a very hard thing to ask a government to knowingly trash their economy when there are so many unknowns.
But at some point, the risks appear to be too great, despite (or because of) the unkowns. Are we approaching that point? My fear is that the economic considerations are so overwhelming, that communities and governments will only act after it is undeniably obvious that they are in a "hot zone", and by then it may be too late for an awful lot of people, and a problem that may have been containable will now not be.
2:36:26 PM 
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