SARS SCARS

开篇：润墨网以专业的文秘视角，为您筛选了一篇SARS SCARS范文，如需获取更多写作素材，在线客服老师一对一协助。欢迎您的阅读与分享！

Huang Xingchu has been out of the public eye for a decade. Even during the Lunar New Year festival， when friends and families dart from house to house bringing gifts， Huang’s door remains locked he is tired of dealing with reporters. “sars was long ago. Now we just want a quiet life，” Huang’s wife Deng Lijuan told the couple’s local paper， the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News， before switching off her phone.

The first reported Chinese SARS victim， Huang， a chef from Heyuan， near Guangzhou， Guangdong Province， reportedly transmitted the SARS virus to several dozen people， including nine medical workers. The media nicknamed him “the Poison Master.”

According to Wu Shaosong， Party secretary of Huang’s home village， Huang and his family moved elsewhere soon after his recovery， and he seldom comes back. “They worry that since his identity was revealed， customers would be scared away and he would suffer discrimination，” Wu Shaosong told the Yangcheng Evening News， refusing to reveal where Huang currently works.

In early 2003， an unidentified deadly epidemic， later named SARS， broke out in China， killing 349 of the 5，327 of those infected. Although 10 years have passed since the outbreak， most of the victims， including medical staff who were involved in treating SARS patients， are still reluctant to talk about their experiences.

“People would steer clear of me if they knew I was a SARS sufferer. The discrimination indicates that Chinese people have not yet walked out of the shadow of the disease，”another SARS victim in Huang’s village， surnamed Guo， told the media.

Panic

“Disaster” was the first word that came to nurse Wu Xi’s mind as she stepped into the deserted emergency room where she had been receiving SARS patients just a few days earlier. The desk and chairs were all out of place， and papers were strewn all over the floor.

It was April 23， 2003， the day before Peking University People’s Hospital （PUPH） where Wu worked， was placed under quarantine. For the previous two weeks， PUPH， the hospital designated to treat ordinary SARS patients， had been ravaged by the virus.

“We had set up three special wards for SARS patients， but still could not accommodate all the victims， who were sent here in ever larger numbers. They eventually packed the corridors and became mixed up with ordinary patients，” Wu recalled.

Rumors began circulating around Beijing that people would be irreversibly infected with SARS if they had physical contact with a carrier of the virus， and that most of the infected would eventually die. “We spent every night awake， waiting for the dawn and counted the days we had lived for，” recalled Yang Zhixia， a SARS sufferer in Beijing.

Many fled the city， and those who stayed chose to hole up inside their homes， leaving the capital’s streets， restaurants， hotels and subways completely deserted. “I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw rows upon rows of empty shelves in supermarkets stock like biscuits and instant noodles had all been snapped up，” Beijing resident Huang Mei （no relation to Huang Xingchu）， told NewsChina.

“It looked like we were at war，” she added.

Hoping to sustain herself through the epidemic， Huang Mei eventually bought all five remaining eggs and a 25-kilogram bag of rice at a small shop. “Honestly， at first I was a bit excited about this long ‘vacation’ and the round-the-clock TV series that were being aired to keep at people home，” she recalled.“But as the number of SARS victims rose by more than one hundred every day， the excitement soon gave way to worry and anxiety.”

“Nobody knew when those days would end，” she said.

Cover-up

Even today， few people know exactly when SARS hit the country. “It seems that the virus struck overnight，” Yin Chenyuan， a resident in Guangzhou， the city where the country’s first SARS virus carrier was reportedly found， told NewsChina. “I did not realize it was around us until the media said that granulated banlangen [a Chinese herbal composite for treating colds] had sold out.”

“The first case of SARS was actually found at the end of 2002. But the government adopted a policy of ‘an intense interior and a calm exterior’ for epidemic outbreaks， which meant taking strict measures within the medical circle but keeping it secret from the public，” Yin Dakui， former deputy health minister， told NewsChina. “The government worried the exposure would cause panic and instability，” he continued.

Thanks to this policy， the Chinese public were kept in the dark for two months， during which time the government had forbidden any reporting or discussion of the epidemic， including on the Internet. It was April by the time the World Health Organization（WHO） launched a field investigation into Guangdong Province did the Chinese government began to draw back the curtain， while still trying to “pacify” the outside world by claiming that the disease was “under control.”

Zhong Nanshan， a renowned doctor and medical academician from a top-level hospital in Guangzhou， however， skewered this assertion. “How can we say ‘we have got[SARS] under control？’ We don’t even have a clear idea about how to prevent and cure it. We have not even identified the source of the virus yet，” he exclaimed at a press conference on April 11， to gasps from the assembled domestic and foreign journalists.

Zhong’s fellow expert Jiang Yanyong had already expressed similar incredulity. Outraged by an interview program on State broadcaster CCTV on April 3 in which then-health minister Zhang Wenkang claimed that only 12 SARS cases had been reported in Beijing， the senior doctor wrote to both CCTV and Hong Kong channel Phoenix TV， urging the government to “tell the truth.”

On April 20， Zhang Wenkang and another senior official were removed from their posts for trying to cover up the epidemic. The same day， State news agency Xinhua published updated SARS stats from Beijing： 339 confirmed cases plus 402 suspected， almost 10 times the figure five days earlier.

“Given the political environment at the time， the cover-up should not have simply been blamed on a few individual officials， though they did have their shares of responsibility. It was a long established habit， and they had no option but to attempt a coverup，” Zeng Guang， chief scientist at the Chinese Center of Disease Control and Prevention， told NewsChina.

PUPH Collapses

According to Zeng Guang， Chinese experts had discovered as early as January 2003 that the SARS virus could be transmitted via close physical contact， and that the easiest and most effective way to control its spread was to cut off the source of infection， rather than researching hi-tech treatments and vaccines.

By the time that experts were allowed to have a say， the optimum time to control the disease had passed. “Liu Qi [then Party secretary of Beijing] once told me that had I made my SARS report [to officials] 10 days earlier， Beijing might have seen 100 fewer SARS cases，” Zeng revealed to NewsChina.

It was only when the government was forced to bring in non-government experts that Zeng Guang discovered that China had neither an emergency alert system for sudden epidemics， nor a command and labordivision system to deal with them.

PUPH， a century-old hospital in Beijing， did not even have an infectious disease ward. Caught in poorly-administered temporary isolation， PUPH failed to prevent the virus from spreading. Worse still， they had no way to transfer SARS patients to other hospitals， already packed with ordinary infectious disease patients.

“We had no channels for sharing information， resources and personnel [with other hospitals]，” Lü Houshan， then head of PUPH， wrote in his work report at the time. In the 16 days after the first SARS patient was hospitalized at PUPH， more than 70 medical staff members were infected.

“I was put in segregation as soon as I drove into the city from the highway. I did not even see my family members，”Wang Shuna， then a Beijing resident who attempted to drive back to her hometown in nearby Hebei Province during the SARS outbreak， told NewsChina.

On June 21， the Xiaotangshan Hospital discharged its last batch of 18 patients who had recovered from SARS， with no doctors or nurses infected. Three days later， the WHO crossed Beijing off its list of SARS epidemic regions.

Lessons

But memories are harder to let go. Wu Xi no longer dares to open the notebook in which she wrote down her experiences during that dark period. Wang Shan， now promoted to head of the PUPH， said he plans to write a book about SARS which will not be published until after his death.

“Can you restore history？ How can you？” he asked our reporter.

In truth， SARS forced great advancements in China’s public health system， with new disease prevention systems established and relevant laws and regulations issued in the following years. But experts believe it is far from enough.

“While the government has invested a lot in the hardware of the public health system， the ‘software，’ which involves qualified managerial and medical professionals， government policies and officials’awareness [about dealing with epidemicrelated emergencies] still lags behind，”warned Hu Yonghua， a public health expert from Peking University.

Furthermore， the government has not dragged its people out of the shadow of the cover-up. Huang Mei remembers how shocked she was when she found the number of reported SARS cases had suddenly rocketed to over one hundred from just over a dozen. That helps explain why the Chinese public frequently doubt the official casualty statistics in the aftermath of disasters or accidents， such as the 2011 Wenzhou train crash and the 2012 Beijing rainstorm.

“Maybe the hardest thing to recover is people’s confidence in the government，”said Huang Mei.