Chinese Promise Security from SARS

April 5, 2003
By GREGORY J. RUMMO

NANNING -- Here in southern China in the provincial capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region where it's 93 degrees but the humidity makes it feel like it's 102, there's not a hint of concern about SARS, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that has infected almost 2,000 people worldwide and killed 70.

The streets are filled with thousands of commuters riding to work on bicycles and motor scooters. No one is wearing a mask. All appears to be business as usual.

One reason is that the media, controlled by the government, is still largely silent about the epidemic after hiding it from world for three months.

But that has finally changed.

The headline on the March 29 South China Morning Post, published in Hong Kong, stated: "China agrees to give daily virus updates." The press is relatively free in Hong Kong and the newspaper was filled with stories about SARS beginning on the front page and continuing throughout the first section.

In contrast, the April 1 issue of China Daily, China's national English language newspaper, did not publish a single major story on the outbreak although there was a "brief" on page 3 that mentioned the Rolling Stones had cancelled their concerts in Shanghai and Beijing.

The front page featured headlines about a new government housing scheme aimed at providing more houses for the poor, a mining accident in Liaoning Province that claimed 18 lives, a massacre of 19 Chinese nationals, robbed and then shot on a bus in Kyrgyzstan, an effort to address environmental concerns related to world-wide climate changes and the first clash of US troops and members of the Republican Guard in Najaf.

I ask our guide, Lin Don Quing if he's concerned. He smiles and says, "I don't think you have to worry about SARS. Eat right, get enough rest, avoid stress fight it with your immune system."

He's too nice a guy for me to believe he's blindly swallowing the party line. It is after all good advice for warding off a virus for which there is as yet no cure. But eating right, avoiding stress and getting enough rest are tall orders for parents trying to adjust to their newly adopted one-year old daughter in a hotel room half a world away from home.

The Chinese appear to be taking in stride the outbreak that has panicked the rest of the world. When we were in Beijing we saw a few people wearing masks in places like Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and along the Great Wall but these were mostly foreigners.

The government's official policy in the People's Republic of China is "Ignorance is Bliss" when confronted with negative news originating from within its own borders. That approach, coupled with the general ambivalence of the Chinese people is a dangerous mixture.

From Nanning we travel to Guangzhou with the sixteen other families in our adoption group. Guangzhou is a hotspot for SARS, and many are nervous about the next phase of the journey but there is no other choice. All of us have appointments at the US Consulate to obtain our daughter's visas before departing back home through Hong Kong in another week--assuming by then we will be allowed back into the US.

Darrel and Linda Millard are traveling with their son, Jeff and his wife Melanie. As the grandparents they could have stayed home to avoid the risk of exposure to SARS. Linda had a scratchy throat when they left their home in Cedar Rapids Iowa. It turned into a cold after they arrived in Beijing but much to her relief, quickly cleared up. They told me that if the trip had been for business or vacation, they would have cancelled. "But we had no choice but to come and get that little girl of ours," Linda said.

China Daily finally ran a front-page story on SARS in its April 2 edition headlined "Health groups update efforts." The article explained that Chinese health authorities are now taking active measures to inform the public of ways to prevent the spread of SARS. The Ministry of Health has posted a bulletin on the Internet to provide more information about the disease and a promise to publish a more authoritative report soon.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao offered these comforting words: "As long as preventative measures are adopted properly, Chinese citizens and foreigners who either work and live in or pay temporary visits to China are secure from SARS."

Somehow, I don't feel very comforted. n

Gregory J. Rummo is a syndicated columnist. Read all of his columns on his homepage, www.GregRummo.com. E-Mail Rummo at  GregoryJRummo@aol.com