We moved to Singapore last year for my husband’s job. While the war in Iraq was dominating the news in the United States, the war against SARS was making headlines in Asia. Words like “super-infector” (someone who infects a large number of people) and “coronavirus” (the family of viruses that includes SARS) quickly became part of our vocabulary. Everyone learned the most common symptoms–a fever greater than 100.4 degrees and a dry cough. Daily tallies of SARS deaths led the television news. Many people began wearing surgical masks or the more effective respirators whenever they stepped outside.
SARS took us by surprise. In late February, three young women returned from Hong Kong carrying the disease. By early March they had been hospitalized. One of the women set off a chain of infection that caused 90 people to fall ill. The government quickly decided to quarantine anyone who had been in close contact with an infected person. Suddenly, hundreds of Singaporeans were under medical house arrest. The government shut down all schools, from day-care centers to universities. One medical center was designated a “SARS only” hospital to prevent those infected from spreading the virus to other patients and visitors. Nurses were stationed at the airport to assess the health of incoming passengers and stop new cases from entering the country.
My family’s daily life changed dramatically. I took my daughter’s and my 3-month-old son’s temperature twice a day to detect the onset of fever. The Health Ministry discouraged citizens from going on excursions like shopping trips or visits to the zoo, so my husband and I kept the kids indoors. My daughter could no longer play with the two little girls next door, since their mother had packed them up and taken them back to Australia soon after the first SARS outbreak. I even had to cancel my daughter’s birthday party because none of her friends’ parents would let them attend. That was probably for the best anyway–security officers stationed at the driveway of our apartment building were stopping everyone, even cabdrivers, to take their temperature. A few weeks ago my husband took me out to dinner for my birthday. When a woman at a nearby table coughed, the other patrons stopped their conversations and looked at her in horror. It made me wonder whether our paranoia has won out over common sense. To date, only 25 Singaporeans have died.
Even though I felt ambivalent about the actual risk of contracting SARS, I minimized my trips outside the house. When I did go out, I carried baby wipes to wash my hands, since the Centers for Disease Control has warned that it may be possible to pick up SARS by touching contaminated objects like elevator buttons. Because it is also transmitted person to person, through coughing and sneezing, many people are scared to take public transportation. The streets are so clogged with bicycles that I had trouble driving my car around.
My husband and I didn’t want to succumb to panic, but we decided it would be wise to leave two months early for our annual summer vacation in the United States. Travel restrictions were changing so fast that it was hard to determine whether we would even be able to make the trip. Countries like Saudi Arabia have banned visitors from SARS-infected areas, and Thailand requires visitors from Singapore, China and Vietnam to wear face masks during their stay. President George W. Bush has signed an executive order allowing authorities to quarantine those infected with SARS.
When we finally boarded the plane two weeks ago, we were greeted by a flight attendant wearing a mask. Although half the passengers were also wearing them, my husband and I decided to leave our respirators in our carry-on bag. It would have been nearly impossible to keep them on our kids for 17 hours of travel.
