Surgical and face masks in vogue in Vancouver. When the fashion may soon spread to the US, and the women here would be wearing burkhas which are more colorful and stylish, and about 10x the cost of 3M masks without the filters.
Vancouver's Asian community don masks as SARS fears climb
Fri Apr 4,11:10 AM ET
VANCOUVER (AFP) - A Chinese man pulls on a face mask as he boards a bus in this Pacific city's upscale west side.
He sits alone near the back, and when a Chinese woman gets on at the next stop and sits near him, he quickly gets up and sits beside a white woman near the front.
Fear of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is sweeping the 400,000-strong Chinese community in Canada's largest west coast metropolis, noticeably changing people's daily behaviour, wreaking havoc on Asian businesses and sparking concerns about racial discrimination.
Vancouver is a major gateway to Asia and in some suburbs, such as Richmond, as much as half the population is of Chinese origin.
While non-Asian shop owners say it's business as usual, Asian businesses are losing customers and struggling to dispel rampant rumours.
Last week, a patient fainted at a Richmond medical clinic. Untrue stories that the man had SARS ran wild, and within days the entire mall housing the clinic was virtually empty.
"The rumours have gone so crazy it's unbelievable," said Melina Hung, chair of the proprietors' council of the now-deserted Yaohann Centre, a complex of 90 businesses that is usually one of the region's busiest.
"We've been very negatively affected, and business in the mall has dropped by at least 30 percent," she said, adding that e-mails from Hong Kong are triggering more concerns and warning people to be careful.
Authorities at Vancouver Coastal Health have tried to help, issuing a statement that the patient did not have SARS, but rumors are still fueling fears.
"There is no public health issue," said Coastal Health spokesperson Clay Adams. "The reality is that every time some poor Chinese bastard collapses with something wrong, everybody says it's SARS. We say: 'No, no, no, we get people with respiratory problems all the time.'"
So far, there are only two probable and 19 suspect SARS cases in Canada's westernmost province, British Columbia. None have died.
Ontario, Canada's largest province, however, has seen seven people with probable SARS cases die, while another 139 possible SARS cases exist.
Worldwide, SARS has claimed 78 lives in a total of 2,223 reported cases, the World Health Organization (news - web sites) said in Geneva on Thursday.
"For the Chinese community, the worst part is the risk of them being ostracized, being seen as a community group or carrier of this potential virus," Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Adams said.
Ontario health officials also expressed that concern.
"I want to be clearly understood that SARS is not an Asian disease. SARS may have emerged in Asia, but a person of any race of color is capable of being a carrier of this disease," said Ontario's Commissioner of Public Health, Colin D'Cunha.
"It is both wrong and prejudicial to fear or shun any or all people in the Asian community based on the assumption that they must have SARS," he added.
Coastal Health's chief medical officer, John Blatherwick, said British Columbia has been lucky, detecting the first SARS case a month ago through screening measures for a new flu strain.
But the doctor believes the reaction to SARS has been "overblown."
Recently, several private schools have asked students who went to Asia for March break to stay home.
The two probable cases in the province are elderly residents recently returned from Asia.
Meanwhile, staff at local Asian food outlets, such the Langley Market, are wearing masks and gloves as an unnecessary precaution.
SUCCESS, a large charity that helps immigrants with health clinics as well as education, language and employment programs, cancelled some language classes and community programs because many of its students recently traveled in Asia.
"People are concerned about safety for themselves and others," said Chief Executive Officer Lillian So, saying the charity distributed about 500 masks among its 350 employees and 8,000 volunteers.
Blatherwick said masks were unnecessary for the public and has asked them not to buy them so that supplies for medical personnel are assured.
But So thinks "it's better to be over-precautionary than to relax, because we're talking about life and death."
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