I recently read an article on www.rense.com of a health care worker reporting sars like symptoms in the hospital he works in Northern California. Can anyone confirm this? We will be traveling there in a couple weeks and want to take precautions if in fact there are some SARS cases there.

We will also be visiting China town. How do we know our cook making our meal isn't SARS infected at one of the restaurants.

I heard it in the new this morning, it's the same virus they had some time ago on cruise ships. Flu-like symptoms, non-lethal. Just wash your hands often - even if you are not afraid to get sick.

As for China-town in San Francisco - I work close, eat in the restaurants, shop for cheaper and fresher friut/veggies and never worried about infections more then usual. Personal hygiene never hurts anybody, that's all.

roosterlady,
Northern California? You got plenty of other things to worry about. What about HIV?
Don't go to Yosemite either - remember that guy that was killing women there.
Also what about Scott Petersen? Is he out on bail?
Plus what about terror alerts?
Suggestions - Don't eat out. Wear a surgical mask and rubber gloves and possibly an oxygen mask - pollution you know.

JoeG...that is extremely ignorant of you to say. SARS is an illness that is transmitted pretty easily...like a flu. To compare it to a sexually transmitted disease or some guy who killed his wife is ignorant. If you don't have any useful advice, don't post.

Roosterlady-I understand your precautions esp. if you have children...but, I wouldn't worry too much about it here in the bay area.

stagpuder,
My point was the same as yours - not to worry about it too much!
JoeG

roosterlady
I understand your concern. I will probably also get flamed for this but we returned recently from SF and did not eat in Chinatown. We walked the streets but could not bring ourselves to eat there only because we did not know if the person(s) preparing our food had recently visited relatives or friends in China. There are those that would call us stupid, but we felt better taking those precautions.

Are some (not all) people who are avoiding Chinatown in San Francisco racist? It depends what these people think of Canada, one of the most infected SARS countries in the world.

If they would avoid Canada, they are fine. If they have no hesitation to eating Greek food in Toronto, they are either uninformed or biased.

I think you probably have less chance of catching SARS in SF than you do of being struck by lightning.