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CNN Live Today
SARS Hits Home
Aired May 30, 2003 - 11:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, we've heard a lot about SARS over the past couple of months, but usually from afar.
Well, this morning, SARS gets personal. We learned about a tenth grader, Phylicia George. She is in Toronto. We learned about her story from "The Toronto Star" newspaper. Now Phylicia does not have SARS herself, but a mandatory quarantine at her high school prevented her from participating in a crucial track meet.
Now we want to thank "The Toronto Star" for putting us in touch with her, and she joins us now with her mother Glenna. They're with us on the phone.
First of all, Phylicia, I have two different pronouncements for your name. Is it Felicia or Phylicia?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Felcia.
HARRIS: Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, I've got to scribble this note out. All right, Phylicia, thanks for correcting me.
Now tell us your story, first of all, as I understand it, you are a track star, you are a classroom star, and you're not being allowed to participate in a track meet?
PHYLICIA GEORGE, QUARANTINED STUDENT: Yes. On Wednesday, I found out about my school's under SARS quarantine, and that's the same day I was supposed to participate in a track meet to qualify for the Ontario Provincials, and if I didn't run that meet, I wouldn't be able to go on to run in the provincials, because I had to qualify.
HARRIS: Are you the only one from your school who's not being allowed to participate?
GEORGE: No, we have 20 other athletes who are also under quarantine and are not allowed to participate at the moment.
HARRIS: All right, and if you were to go to this, if you were to go there and have your best run of all time, you would be guaranteed a scholarship, do you think?
GEORGE: Maybe not guaranteed, but it would help to get my name known, have scouts look at me and stuff like that. HARRIS: And you found out about this from reading the paper.
GEORGE: Yes, my brother came to me in the morning and showed me in the paper that our school was under quarantine.
HARRIS: Mom, Glenna, what did you think when you got the newspaper report yourself.
GLENNA GEORGE, MOTHER OF QUARANTINED STUDENT: I was very devastated. She had worked very hard for this. We could not believe that this had happened on this day. You know, we didn't understand what we could do to help her.
To me, she had learned one of life's hardest lessons, about disappointment. And she didn't even do anything wrong. It was very hard for us.
HARRIS: So with the quarantine, does this mean you haven't been able to go out and do anything at all?
For how long now?
P. GEORGE: Two days.
HARRIS: Two days. Do you know how long it's going to go on?
P. GEORGE: We're going back to school on Tuesday.
HARRIS: On Tuesday. But it will be too late for you with this track meet then?
P. GEORGE: Actually, OSA (ph) is doing everything that they can, and they're trying their best to get me to be able to run OSA, which is next weekend.
HARRIS: OK, so that may be a chance for you to salvage something out of this. Now "The Toronto Star," as I understand it, is trying to help you out with this. What are they doing?
GEORGE: They wrote the article on me, and the reporter, Dave (ph) Grossman, has been calling OSA also and seeing what can be done for me to be able to run at OSA.
HARRIS: You don't have any nagging doubt in the back of your head that maybe do you have SARS or something, that might be bad for your health, and it might be a good idea for you to sit tight?
GEORGE: No, no, I feel very -- I feel fine.
HARRIS: Well, you sound fine. That's for sure.
Good luck, Phylicia. We will continue to follow your story through "The Toronto Star." Thank you for bringing that to us.
Glenna, thank you as well for your time. Good luck. Hope things work out for you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 30, 2003 - 11:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, we've heard a lot about SARS over the past couple of months, but usually from afar.
Well, this morning, SARS gets personal. We learned about a tenth grader, Phylicia George. She is in Toronto. We learned about her story from "The Toronto Star" newspaper. Now Phylicia does not have SARS herself, but a mandatory quarantine at her high school prevented her from participating in a crucial track meet.
Now we want to thank "The Toronto Star" for putting us in touch with her, and she joins us now with her mother Glenna. They're with us on the phone.
First of all, Phylicia, I have two different pronouncements for your name. Is it Felicia or Phylicia?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Felcia.
HARRIS: Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, I've got to scribble this note out. All right, Phylicia, thanks for correcting me.
Now tell us your story, first of all, as I understand it, you are a track star, you are a classroom star, and you're not being allowed to participate in a track meet?
PHYLICIA GEORGE, QUARANTINED STUDENT: Yes. On Wednesday, I found out about my school's under SARS quarantine, and that's the same day I was supposed to participate in a track meet to qualify for the Ontario Provincials, and if I didn't run that meet, I wouldn't be able to go on to run in the provincials, because I had to qualify.
HARRIS: Are you the only one from your school who's not being allowed to participate?
GEORGE: No, we have 20 other athletes who are also under quarantine and are not allowed to participate at the moment.
HARRIS: All right, and if you were to go to this, if you were to go there and have your best run of all time, you would be guaranteed a scholarship, do you think?
GEORGE: Maybe not guaranteed, but it would help to get my name known, have scouts look at me and stuff like that. HARRIS: And you found out about this from reading the paper.
GEORGE: Yes, my brother came to me in the morning and showed me in the paper that our school was under quarantine.
HARRIS: Mom, Glenna, what did you think when you got the newspaper report yourself.
GLENNA GEORGE, MOTHER OF QUARANTINED STUDENT: I was very devastated. She had worked very hard for this. We could not believe that this had happened on this day. You know, we didn't understand what we could do to help her.
To me, she had learned one of life's hardest lessons, about disappointment. And she didn't even do anything wrong. It was very hard for us.
HARRIS: So with the quarantine, does this mean you haven't been able to go out and do anything at all?
For how long now?
P. GEORGE: Two days.
HARRIS: Two days. Do you know how long it's going to go on?
P. GEORGE: We're going back to school on Tuesday.
HARRIS: On Tuesday. But it will be too late for you with this track meet then?
P. GEORGE: Actually, OSA (ph) is doing everything that they can, and they're trying their best to get me to be able to run OSA, which is next weekend.
HARRIS: OK, so that may be a chance for you to salvage something out of this. Now "The Toronto Star," as I understand it, is trying to help you out with this. What are they doing?
GEORGE: They wrote the article on me, and the reporter, Dave (ph) Grossman, has been calling OSA also and seeing what can be done for me to be able to run at OSA.
HARRIS: You don't have any nagging doubt in the back of your head that maybe do you have SARS or something, that might be bad for your health, and it might be a good idea for you to sit tight?
GEORGE: No, no, I feel very -- I feel fine.
HARRIS: Well, you sound fine. That's for sure.
Good luck, Phylicia. We will continue to follow your story through "The Toronto Star." Thank you for bringing that to us.
Glenna, thank you as well for your time. Good luck. Hope things work out for you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
