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American Morning

Two More SARS Related Deaths Reported in Toronto Area

Aired May 29, 2003 - 08:05   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: New concern yet again today in Canada about the spread of SARS. Two more SARS related deaths have been reported in the Toronto area, raising the death toll from the virus in Canada to 29. Thousands are under quarantine in Ontario.
And Tony Clement is the health minister of the province.

He's our guest now live in Toronto.

And, sir, we appreciate your time this morning.

What can you add about the two latest deaths?

Mr. Clement, we're on the air live. I'm not sure if we have the connection. I'm not sure if you can hear me. But if so...

TONY CLEMENT, ONTARIO MINISTER OF HEALTH: I can hear you.

HEMMER: What can you tell us about the two latest deaths, bringing the total now to 29?

CLEMENT: Well, certainly we can tell you that we've got a new flare up, that this occurred because of an atypical case of atypical pneumonia in our hospital system. So we've got certainly 12 probable cases and 26 suspect cases that we're administering care to right now.

HEMMER: In those hospitals, we're hearing from some health professionals who indicate that the hospital knew about it back on the 20th of May, which was nine days ago, and allowed it to go for two days without being quarantined.

Was that the case in that hospital?

CLEMENT: Well, we're still investigating a lot about how the original case occurred and what the infection control procedures were at this particular hospital. There's no doubt that the new index case, that is to say, the first case of this second outbreak, was under the radar screen for a while because it was not exhibiting the typical SARS symptoms that health professionals have been used to.

But certainly once the health care system was aware that there might be a cause for concern, our infection control kicked in, our quarantine procedures kicked in and those have been very successful in the past.

HEMMER: If that is the case, though, 48 hours quite critical, especially when you're dealing with just how deadly and how quickly this disease can spread. Other health officials in your country are questioning whether or not you let your guard down. Is that the case?

CLEMENT: Well, certainly that issue has come up. But I can tell you that when these -- this new set of cases was actually rolling through the health care system, that was the time we were actually ramping up in terms of new and better masks and better gowning procedures and better infection control. So we've always talked about what we call in Ontario the new normal, the fact that we have to -- we're going to have to get used to better and more intrusive infection control in our hospitals and keep our vigilance up. And this is just another reminder that we're dealing with a very insidious disease that really takes different forms and we have to be prepared for that.

HEMMER: Yes, sir, the numbers I have, about 5,000 right now quarantined. Is that where it stands still?

CLEMENT: That's right. Maybe a bit more than that, actually, right now, Bill, and the reason for that, obviously, is we've got to cast a safety net around the whole population. Our experience, based on the first go around is that very, very few of those actually develop SARS like symptoms.

HEMMER: Can you explain to us why this young man who apparently, who helped quarantine about 2,000 students at a school just north of Toronto, why it was that he had these symptoms for two days without being noticed?

CLEMENT: Well, again, here's a case where he was obviously the son of a health worker who developed symptoms of SARS and basically we obviously tracked down as many cases as we can as quickly as we can once the second outbreak occurred. When that did occur, we, again, cast a safety net around the entire school, in this case, something we've done before when we had the first outbreak. And what our experience has been is that there are very few cases that get -- that occur as a result of that. But one has to be better safe than sorry.

HEMMER: Tony Clement, the minister of health in Ontario.

Thank you, sir.

And, again, we'll track it again as the numbers continue to rise there in your country.

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 29, 2003 - 08:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: New concern yet again today in Canada about the spread of SARS. Two more SARS related deaths have been reported in the Toronto area, raising the death toll from the virus in Canada to 29. Thousands are under quarantine in Ontario.
And Tony Clement is the health minister of the province.

He's our guest now live in Toronto.

And, sir, we appreciate your time this morning.

What can you add about the two latest deaths?

Mr. Clement, we're on the air live. I'm not sure if we have the connection. I'm not sure if you can hear me. But if so...

TONY CLEMENT, ONTARIO MINISTER OF HEALTH: I can hear you.

HEMMER: What can you tell us about the two latest deaths, bringing the total now to 29?

CLEMENT: Well, certainly we can tell you that we've got a new flare up, that this occurred because of an atypical case of atypical pneumonia in our hospital system. So we've got certainly 12 probable cases and 26 suspect cases that we're administering care to right now.

HEMMER: In those hospitals, we're hearing from some health professionals who indicate that the hospital knew about it back on the 20th of May, which was nine days ago, and allowed it to go for two days without being quarantined.

Was that the case in that hospital?

CLEMENT: Well, we're still investigating a lot about how the original case occurred and what the infection control procedures were at this particular hospital. There's no doubt that the new index case, that is to say, the first case of this second outbreak, was under the radar screen for a while because it was not exhibiting the typical SARS symptoms that health professionals have been used to.

But certainly once the health care system was aware that there might be a cause for concern, our infection control kicked in, our quarantine procedures kicked in and those have been very successful in the past.

HEMMER: If that is the case, though, 48 hours quite critical, especially when you're dealing with just how deadly and how quickly this disease can spread. Other health officials in your country are questioning whether or not you let your guard down. Is that the case?

CLEMENT: Well, certainly that issue has come up. But I can tell you that when these -- this new set of cases was actually rolling through the health care system, that was the time we were actually ramping up in terms of new and better masks and better gowning procedures and better infection control. So we've always talked about what we call in Ontario the new normal, the fact that we have to -- we're going to have to get used to better and more intrusive infection control in our hospitals and keep our vigilance up. And this is just another reminder that we're dealing with a very insidious disease that really takes different forms and we have to be prepared for that.

HEMMER: Yes, sir, the numbers I have, about 5,000 right now quarantined. Is that where it stands still?

CLEMENT: That's right. Maybe a bit more than that, actually, right now, Bill, and the reason for that, obviously, is we've got to cast a safety net around the whole population. Our experience, based on the first go around is that very, very few of those actually develop SARS like symptoms.

HEMMER: Can you explain to us why this young man who apparently, who helped quarantine about 2,000 students at a school just north of Toronto, why it was that he had these symptoms for two days without being noticed?

CLEMENT: Well, again, here's a case where he was obviously the son of a health worker who developed symptoms of SARS and basically we obviously tracked down as many cases as we can as quickly as we can once the second outbreak occurred. When that did occur, we, again, cast a safety net around the entire school, in this case, something we've done before when we had the first outbreak. And what our experience has been is that there are very few cases that get -- that occur as a result of that. But one has to be better safe than sorry.

HEMMER: Tony Clement, the minister of health in Ontario.

Thank you, sir.

And, again, we'll track it again as the numbers continue to rise there in your country.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com