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Volume 40, Issue 14
May 6, 2003
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May 6, 2003
SARS cancels class
Disease halts study abroad
By Carly Schorman
Mesa Legend
Mesa Community College’s China 2003 Study Abroad Program
has become the college’s first victim of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS).
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PHOTOS BY MATT REED/MESA LEGEND
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| Some students who planned
on visiting China this summer may have to settle for the Chinese Cultural
Center on 44th Street in Phoenix instead. |
The China Study Abroad Program offered students the opportunity to experience
Chinese culture through direct involvement.
However, the trip was canceled as a result of growing concerns surrounding
foreign travel to areas with a high number of SARS cases.
One of the program coordinators and part of MCC’s cultural science
department, Steve Bass, said the trips to China were canceled just a couple
weeks ago.
They have “been keeping an eye” on travel warnings from the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Bass explained.
SARS is an “atypical pneumonia characterized by high rate of transmission.”
According to the WHO a suspect case is defined by certain characteristics
such as high fever and respitory problems including cough, shortness of
breath, etc. A person who has been in contact with a suspected SARS victim
is also at risk.
On April 16, the State Department issued a travel warning stating, “This
Travel Warning is being revised to inform U.S. citizens of updated requirements
of the government of China for anyone exhibiting Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome or SARS-like symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) and the Department of State continue to recommend U.S. citizens
consider deferring non-essential travel to China because of SARS concerns.”
Many other travel-study programs available to students through organizations
outside the college are not canceling scheduled trips to China, at least
for the time being.
One such program, EducAsian, believes their Study in China program will
continue this summer according to Sondra Arthur who runs EducAsian’s
New York office.
“We don’t go to the south of China,” Arthur clarified,
continuing to say that SARS is a problem in that region.
Beijing and Shanghai which are considered problematic areas and EducAsian
also holds courses in both cities. Arthur said that may change.
“There is a program in Shanghai,” Arthur said. “We’re
going to have classes, whether we do them in Beijing is not yet decided.”
EducAsian may change the destinations if the epidemic persists, but does
not intend on canceling programs, according to Arthur. “We go to
a number of places in China so we have options.”
Despite the concern surrounding SARS and possible incidents in the Phoenix
metropolitan area, Vjollca Berischa of the Maricopa County Public Health
Department said, “we don’t have any suspected or confirmed cases.”
“I’m not aware (of any suspected SARS cases). One was reported
several weeks ago, but it was only suspect and the patient is recovering,”
said Public Information Officer for the Maricopa County Public Health
Department, Doug Hauth.
On April 28, the WHO reported there were 5,050 alleged cases of SARS and
only 41 of those cases were in the United States.
Many are anxious about the illness and such precautionary measures inflame
this anxiety.
Not all are as disturbed by the number of SARS cases in China.
“No students have canceled,” Sondra asserted. She maintained
that students are not concerned about contracting the disease during their
stay.
Some students do in fact share the concern of Bass.
“Students are in agreement,” Bass said. “This is not an
optimal time to go.”
“I’m less concerned about personal safety,” Bass stated.
He is more concerned with possible separation or detainment rather than
actually contracting SARS. The CDC mentioned the possibility of some commercial
airlines limiting or refusing flights from affected areas. Countries might
also bar people from these areas from entering.
Students scheduled to attend the summer sessions in China would have spent
three weeks at the Wuyi University in Jiangmen City in the Guangdong province.
The CDC and WHO are working to find a way to contain the spread of SARS.
Bass expressed a desire to go on the trip next summer and said that students
who planned on going this year share his desire.
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