SARS

I was halfway across the Indian Ocean on a voyage from Malta to Singapore (on a ship not a plane) when it started to sink in that all was not as it should be! In fact the first real sign that a problem was on the horizon was when we arrived in a little town in India called Kakinada. This was an unscheduled stop and so we were little prepared with all the necessary paperwork, never mind ready for the procession of Doctors that came marching up the gangway. Each of us had to have a medical right there in our ships mess room, conducted by a man in a white lab coat, mask and with plastic gloves on and no shoes!

I think for many people SARS and the potential problems that came with it sneaked up unexpectedly. From one day of being a flu that was attacking people in Mainland China it turned into something real and right on the doorstep of those at home! It became a vivid and live threat and it shocked and stopped people in their tracks, made them think and look around themselves: at life and others with wide open eyes. Socially and culturally life and the way that it is lived will have changed for many Asian people, none more so than the previously tolerated 'spitting' that goes on in many walks of society.

The collection of a mass of spittle and other bits from the throat and nose and then depositing them on the road side or into the nearest waste paper bin has never really been acceptable to anybody since I was born. Not in the UK anyway and if I had spent half an hour clearing my throat and sniffing upwards vigorously and then depositing the contents onto the road side or into my mums kitchen bin, she would have killed me! But in many parts of Asia it is part of a culture that seems to be socially acceptable. For example in Singapore: the taxi drivers love to open their door whilst stopped at a traffic light and to deposit a collection of green matter onto the tarmac, then to close the door and drive off whilst starting the collection of more for another deposit at the next opportunity. In the Philippines those attending an interview will have a last clearance of the throat at the door to the interview room and will deposit any contents into the bin before proceeding through. In Taiwan many a person walking along the street often decides that a nose clearance job is required. They will then proceed to blow their noses into their hands and then to shake their hands over the road or gutter ..........well, enough said on that subject!

Singapore in their shock at SARS and the disaster and mayhem that it could cause (and had caused) picked up on cleanliness as an aid to fighting the spread of this dreaded virus. And the "spitters" got it bad! An old Law was re-enacted and an initial ten "spitters" where hauled up in front of the judge as an example to others and I suppose to make the news, the best way to spread information. Nine of the "Spitters" were too shocked to say much in response and ended up paying the 300 SGD fine. The tenth managed to get his act together and informed the judge that he was walking along the road when something flew into his mouth so in shock he spat out what had flown in! As the judge pointed out though, he had been in his taxi at the time with the door closed so .................. he got fined like the rest and nearly thrown into jail for contempt! Oh, one offender did fail to turn up for his trial but the judge just spat disdainfully when his lawyer asked for leniency! I wander if they fined the judge for spitting?

So spitting as part of quasi-acceptable thing to do will now be relegated to private moments in the bathroom. In public spitters will be shunned and glared at, beaten by wives and fined by judges! And I don't think I will tolerate any more taxi-drivers opening their doors whilst I am in the back seat, although that could mean I will be doing allot more walking from now on!

I knew that I was going to have a problem when we arrived in Singapore. Not with quarantine or anything like that but we had just heard that Taiwan had got hit badly with many hospitals suffering mass outbreaks. And I live in Taiwan, so if Singapore is suffering and Taiwan is suffering then I don't think the chances of getting back home are great, especially as I still live on a tourist visa! And my suspicions where confirmed upon arrival in Singapore. The latest news was that Taiwan had shut its borders to anybody except urgent travelers and even though I am married in Taiwan that was not classed as urgent. Anyway, little harm done as the company suggested that I continue to work on the vessel for a few weeks longer and then to see what the situation is then. They where happy as they got my good services for longer and I because at least I could earn some money whilst waiting!

In Singapore they gave us a massive going over, more listening to our chests, our temperatures taken by a Doctor (he had a pair of shoes on) and plenty of form filling by all of us! Once that was over we were allowed to become part of Singapore society. Over time though more stringent checks were put in place, like the taking of our temperatures twice a day and when entering the Head Office we had to be checked again. All accepted by us on the ship and all well understood as to why we were doing it! Walking around Singapore it was easy to notice the differences in daily life and to how the City had changed due to this threat. Unwanted Taxi's stretching like rivers and shopping malls like morgues with masked assistants peering out from behind their wares. Restaurants catered to the brave sole customer and many shut early from lack of business, travel shops hung their latest offers in their windows without hope of a response and children felt missed in the parks and meeting places. Life had drawn to a standstill and it was so obvious and blatant to those remaining, those who dared to walk around.

Schools closed their doors and padlocked the gates shut. Mothers grabbed their children and kept them locked away inside of their houses for weeks on end. Taxi drivers kept on plying the trade even though the chance of getting a customer was minimal. Cleaners struggled to keep up with the additional work as housing estates, office blocks and department stores started a gigantic cleaning operation that was ongoing and to be never-ending. Housing development Board (HDB) apartment blocks were no longer being cleaned on the usual weekly basis, during these troubled times residents were seeking daily wipe downs of all stairwells, handrails and lifts. The police where kept extra busy as they looked for depositors of spit or any persons who abused the Keep Singapore Clean law and manufacturers of face masks worked 24hrs/day but still could not keep up with the demand. Ambulance drivers, medical staff and Doctors worked brilliantly to contain and cope with the madness that surrounded them and doormen at shopping centers fell asleep as the doors remained unused.

It was interesting to note that the faithful Insurance Companies did not miss a beat during these times. I would have thought even they would have been shocked and stunned into silence but was I ever so wrong. Upon our arrival in Singapore one of the first things that I spotted in the Straits Times newspaper was a large and eye catching advert from one Insurance Firm on the scout. An advert for SARS Insurance as offered by the NTUC Income Center! Wow, do these guys stop at nothing?

SARS Insurance Plan: As a little taste of what they offered: $30,000 life cover, $150/day hospital benefit, $450,000 lifetime benefits and medical cover for life. They also offered this: "24hour worldwide cover, especially for SARS". I am unsure when it comes to legal talk of any nature but that statement just strikes me as being illegal in content but maybe I am just plain stupid. But what is the point of a SARS Insurance plan other than to cover for SARS should one be inflicted. So why do they say "especially for SARS". Ah, a small thing in life but the whole advert just really irritated me and rubbed my sense of "right" the wrong way. Insurance companies once again taking advantage of a population living in uncertainty: as they try to get to grips with a threat to their livelihood.

After a week in Singapore we set sail for Labuan in Malaysia to start work in the Oil fields in the Bay of Brunei. Leaving Singapore was another tribute to efficiency and the Singapore medical community. In the hours before departure we were all driven in this mini-bus to this medical center in Marine Parade. And we were all given a chest x-ray. It was then back to the ship where the Doctor was awaiting our presence and once again our temperatures were taken and our chests listened to for strange noises. Only when the whole crew had been certified A1 could we start up our engines and leave. They certainly left us feeling healthy.

Upon arrival in Malaysia we had to raise the 'Yellow Flag'. This is the flag used to state that the ship has come from a foreign country and requires to be cleared by local health before proceeding into the port. In other words a quarantine flag! In the offshore world this flag is little used except at fancy dress parties but here and now it was a necessity. The Malaysian Authorities were not going to let us step foot on their land without they themselves giving us another good going over. They sent out six Doctors. Yes, they sent out six medical experts to check us out. In our eagerness to please and to get the clearance for onward movement we gave the lead Doctor the bundle of Chest X-rays that had been taken in Singapore. But this Doctor just threw them aside and told us that X-rays do not show symptoms of SARS. All he wanted was our temperatures, a listen to out chests and the answer to his questions of whether we had suffered a fever or anything like that. I can't help thinking what a waste of money all those X-rays had been.

A week later I opted to leave the vessel. I would catch a plane to the UK and there I would get my Visa for Taiwan and fly home. A long way around it certainly was but the only option that was open to me at the time. I flew through Singapore airport en-route to Amsterdam noting along the way that Singapore Airport looked like a European Airport due to a distinct lack of Asian people on the move. I think most customers where Australians and Europeans shuttling from one end of the world to the other and all without face masks with the odd lost American trying to fly to some weird destination! In fact Amsterdam airport seemed to have more Asians in motion than did Singapore Airport but still none of them wearing face masks!

I arrived in Amsterdam to leave the whole thing behind me. No more medical checks, no masks in sight and no questions asked as to were I had been or if I had a fever. It was as if it had all been a bad dream. Even the newspapers in the UK showed their lack of interest in the subject with the headlines concentrating on the Royal Family and the aftermath of the Iraq War. It was like SARS was not a problem that existed in this part of the world. In fact during the whole time that I spent in the UK never once did the issue of SARS rear its ugly head. Nothing much was reported in the newspapers except as a sub article about the 'Asian Flu' and even when I lied to my taxi-driver that I had just arrived from Taiwan he did not blink an eye! I even threw in some conversational stoppers about the terrible outbreak of SARS in Taiwan's hospitals but even that did nothing to shake his composure. When I got out of the taxi he wished me luck with getting back to "Tucson"!

Eventually I got the visa and to Taiwan and home it was. I picked up a newspaper at Taipei airport and once again realized that SARS had not gone away after all. On the front page of the Taipei Times, one of Taiwan's English Daily Newspapers was a picture of a Doctor wearing a mask. All okay except for the fact that he had a cigarette jammed into the mask and was sucking furiously away on it. Nothing was going to stop him appeasing his addiction.

Anyway, I better go and get my SARS insurance out and a stack of masks. The Taiwan Government has made everybody wear masks inside of trains, planes and buses so unless I want to be arrested I better conform.

Oh, and if you want to go on holiday to Thailand the King has promised that if any tourist catches SARS he will give them $100,000 US Dollars. Food for thought anyway!