Two Op-Eds on SARS: Then and Now

This week two op-eds caught my attention. The first, “Preventing the Next SARS” was written in 2003 by Ezekiel Emanuel, the American oncologist and bioethicist. The second, “Living in Hell,” is a personal essay from a resident of Wuhan published today, March 3rd, 2020. While separated by 17 years and two continents, the juxtaposition of the two articles illustrates the dire urgency and need to learn all we can from one outbreak in order to prevent or minimize the human impact of future infectious epidemics, particularly as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc across the globe.

Originating in the Guangdong province of China, the 2003 SARS outbreak began as a “mysterious illness” characterized by severe respiratory symptoms. The outbreak lasted for six months, from February-July. When Emanuel wrote his op-ed in May 2003, the SARS crisis had begun to stabilize. Yet, he cautiously warns that it would be a “huge mistake” after containment to “move on, to focus on the next issue.”

According to Emanuel, virologists explain that China is the source of viruses that cause respiratory infections due to the close proximity of people and animals in cohabitation. Without specifying zoonosis, he provides the example of birds shedding the influenza virus in their stools where pigs eating from the ground can absorb the bird virus. Moreover, “pigs can harbor both both human and bird viruses, creating an environment in which genes can be exchanged, leading to new strains of old viruses or new viruses that can infect and kill humans” (Emanuel). He also mentions the “staggering” financial resources required “to improve the millions of small farms, slaughterhouses and housing and sanitation in China.” Emanuel states, “Traditions surrounding cuisine and food preparation can be barriers to better hygiene, but concerns for health should prevail.”

In contrast to Emanual’s op-ed written after the original SARS outbreak reached its peak, the second article is a personal essay written during the current outbreak of COVID-19.The author, a resident of Wuhan, writes anonymously in fear of reprisals from the Chinese government. He describes what it is like during the lock-down, as well as the gap that exists between government propaganda and reality. Questions and inconsistencies haunt the writer, particularly the fact that the government announced the lockdown of Wuhan at 2AM on the second to last morning before the Lunar New Year. He explains that his childhood ambition was to become a journalist, but as he became an adult and realized that he lived in a regime in which truth could not be told, he needed to find another career.

The anonymous writer tells how others around him have had to reckon with reality…that infected patients were first treated at the beginning of December, but the government did not inform the public until much later, missing the window of prevention. He describes the mad rush to gather food and other necessities after the lockdown was announced. How residents were asked to provide rides to medical workers, despite a ban imposed on residents preventing them from riding. How medical workers were not given adequate medical supplies leading to their exposure to the virus. How the government locked down the internet, further preventing residents from obtaining supplies such as masks. How dormitories of medicine students have become appropriated for quarantined patients. And how younger residents (born after 1995) who grew up during a time of prosperity and have had a more positive view of the government, now face the reality that overcrowded hospitals turn away their  family members infected by the coronavirus.

~~ Janette Canare

Emanuel, Ezekiel J. “Opinion | Preventing the Next SARS.” The New York Times, May 12, 2003, sec. Opinion. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/opinion/preventing-the-next-sars.html.

NPR.org. “Personal Essay From Wuhan: ‘Living In Hell.’” Accessed March 3, 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/03/809965742/personal-essay-from-wuhan-living-in-hell.