[meteorite-list] Odds Of Getting SARS Are Slightly Higher Than Getting Hit By A Meteorite

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:13:08 2004
Message-ID: <200304231628.JAA22139_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/9/037615-9029-031.html

SARS infects Asia's outlook
Tourism first sector to feel heat; growth prospects cut
By Paul Wiseman
USA Today
April 22, 2003
 
     HONG KONG -- Flights are grounded, hotels empty and tourists scarce
in the luxury shops of the neon-lit Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong and on
Singapore's fashionable Orchard Road.
     The outbreak of a mysterious illness -- severe acute respiratory syndrome --
poses the biggest economic threat to East Asia since the 1997-98 financial crisis.
For businesses that depend on tourism, "the immediate effects are probably more
severe," says Sally DeSouza, spokeswoman at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.
     The outbreak began last fall in southern
China's Guangdong Province and spread to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and beyond.
The illness, a form of pneumonia, has infected more than 3,800 people globally and
killed more than 200, mostly in Asia.
     The economic damage comes not so much from the illness as from the panic it is
causing as Asians don surgical masks, avoid public places and trade rumors via e-mail.
"The odds of getting SARS are slightly higher than getting hit by a meteorite, but not
much," says David O'Rear, chief economist for the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.
     But the economic damage is real: Travelers are canceling trips to East Asia;
business groups are calling off conferences. Malaysia has closed its borders to most
travelers from infected countries.

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Received on Wed 23 Apr 2003 12:28:12 PM PDT