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RACIST BERSERKELY BANS STUDENTS FROM CHINA, TAIWAN, HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE

by MICHELLE LOCKE
This story SHOULD be from The Onion. It's not. STOP RACISM AT BERKELEY!
UC Berkeley Bars Students From SARS Areas
By MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer

BERKELEY, Calif. - The University of California at Berkeley will turn away new students from SARS (news - web sites)-infected China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong this summer in what is believed to be the first such move by a major U.S. university to prevent the spread of the virus.

The decision, announced on the campus Web site Friday, affects several hundred students who were planning to attend Berkeley for the summer term that begins May 27. Instead, those students will get their money back.

There have been no cases of SARS at Berkeley, which has about 700 students now enrolled on campus from the four regions hit hardest by the virus. The school anticipates fewer than 100 new students from those areas this fall.

"After close consultation with several public health officials and campus experts, and based on the strong recommendation of the City of Berkeley health officer, I deeply regret that we will not be accepting enrollments of students from these areas," campus Chancellor Robert Berdahl said in a message on the Web site.

While many American universities have wrestled with how to deal with severe acute respiratory syndrome, the flu-like illness that has killed more than 400 people and sickened more than 6,300, mostly in Asia, Berkeley's outright ban on incoming students is unusual.

Victor Johnson, executive director of the Association of International Educators in Washington, which promotes the exchange of scholars to and from the United States, had not heard of any other school taking such a step.

Berdahl said Berkeley decided on a ban because students coming from SARS-affected areas would have to be monitored for 10 days and if any developed SARS-related symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) would require elaborate precautions, including "isolation and other labor-intensive measures that we are not able to provide currently."

University officials are working on creating such a system, Associate Chancellor John Cummins said Monday.

Students who go home to China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong for the summer and those who arrive from those places this fall will be required to fill out detailed questionnaires and will be monitored by university health officials, Berdahl wrote. He said the policy will end if the CDC lifts travel advisories to the affected areas.

The SARS outbreak has prompted other U.S. schools to cancel Asian summer study programs, researchers to shelve cooperative projects with Chinese scholars, and Asians enrolled in American colleges to abandon plans to return home after final exams.

SARS has been much talked about at Berkeley, where some students seemed unfazed by the new policy.

"I think it's understandable," said Vicky Choy, a junior from Hong Kong who already decided not to go home this summer because of SARS. Her parents had planned to visit her in California but called it off for fear the long plane trip could expose them to sick passengers.

Berdahl is also recommending that faculty, staff and students not travel to SARS-affected areas. UC Berkeley previously suspended a study abroad program in Beijing this summer and has recalled all students who were studying there.

Tony Au, a senior from Hong Kong, wondered if the school was overreacting with its summer school decision. Au said it makes sense for officials to try to keep SARS out, but wasn't sure the new policy would do that.

"SARS is everywhere," he said. Au said he normally returns to Hong Kong for the summer, but won't this year because "I'm afraid I won't get back."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=541&u=/ap/20030505/ap_on_he_me/sars_higher_education&printer=1
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Daryle Lamont Jenkins
I am shocked by this racist decision.

Check out my web site: the number one site for fighting Racists !!

Until all Fascists are dead !!
by Phil
they're letting students from Taiwan, Singapore, China, HK go to school in fall. imo it's not a huge deal that they cant go this summer. ask most students from affected countries in asia (i've lived 3-4 years in China and Taipei and half of my friends are from there) and they are pretty concerned too.

UC is being really cautious on this. anyone coming from Asia right now, if they have any sense, they stay at home for 10 days (my friends are doing this voluntarily) before they go about life as normal in the general population. if we start getting incidence of sars here, this will become a common expectation. we can be glad we're not dealing with quarantines etc at the moment. may it stay that way!!!

peace!
by A
You people are insane. Of course the UC should not let in people from countries where there is an epidemic of an uncurable virus. Until it is cleared and cured, SARS affected areas should be quaranteened by all means available.
by ditto
Agreed. I hate racial profiling and racism with the greatest passion. However, this is a smart move. I would hope,that if SARS breaks out in a European country and they do as badly as controlling it as China has, that there are travel restricitions on them as well. If not, that would be racist. Canada has controlled it well and should not be included in the ban.
by Broggle
SARS is only fatal in 4%-6% of the REPORTED cases.

That means of all the people who contract SARS, those that progress to something so bad that they have to seek out medical attention, and then of those that are diagnosed as having SARS, only 4 out of 100 will die.

Mild to medium cases SARS are similar to a case of the Flu, are often dismissed as such, and usually run for the same duration.

Also...with a mortality rate of 4%-6%, SARS is not in the "epidemic" range.

For those of you who might actually look into these things, the mortality rate for Pneumonia/Influenza(The Flu) is around 7.6%...in the United States, where health care is a good deal better than other places.

The CDC lists mortality rates of 7.8% and higher as worthy of being classified as an Epidemic.

Don't believe me? Read for yourself:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/flu/weekly.htm
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/27/1051381837174.html

http://www.who.int/csr/sarsarchive/2003_05_05/en/

The last one from the WHO lists the ratio at a hair over 7% and that it has stabilized. The WHO also typically overstates everything. They have to in order to justify their existance to the UN.

The main factor for it's spread has been contributed to poor sanitary conditions....which is generally the cause for all massive outbreaks.


SARS is nothing but a bad cold that the Media hyped the hell out of because people got tired of watching Iraq after Baghdad fell.

SARS = Hype

College Restrictions = Knee-jerk Reactionism

Berkley = Rascist

by THIS SITE RUN BY FAR RIGHT IMBECILES
antizionismisracism [at] mail.com

.

by cp
I don't think that CDC site says that the death rate from pneumonia and influenza is 7.6% It seems to say that of deaths in the population, 7.6% are due to pneumonia and influenza. People who are old and have reduced immune system due to other factors often die of flu. But a much greater number of people who get the flu are healthier and have a much smaller than 7.6% mortality for each incidence of flu.

Using concrete numbers, if 7% of people died when infected by the flu, and we assume that everyone gets the flu on average once every four years, here is how an age cohort of 100 individuals would progress:
age 0 -100
age 4- 93
age 8- 86,5
age 12- 80
age 16- 74.8
age 20- 69
age 24- 64.5

in other words, people would dwindle very quickly and this would resemble the situation 200 years ago more than today.
by WHO
Meanwhile a new study of the flu-like virus - the first to be based on a statistically sound sample of 1,425 cases - has discovered that the death rate among sufferers is much higher than previously estimated.

Deadlier than thought

The WHO initially estimated that the death rate from the virus was 5%, but the study, conducted in Hong Kong, says one in five people has died from the disease (20%).
by globe&mail_canada
New findings in The Lancet medical journal show that SARS is killing one in five of patients hospitalized with the virus in hard-hit Hong Kong, including 55 percent of infected patients aged over 60.

In younger patients, the death rate could be as low as 6.8 percent, the study found.

"That's sadly still very high for a respiratory infection," said Roy Anderson, the epidemiologist at London's Imperial College who headed the study. "In other common respiratory infections it is much less than 1 percent in the vulnerable elderly."

The research, which also involved the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong health authorities - is the first major study of SARS trends but was based only on data from Hong Kong, where at least 193 people have died.

Scientists differ over what the chances are for an average person anywhere dying from it.

Worldwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the death rate at 6.6 percent. The World Health Organization says it ranges from 6 percent to 10 percent.

WHO said it will deploy an investigative team on Thursday to the densely populated northern province of Hebei, where the number of SARS infections has "risen sharply" in the past week, doubling to 98 between April 30 and May 4.

So far 113 cases have been reported in Hebei. The province borders Beijing - which has been worst affected by SARS epidemic.

The world SARS death toll was at least 479.

More than 6,700 have been infected since the disease surfaced in China's southern province of Guangdong in November.

China has had 214 SARS deaths, nearly half of them in Beijing.
Sars virus is robust enough to survive in sewage
Sars 'much more deadly' than other respiratory diseases
AP

07 May 2003

New research published today suggests that the pneumonia virus Sars is much more deadly than many other respiratory diseases, particularly for older patients.

Findings in The Lancet medical journal show that Sars is killing one in five of patients with the virus in hard-hit Hong Kong, including 55 per cent of infected patients aged over 60.

In younger patients, the death rate could be as low as 6.8 per cent, the study found.

"That's sadly still very high for a respiratory infection," said Orofessor Roy Anderson, the epidemiologist at Imperial College, London who headed the study. "In other common respiratory infections it is much less than one per cent in the vulnerable elderly."

The research, which also involved the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong health authorities — is the first major study of Sars trends but was based only on data from Hong Hong, where at least 193 people have died.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the death rate at 6.6 per cent. The World Health Organization says it ranges from 6 per cent to 10 per cent.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome continues to hit China hard despite tough public health measures, including mass quarantines, roadblocks, travel restrictions and some school shutdowns.

WHO said it will send an investigative team on Thursday to the densely populated northern province of Hebei, where the number of SARS infections has "risen sharply" in the past week, doubling to 98 between 30 April and 4 May.

So far 113 cases have been reported in Hebei. The province borders Beijing — which has been worst affected by the epidemic.

The world death toll stands at least 480. More than 6,700 have been infected since the disease surfaced in China's southern province of Guangdong in November. China has had 214 Sars deaths, nearly half of them in Beijing.



© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
by Truth
It was the European settlers who brought smallpox to the Native Americans. If they were to "stay away," using your (il)logic, there would be no United States. Try thinking with your head and not your ass.
by Fact
"Truth is subject to perspective. Facts are eternal."

The difference between the Native Americans and the United States is, the US actually has the power to stop the immigrants, whereas the Natives did not.

Try using some advanced logic.
by The Truth Hurts
"...the US actually has the power to stop the immigrants..."

Yeah, they're doing a GREAT job on the Mexican border. They're doing a GREAT job stopping Cubans, as well.

"Try using some advanced logic."

Try taking your own advice.

by just wondering
And this would be bad, why?
by Scottie
"there would be no United States"
- And this would be bad, why?

Because then the USA would
option 1) resemble papua new guinea in terms of its development (with even less infrastructure)
or option 2) have been colonized by some one else from europe or if europeans are not allowed then from asia or if they arent allowed by russians or some other group.
by Fact
"Yeah, they're doing a GREAT job on the Mexican border. They're doing a GREAT job stopping Cubans, as well."

I said "CAN" not "DOES."

"Try taking your own advice."

Try using hooked on Phoenics. Reading comprehension can do wonders for you.

by The Truth Hurts
"The difference between the Native Americans and the United States is, the US actually has the power to stop the immigrants, whereas the Natives did not."
"I said "CAN" not "DOES.""

WRONG! Read it again, Sherlock.

"Reading comprehension can do wonders for you."

Wow. Can you say "hypocrite?"

"Try using hooked on Phoenics."

Try learning how to SPELL the word "phonics." Are you trying to make people laugh?

by Isolationist
UCB made a smart move especially in light of new information coming out regarding SARS. The areas UCB is targeting are the same area the CDC has advisory warnings on. Anyone who thinks this is a racist agenda is more concerned about pushing a Political Agenda than the general safety of the populace.
by You both suck
Okay....Round One: Facts said the "US actually has the power to stop the immigrants, whereas the Natives did not." Nowhere did he say that the US was using it. That statement is acurate and factual.

Score: Facts 1, Truth 0

Round Two: Truth nailed facts on the need to spellcheck his insults. Facts...you looked like a chump.

Score Facts 1, Truth 1

Round Three: You both are doing too much B.S.-ing at each other and trying to divert the subject to even be remotely considered good at debate. You've shifted the arguement from the subject to your own squabble.

Score: You both are zeros.

Learn to follow the rabbit trail.
by Mr. Sarcasm
Gee, YOUR post isn't diverting the subject of this thread.
by Jenny Black (sun4love2craze0 [at] yahoo.com)
Check your WHO site again...... Death rates have already raised to 20%.....
by Jenny Black (sun4love2craze0 [at] yahoo.com)
Check your WHO site again...... Death rates have already raised to 20%.....
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