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NYC health department detains tourist with SARS

Emergency Management Alert, April 28, 2003

New York City's health department detained a foreign tourist against his will for a week after he went to a hospital with symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and refused to follow the department's 10-day isolation policy, the Associated Press reports.

The health department issued a statement that all but one of the possible SARS cases in the city remained isolated voluntarily, and in one case, the department isolated the person in a local hospital to ensure infection control. The person was a tourist who went to an unidentified hospital because he had a fever and flu-like symptoms and had stopped in Hong Kong on his way to New York, the New York Times reported.

A day later, his fever subsided and he wanted to go sightseeing and see a basketball game, but the hospital did not permit him to leave. The man's name and nationality were not released. The New York City health department's policy is that people with suspected cases of SARS be isolated for at least 10 days, depending on the course of their illness.

In this case, because the man was on vacation, he could not be isolated in his own home, as is usually the procedure. Officials also were concerned that if the man isolated himself at a hotel, he might not stay the entire 10 days, or other guests could be at risk.

After being discharged from the hospital, the man went straight to the airport. It was not known whether he actually had SARS, because there is no definitive test for the disease.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said April 28 that the worst of the SARS outbreak is over in Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, and Vietnam, but warned that it appears to be spreading in China.

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