TORONTO – In March 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – better known simply as SARS – first hit Toronto, beginning several months of public worry about the growing outbreak.
Global News takes a look at the effect of SARS on Toronto from the first death to the relief concert headlined by The Rolling Stones.
March 2003 was the month that SARS first impacted the city of Toronto. Seventy-eight-year-old Siu-Chu Kwan, who had just recently returned from Hong Kong, died of the virus in her Toronto home. Her son, Chi Kwai-Tse died at Scarborough Grace Hospital from the SARS virus just a week later.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Canada also announced alerts about the virus during March 2003.
The WHO issued a global alert about the virus and Canada’s health agency advised people against travelling to high-risk parts of Southeast Asia such as Singapore and Vietnam.
Two weeks after the death of Siu-Chu Kwan and with approximately 18 Ontarians infected, Health Minister Tony Clement declared SARS a reportable, communicable and virulent disease giving health officials power to track infected people.
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On March 26, the province declared a public health emergency and requested that thousands of people across the province quarantine themselves.
In an effort to quell the spread of the virus, the Ontario government closed all hospitals to visitors with the exception of those visiting critically ill patients and parents visiting children.
On March 28, another person in Ontario died of the virus.
By April 1, a total of six people had died of the virus in Canada.
The death toll climbed through April prompting the WHO to issue an advisory suggesting travellers refrain from non-essential travel to Toronto.
The travel advisory was repealed just a few days later but managed to significantly damage Toronto’s tourism industry which lost approximately $190 million during the outbreak.
In May, WHO removed Toronto from its list of affected countries.
By June, 30 people in Ontario have died including 51-year-old Nelia Laroza who becomes the first health care worker to be killed by SARS.
Despite the growing death toll, a large concert, colloquially referred to as “SARS Stock” and headlined by The Rolling Stones, was held at Downsview Park.
The concert, which brought out upwards of 500,000 people was the brainchild of The Rolling Stones in an effort to repair the city’s wounded reputation.
By August, three more health care workers and 44 people in total have died.
By September, there was more than 8,000 cases of SARS worldwide and approximately 774 deaths as a result.
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