More than 19 out of 20 Beijing residents surveyed have refused to
react to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) threat by
panicking, according to a survey.
Less than 5 percent of 1,800 people surveyed by phone during the
May holiday by the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau described
the reaction of themselves and their families as "panic," the
bureau said Wednesday.
The percentage is 2.9 percentage points lower than that found in an
earlier survey conducted by the bureau a fortnight previously,
according to Zhang Xueyuan, a public-relations officer with the
bureau.
Taking into account Beijing's huge population, the decrease speaks
for itself regarding the effectiveness of the efforts of the
municipal government and of many non-governmental organizations to
calm down local people, said Zhang.
There has been a lot of publicity on television, radio, and
Internet, as well as in newspapers and magazines. Dozens of
official and non-governmental hotlines have also been set up to
answer people's queries on SARS and to help reassure them.
Wang Hongjiang, a senior student at Peking University's medical
school, has been working with his fellow students on a
round-the-clock shift at the SARS hotlines of the Beijing Emergency
Medical Center.
He
said he can receive as many as 80 calls in any eight-hour shift,
but this number is much lower than when he started this job in
mid-April.
"Moreover, there are no longer that many panic calls," said Wang.
"People know something about the disease and the right ways to
protect themselves against it."
He
said the most frequently asked questions at this stage tend to be
specific ones seeking professional opinions on certain symptoms and
sterilizing procedures. "People prefer staying at home and making
phone calls to visiting hospitals," said Wang.
By
yesterday, most Beijing people had gone back to work. After a
mostly confined May Day holiday, some had an irresistible desire to
try to carry on with their normal lives as much as possible,
despite the disease.
Bu
Lin, a 30-year-old who works at the Beijing office of an
international welfare organization, said the first thing she would
do after work yesterday would be to go to the birthday party of an
old classmate.
"We have called the owner of the bar to make sure that the place
will be sterilized this afternoon and have good ventilation this
evening, when a bunch of us will get together to drink and dance,"
said Bu.
"Although SARS is still around here, life must go on."
Bu
said the decision to throw the party was taken during the May
holiday, when most of her friends, like Bu, complained that this
year's May holiday was the most boring ever.
They ventured out to the city's Zhongshan Park. The view was
gorgeous but what impressed them more was the crowds there happily
enjoying the beautiful sunshine and blossoming flowers.
"Isn't staying happy essential to keep disease away? Also, a 30th
birthday party is really something for a woman," she said.
The statistics bureau survey also indicated that more than half of
Beijing people went shopping or on other outings during the
holiday.
Of
those surveyed, 69.4 percent said they were confident that the
government would have SARS under control within three months.
(China Daily May 8, 2003)