Nassau Suffolk Hospital Council

It's important that New Yorkers understand that the illness is NOT being transmitted in our state at this time and that the health community is moving aggressively to reduce the possibility of transmission. All of the suspect or probable cases identified to date are associated with travel to parts of Asia or Toronto, Canada where there have been outbreaks.
We understand why there are concerns about SARS. This outbreak has been headline news for weeks and it's normal to fear the unknown. Also it's confusing to hear that health officials are investigating suspected SARS cases that turn out not to be SARS, after all. This should tell you that our disease surveillance is so comprehensive that we're picking up lots of cases of common respiratory infections-and checking carefully to be sure they are not SARS and that they don't pose a threat to New Yorkers. No one is taking this lightly.
Right now, the risk is small but cannot be ignored. Certainly, with any emerging infectious disease it is critical that public health officials and health care providers take prudent measures to respond to the potential threat and that's what has been happening here.
We have been working hard to reduce the possibility of an outbreak in New York State, including conferring daily with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding suspect cases and issues of quarantine relating to border crossings. We've also been in close contact with Health Canada and we speak frequently with local health departments about their suspect cases. We have excellent disease surveillance and electronic information sharing capacities in place, ensuring that we can identify suspect cases without delay and respond appropriately. We expect that these measures will be effective, but we are not going to become complacent.
Until the expansion of the CDC case definition to include Toronto, the number of reported SARS cases in New York State was on the decline. The newly reported cases were to be expected with broadening of the case definition. The World Health Organization now has removed its travel advisory for Toronto and now says the outbreak appears to be over in many parts of Asia, as well. That's cause for optimism, although we won't let down our guard.