Train show in Toronto

[Anonymous]

Charles is right. There are over 3 million people in the greater Toronto area, who are in no danger at all. Every day in the past few weeks, there have been thousands of these folks in the good ol' USA, on business or pleasure, just like there always is....hundreds of them have ALREADY coughed or sneezed on planes, in restaurants, in offices, right beside many of those who wi***hey had on a mask just to read this post.
Thousands of trucks still cross the border every day, dozens of which haul Toronto garbage into Michigan...but I guess there are certain "schools" of thought that believe the US border is some kind of barrier to germs. A bag of hammers might just be smarter than that.
Anyone thinking they can avoid anything by staying away from Toronto is naive beyond belief.
The quarantines currently in effect are all precautionary...those quarantined are not lepers.
Mike
BTW...there is a great deal larger risk now,to us all, from West Nile Virus. Guess what ? ...the mosquitos are unlikely to stop at your border checkpoints, AND...the mosquitos will not cancel any of their meetings or conventions.

[Anonymous]

Sorry charles, the risk of getting mugged and the risk of transmitting a disease to the Us and other countries are vasly different
Don

[cp1057]

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, ENOUGH OVER-REACTION!

I just finished reading the posting on the trains.com site listing the number of exhibitors that have pulled out from the NMRA show in Toronto in July, as well as an important conference being cancelled.

PEOPLE, TORONTO IS A SAFE PLACE TO VISIT!!

I'm totally fed-up with this over-reaction! Toronto is home to over 2 million people, the vast majority of whom go about their daily business in perfect health and safety. I live about an hour from Toronto and wouldn't hesitate to visit this summer.

I detect a distinct whiff of xenophobia!

I daresay that visitors to some cities that have hosted in the past were more at risk of being mugged than a visitor to Toronto has of getting SARS.

Public health officials may have been a bit premature to consider the issue dealt with but I am confident they are doing everything possible to contain the disease and by the time July rolls around it will be a non-issue. More people die of influenza each year than SARS will ever claim.

In short, people are letting their irrational fear of the unknown stampede them into rash action.

Charles

[Sperandeo]

For more about this see "Product and Hobby News" on the MODEL RAILROADER home page (click on the magazine logo at left), and also watch that space later today (May 30) and Monday for expected further developments.

So long,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine

[dknelson]

My prior posting on this issue has grown to the extent that I can no longer follow the threads!

It begins to look a little iffy for the big train show that usually accompanies the NMRA National.
Sadly it also looks like the "all clear" for Toronto a few weeks ago was either premature or motivated by factors other than good science.
This is no joke folks. Nor, civic pride aside, given the stakes can it be called an over-reaction. The doctors I know, some of whom were experts on AIDS related issues 15+ years ago, are unanimous. Only a rigid and harshly enforced quarantine can stop SARS now. How this will affect Toronto and its citizens is anybody's guess but in the last analysis I suspect a model train convention is among the least of the worries.
Dave Nelson