Neighbours of the hostel at the centre of the SARS scare are unhappy the Chinese woman was discharged into the community, writes Carl O'Brien
Residents close to the hostel at the centre of the SARS scare were angry yesterday at health authorities' handling of the incident.
While there was relief that the Chinese woman tested negative, locals said they were unhappy at the way she had been discharged back into the community.
The Marina Hostel in Dún Laoghaire was closed yesterday, its front door locked and its curtains closed. There was a note on the front door asking the media to direct their inquiries elsewhere.
The Chinese woman from the province of Guangdong, a region the World Health Organisation has warned people not to travel to, stayed in the hostel for at least three nights after arriving in Ireland last week.
Mr Dave Mulligan (19), a local resident, said: "I couldn't believe it when I heard about it. It's extraordinary that they could make so many mistakes. I can't believe people could be that stupid. It's typical of this country." Another neighbour, who declined to be named, said he felt uneasy that no one from the Eastern Regional Health Authority had advised them of any precautions to take.
"We weren't notified about anything. We didn't know what was going on until we heard it on the radio and saw photographers outside the hostel.
"From what little I know about the virus, you keep people on their own and away from others. Yet they didn't seem to do any of that. It would have been better if we had at least been told about it."
Mr Colm Sides (20), a security guard who works locally, however, said the incident had been blown out of proportion.
"The whole thing didn't worry me too much. I wouldn't be paranoid about it. Yes, they should have been doing more about it, and taking precautions at the airport, but there's no need for people to panic over it."
The patient who sparked the alarm presented herself at the A&E department of St Vincent's Hospital with a high temperature on Friday evening, according to health authorities.
She was then released back into the community for several days and supplied with a face mask. The woman was later recalled to hospital where she was isolated and monitored.
A Chinese man tested for SARS in a Newry hospital has proved to be free of the disease. The man, who lives in Dundalk, was tested at Daisy Hill hospital after returning from a trip to the Far East on Tuesday 15th. The hospital said he had complained of symptoms not dissimilar to those linked with SARS. He was treated in an isolation ward.