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SARS - November 2002 - July 2003

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a respiratory disease in humans which is caused by the SARS coronavirus. There has been one near pandemic to date, between November 2002 and July 2003, with 8,096 known infected cases and 774 deaths (a case-fatality rate of 9.6%) worldwide being listed in the World Health Organization's (WHO) April 21, 2004 concluding report.

Business Impact

While the economic costs of the SARS outbreak are only just beginning to be calculated, it is already clear that it severely affected the growth rate of major East Asian economies which influenced ours. The immediate effect of the outbreak in North America affected services-related businesses, particularly those in the tourism services sector. Cancelled or postponed business and leisure tourism has further compounded the effect of softened domestic demand as consumers avoid restaurants and public places, seeking to minimize the risk of infection.

Luckily, the outbreak was contained which lessened further damage to our economy and business as a whole. If the epidemic had not been contained, but remained localized to a specific geographic location, business in the epidemic zone could expect a large amount of absenteeism and in worse case scenarios, the loss of key personnel. A lack of personnel would make it difficult, if not impossible for a company to meet their obligations. Chances are the business would not survive an extended period of time. The epidemic zone would become more reliant on the non-infected area for the supply of goods and services. Companies would lose customers due to not being able to meet their obligations which would likely lead to their closure. If the outbreak had not been contained it would have lead to the break down of society as we know it.

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