PMC:7100305 / 13776-18407 JSONTXT

{"target":"https://pubannotation.org/docs/sourcedb/PMC/sourceid/7100305","sourcedb":"PMC","sourceid":"7100305","source_url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/7100305","text":"Attribution of Infectious Disease Responsibility\nIn the case of SARS in Toronto, the literature reported on both forms of responsibility. While some of the literature attributed the responsibility to the Canadian health care system for being unprepared to manage SARS, the other literature tended to (or report on the) how the public attributed blame to the Asian-Canadian community for “bringing” the outbreak. The latter narratives ultimately led to the racialization of the epidemic.\nThe narratives on attribution of responsibility for managing the SARs outbreak is most prevalent in the literature, with the limited capacity of the Canadian Health Care System to prepare for and respond to an emerging infectious disease as a main narrative. Many scholars pointed to flaws in the funding and organization of Canada’s health care system—federally, provincially, and municipally—to explain the SARS outbreak in Toronto. Some argued that information was communicated inefficiently and was often incorrect (Silas et al. 2006). Personal protective equipment was in short supply (Summers 2009), and the use of occupational health and safety in Toronto’s hospital system was inefficient, leading to further spread (Silas et al. 2006). Toronto’s hospital system was also blamed for lacking admission policies and public laboratories (Wong et al. 2007): an inability to supply health services when demand suddenly increased and a lack of quality leadership (Arya et al. 2009). Toronto was also ill-prepared to address the unique vulnerability of the homeless to SARS (Leung et al. 2008).\nInadequate collaboration between the various levels of government in Canada was blamed for the apparent inefficiencies and inadequacies in the functioning of the health care system and the response to public health crises. This led to disorganized contact tracing, quarantining, and communication to the public (MacDougall 2007). Financial challenges within the Canadian Health Care System further enhanced Toronto’s vulnerability to the SARS epidemic, including a lack of resourcing towards public health infrastructure and acute care (Salehi and Ali 2006). Similar to MacDougall (2007), Salehi and Ali (2006) point to a lack of cooperation and collaboration between the three levels of government to explain this public health crisis—ownership of responsibility and duty to respond was deflected between each level and remained unclear (MacDougall 2007; Salehi and Ali 2006).\nAnother sub-theme that emerged from the literature was the impact of globalization on local preparedness, prevention strategies, but more importantly, on the attribution of blame for the spread of the outbreak. While there is emphasis, in the narrative on SARs, for municipal governments to consider the globalized nature of the outbreak; (Keil and Ali 2007), consistent with the politics of epidemics literature, which asserts that blame is typically placed on cultural and ethnic minority groups, significant blame was placed on the Asian-Canadian community.\nAccording to the literature, SARS quickly became a profoundly racialized disease and inflamed racial tensions in the Greater Toronto Area ultimately leading to the social exclusion of a racial minority—the Asian-Canadian group (Jacobs 2007). Such avoidance and stigmatization is reported to have played out in several spaces, such as on public transit and other public spaces, and families advising children to avoid Chinese peers in school (Jacobs 2007). Some of the literature posits that this racialized stereotyping could have been prevented with denunciation from leaders in government and public health (Jacobs 2007).On the other hand, according to Ali (2008), individualized health behaviors aimed at preventing SARS contraction—for instance, wearing a face mask—may have justified the avoidance of the stigmatized of the Asian-Canadians (Ali 2008).\nCulture and ethnicity functioned not only as a risk factor for discrimination but also as a facilitator in the response to the outbreak. The Chinese-Canadian community in Toronto employed numerous strategies to combat SARS and ease social anxieties, including fundraising for research, the dissemination of health promotion materials, and launching a SARS support line, among other activities (Dong 2008). The mobilization of spiritual leaders was also found to be an effective means of disseminating public health information (Faust et al. 2009). While it is important to recognize the contributions of cultural and ethnic groups, we assert that cultural and ethnic minority groups are more often targets of blame, as was the case for SARS in Toronto.","divisions":[{"label":"Title","span":{"begin":0,"end":48}}],"tracks":[{"project":"2_test","denotations":[{"id":"32226719-17276791-45162360","span":{"begin":1342,"end":1346},"obj":"17276791"},{"id":"32226719-19153929-45162361","span":{"begin":1465,"end":1469},"obj":"19153929"},{"id":"32226719-18347991-45162362","span":{"begin":1576,"end":1580},"obj":"18347991"},{"id":"32226719-17035296-45162363","span":{"begin":1906,"end":1910},"obj":"17035296"},{"id":"32226719-17035296-45162364","span":{"begin":2433,"end":2437},"obj":"17035296"},{"id":"32226719-21847845-45162365","span":{"begin":3872,"end":3876},"obj":"21847845"},{"id":"32226719-19066240-45162366","span":{"begin":4278,"end":4282},"obj":"19066240"},{"id":"T91146","span":{"begin":1342,"end":1346},"obj":"17276791"},{"id":"T28406","span":{"begin":1465,"end":1469},"obj":"19153929"},{"id":"T97510","span":{"begin":1576,"end":1580},"obj":"18347991"},{"id":"T23865","span":{"begin":1906,"end":1910},"obj":"17035296"},{"id":"T98645","span":{"begin":2433,"end":2437},"obj":"17035296"},{"id":"T22439","span":{"begin":3872,"end":3876},"obj":"21847845"},{"id":"T34186","span":{"begin":4278,"end":4282},"obj":"19066240"}],"attributes":[{"subj":"32226719-17276791-45162360","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"32226719-19153929-45162361","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"32226719-18347991-45162362","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"32226719-17035296-45162363","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"32226719-17035296-45162364","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"32226719-21847845-45162365","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"32226719-19066240-45162366","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"T91146","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"T28406","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"T97510","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"T23865","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"T98645","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"T22439","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"},{"subj":"T34186","pred":"source","obj":"2_test"}]}],"config":{"attribute types":[{"pred":"source","value type":"selection","values":[{"id":"2_test","color":"#ec939b","default":true}]}]}}