This message is intended for students, faculty and employees of the University at Albany who are planning travel to SARS endemic areas (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam or Toronto) during the upcoming summer break.
China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore:
It is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) that all nonessential or elective travel to these areas be delayed until further notice. It is up to each of you as an individual to decide if your travel to these areas is essential.
If you decide to travel to these areas despite the advisory from the CDC and WHO, we advise that you contact your family or friends in the endemic area. You should ask them if any of the immediate or extended family have symptoms of SARS (cough, shortness of breath, pneumonia, flu or cold-like symptoms or fever.) If anyone has these symptoms we would urge you not to go, even if you feel the travel is essential. Officials in these areas have been given the authority to detain or quarantine people who have SARS-like symptoms or who have had a close contact with someone with SARS.
If the local authorities allow you to return after your travel to an endemic area, you must check in with the University Health Center before you return to campus. You may be asked to stay in quarantine for 10 days after your return or you may be asked to have your temperature checked twice daily after your return.
Toronto:
There are no travel restrictions currently being recommended by the CDC or WHO to Toronto. However, as of today the CDC and WHO are recommending observation for symptoms of people returning from the Toronto area.
If you travel to the Toronto area this summer and then return you must check in with the University Health Center before your return to campus. You may be asked to stay in quarantine for 10 days or come to the Health Center to have your temperature checked twice daily, depending on whether you were actually exposed to someone with SARS-like symptoms.
If You are Ill:
Do not travel to any of the above mentioned areas if you have cold or flu-like symptoms. Authorities in all of the above areas may place travelers in quarantine right off the plane or train if they have temperatures or SARS-like symptoms.
If you have questions, please call the University Health Center at (518)442-5454.
Leslie Lawrence, M.D.
Director, University Health Center
