No signs of SARS in quarantined family

There is good news tonight on the medical front. Nine Belizeans quarantined on suspicion of having SARS are expected to be released from all restrictions tomorrow. According to officials in the Ministry of Health, the nine people, all members of one family, have shown no symptoms of the deadly SARS virus. The residents of Orange Walk have spent the last nine days, since May twenty-fifth, essentially under house arrest and have only interacted with officials of the Ministry of Health trained to detect symptoms of the disease. Reaffirming the diagnosis is news from Los Angeles indicating that two other members of the same family, who were detained in L.A. with suspected SARS symptoms, have been diagnosed by the Centers for Disease Control as having pharyngitis, better known as sore throat, and not SARS. The C.D.C. is apparently expected to discharge the pair shortly and have cleared them to travel. We have been told that the naturalized Belizeans, originally from Mainland China, will be in Belize by Sunday.