NZ teachers quarantined in Taiwan

By GLENN SMITH

Summer holidays came early for 19 New Zealanders employed at the Taipei American School after a teacher became a possible Sars case.

On May 7 Taipei health officials put the entire 250-member faculty under home quarantine for 14 days, later shortened as the suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome patient, American teacher Nancy Cook, improved.

"This is the last day we have to wear face masks," said music teacher Larry Love, from Hawkes Bay. Today is the sixth day that he and wife Kirstin Love, also a music teacher, have been able to leave their home.

The Loves are scrambling to finish paperwork so they can leave the island. They are also being cautious about where they go and who they meet in their northern suburb.

Mr Love said he was not too concerned about catching Sars.

"But we might go somewhere where there is a suspected Sars case and we could get a phone call from the health authorities tomorrow that we are quarantined again."

That would mean cancelling flights back to New Zealand.



Greg Carter, a physical education teacher at the school, wife Kim, a kindergarten teacher, and their children aged 7 and 8, who come from Dunedin, have also been quarantined.

The Carters began the quarantine with three days of groceries in their house.

"Then the school began to generously supply two meals a day to us," said Mr Carter.

He said the family were happy about their safety. "We would have been more likely to be in danger by interacting with other people working all over Taipei."

New Zealanders at the school will leave Taiwan a month earlier than usual. Normally, many travel in the Northern Hemisphere while on their summer break.

"I think more will being spending the holiday back home this summer," said Mr Love.

pf* Taiwan said yesterday it had no new Sars cases, after record rises in infections over the weekend, but an official said that did not mean the island was free of the virus.

"The number of cases jumped on Saturday and Sunday, but most of them are old cases where reviews had been delayed because of insufficient information," said a Department of Health official. "It's likely we'll see more cases."

On Sunday, the number of probable cases of Sars in Taiwan surged by 36 to 344 and the death toll climbed by five to 40.