Re:SARS
I know this all sounds like overkill, but as a healthcare worker, I can tell you it’s necessary.
During the AIDS outbreak of the 80’s we became aware very early in the epidemic that the infectous agent was not airborne but involved contact with mucous membranes. That mode of transmission is much easier to keep contained. SARS, it appears to date, is an airborne virus. That mode of transmission is MUCH harder to contain, since a cough or sneeze could send hundreds or millions of virus particles into the air, to be inhaled by anyone nearby. Unfortunately, STRICT quarantine is necessary.
I don’t know about hospitals in Canadan, Maurice, but in the US those fans you speak of wouldn’t be venting contaminated air to the outside. Think about that. What sense would it make to vent an AIRBORNE virus to the outside world. Most likely the fans were blowing at you to make sure no contaminated air got IN to the open bay. The receiving area was no doubt sealed off from any corridors leading further into the hospital and the guys in the space suits were probably wearing them as much to protect themselves from YOU as to protect you from them.
In my hospital, a patient in respiratory isolation gets put in a negative pressure room. The air flow is designed to come in from the corridor and flow out thru a filtered vent before leaving the building. The filters are fine enough to trap small particles the size of what’s ejected during a cough or sneeze. I’m sure any air blowing AT you was safe.
MM