Fear is mounting everywhere about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Travelers at the John F. Kennedy Airport could be seen exiting the international arrivals area wearing masks.

Airline employee are distributing masks and health alerts to passengers. Signs advise travelers to pay attention to SARS.

Cheung Qu-sha, who lives in New York, returned from the Fujian Province on Cathay Pacific Airlines. He said he visits relatives there every two months and, that transiting through Hong Kong this time he saw everyone wearing masks to avoid the illness. He also saw signs about SARS, but since he did not go to Guangdong, he does not expect to be infected.

Yesterday, the New York City Health Department confirmed that one more suspected SARS patient is a one-year-old boy, and that cases increased to seven over the last two days. The boy is the youngest SARS patient in New York City.

The Health Department did not specify the boy’s condition, but did confirm that the boy is not hospitalized. The department confirmed that the other SARS patients recently returned from Southeast Asia, but did not specify the race and names of patients for privacy reasons.

Outside of New York City, New York State has 10 suspected SARS cases. The youngest is a 17-month-old baby. All the patients visited Hong Kong, Vietnam or Guangdong, but most of them recovered and none were severely ill.

Mr. Chin, of New Jersey, travelled to China and back on Cathay Pacific wearing a mask the whole trip; he is afraid of catching the illness. Miss Lam, who went to Fujian to visit relatives for more than two months was waiting at JFK to go to South Carolina. She said that the flight attendants distributed masks to each passanger and almost everyone wore them. She added that her parents are very worried about her health.

Mr. Cheung flew China Airlines to New York. On board he received a yellow flyer with a health alert, it was supplied by the Center for Disease Control. The flyer reads, “During your recent travel, you may have been exposed to cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome. You should monitor your health for at least 10 days. If you become ill with fever accompanied by cough or difficulty in breathing, you should consult a physician.”

Two white men studying in Hong Kong returned to the United States early because they are afraid of catching SARS. Chris wore the mask someone gave him last night as he lef the airport. He said that many people wore the masks to avoid catching SARS, and some wore them to avoid breathing the air pollution. His classmate, Steve Orr, said that his flight to Vancouver from Hong Kong was full, and he finished one semester early to avoid catching SARS.

Some organizations in the New York area set up rules to prevent SARS. Some companies asked employees returning from Southeast Asia to not come to work temporarily, to rest a little while before coming back to work.

At the New York branch of a Chinese bank, Vice President Ho wing-hu said that SARS is more severe and the company in New York is watching the development closely and setting up rules. However, the company does not force employees returning from Southeast Asia to take a day off. Anyway the bank will pay more attention to the health of employees.