Some members in the University community are feeling the effects of a moratorium the University placed on travel to Asia yesterday as a precaution against the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
The University's most notable enterprise in the area, Princeton-in-Asia, has been affected only slightly.
"We are only affiliated with the University, so we are independent of the University for the most part in terms of decision-making," said Princeton-in-Asia program director Ginny Parker. "[The moratorium] will only affect us if someone applies for funding from the University."
Princeton-in-Asia sponsors two types of internships, one a year long, for postgraduates from schools around the country, and another featuring summer internships for current Princeton students.
This year, three Princeton students plan on participating in the summer program in China — Jennifer Brea '04, Sally Torbert '05 and Austin Starkweather '04. who is Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Princetonian.
"Students are apprehensive — a lot of people have been talking about this, and so yes, I am a little worried," said Brea in an email. "But my desire to go to China this summer far outweighs the health risk. There's always risk."
She said people have also felt the effects of S.A.R.S. in places as close as New York City and Toronto.
"I don't know that staying here is necessarily so much safer. That said, I wouldn't go to Hong Kong right now," Brea said in an email.
Currently, Princeton-in-Asia is maintaining close contact with its interns in the field, Park said. Though some schools in which the interns teach have been closed, almost all are remaining in the country.
However, one intern remains in Guangdong Province, China, one of the "hot spots" of the outbreak, Parker said. Princeton-in-Asia has asked that intern to come home.
The University moratorium came on the heels of a State Department travel warning issued earlier yesterday that recommended all nonessential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the Consulates-General in Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenyang, Guangzhou and Hong Kong return to the United States to avoid the continued outbreak of SARS.
"If [the State Department is] saying what they are saying now in June, we will tell people they can't go," said Parker. "Honestly, though, I think that won't happen. I think they'll be going."
The first known case of S.A.R.S. originated in Hanoi, Vietnam on Feb. 26. Symptoms of the illness include fever, chills, headaches and a dry cough. The CDC and WHO have not yet determined an effective way to treat the disease.
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