44 deaths, a WHO travel advisory, and 500,000 people at one concert
The 2003 SARS Outbreak in Toronto
Toronto had the largest SARS outbreak outside Asia in 2003 — serious enough that the World Health Organization briefly advised against travel to the city, and serious enough that its recovery needed the largest ticketed concert in Canadian history.
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In early 2003, Toronto became the site of the largest outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) anywhere outside Asia — a public health crisis serious enough to draw a rare World Health Organization travel advisory against an entire major Western city.
How it started
The outbreak in Toronto began in late February 2003, traced to 78-year-old Sui-Chu Kwan, who had recently returned from Hong Kong and died of the virus in her Toronto home. Her son died of SARS at Scarborough Grace Hospital roughly a week later, and the virus spread from there, largely within hospital settings, over the following months.
The toll and the WHO advisory
By the time the outbreak was declared over, 44 people had died in Toronto and 225 were diagnosed with SARS under Health Canada's criteria. On April 23, 2003, the World Health Organization issued a formal advisory against travel to Toronto — withdrawn six days later, but not before it triggered a wave of conference and event cancellations and cost the city's tourism industry an estimated $190 million.
The largest ticketed concert in Canadian history
Toronto's recovery got an unusual boost: on July 30, 2003, Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto — better known as SARSstock or SARSfest — brought the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, The Guess Who and others to Downsview Park, drawing an estimated 450,000 to 500,000 people, the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history. The idea, floated by then-Toronto MP Dennis Mills and promoter Michael Cohl, was a deliberate attempt to signal to the world that the city was open again.
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Sources
- CDC — Update: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — Toronto, Canada, 2003
- Global News — SARS Timeline: From Outbreak to Relief Concert
- The Globe and Mail — Remembering SARSfest, the Concert That Revived Toronto, 20 Years Later