Stress confuses short-term memory, psychologists tell us.
This may explain why top health officials, who have been Sars-stressed for the past three months, have kept getting the names of their deceased colleagues wrong.
Last week, Director of Health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun sent a wreath to the funeral of Tang Heung-may, the hospital worker who died of Sars, but mistakenly wrote 'Cheng Heung-may'.
An incident this week was even more alarming. On Monday, Hospital Authority (HA) senior executive manager Liu Shao-haei (above) started his daily Sars update by announcing the death of Beatrice Cheng Shun-yan (below), the Oriental Daily News reported.
'Today, with the deepest sadness, I announce that our colleague Cheng Shun-yan has departed,' he reportedly told a group of startled reporters.
Beatrice Cheng, who is also an HA senior manager and is popular with the Chinese press, is Dr Liu's stand-in at these daily Sars briefings whenever he is away. I am happy to report she is alive and well.