John Pomfret writes how A Mistrust of Government Undercuts China's Effort:

Government officials, who initially covered up the severity of the epidemic, are now struggling to gain the trust needed to effectively implement measures to fight the disease. Faced with a government they think has routinely lied to them, Chinese are now being told by Premier Wen Jiabao, "We are all in the same boat." But for many people, such declarations don't inspire confidence.

...the government is trying to recover from a series of admissions that officials had covered up the extent of the disease in Beijing and around the country.

"The fundamental problem here is that people don't have faith in the government," said Kang Xiaoguang, a leading social scientist.

..."The government has said the people are panicking because they don't understand SARS, but that's wrong," said Kang, the social scientist. "They are panicking because they don't know who to rely on. The migrant workers in Beijing are afraid that if they are quarantined they won't get treated, just left there to get sick and die. Their flight is actually a rational response."