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Sensationalism at its finest!
The wires, papers, and screens are flooded with the latest headlines stating the number of sick and dying or already dead of the Swine Flu! Airports are closed; people are altering or cancelling vacation plans. Mexico might as well be under quarantine! Cruise ships have changed courses, and there isn’t a surgical mask to be found anywhere here in Puerto Vallarta. Some reports state that over 100 people are dead and thousands more ill. This is grossly exaggerated. WHO reports, released daily, states that “Mexico has reported 506 confirmed human cases of infection, including 19 deaths. The higher number of cases from Mexico in the past 48 hours reflects ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. The United States Government has reported 160 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death.” And “The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (70), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (1), France (2), Germany (6), Ireland (1), Israel (3), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), Republic of Korea (1), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (15).”
Admittedly officials have taken quick and seemingly drastic measures within Mexico to curtain this. There are no large gatherings of people allowed, all areas were people congregate such as restaurants and bars are either closed or have limited open hours. Airports and bus stations have health workers doing visual screenings of all passengers. It makes sense, in a time when people move around the globe daily, we could very easily be facing another SARS or Avian flu. Better safe than sorry. Every time you turn around there seems to be a health official ready to cram a thermometer down your throat, in your ear or any other place that temperature can be taken. I am almost afraid to go out, if I have a hot flash near one of these guys I may be hauled off to the nearest hospital lickety split.
However the ‘hype’ that has gone along with this is un-necessary. The repercussions will be felt here for months. Airlines cancelling flights to Mexico, rerouting cruise ships, this imposed sanction seems a bit drastic, not to mention the other ramifications of such an action? Let’s face it people… your freedom of choice has been removed. Even if you chose to ‘take the risk’ and come to Mexico (most likely to an area where there has been not a single case of swine flu) you can’t - because the airlines won’t bring you here and the cruise ships won’t stop here. Who are they to decide if my travel plans are necessary? I wonder if the cruise lines still plan to stop in Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego, where there are confirmed cases of Swine flu. If such is the case, then this is the epitome of hypocrisy!
The fallout from these actions will be, and already is wide spread. Mexico has basically ‘shut down’ until May 6th. Restaurants, and bars are almost all shut, all festivities have been canceled or postponed. Not only are hotels, airlines, and directly tourist related places suffering from lost revenue, almost the entire population of these cities and neighboring towns is. But that is an entire other post!
