WILD

The swine flu

As you all have probably seen on the news, Mexico is suffering a swine flu outbreak. The Mexican government is approaching this issue with remarkable efficiency: bars and restaurants have been temporarily closed; public transport has been suspended, massive events have been cancelled, etc.

This certainly is a very important issue that needs to be adressed properly to avoid further casualties. However, fear has taken over the city, and the expression of this fear has become interesting.

Yesterday, Mexico City experienced an earthquake (over 6 degrees) and people in facebook, messenger and other social networks started qualifying this as “the end of the world”, “now what?”, “someone’s sending a message”, etc. and there is even a joke that goes: What did Mexico say to the swine flu? Look now I’m shaking!, someone even told me that the “Cumbia de la Influenza” is now on the radio…

Everybody is wearing masks on the streets, and some pharmacies have ran out of them; people are even reluctant to greet kissing on the cheek (like we do here), or shaking hands, and the slightest cough has sent dozens of paranoiacs to the hospital.

Yesterday, hordes of people rushed to the supermarkets for panic-shopping, and ANTAD (one of WILD9′s partners) had to issue a press release affirming that supplies are granted in the entire City.

However interesting these reactions, people have failed to see that in a city of nearly 20 million people ‘only’ 89 people are infected ( I say ‘only’ because every single case is a personal tragedy and not one single person should get such a disease). In Mexico City, more than 200 persons die from car accidents every year.

What I’m trying to say is that the swine flu outbreak is not as bad as it looks on the media, and it is a far more interesting story than the current economic crisis.

Actually, the single possible case of swine flu in Yucatan, is that of a French tourist, who is being observed at a local hospital along with other 21 tourists who were on his same bus, and the driver. The real worry in Yucatan is the downfall of the prices of the chochinita pibil (the most delicious Yucatecan pork dish), and the losses of the pork producers.

The Secretariat’s activities are running smooth, and we are all just fine. Panic feeds itself, and the fear of death or disease takes out the most particular reactions from all of us, impeding us from seeing other more important problems of our daily lives.

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