First of all, the date: Monday 27th April 2009
Yes, this is not the ususal way to start an entry here, but this time the date is important. I want to tell some of my experiences and impressions as a dweller of one of the cities under sanitary emergency due to the outbreak of swine flu: Mexico City, my Gomorrah.
The emergency started on Friday 24th April, when the health ministry ordered the suspension of all activities in schools. I have to say that this is the first time in like 20 years that this measure has to be implemented due to public health issues. The first (and only) time I remember a measure like this was taken by the government was when I was more or less 9 years old, and it was due to high air pollution in Mexico City.
As long as I remember, this is not either the first time Mexico City deals with an epidemic threat. I also remember that at the beginning of this same decade, another influenza virus was trying to be controlled by sanitary institutions in Mexico, but the academic activity went on. In fact, very few people were even aware of the risk. And when the avian flu risk was latent, the government only saw fit to loosely control the international airport.
These facts should tell something about the magnitude of the problem we're dealing with.
Now, the media has been informing of figures which really are not consistent with the level of the preventive measures taken by the government and with the level of concern showed by other countries and international organizations such as the WHO and the World Bank. This has also led to all kinds of rumours going through the grapevine and the Internet. For example, on Friday, a fellow lawyer told me that his brother, who works in the Federal Helth Ministry, told him that two hospitals in Mexico City have been quarantined for two weeks, and that doctors, nurses and patients have been dying of pneumonia, amounting to more than 200 in only one hospital. Flutrackers and BBc have similar stories in their sites. These versions have not been circulating in the formal media, and the government has not made an official statement about the veracity of these declarations. Likewise, my friend said that this week, the tribunals would suspend activities: hearings, reception of documents, etc., which actually became true, at least for local tribunals (Federal tribunals also have their sit at Mexico City, these ones have not cancelled activities yet).
It is also to be noted that the little official information that has been released is quite contradictory. I can tell you with all certainty that Mexico citizens do not know for sure how preventive measures work, or how to avoid infection. Some physicians say that the masks will prevent acquiring the flu, while others say that it won't stop the virus from entering your body, but that it is an effective measure to not infect other people if you're sick. Until yesterday, the number of possible cases, infected people and deaths was not clear. At 7:00 pm, a physician said that the nunber of patients that had been treated in hospitals due to the flu was diminishing, but just mere hours before that interview, the Health Minister had announced that the number of deaths and patients had risen. It is said that the most vulnerable portion of the population are heathy young adults (from 25 to 45 years), yet the authorities seem unwilling to suspend labour and public transport.
In view of all these facts, am I scared? Yes, I am. But what scares me more is the lack of consistency in the information and the measures taken to contain this virus. Mexico authorities have a rep for lying and hidding information from all of us, so we have learned to not take everything we are told at face value.
This morning, the city's streets were not as crowded as other days. There was like 60% less traffic than on a normal day. Not even on summer or Christmas Holydays the streets look so deserted.
So this is it. This is life in Gomorrah during the flu outbreak. I thought that anything could happen to us, but not something like this. Today, I woke to the news that international press is starting to call this virus the 'Mexican Flu'. Presenters and the few people on the streets are quite angry at this. But honestly, we are the first ones to make fun of other countries when they have problems. When the avian flu stroke Asia, I remember friends making jokes at the expense of Asians. And now we feel crossed because of the toponym used by the press. It's the same for me, I just want this nightmare to stop.