Flu update: 3-May. “Stabilization Phase”
Jonathan Clark writes in this morning’s The [Mexico City] News:
Officials continued to offer an improving picture of Mexico´s swine flu epidemic on Saturday, taking some of the urgency away from an earlier call for citizens to stay home and businesses to close through Tuesday.
On a day that began with Health Secretary José Angel Córdova announcing no new flu-related deaths confirmed overnight and Mexico City officials reporting no deaths for a second straight day, some citizens and business owners felt confident enough to ignore the nationwide shutdown.
“I was afraid a few days ago, but now I know it´s under control,” said Jenny Chagoya, who opened her manicure shop in the Colonia Narvarte on Saturday – in part because she needed the business, and in part, she said, “to keep from getting completely bored.”
But while Córdova said the nation had entered a “stabilization phase,” he also cautioned against complacency, saying that “it would be hasty to say that we have passed the trickiest moments” of the outbreak.
International health officials agreed, saying the virus could still mount a comeback here.
The joke going around Mexico City right now is that boredom is killing more people than the flu ever could. People are returning to the streets. Here in Mazatlan, where restaurants are allowed to remain open because of the huge number of tourists — and, yes, they’re still coming, in about the same number they normally do in the off season — but have to close at 11 p.m. as if the flu vampires only rise at midnight, I guess), the people who were wearning face masks, like bus drivers, have started to “forget” them. And, we’ve been staying open on the theory that reading and buying books is essential… to stave off boredom if you are going to be stuck at home after 11.
Previous posts tagged “Swine Flu”:
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