así es….de mi punto de vista, pues

I went to the closest large grocery store this afternoon, taking the quite full metro to get there.  When I arrived, it seemed that people had gotten over their fear of the flu as the store was full to its normal capacity.  There were a few changes: quite a number of people were wearing face masks (people have gotten creative and drawn different types of mouths on the masks….moustaches, beards, dogs, etc) and they were handing out plastic gloves to all the shoppers entering.  The kind of plastic gloves that are always oversized that people in food service use so their bare hands won’t touch the food.

I also went to the post office this afternoon and the post office ladies (they weren’t busy and I’ve made some embarrassing gaffes there before, so they know me) wanted to know why I wasn’t wearing a mask.  I told them I wasn’t scared of getting the flu and I wash my hands frequently.  They agreed that the masks were annoying (one woman pulled hers off as soon as her boss walked away and told me she hated wearing it cause they make you sweat so much), but they were required to wear them because of all the people that came in and out.

It feels kind of blown out of proportion.  I probably feel like that because I don’t know anyone who has gotten sick and it still feels rather removed (despite it being all over the news and I can’t really do anything in this enormous, amazing city because everything’s closed).  I figure as long as I wash my hands after being out and about and get enough rest, I’ll probably be fine.  There’s only been eight confirmed deaths (seven in Mexico, one in the US).  Granted, there’s still a number of deaths that are being investigated here in Mexico, but most people who have become sick have gotten better.  The vast majority have recovered (or are recovering) and we haven’t (or, at least, the international news hasn’t) known about this disease for even a week.

I’m glad to know that the world is much better prepared for a pandemic (per the WHO’s director-general’s statements), but I’m not convinced that this is the next Spanish Flu of 1918.  Maybe I’ll be  proved wrong.  I hope not.  But I think there’s a lot more health issues in the world that we should probably pay more attention to that affect millions of people everyday.  HIV/AIDS leaps to mind.  I know that if this is a pandemic, than all these precautions will be very well served and many lives will be saved.  I’m just skeptical.

Today’s front page headlines in the paper, La Jornada: The 35 thousand restaurants in the capital have been closed [until May 5th].  There have been 22 deaths in the capital and 12 in the state of San Luis Potosi; there are 150 suspected cases in 8 states.  The price of pork has fallen by 80%.  Classes have been canceled in the entire country [not just in the capital, whose classes have been canceled since last Friday].  The dead number 149 [as of this morning when the paper was published].

The government is taking this very seriously which I find both helpful and alarming.  I’m not particularly scared at this point.  There are a lot of people sick and quite a number of people have died, but we’re also talking about a city of 24 million people.  That’s a larger population than many countries.  And this is just in one city.  

The front page photo was of lines of people with overfilled grocery carts in a warehouse style grocery store.  People are stocking up in case movement is limited within the country in the near future.  There is also a photo of two people kissing with masks on.  I suppose it makes it a safe kiss although I can’t imagine it’s a very satisfying kiss.  I have noticed less PDA in general in public…one of the benefits of this flu scare.  I imagine that the people that make the masks are also making a killing.

There were two deaths blamed on the earthquake yesterday, though both deaths were caused by heart attacks.  

I went on the metro this morning (sorry Mom) and it is still being used.  Less than normal, but it was still fairly full.  The paper this morning said that the director of the Metro system here in DF has not discarded the possibility of a partial or full suspension of the service.  If that were to happen, I think it would pretty effectively shut the city down.  I wonder how this is affecting the millions of people who depend on their day-to-day incomes to eat and put a roof over their heads.  I imagine that a lot of those people are the ones who work in restaurants and in public spaces.

I am now living in Mexico City (I moved up here from Olinalá on Thursday) and seeing as I am now apparently in the middle of an international health crisis, I felt I should end my silence on this site. I am currently in good health with no apparent flu symptoms.  As far as I know the rest of MCC team Mexico is also in good health.  Everyone is being advised to be cautious and wash hands and such things.

I went to the store on Saturday and there were very few people about in comparison to the numbers that are usually packed onto the metro. Quite a number of people are wearing masks, as seen in any of the photos of Mexico on international news sites right now.  Every news site I checked this morning (except for ESPN) had the flu as one of their top stories.  So there´s lots of information out about what´s currently going on, though experts don´t actually know much about the actual flu bug.

Update:  In addition to this flu scare, we also just had an earthquake.  A minor one (magnitude 5.6), seeing as I still have internet access and nothing fell off shelves, but an earthquake nonetheless.  One of the rolling kinds that makes you a tad bit nauseous.

Update reply to Kelsey´s inquiry: I took the metro this afternoon at around 3:30ish.  I haven´t been out in the last couple hours to see if it´s still going.  And it is true that no one was allowed to see soccer games.  There were photos in this morning´s paper of games being played with the stands completely empty.  Also, interestingly, according to this BBC map (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8021547.stm ) there are more confirmed cases in the US (40) than in Mexico right now (20).  Although more than 100 cases are being investigated in Mexico at the moment.

Reply to Pat´s inquiry: I´ll be in Mexico City for the next few months, working in the office here until sometime in July or August.