More from Cancun
I had mentioned
a person from Everson, WA returning with some kind of flu-like illness.
It seems that things are afoot there -- from
A Canuck in Cancun:
Swine Flu Cancun- More Bad News for Travelers
I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here I go. The government of Quintana Roo has ordered facilities with occupancy of greater than 80 people to close. This includes bars, nightclubs and restaurants in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and the Riviera Maya. Mayor of Cancun Greg Sanchez vaguely told the press that some hotels have been ordered closed, but refused to name them, only saying that they were in the Riviera Maya. Authorities are also preparing for a mass exodus (note this does not say "evacuation", read the linked source, they are just preparing for a lot of people to leave) of around 40 000 tourists on Friday and Saturday, virtually clearing the area of visitors. All archaelogic zones in the country have shut down, this includes the Mayan ruins in the area of Cancun. Eco parks at the moment are still open, but I suspect they may be ordered closed as well.
The Cancun airport is the first in Mexico to install 50 new heat thermometers to detect passengers with elevated fevers. The thermometers are set to be put into use tomorrow for both departing and arriving travelers. Cancun and Quintana Roo have yet to officially report a confirmed case of swine flu, maintaining that there are zero infected people in the state. And that's it for the good news.
It is imperative to remember that the U.S.A. averages about
200,000 hospitalizations due to plain old garden variety Influenza and
36,000 deaths.
The Swine Flu has been in the news for about two weeks with one fatality.
Given a uniform distribution of Influenza deaths, there would have been about 1,380 deaths during that same two weeks.
The concern is that this is a different version of Influenza for which there are no vaccines at present.
Posted by DaveH at April 30, 2009 1:59 PM