The momentary scare that the H1N1 virus caused was unbelievable. The images that made the front page of every newspaper and ridiculous statistical predictions of how the virus would spread globally were fuel for the widespread panic. Students in my group were receiving phone calls from home with detailed instructions for any and all scenarios, none of which were likely. It reminded me of the family meetings people have in Florida when there is a hurricane or tropical storm approaching. Should the kids stay at school? Should I pick them up or should you? Should we evacuate? All viable questions when there is a hurricane approaching, but flu plans? Never heard of it.
After the initial bout of sensational journalism, the media is now jumping on the fact that the World Health Organization may not have been justified in raising the alert that it did, and that that may have been the cause of the irrational fear that has resulted in discrimination. Some measures allegedly taken to avoid the spread of the virus are now being called xenophobic, like the quarantine of dozens of Mexican travelers in China when there was only one confirmed case of the virus. Pigs are also being discriminated against. Egypt made a decision early on to slaughter all of the pigs in the country to avoid a flu outbreak even though there wasn’t even one confirmed case in the entire country.
They say that more people die from the regular strains of the flu virus every year than have died from the H1N1 virus. So how did this cause so much panic? How did it shut down an entire country and turn innocent piggies into victims of unjustified persecution? One thing I can say for Spain, when faced with the danger of swine flu, the media hubbub did not stop the consumption of pork as usual.
After the initial bout of sensational journalism, the media is now jumping on the fact that the World Health Organization may not have been justified in raising the alert that it did, and that that may have been the cause of the irrational fear that has resulted in discrimination. Some measures allegedly taken to avoid the spread of the virus are now being called xenophobic, like the quarantine of dozens of Mexican travelers in China when there was only one confirmed case of the virus. Pigs are also being discriminated against. Egypt made a decision early on to slaughter all of the pigs in the country to avoid a flu outbreak even though there wasn’t even one confirmed case in the entire country.
They say that more people die from the regular strains of the flu virus every year than have died from the H1N1 virus. So how did this cause so much panic? How did it shut down an entire country and turn innocent piggies into victims of unjustified persecution? One thing I can say for Spain, when faced with the danger of swine flu, the media hubbub did not stop the consumption of pork as usual.
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