As the City Shuts Down

This afternoon people around La Condesa were
out playing with their kids, no masks on,
as if they hadn't heard the news.
But a general eeriness in the city prevailed.

El Universal is reporting total deaths has reached 103 and the number of people hospitalized 1,614. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City suspended visa appointments. Restaurants with a 50 person-plus capacity have been shuttered, and all others are closing doors at 6 p.m. until at least May 4. People are lining up at the grocery store, preparing for days home from work and school. This afternoon a football match was played to empty seats. And self-proclaimed doctors were leaving unsettling comments on the BBC's website:

I'm a specialist doctor in respiratory diseases and intensive care at the Mexican National Institute of Health. There is a severe emergency over the swine flu here. More and more patients are being admitted to the intensive care unit. Despite the heroic efforts of all staff (doctors, nurses, specialists, etc) patients continue to inevitably die. The truth is that anti-viral treatments and vaccines are not expected to have any effect, even at high doses. It is a great fear among the staff. The infection risk is very high among the doctors and health staff.

There is a sense of chaos in the other hospitals and we do not know what to do. Staff are starting to leave and many are opting to retire or apply for holidays. The truth is that mortality is even higher than what is being reported by the authorities, at least in the hospital where I work it. It is killing three to four patients daily, and it has been going on for more than three weeks. It is a shame and there is great fear here. Increasingly younger patients aged 20 to 30 years are dying before our helpless eyes and there is great sadness among health professionals here.

And yet it's too early to tell how this will all turn out. For now, expecting Monday morning to have a whole new look.