Sunday, April 26, 2009

Scenes from an Epidemic II


Video on spread of infectious diseases via Dot Earth

Woke up late this morning to more news of the apocalypse. Five more people in Mexico are dead. The total is now 81, with more sick "young adults" turning up all the time. Spain and New Zealand have joined the register of possible cases. Hong Kong has issued a travel advisory against Mexico, which other countries will probably follow. And the United States has declared a public health emergency. Strangely, the only people dying from this are Mexicans. Is that from incompetent care, or proximity to the source of the outbreak? Nobody knows. Or they're just not saying.

In the meantime, Mexico City in its infinite wisdom is still planning to continue its water conservation program next weekend and shut off valves that service large parts of the city. (This seems so insane I'm sure it won't actually happen.) The federal government has granted itself broad new powers to search homes and quarantine at will. And pretty much everyone I know is staying indoors.

More on this later.

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