Bloomberg (April 25, 2009)
"Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared an emergency in his country’s swine flu outbreak, giving him powers to order quarantines and suspend public events.
"Authorities have canceled school at all levels in Mexico City and the state of Mexico until further notice, and the government has shut most public and government activities in the area. The emergency decree, published today in the state gazette, gives the president authority to take more action.
" 'The federal government under my charge will not hesitate a moment to take all, all the measures necessary to respond with efficiency and opportunity to this respiratory epidemic,' Calderon said today during a speech to inaugurate a hospital in the southern state of Oaxaca...."
I can see why Mexico's government is taking this seriously. They saw the first case April 13. Then, the day after America's President Obabma met archeologist Felipe Solis at a Mexico City museum, Solis dropped dead. Whatever killed him acted like swine flu, according to the Reforma news paper (Bloomberg)
Soccer Games in an Empty Stadium? That IS Serious!
Two professional soccer games scheduled for tomorrow will go on as planned - but there won't be any fans in the stadium. (Bloomberg, CNN) I've gotten the impression that Mexican soccer fans are enthusiastic about their games - so a government ban of live spectators is something I don't think would be done for trivial reasons.List of posts relating to swine flu:
Update (April 29, 2009)
"Mexico City locks itself in amid swine flu fears"
The Associated Press (April 27, 2009)
"MEXICO CITY (AP) — The cardinal said Mass in a shuttered cathedral. Soccer teams played to empty stadiums. A televised variety show filled its seats with cardboard cutouts...."
"...Mexico City residents - chilangos, they're called - are accustomed to living in public view...."
"...But on Sunday even the enormous Zocalo plaza,...was all but empty. A handful of women wearing surgical masks knelt on the plaza's stones and prayed, their arms reaching upward in a lonely vigil.
"Soldiers in surgical masks shooed away the faithful at the cathedral, pointing to a board with pieces of paper.
" 'There are no baptisms,' one read.
" 'No confirmations,' read another.
" 'No Masses,' said a third.
" 'Inside, Cardinal Norberto Rivera delivered a sermon to nearly empty pews, his pleas for divine intervention relayed over television and radio.
" ' 'Grant us the prudence and serenity to act with responsibility and to avoid being infected or to infect others,' he appealed to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. 'Give help to health workers, keep vigil for the recovery of the sick and console those in mourning.'
" 'For the first time in 300 years, the cathedral also removed from storage an icon of the Lord of Health, which was placed on the principal altar by a procession of worshippers, Mexico's government news agency Notimex reported...."
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