Dear Editor,

I am in Mexico where the swine flu is not as serious a threat to the country’s large population as reported a week ago in the international media. Although I was advised by NY colleagues and others not to go to Mexico and in spite of advice from the US government not to undertake non-essential trips to Mexico where the swine flu apparently broke out, I defied the advice and came to Mexico to experience first hand what life is like there. The country is suffering badly financially with thousands losing their jobs in the tourist sector.

I have been confined mostly to the resort city of Cancún where there isn’t one reported case of flu.  People are going about their business normally.  However, much of the city is like a ghost town with very little business activity.  Clubs, restaurants, cinemas, historic sites, etc, are closed to prevent an outbreak of the flu.

Most of the hotels are only about a third filled and several are closed because of the cancellation of bookings. When I flew down from NY, there were only 22 passengers on the aircraft. I was told other flights had even fewer passengers. Almost all the flights into Mexico, exceeding two hundred a day from the US alone, are running almost empty and going out  full.

The Mexican government has been health conscious. When passengers come out of customs, their temperature is checked and if anyone shows signs of the flu, they are quarantined.  No one showed any signs of fever for the period of time I observed the medical staff.  The Tourist Department has distributed handouts advising people how to detect flu and what to do if one shows signs of it  According to government reports, the threat of the flu is receding.  The number of people who came down with the flu in the country is about 400 with Mexico City alone accounting for almost 300 (out of a population estimated at 28 millions It is far from being an epidemic of the proportions the international media  estimated. There are isolated cases in major cities but virtually none or a few  cases in the resort cities. There have been some deaths related to the flu among young and old people, but not the numbers that the American media had projected.

However, schools throughout the country are closed and in Mexico City, the number of people who ride the subway has declined. Mexico City’s subway is the most crowded I have ever ridden, which is not surprising given the city’s huge population. As I travelled around, people are seething with anger blaming the government for overreacting and taking measures which were too extreme to contain the flu when it had not even quite broken out, and had not  posed as serious a threat to life as originally thought.  Under pressure, the government is easing  restrictions on public gatherings.

Although it is widely felt that the  government overreacted to the flu, I think the government ought to be applauded  for its honesty and quick reaction to prevent its spread.  But it has cost the nation dearly in terms of loss of revenue totalling many billions of dollars so far. And now the Chinese and Hong Kong governments have quarantined Mexicans who don’t even show signs of the flu, exacerbating Mexican anger against President Felipe Calderón. Politically, President Calderón’s PAN party will be humiliated in Congressional elections scheduled for July 5 because of the way he handled the swine flu.

Yours  faithfully,
Vishnu  Bisram