Saturday, August 1, 2009
Swine Flu Outbreak
Swine flu, as everyone should know by now, originated from Mexico. Funny that the Mexican government protested when someone suggested naming the disease Mexican Flu, but I digress.
In the dawn of the outbreak of the flu, Mexican authorities closed down public facilities and cancelled all public gathering places in certain states, gave out masks, and did its best to contain the virus. But apparently, swine flu was spreading too fast. They cannot do squat about it. These measures were implemented far too late for them to be effective.
Other countries knew about it and attempted to stop the virus from spreading into their country, hence stepping up measures and implementing health screenings at airport checkpoints. Many countries such as China has suspended flights to Mexico, and Hong Kong tried to contain the outbreak via quarantine orders and contact-tracing. There are also several countries that banned imports of pork or pork-related food products. However, some of these measures have caused dissatisfaction in Mexico who feels that their citizens are being discriminated against.
Eventually, the swine flu virus still managed to spread into these countries. However, this does not mean that the measures implemented are not effective. We have to understand that the measures cannot shield their countries from the virus forever. A loophole will eventually appear, and that is all it takes to create havoc. In addition, we have to keep in mind that countries such as the United States have too large an area for the authorities to implement measures and track down potential victims. What we should access is the amount of time that the countries managed to keep the virus away from them, and how they attempt to contain the outbreak. In light of this, I would say that the measures of some countries are rather effective, especially in the case of Hong Kong. From what I have read in the news, I can see that the Hong Kong authorities have been trying their very best in implementing measures such as contact-tracing and quarantine orders which proved to be very effective.
To conclude, I feel that the countries have implemented effective measures. However, the constraints that they face have hindered their effectiveness a tad.
