Re: [Debconf-team] what about the swine flu ??
Sebastian Montini dijo [Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 11:13:29AM -0300]:
> today i was updating info in penta (flight numbers,etc) and a friend
> ask me about that.... how serious is the situation regarding swine flu
> in .es ??
> are they planning to close the borders or take any action against
> people traveling from America?
> it's kind of a delicate matter, AFAIK there's no vaccine yet...so?
> i would love to hear some of your thoughts since i'm having some
> trouble to convincing my girlfriend that everything is ok.
Greetings from the eye of the hurricane!
As of today, by far most of the infections have been found in Mexico
(~2000 cases, many of which have not yet been tipified to this
specific virus strain, but are probable, followed by the USA with ~90
cases). In Mexico we have had ~150 deaths, and only one in the USA
(and none in other countries). However, the virus is spreading
fast. In Spain there are over 10 cases (all of the confirmed ones in
Catalunya, Eastern Spain - DebConf will take place next to the Western
border).
However, don't take those numbers for granted as anything showing what
is yet to come. Today, the World Health Organization heightened the
pandemic alert to 5 (on the 1-6 scale): There are human to human
infections in more than one country, and a pandemic is imminent. So,
even though (so far) two countries have suspended all their direct
flights to Mexico (Cuba and Argentina), that is unlikely to have any
real effect - There are confirmed cases (quoting from memory) in the
UK, Austria, France, Spain, Austraila, New Zealand, Israel... And
unconfirmed cases in many more countries [1].
What will happen over two months from today? Imposible to
forsee. Ruling out that we will all be dead, however, I don't think
there will be much point in not planning a trip to Spain - By then,
this will very probably have become a pandemia. However, on the bright
side, in the countries getting new cases today, better awareness is
reached fast - and that's probably the reason why only one person
outside Mexico has died by now.
So... keep it cool. No stinkin' no-fly alert will keep me away from
DebConf. Don't let it happen to you! :)
[1] http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5
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Gunnar Wolf - gwolf@gwolf.org - (+52-55)5623-0154 / 1451-2244
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