Comments on: Swine Flu Guanajuato Update

By: patricia

patricia — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:27:23 +0000

Hi,

Great, normalized update on the flu. I am a high school teacher in Minneapolis, MN. I am thinking of renting a house in Guanajuato for two weeks in August with my 11 and 17 year old boys. I am thinking that this should all blow over by then, but your blog will be a great place to get reality checks.

Thanks!
Patricia

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:58:20 +0000

Thanks Judith. Feeling in touch with friends through the internet has really helped in the past week. With luck the worst is over but in the meantime, I really appreciate the concern. Enjoy the Italian spring!

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:56:33 +0000

He should be just fine but it must be really hard to keep telling yourself that. And son’s can be the worst communicators, can’t they?

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:55:21 +0000

Thanks Mariana. Some encouraging statistics on a downward trend in admissions. Trends are what we want. If this continues perhaps the economic impact won’t be too bad. Local tourism should recover quickly. International tourism is another matter.

By: SAST Wingees | Why American kids don’t take up science & technology careers?

Fri, 01 May 2009 11:42:55 +0000

[...] my food anthropology blog friends, lives and blogs from Mexico. She has some great updates on the Swine Flu epidemic. Bob Sutton paraphrases Scott Berkun to explain how managers become a**holes. How Apple Cofounder [...]

By: Judith Klinger, Aroma Cucina

Judith Klinger, Aroma Cucina — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:14:35 +0000

Just checking in with you, and happy to see you are healthy and carrying on as best as possible. I’m not sure this is what people have in mind when they talk about a ’small world’, but it gets smaller and more intimate everyday.
Sending you good wishes to get through this crisis.
Judith

By: Elaine

Elaine — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:18:59 +0000

Thanks for the on the ground insight in beautiful Guanajauto during this current crisis. My son is studying abroad and I get more info from you than him. I’m also trying not to get the hyped US news media freak me about about his safety.

By: Mariana Kavroulaki

Mariana Kavroulaki — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:02:29 +0000

Rachel, You are giving a much needed clear perspective… thank you.
Personally, I am thinking about those getting the swine flu, but I’m mostly depressed about people who depend on tourism and trade.
Let’s hope that the current swine flu will progress in a similar fashion with SARS and the effects on the Mexican economy will be temporary (though significant, I’ m afraid, in the near term).
Take care..

By: L Peat O'Neil

L Peat O'Neil — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:39:25 +0000

Informative news from on the ground in Mexico. Really appreciate knowing how everybody is handling this not- quite-an-epidemic.

By: Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:00:20 +0000

I agree, Rachel. Another good article from Junkfood Science.

I was surprised that she says however, in relation to the US health care system that:

“There’s a reason our healthcare is seen as the best in the world and our neighbors from Mexico come here for care.”

When I worked at the Mexican National Institute for Public Health, there was were many measures to indicate that the US health care system was not the best in the world, especially in terms of social justice, and money spent in relation to results obtained – and also in terms of the overall health of the population using measures like longevity.

Although it is somewhat exaggerated in parts, Michael Moore’s film on the US health system ‘Sicko’ is an indictment of the US health care provision.