Avoid Catching Hate - Wash Your Hands and Don't Blame

Michael Savage is a savage.  How can anyone tolerate a radio broadcaster who says a group of people are used for "germ warfare?"  As for hate monger Jay Severin, it is a good thing that his employer, WTKK Radio suspended him for saying that a certain group is the "lowest of primitives?" 

The idea that people with dark skin should be quarantined is crazy - that means most of the whole world! Wake up people, those with "white" skin are a very small minority of the global population.  Are we wanting to make the world like the old South Africa?

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Globe editorial

The Boston Globe

Panic and hate can be viral, too

May 2, 2009

ANOTHER DANGEROUS contagion is accompanying swine flu as it makes its way through the country: the spread of ugly invective aimed at Mexicans, and xenophobia more generally about the outside world. Calls to close the border with Mexico, kill massive herds of pigs, halt international trade, or quarantine people with dark skin are not supported by science and should be called out for what they are: paranoia.

On Thursday, talk-show host Jay Severin was suspended by WTKK Radio for referring to Mexicans as "the world's lowest of primitives" and other, more juvenile slurs. He is hardly unique in this strain of bluster. Nationally syndicated talk-show host Michael Savage speculated that Mexicans could be human weapons of germ warfare, set loose into America by our terrorist enemies. A Houston city councilor blasted a local hospital for even admitting the little boy who died from the virus - the only confirmed death so far in the United States - because he was visiting from Mexico.

In Egypt, the government ordered the slaughter of some 300,000 pigs, inflaming tensions between the Muslim government and the Christian minority that includes almost all the pig farmers in that volatile country. (Muslims do not eat pork.) This even though the World Health Organization is adamant that the virus is not foodborne and that no one has been infected through contact with pigs.

Closing international borders won't help contain the virus and could hurt, because it can slow down trade in vaccines and goods needed to treat a pandemic. And there's a generalized misunderstanding about scale that inflates the threat of the new strain. In an ordinary year, flu causes about 36,000 deaths in the United States. So far, out of 140 confirmed cases in the United States as of yesterday, the swine flu has caused one.

Naturally, cautions should be taken. In Lowell, the two boys who contracted the flu after visiting Mexico on a family vacation were right to stay home from school, and the Harvard dental school was wise to shut down its clinic and classrooms there while several suspected cases are confirmed.

But there are so many more important things to be concerned about that this new flu scare has brought into relief: the fact that 43 million Americans still don't have a healthcare provider to advise or treat them if symptoms occur, for just one example. Pointing fingers and stoking passions about "others" may satisfy a need for scapegoats. But Americans can do more to stay safe by simply washing their hands.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company. link

Houston City Council Member Must be Thinking about Re-Election

Houston City Council member Toni Lawrence complained that non residents should not be treated at Houston hospitals should they turn up with the flu.  Imagine a 2 year old showing up at an emergency room, having severe flu symptoms and the staff telling the parents, take him somewhere else, he is not from Houston.  That is nuts.

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Immigration debate spreads with virus

By MIKE TOLSON HOUSTON CHRONICLE

April 30, 2009, 10:04PM

Houston City Council member Toni Lawrence on Thursday called on the mayor and county judge to exert control over local hospitals accepting patients from outside the area who are seeking treatment for possible swine flu.

Expanding on comments she made a day earlier in the wake of the nation’s first swine flu-related death, Lawrence said she was not picking on people from Mexico when she said officials should place a priority on the needs of the local community and economy.

When news broke Wednesday that a toddler from Mexico who had died at Texas Children’s Hospital suffered from swine flu, Lawrence expressed indignation that elected officials had not been notified of the child’s presence in Houston. She said Thursday it would not matter to her had the patient been from Oklahoma or Canada: Local officials should be informed and have some say about the hospitals’ procedure for accepting them.

“I want to hear from the mayor and county judge what the plan is for Houston,” Lawrence said Thursday. “… We need to have a plan in place for people coming in. Just to let somebody who controls a hospital entrance individually make those decisions I think is wrong.”

White, Emmett dismiss it

Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett had a simple response to Lawrence: Forget it.

“The last thing we need is politicians deciding medical policy for hospitals and doctors,” Emmett said. “I don’t think we ought to be in the business of telling hospitals who to admit and how to admit and treat them.”

Added White: “Elected officials at all levels of government should permit the medical community and epidemiologists to make decisions and provide treatment in a manner they are trained to do. I don’t envision a day when those brought via medical transport are being cleared by political officials.”

As for Texas Children’s Hospital, its executives want no part of a political dust-up. The hospital will continue to respond to children in need, they say, in a way that minimizes risk of infection.

“We’re focusing on medical assessment and medical need, on children who can’t get the medical treatment they need wherever they are,” said Ann Stern, the hospital’s executive vice president. “We’re pretty passionate about our mission and our commitment to children. We are hoping that mission would be respected.”

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Lawrence pointed out that the child was not a U.S. citizen.

“We have jeopardized the hospital district and possibly conventions,” she said during the meeting. “I know tour boats are not leaving Galveston now because they are not going to Mexico. I’m very concerned council wasn’t told about this. We need to be aware of this and continue to do things for Houston and not for anybody else.”

Some take offense

Her statements rubbed some the wrong way.

“Those comments are misplaced and inappropriate when our focus should be on treating people and stopping the spread of this illness,” said Carol Alvarado, a former council colleague and now a state representative. “We are known all over the world for providing treatment. This issue has never been raised in the history of the Texas Medical Center.”

Immigration advocates are concerned that the spread of swine flu is giving rise to immigrant bashing, vilification of Mexico and repeated calls to close the border.

The National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group, earlier this week denounced those who blame immigrants for swine flu.

“It’s not surprising that some are implying that all immigrants are a threat to our health,” the group’s president, Janet Murguia, said in a prepared statement. “That’s standard fare on the hate group circuit.”

mike.tolson@chron.com  -  link

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April 29, 2009

NAHJ Calls for Truth and Fairness in Swine Flu Coverage

News media should resist baseless blame of immigrants as it covers a possible pandemic

Contact: Iván Román, NAHJ Executive Director, 

(202) 662-7178

 

Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists called on the media on Wednesday to be fair and prudent when covering the spread of swine flu in the U.S. and around the world, and resist the portrayal of Mexican immigrants as scapegoats for the possible pandemic.

The following is a statement from the NAHJ Board of Directors:

“We have come to expect immigrant bashing from the usual suspects – commentators who use purposefully inflammatory rhetoric to seek attention and to suit their agenda. And they haven’t disappointed, now using the swine flu as cause to decry immigration and immigrants. Immigrants, of course, have long been favorite and convenient scapegoats for some for everything from high taxes to infectious diseases. Facts haven’t much mattered.

But we trust that credible journalists will cover what is undeniably a big national story with more fairness and accuracy than we are hearing from these talking heads. We would ask that these stories be written as if facts did matter. Because they do.

The temptation even in more credible media, we know, will be to link Mexican immigrants with the spread of the disease to the United States. The consequence of too much of this will be even more anger – and perhaps even more violence – against a community no more responsible for the spread of this ailment than U.S. tourists returning from scenic, balmy vacations.

There are more than 4,000 flights per week from the United States to Mexico. Mexicans are not the only people on those flights. About 80 percent of visitors to Mexico in 2008 came from the United States. 

The Mexican immigrant community in the United States is a part of this story. But not in such narrow fashion as we’re hearing at the moment. This community is as fearful of the swine flu’s spread as anyone else. Viruses strike regardless of where you were born. And, please remember, the fear is not just for themselves but for family members and friends still in Mexico.

The World Health Organization is raising its alert from Level 4 to Level 5, an action that will cause further temptation to overreact. If the swine flu becomes a true pandemic, we ask simply that the news industry do its job. That would be covering the story, not in the breathless fashion of the talking heads, but as a story as needful of truth, fairness, accuracy and balance as any other important story. In fact, the bigger the story, the more it needs these attributes.

With such stories as this, the news media can be part of the solution or part of the problem.” link

WHO Raises Alert Level to 5

New York Times - 5:15 p.m. eastern time - April 29

"The World Health Organization raised the alert level of the fast-spreading swine flu virus on Wednesday afternoon, indicating that a “pandemic is imminent,” on the day that a Mexican toddler who had been hospitalized in Houston became the first person to die from the disease on United States soil.

Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the organization, said that the “phase 5” alert out of a possible 6 levels signified that at least two countries have spread the virus by human to human contact, and that the highest phase 6 was probably imminent."

see:  "World Health Organization Raises Swine Flu Alert," New York Times, April 29, 2009

click here for link to latest statement (in English) from WHO Director, Dr. Margaret Chan

Dr. Chan's statement in Spanish:

Declaración de la Directora General de la OMS

29 de abril de 2009 

Gripe porcina

Señoras y señores:

Sobre la base de la evaluación de todas las informaciones disponibles, y después de realizar varias consultas con expertos, he decidido elevar el nivel de alerta de pandemia de gripe desde la actual fase 4 a la fase 5.

Es necesario tomarse muy en serio las pandemias de gripe precisamente por la capacidad que tienen para propagarse con rapidez a todos los países del mundo.

Enlaces conexos

Gripe porcina

Fase actual de alerta de pandemia según la OMS

Reglamento Sanitario Internacional (2005) - en inglés

Un aspecto positivo es que ahora el mundo está mejor preparado para afrontar una pandemia de gripe que nunca antes a lo largo de la historia.

Las medidas de preparación adoptadas a raíz de la amenaza de la gripe aviar por H5N1 han sido una inversión, y ahora estamos obteniendo los beneficios.

Por primera vez en la historia podemos seguir la evolución de una pandemia en tiempo real.

Doy las gracias a los países que están poniendo los resultados de sus investigaciones a disposición del público. Ello nos facilita la comprensión de la enfermedad.

Estoy impresionada por la labor que están realizando los países afectados al afrontar los brotes en curso.

Asimismo, quiero dar las gracias a los Gobiernos de los Estados Unidos y del Canadá por el apoyo que prestan a la OMS, y a México.

Permítanme recordarles que, por definición, las enfermedades nuevas se conocen mal. Es notorio que los virus de la gripe mutan rápidamente y se comportan de forma impredecible.

La OMS y las autoridades sanitarias de los países afectados no tendrán todas las respuestas inmediatamente, pero las obtendremos.

La OMS seguirá de cerca la pandemia a escala epidemiológica, clínica y virológica.

Los resultados de esas evaluaciones continuas se publicarán en forma de asesoramiento en materia de salud pública, y se pondrán a disposición general.

Todos los países deberían activar de inmediato sus planes de preparación para una pandemia. Los países deberían mantenerse en alerta ante posibles brotes inusuales de síndromes gripales y de neumonías graves.

En estos momentos, las medidas eficaces y esenciales son la elevación de la vigilancia, la detección y el tratamiento precoces, y el control de la infección en todos los centros de salud.

El paso a una fase superior de la alerta es una señal a los gobiernos, los ministerios de salud y a otros ministerios, al sector farmacéutico y al mundo empresarial de que ahora se deberían adoptar determinadas medidas de forma cada vez más urgente, y a un ritmo acelerado.

Me he puesto en contacto con países donantes, con el UNITAID, la alianza GAVI, el Banco Mundial y otras instancias para movilizar recursos.

Me he puesto en contacto con empresas fabricantes de medicamentos antivirales para evaluar la capacidad y todas las opciones para aumentar la producción.

También me he puesto en contacto con fabricantes de vacunas que pueden contribuir a la producción de una vacuna contra la pandemia.

El mayor interrogante ahora mismo es: ¿qué magnitud va a tener la pandemia, en particular ahora en sus inicios?

Es posible que las manifestaciones clínicas de la enfermedad abarquen desde las afecciones leves hasta los casos graves. Hemos de seguir vigilando la evolución de la situación para obtener las informaciones y datos específicos que necesitamos para responder a esa pregunta.

Sabemos también, por experiencias pasadas, que la gripe puede causar afecciones leves en los países ricos y enfermedades más graves, con una elevada mortalidad, en los países en desarrollo.

Cualquiera que sea la situación, la comunidad internacional debería considerar estos momentos como una oportunidad idónea para mejorar significativamente la preparación y respuesta.

Ante todo, es una oportunidad para la solidaridad mundial en la búsqueda de respuestas y soluciones que beneficien a todos los países, a la humanidad entera. Ciertamente, es la humanidad entera lo que está amenazado durante una pandemia.

Como he dicho, ahora mismo no tenemos todas las respuestas, pero las obtendremos.

Muchas gracias. link to Spanish version

The NAFTA Flu

A scientist calls our current flu epidemic the NAFTA Flu  -  related to globalization, mass farming and improper sanitation conditions in large farms.

Democracy Now

"The “NAFTA Flu”: Critics Say Swine Flu Has Roots in Forcing Poor Countries to Accept Western Agribusiness

As the US reports its first known death from the global swine flu, the World Health Organization has raised its pandemic threat level. Several countries around the world have banned the import of US and Mexican pork products. We speak to professor and author Robert Wallace, who says the swine flu is partly the outcome of neoliberal policies that forced poorer countries to open their markets to poorly regulated Western agribusiness giants."

The Wednesday news brought information about a 23 month old child brought from Brownsville died in a Houston hospital.  The little boy in the picture accompanying the article is not that child.  This boy is a child who has already recovered from the flu.  He lives in Vera Cruz.

CDC Says Swine Flu Death is First in U.S., Houston Chronicle, April 29, 2009

Cases in Mexico began in February

A city in the state of Veracruz, near a pork processing plant, started seeing the virus in February. Ultimately, 60% of the residents came down with the virus.

According to the LA Times, the first fatality (known of) was a census taker in Mexico.

La Jornada announced that all Mexico City restaurants were ordered closed.



"World Keeps Wary Eye on Swine Flu," Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2009

"Epidemia de lucro," La Jornada (Mexico City), 29 abril, 2009

"En la antesala de la pandemia," La Jornada (Mexico City), 29 abril, 2009

"Four Year Old Could Hold Key," London Guardian, April 27, 2009

"With swine flu cases rising, borders are tightened," New York Times, April 29, 2009

U.S. declares health emergency due to flu outbreak

Mexican swine flu deaths spark worldwide action, London Guardian, April 26, 2009
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U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency Over Swine Flu

By KEITH BRADSHER and JACK HEALY
New York Times
Published: April 26, 2009

American health officials on Sunday declared a public health emergency over increasing cases of swine flu, saying that they had confirmed 20 cases of the disease in the United States and expected to see more as investigators fan out to track down the path of the outbreak.

Although officials said most of the cases have been mild and urged Americans not to panic, the emergency declaration frees government resources to be used toward diagnosing or preventing additional cases, and releases money for more antiviral drugs.

“We are seeing more cases of swine flu,” said Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, in a news conference in Washington. “We expect to see more cases of swine flu. As we continue to look for cases, I expect we’re going to find them.” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, speaking at the same news conference called the emergency declaration “standard operating procedure,” and said it should be considered a “declaration of emergency preparedness.”

“Really that’s what we’re doing right now,” she said. “We’re preparing in an environment where we really don’t know ultimately what the size of seriousness of this outbreak is going to be.”

Officials said they had confirmed eight cases in New York, seven in California, two in Kansas, two in Texas and one in Ohio, and that the cases looked to be similar to the deadly strain of swine flu that has killed more than 80 people in Mexico and infected 1,300 more.

So far, there have been no deaths from swine flu in the United States, and only one of the people who tested positive for the disease has been hospitalized, officials said.

Still, officials said they expect more severe cases.

Other governments around the world stepped up their response to the incipient outbreak, racing to contain the infection amid reports of potential new cases from New Zealand to Hong Kong to Spain, raising concerns about the potential for a global pandemic.

Canada also confirmed four cases of the flu. Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief public health officer, said on Sunday that four students who attend the same school in that province had what he describes as “very mild” cases of the flu, according to The Associated Press.

The United States said it would use “passive surveillance” in screening travelers from Mexico who would enter the country, isolating them only if they were ill. But other governments issued travel advisories urging people not to visit Mexico, the apparent origin of the outbreak, where 81 people have died and some 1,300 have been infected. China, Russia and others set up quarantines for anyone possibly infected. Some countries banned pork imports from Mexico, even though there is no link between food products and the flu, and others were screening air travelers for signs of the disease.

The World Health Organization reiterated that it considered the outbreak “a public health emergency of international concern” but said it would put off until Tuesday a decision on whether to raise the pandemic alert level.

Raising it to level 4 “would be a very serious signal that countries ought to be dusting off pandemic plans,” said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, deputy director general of the W.H.O. The W.H.O. is historically reluctant to declare pandemics in sensitive member countries..link to complete article

Influenza Outbreak a Global Matter

Statement from World Health Organization

CNN: World Health Organization is calling [epidemic]"a public health emergency of international concern."

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link to London Guardian's Live Blog on Swine Flu Outbreak

Mexico City - La Jornada's front page:

World Health Organization Sends Out a Global Alert

In Spanish:

Afp
La situación por el nuevo virus es grave, imprevisible y avanza de prisa: OMS

La Jornada - Mexico City, 26, abril, 2009

Ginebra, 25 de abril. La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) lanzó una advertencia este sábado contra el "potencial pandémico" del "nuevo virus" de gripe porcina. Es una "urgencia" en términos de salud pública, en la medida en que se transmite de persona a persona y ha causado al menos 20 muertos en México y afecta a decenas en Estados Unidos, destacó.

La situación es "grave", "imprevisible" y "evoluciona de prisa", advirtió la directora general de la OMS en una conferencia telefónica desde la sede de la organización en la ciudad suiza de Ginebra.

El virus, de origen animal, tiene "claramente potencial pandémico en la medida en que afecta a los seres humanos", advirtió. link to complete article

Mexico City Restricting Those Who Enter City - Airlines giving ticket holders a break

Children under 12, pregnant women, the aged, and persons with respiratory infections are not allowed to enter the city this weekend.

If you are planning to fly Continental or US Airways to Mexico City, be sure to check their web pages, they are now allowing ticket holders to re-schedule their flights because of the epidemic.

see:  Continental and US Airways relax ticketing policies for Mexico City passengers over swine flu outbreak, Los Angeles Times, April 25, 2009

Durará 10 días la suspensión de clases y actividades masivas, anuncian en el GDF, La Jornada - Mexico City, 25 abril, 2009

Front page of La Jornada - Mexico City for April 25, 2009

In Spanish:

Restringen entrada a reclusorios del DF por influenza

La Jornada - Mexico City

Este sábado y domingo no podrán ingresar niños menores de 12 años, mujeres embarazadas, adultos mayores y personas con cuadros de infecciones respiratorias.

Notimex

Publicado: 25/04/2009 09:11

México, DF. El Gobierno del Distrito Federal restringió el acceso a los reclusorios capitalinos durante este fin de semana a los niños menores de 12 años, mujeres embarazadas, adultos mayores y personas con cuadros de infecciones respiratorias.

La Subsecretaría del Sistema Penitenciario informó en un comunicado que la restricción estará vigente este sábado y domingo, y hasta el momento no se han confirmado brotes de influenza en ninguno de los 10 centros de reclusión capitalinos.

Indicó que las personas que sean detenidas por alguna falta administrativa o en una revisión del alcoholímetro y que presenten síntomas de la enfermedad serán remitidos a una unidad del sector salud.

Entre las medidas que la dependencia aplica dentro de los reclusorios varoniles y femeniles de la capital del país destacan la revisión de todos los internos para verificar que no presenten síntomas de la enfermedad.

También la limpieza exhaustiva en todos los centros penitenciarios; se han proporcionado guantes y cubrebocas al personal que tiene contacto con la población y visitantes a estas unidades, y prepara y proporciona alimentos ricos en vitaminas A y C.

Finalmente, informó que en las aduanas de ingreso estará personal médico, técnicos penitenciarios y supervisores para reforzar y apoyar cualquier contingencia. link

also see: Instalan comité de emergencia a nivel mundial contra influenza, milenio.com, 25, abril, 2009

Fearing a Pandemic of the Flu in Mexico

A couple of months ago I spent a few days in Monterrey.  I visited a public hospital a few times, visiting a close friend who soon passed away.  When I came back to Houston I developed the worst case of the flu ever.  I also ended up with bronchitis and was sick for over a month.  I wonder if there was any connection to what is going on now in Mexico City.  

The entire nation of Mexico is alarmed over the Influenza outbreak.  Most of the newspaper headlines are about the epidemic

"WHO worries Mexico flu deaths could mark pandemic," Houston Chronicle/AP, April 24, 2009

GDF repartirá cubre bocas en transporte público para evitar contagios, milenio.com, 24 abril, 2009

"How Swine Flu Spreads in Humans," Los Angeles Times/Reuters, April 25, 2009

"Confirma Ssa 20 muertes por influenza y 40 probables más," La Jornada - Mexico City, 24 abril 2009