Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Sad Cinco de Mayo
The swine flu caused an outbreak of global paranoia. After its first flu patient arrived from Mexico last week, the Chinese government and health officials began secluding Mexican citizens in China.
"In the predawn hours Saturday morning, a Mexican family with three children, ages 6, 7 and 8, who had flown in on the Shanghai flight for a vacation, were awakened in their hotel rooms in Beijing and ordered by authorities to a quarantine hospital. They were then transferred to a shabby hotel near the Beijing airport, guarded by soldiers."
Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2009
Chinese officials have quartered at least 70 Mexicans as a caution against spreading the swine flu. In some cases, Chinese officials isolated Mexicans who hadn't been in Mexico since the flu outbreak.China has left some of its own citizens in peril too. It canceled all flights from Mexico on Cinco de Mayo, leaving up to 120 Chinese stranded.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Foreign Minister Patricia Espinoza condemned the treatments of Mexicans abroad. Calderón called such isolation and quarantine policies repressive and discriminatory, while Espinoza pinned China as subjecting Mexicans to "unacceptable conditions."
Although I think the quarantines are incredulous, China's response to the flu stems from the SARS outbreak of 2003, which began in rural Guangdong Province and later spread killing more than 700 people worldwide. The government was widely criticized for trying to hide the extent of the epidemic from the W.H.O. and for suppressing domestic media coverage.
For the sake of state sovereignty, I want to distinguish China's right to create its own health policies, though it resembles profiling. The New York Times reported:
"Olivia Lawe Davies, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, declined to comment on China’s quarantine measures, although she said that according to WHO guidelines, each country is free to establish its own tactics to combat the virus."
The SARS crisis scarred China's status internationally and branded the nation as less responsible in repelling global viruses. Still, the government overreacted to the singular flu case. Despite its current stigma in contracting the swine flu, hopefully Mexico can enjoy Cinco de Mayo.
"In the predawn hours Saturday morning, a Mexican family with three children, ages 6, 7 and 8, who had flown in on the Shanghai flight for a vacation, were awakened in their hotel rooms in Beijing and ordered by authorities to a quarantine hospital. They were then transferred to a shabby hotel near the Beijing airport, guarded by soldiers."
Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2009
Chinese officials have quartered at least 70 Mexicans as a caution against spreading the swine flu. In some cases, Chinese officials isolated Mexicans who hadn't been in Mexico since the flu outbreak.China has left some of its own citizens in peril too. It canceled all flights from Mexico on Cinco de Mayo, leaving up to 120 Chinese stranded.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Foreign Minister Patricia Espinoza condemned the treatments of Mexicans abroad. Calderón called such isolation and quarantine policies repressive and discriminatory, while Espinoza pinned China as subjecting Mexicans to "unacceptable conditions."
Although I think the quarantines are incredulous, China's response to the flu stems from the SARS outbreak of 2003, which began in rural Guangdong Province and later spread killing more than 700 people worldwide. The government was widely criticized for trying to hide the extent of the epidemic from the W.H.O. and for suppressing domestic media coverage.
For the sake of state sovereignty, I want to distinguish China's right to create its own health policies, though it resembles profiling. The New York Times reported:
"Olivia Lawe Davies, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, declined to comment on China’s quarantine measures, although she said that according to WHO guidelines, each country is free to establish its own tactics to combat the virus."
The SARS crisis scarred China's status internationally and branded the nation as less responsible in repelling global viruses. Still, the government overreacted to the singular flu case. Despite its current stigma in contracting the swine flu, hopefully Mexico can enjoy Cinco de Mayo.
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