Six Flags has closed indoor rides and shows at its Six Flags Mexico theme park in Mexico City, as much of that metropolis closes down to prevent the spread of the virus.
But the big impact to the theme park industry would be the virus emerging in Orlando. And authorities there are awaiting test results on a possible case. A local TV station reported that a tourists from Mexico visiting Walt Disney World was infected. But Florida Hospital officials denied that report, saying that they were awaiting test results and that the case might be one of "normal" flu.
Pardon me for questioning the hype, but I wonder why everyone is getting so worked up about a few dozen cases of "swine" flu, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 99 people, on average, die from the flu in the United States a day. It's not like dozens of deaths from the flu is anything new. This is a nasty illness, well worthy of respect and utmost prevention at all times, not just when cable TV talking heads obsess over it.
Now, I shall go wash my hands.
Update (4/30): Never mind. This strain appears less severe that the "normal" flu.
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I am a foreigner with a family vaccation scheduled for Orlando in June and I must confess that I am waiting to see how this unfolds, but have seriously considered cancelling but it's too soon to decide. The important thing now is to wait and see, do not panic, but acknowledge that there is an ongoing threat to public health.
Did ya read Robert's piece? Did you see the reference from the CDC about how many people die of flu everyday?
Calm down!
I can't completely ignore this story, however I'm struggling to take it as seriously as they are reporting it. Media scare stories are becoming instances of the boy who cried wolf. I just hope that they continue to be blown out of proportion as opposed to being real.
There is a good possibility that travel could be affected by this whole thing.
Gotta love this mass hysteria bullcrap.
But this is just nuts. Laurie went to pick up a burrito and nachos for our dinner tonight, and when she walked into the normally popular restaurant, she saw it was deserted. No customers. She mentioned that to the guy behind the counter, and he replied:
"Ever since the swine flu news, no one wants to eat in a Mexican restaurant anymore."
Seriously.
This. Is. Insane.
"Wash your hands."
Thank you, come again.
But as Emilio Zapata once said - “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees” Hey wasn’t he Mexican…
This is not an airborne virus so - Why wear a mask? Shrug Shoulders….
Brits don't care about what they are told.
Brits book their vacations a year or two in advance, and even for the ones who get a last minute bargain, they aren't going to care about something like that.
We;ve dealt with Mad Cow Disease, passed mountains of burning cows, dealt with having to drive through Disinfectant pools if we are heading into rural areas and wildlife parks.
Its just not something that will bother them/us.
So this little scare will prob affect 0.00000001% of the Brit tourist population!
Can't say other European countries aren't a little more paranoid, but considering the UK makes up a HUGE number of tourists in the summer months, it won't affect it at all!
Anyhoo, isn't Swine Flu like Man Flu for Pigs?
Not really a bad deal but they'll whine about it for a bit.
Happy Travels, and be safe out there :)
Unfortunately, the government is playing a "it's really bad/don't worry about it" game right now, and you end up with, as someone else said, empty mexican restaurants because we are ignorant and nobody is willing to step up and be an authority to say "this is what you should and shouldn't do."
I wouldn't think of a theme park as a place I'd be concerned about picking up a flu bug, unless I was stuck in a line with people who were coughing.
Cleaning your hands after each ride is a good idea, probably something we should all do all the time, but I never do. I wouldn't be travelling to Mexico right now, but even if a million people were infected there (it isn't NEARLY that bad), that would still give you only a 1 in 100 chance that a person you ran into would be infected.
Frankly, I think the risk of a major accident on a theme park ride is greater than the risk of catching the flu at the theme park. And both are less than the chance of having a car accident on the way.
But people are paranoid about risks they can't control, and the "swine flu" is that kind of risk.
BTW, do we have good numbers yet on how the parks are doing on attendance, so that we could next month compare to see if the swine flu scare changed the numbers? I've seen anecdotal remarks of huge crowds, but I've also read about people going to parks and just jumping on rides at will.
As of this writing (7:45 PM EST) There has been ABSOLUTELY NO CONFIRMATION that the person in Orlando has any illness related to the worldwide concern.
Further (and this is the REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT PART) since that person has sought treatment there have been ABSOLUTELY NO additional reports of others complaining about what might be a related illness.
Now go wash your hands.
However any virus that has a potential to become level 5 pandemic needs to be taken seriously. That does not mean overreacting but it does mean monitoring the situation to see how it's developing.
Today ( 29th April ) it has been elevated to level 4. I think the health authorities in the UK are simply advising that we should be cautious until the trend arrests and then reverses.
The problem ,as they see it, is that the incubation period for the virus exceeds the speedy transatlantic flights so "carriers" won't know if they have it until they have travelled. Which is too late if it becomes an air borne transmission.
In a few days we'll be more aware of the threat that it poses. Until then neither those already at panic stations or those dismissing it out of hand are correct.
Calm down. Be patient and don't overreact ...either way.
- http://www.wftv.com/news/19328563/detail.html
Live for the moment.
P.S I hope when I get there Mickey is not wearing a mask.
Family Guy, UK.
I see that a group of students who want to a band concert at WDW in florida are being tested for the flu, hopefully they will come up negative, but just saying they are being tested could well cause problems for the Florida parks.
And of course, having the Vice President (Biden) go on national TV and tell everybody he wouldn't get in a plane or a subway or go ANYWHERE where you have to be in close proximity to others won't help much -- we are much better off when they keep Mr. "foot-in-mouth" hidden from the public :-)
We are in the panic stage right now. Eventually, the "panic people" will either be proven right, or proven wrong. Misinformation is rampant (not necessarily WRONG, just unsupported information). For example, everybody talks about "hundreds" of deaths in Mexico, but OFFICIALLY, there are only 7 (yes, SEVEN) confirmed deaths directly related to the Swine Flu.
Now, maybe they will confirm a lot more of those deaths were flu later, but if they don't, people will still be talking about hundreds of deaths years from now.
I would certainly keep my distance from people who look ill, and I would wash my hands, and if somebody coughed near me I might even move, but with 300 million people in this country, and a few hundred cases of the flu, the chance of me running into anybody who has it is miniscule.
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