Swine flu: Mexico City lies abandoned as President orders lockdown
(Miguel Tovar/AP)
A child, wearing a face mask as a precaution against swine flu, rides a bumper car in in Mexico City
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Eyes dart from behind surgical masks as the few pedestrians still on the streets walk briskly through a city in lockdown. A cough or a sneeze from a passer-by only quickens the pace.
Mexico City, usually a megalopolis of 20 million inhabitants, lies all but abandoned. All government offices and businesses deemed non-essential have been ordered to close. All schools, restaurants and nightclubs have pulled down the shutters. All public events cancelled.
A few cars glide freely along empty freeways, which on any other day would be choked with beeping, fuming traffic. The few shops and takeaways that remain open offer a limited service, ordered to avoid creating potential gathering places that might spread further contagion.
At the handful of supermarkets that have been told to stay open, staff are shrouded in protective clothing and wash their hands repeatedly during their shifts. The food processing factories have been shut down, and in some areas emergency teams are preparing to deliver food to the hungry.
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A faceless army of police and soldiers wearing surgical masks and gloves patrol silent avenues. Under their watch, the city has gained the air of a giant hospital.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” said Javier Morales, a 58-year-old civil engineer, from behind his bright blue mask. “All the schools and universities, and businesses are shut, so there’s no one, it’s eerie. Everyone is worried.”
Staring at an empty intersection, the lights blinking pointlessly from red to green, he added: “Usually you would be sitting in traffic all day trying to get from one place to the other, now you can do the same trip in minutes.”
The Government has urged citizens to stay off the streets until the outbreak is over. The lockdown will not be lifted before May 5 at the earliest. Around the world, civic authorities are watching and honing their own emergency plans.
“There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus,” President Felipe Calderon said on Wednesday, in his first televised address since the crisis erupted last week.
So far, up to 176 people have reportedly died in Mexico from the swine flu virus, with fingers pointing at possible sources in Oaxaca and most recently in the village of La Gloria, Veracruz state, where a 5-year-old boy is thought to be the country’s earliest confirmed case.
However it is in Mexico City, with its immense population, where the authorities have been left struggling to cope with the scale of the problem.
Pharmacies have run out of surgical masks and anti-flu medication, as panicking residents raced to stock up before blockading themselves in their homes. Those who have been unable to obtain masks rush feverishly between the few open stores, covering their mouths with hands and scarves to accusing stares from their luckier peers.
Gonzalo Trinidad, a pharmacist in Iztapalapa, in the east of Mexico City, said they were still waiting for a delivery of Tamiflu and had no idea when or if it would arrive. “It could be two days or two weeks, we don’t know.” Neither were masks available.
“I don’t know where you can get them, supplies have been exhausted in all the pharmacies around here. They say there will be more coming tomorrow but who knows really.”
“The government have been helpful with advice though,” he added, following a gesture from a colleague that he had said too much.
Some Mexico City residents say that while they believe the worst could be over, they will not take any chances until they are certain of their safety.
“It is not as bad as it was, I think the government have managed to get things under control, and people are less worried,” 35-year-old taxi driver Estoban Hernandez said.
“But I’ve got young children, it’s them that I’m concerned about.”
Others cite financial concerns, with the crisis increasingly threatening livelihoods. Mexico’s central bank has warned the outbreak could deepen the nation’s recession, further ravaging an economy that has already shrunk by 8 percent in the first quarter.
“That’s the biggest problem as far as I’m concerned,” said one factory worker, who did not wish to be named. “More than the illness, I can’t go to work now. How am I going to feed my family?”
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