By Hootsbuddy
Crawford Kilian posts a few items relating to how H1N1 Flu is affecting travel around the world.
The Saudis are keeping an eye on the Hajj, one of the world's most important travel events.
With several million Muslims from all over the world expected in Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in late November, Saudi authorities are concerned that the event will facilitate the spread of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 among pilgrims.
Aside from the week-long Hajj, more than 2 million people go on pilgrimage to Mecca throughout the year (called �Umrah�), with extra numbers visiting in the holy month of Ramadan (from about 21 August to 19 September).
Saudi Arabia held a workshop at the end of June to discuss minimising the spread of the disease during Hajj season and urged all nations to postpone the pilgrimage this year for elderly people with chronic illnesses, children and pregnant women.
The workshop outlined general hygiene habits to reduce the risk of (H1N1) 2009 infection, such as washing hands with water and soap, covering the nose and mouth while sneezing and coughing, and wearing masks when visiting crowded places.
Aside from the week-long Hajj, more than 2 million people go on pilgrimage to Mecca throughout the year (called �Umrah�), with extra numbers visiting in the holy month of Ramadan (from about 21 August to 19 September).
Saudi Arabia held a workshop at the end of June to discuss minimising the spread of the disease during Hajj season and urged all nations to postpone the pilgrimage this year for elderly people with chronic illnesses, children and pregnant women.
The workshop outlined general hygiene habits to reduce the risk of (H1N1) 2009 infection, such as washing hands with water and soap, covering the nose and mouth while sneezing and coughing, and wearing masks when visiting crowded places.
A South African newspaper carries a story of a London family's "swine flu nightmare" when their teenage daughter was quarantined in Thailand.
This week an East London couple spoke of their nightmare ordeal after a family holiday in Thailand which saw their teenage daughter contract a severe case of swine flu and quarantined for six days.
Border tennis and hockey star Kelly Nel, 15, was forced to stay behind in a cramped hospital room in Singapore while her distraught mother, Ann, and sisters Lauren, 17, and Joanna, 13, had to return home.
Kelly�s frantic father, Lofty, forced hospital staff to allow him to remain by her bedside in Singapore until she was discharged and allowed to return home late last week.
This week the Clarendon High School pupil was recovering from her brush with the killer flu a few kilograms lighter and still weak, but no longer contagious with the virus which has affected 94000 people world wide.
Kelly�s estate agent mom revealed that when she booked a �shopping holiday� to Bangkok and Singapore, the pandemic was the last thing on her mind.
�I�m paranoid about germs ever since three of us picked up meningitis on a previous holiday and it was only when we arrived in Bangkok and watched CNN that we realised there was a problem.�
After shopping sprees in Bangkok, the Nels flew to Singapore for what was to be their last two days in Thailand, but when Kelly walked through the thermal scanner upon arrival at the airport, officials pulled her aside.
�They took her temperature which was 37,4�C. They said if her temperature had been 38�C they�d have taken her straight to hospital,� said Ann. �I thought perhaps she had normal flu because she had complained of a sore throat. I told her we would sort it out with Panado once we got to the hotel.�
But when her daughter�s fever quickly intensified to 39,4�C the hotel manager advised them to take Kelly to a clinic.
�Lofty and Kelly got straight into a taxi and went to the hospital but she wasn�t even allowed in through the front door because they suspected swine flu,� said Ann.
�I got a fright when the hotel manager told me Kelly would be quarantined for six days because we were only meant to stay in Singapore for two days.�
She pleaded with the doctor to let the family fly home, but was told it would be illegal.
�Kelly was moved to the state hospital where her tests proved positive for swine flu,� she said. �My other daughters and I had to travel home without (Kelly and Lofty) ... It was a nightmare.�
Border tennis and hockey star Kelly Nel, 15, was forced to stay behind in a cramped hospital room in Singapore while her distraught mother, Ann, and sisters Lauren, 17, and Joanna, 13, had to return home.
Kelly�s frantic father, Lofty, forced hospital staff to allow him to remain by her bedside in Singapore until she was discharged and allowed to return home late last week.
This week the Clarendon High School pupil was recovering from her brush with the killer flu a few kilograms lighter and still weak, but no longer contagious with the virus which has affected 94000 people world wide.
Kelly�s estate agent mom revealed that when she booked a �shopping holiday� to Bangkok and Singapore, the pandemic was the last thing on her mind.
�I�m paranoid about germs ever since three of us picked up meningitis on a previous holiday and it was only when we arrived in Bangkok and watched CNN that we realised there was a problem.�
After shopping sprees in Bangkok, the Nels flew to Singapore for what was to be their last two days in Thailand, but when Kelly walked through the thermal scanner upon arrival at the airport, officials pulled her aside.
�They took her temperature which was 37,4�C. They said if her temperature had been 38�C they�d have taken her straight to hospital,� said Ann. �I thought perhaps she had normal flu because she had complained of a sore throat. I told her we would sort it out with Panado once we got to the hotel.�
But when her daughter�s fever quickly intensified to 39,4�C the hotel manager advised them to take Kelly to a clinic.
�Lofty and Kelly got straight into a taxi and went to the hospital but she wasn�t even allowed in through the front door because they suspected swine flu,� said Ann.
�I got a fright when the hotel manager told me Kelly would be quarantined for six days because we were only meant to stay in Singapore for two days.�
She pleaded with the doctor to let the family fly home, but was told it would be illegal.
�Kelly was moved to the state hospital where her tests proved positive for swine flu,� she said. �My other daughters and I had to travel home without (Kelly and Lofty) ... It was a nightmare.�
And this trip to China illustrates how seriously authorities there regard threats to public health. They know well what can happen when an ounce of prevention is neglected.
When I arrived in China late last month, the hazmat-suited public officials who met my plane had the same question for each passenger: "Have you had contact with pigs?"
The officials took our temperatures, and then we were free to pass through customs and go on our way.
As a physician who had come to Shanghai to lecture at a Chinese medical school, I found it interesting to witness firsthand China's public health response to the H1N1 virus. The process seemed like overkill, and it had debatable public health benefits, but it didn't inconvenience me terribly. Or so I thought at the time.
The next evening, I returned from dinner to find two white-coated public health workers waiting for me in the lobby of my hotel. Apparently, a passenger three rows in front and five seats across from me on the flight had tested positive for H1N1. I was given 30 minutes to pack my belongings.
When I returned with my bags, I noticed that the hotel staff stood in the corner of the suddenly cleared lobby wearing surgical masks. "I have no symptoms whatsoever," I tried to explain, but the siren of the ambulance that sped to the front of the hotel drowned out my protestations.
The back door opened to reveal three fellow American passengers from my flight. I climbed in, and we drove two hours in darkness. At 3 a.m., we arrived at a rural motel complex. Each of us was assigned to a single room and handed a letter.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you have had a good trip to China," it read without a hint of irony. "In order to combat H1N1 you will stay at the Fengxian Medical Observation and execution institution for these special days. Stay at your observation room, no come out of your room. This temporary separation is for your family and friends' happiness and health. You will find quality services here. Have a nice time at this special moment."
The Chinese media have reported that travelers placed in quarantine are being held at five-star hotels, but if this is true, then the star system is in need of revision.
Imagine a Motel 6 next to a chicken farm in the middle of a field. Then imagine that it had been left abandoned for a year before receiving a quick cleaning and sanitizing and a lot of new security features.
The rugs in my room were frayed, and wallpaper peeled from the walls. Mosquitoes abounded. Each room boasted a door alarm that sounded upon opening, and a metal containment fence and police sentries ringed the complex.
I was told that 10 ambulances worked through the night to bring in people from my flight. On my wing of the complex, there were three businessmen, a photographer and her two children, an engineer, a banker and many others.
In the days that followed, we were joined by people from other flights. We couldn't leave our rooms, so we passed much of the time standing in our doorways, talking across the empty corridors about the mice, the heat, the food, the missed opportunities, and especially the isolation.
The officials took our temperatures, and then we were free to pass through customs and go on our way.
As a physician who had come to Shanghai to lecture at a Chinese medical school, I found it interesting to witness firsthand China's public health response to the H1N1 virus. The process seemed like overkill, and it had debatable public health benefits, but it didn't inconvenience me terribly. Or so I thought at the time.
The next evening, I returned from dinner to find two white-coated public health workers waiting for me in the lobby of my hotel. Apparently, a passenger three rows in front and five seats across from me on the flight had tested positive for H1N1. I was given 30 minutes to pack my belongings.
When I returned with my bags, I noticed that the hotel staff stood in the corner of the suddenly cleared lobby wearing surgical masks. "I have no symptoms whatsoever," I tried to explain, but the siren of the ambulance that sped to the front of the hotel drowned out my protestations.
The back door opened to reveal three fellow American passengers from my flight. I climbed in, and we drove two hours in darkness. At 3 a.m., we arrived at a rural motel complex. Each of us was assigned to a single room and handed a letter.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you have had a good trip to China," it read without a hint of irony. "In order to combat H1N1 you will stay at the Fengxian Medical Observation and execution institution for these special days. Stay at your observation room, no come out of your room. This temporary separation is for your family and friends' happiness and health. You will find quality services here. Have a nice time at this special moment."
The Chinese media have reported that travelers placed in quarantine are being held at five-star hotels, but if this is true, then the star system is in need of revision.
Imagine a Motel 6 next to a chicken farm in the middle of a field. Then imagine that it had been left abandoned for a year before receiving a quick cleaning and sanitizing and a lot of new security features.
The rugs in my room were frayed, and wallpaper peeled from the walls. Mosquitoes abounded. Each room boasted a door alarm that sounded upon opening, and a metal containment fence and police sentries ringed the complex.
I was told that 10 ambulances worked through the night to bring in people from my flight. On my wing of the complex, there were three businessmen, a photographer and her two children, an engineer, a banker and many others.
In the days that followed, we were joined by people from other flights. We couldn't leave our rooms, so we passed much of the time standing in our doorways, talking across the empty corridors about the mice, the heat, the food, the missed opportunities, and especially the isolation.
As I was putting this post together I couldn't help wondering what an American public health response to a global threat would look like. Thus far nothing seems to have risen to the level of a threat of that magnitude. Crawford Kilian's comment applies here:
What strikes me about this story (and the American physician's report just below) is not the anxiety or inconvenience travelers are suffering. It's the way they take air travel completely for granted, as a kind of right.
Yet quite apart from the environmental damage air travel does, it also looks, at this point, like a major vector of this disease: a kind of Trojan Horse that everyone admits inside the walls, even when they know what happened to Troy.
Yet quite apart from the environmental damage air travel does, it also looks, at this point, like a major vector of this disease: a kind of Trojan Horse that everyone admits inside the walls, even when they know what happened to Troy.
Am I alone thinking that the American health care system seems oblivious to a threat the rest of the world takes very seriously? I wonder if any of The Select Few referred to in Ron's Saturday link were looking out for national medical emergencies, aside from figuring angles to leverage emergencies to make money.
Kilian's H5N1 blog has been the go-to place for Avian (and more recently H1N1) flu for several years, but his day job at Canada's The Tyee keeps him busy as a journalist.He reviews Soldiers of reason: the RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire,
His footnote to this week's passing of Robert McNamara is worth noting.
Systems analysis had an eager ally in Robert McNamara, who died Monday. When McNamara was U.S. defence secretary, he told his boss, President Lyndon Johnson, that Vietnam was a winnable war. Then RAND analysts interviewed Vietcong prisoners and found them alarmingly irrational and unconcerned about their individual interests. Instead, they were patriots determined to unify their country at any cost. The analysts decided the U.S. had put itself on the losing side of the war, but by then it was too late.
It was a RAND analyst, Daniel Ellsberg, who secretly photocopied the top-secret history of the Vietnam War and released it to the U.S. media. As The Pentagon Papers, that leak discredited a generation of America's best and brightest.
Alex Abella's Soldiers of Reason is a disturbing history of very smart people putting their brains at the service of very stupid ideas. He managed to interview many of the key persons in the organizations, as well as friends and relatives of those who launched RAND after World War II. The result is a book rich in ironies.
Perhaps the richest irony is that RAND owes much of its success to an ex-communist who kept his radical youth a secret. Albert Wohlstetter had been part of a 1930s generation -- the brightest and poorest. They attended City College of New York [CCNY] because Columbia, a few blocks downtown, was too expensive. It also had a quota on Jews.
Wohlstetter, a brilliant young mathematician, knew the CCNY Reds who sat at separate cafeteria tables -- the Stalinists at one, the Trotskyites at another.
Some of the names of the CCNY Trots still resonate today: Irving Howe, Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell. They soon migrated from the left to the anti-Soviet right, and flourished in Cold War America. Kristol's son William is a neo-conservative who edits the right-wing Weekly Standard magazine, and he remains Sarah Palin's promoter within the Republicans even at this strange stage in her public evolution.
Not yet political, Wohlstetter left CCNY in 1934 and managed to study law at Columbia. There he applied his math skills to politics and philosophy. His mathematics and logic led him to join a neo-Trotskyite splinter group called the League for a Revolutionary Workers Party.
Fortunately for him, his party records were lost in a traffic accident. While he left the League, he never abandoned his view of the Soviet Union as a system determined to conquer the world. His mission in life was to thwart that system.
Wohlstetter spent World War II as a government bureaucrat, and then, in postwar Los Angeles, bumped into an old colleague who invited him to apply for a job with the new RAND Corporation. With his communist past well concealed, he got the job -- and, Abella suggests, prevented the possibility of a Soviet first strike on American air bases.
Wohlstetter's analysis of the vulnerability of the Strategic Air Command didn't just teach the Air Force to disperse its bases. It also made him a major force in U.S. strategic thinking. RAND's systems analysis approach has dominated American policy-making ever since.
It was a RAND analyst, Daniel Ellsberg, who secretly photocopied the top-secret history of the Vietnam War and released it to the U.S. media. As The Pentagon Papers, that leak discredited a generation of America's best and brightest.
Alex Abella's Soldiers of Reason is a disturbing history of very smart people putting their brains at the service of very stupid ideas. He managed to interview many of the key persons in the organizations, as well as friends and relatives of those who launched RAND after World War II. The result is a book rich in ironies.
Perhaps the richest irony is that RAND owes much of its success to an ex-communist who kept his radical youth a secret. Albert Wohlstetter had been part of a 1930s generation -- the brightest and poorest. They attended City College of New York [CCNY] because Columbia, a few blocks downtown, was too expensive. It also had a quota on Jews.
Stalinists versus Trotskyites
Wohlstetter, a brilliant young mathematician, knew the CCNY Reds who sat at separate cafeteria tables -- the Stalinists at one, the Trotskyites at another.
Some of the names of the CCNY Trots still resonate today: Irving Howe, Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell. They soon migrated from the left to the anti-Soviet right, and flourished in Cold War America. Kristol's son William is a neo-conservative who edits the right-wing Weekly Standard magazine, and he remains Sarah Palin's promoter within the Republicans even at this strange stage in her public evolution.
Not yet political, Wohlstetter left CCNY in 1934 and managed to study law at Columbia. There he applied his math skills to politics and philosophy. His mathematics and logic led him to join a neo-Trotskyite splinter group called the League for a Revolutionary Workers Party.
Fortunately for him, his party records were lost in a traffic accident. While he left the League, he never abandoned his view of the Soviet Union as a system determined to conquer the world. His mission in life was to thwart that system.
Wohlstetter spent World War II as a government bureaucrat, and then, in postwar Los Angeles, bumped into an old colleague who invited him to apply for a job with the new RAND Corporation. With his communist past well concealed, he got the job -- and, Abella suggests, prevented the possibility of a Soviet first strike on American air bases.
Wohlstetter's analysis of the vulnerability of the Strategic Air Command didn't just teach the Air Force to disperse its bases. It also made him a major force in U.S. strategic thinking. RAND's systems analysis approach has dominated American policy-making ever since.
Lots more at the link.
Better than a box of chocolates. Does my radical old heart good.
I googled trotski 'cause I haven't thought about fundemental communists for a while, and I came across the best, no I mean the BEST, blog site title there can ever be.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.drinksoakedtrotsforwar.com/
"Some of the names of the CCNY Trots still resonate today: Irving Howe, Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell. They soon migrated from the left to the anti-Soviet right, and flourished in Cold War America"
ReplyDelete"Soon"?
Howe remained a socialist until at least the 1970's. Irving Kristol and Daniel Bell did not turn to the Right until the very late 1950's and 1960's. Twenty to thirty years is more like a gradual shift of views. The first book about Neoconservatism was not written until the late 70's and the term was broad enough to include Pat Moynihan and Howe, along with Paul Nitze (who was never a leftist, merely a Democrat).