Remember that there will always be more opportunities.
This is going to be a long one. I haven't written in about a week, so I'll give you a brief overview of what I've been doing over the last couple of days:
- Procrastinating
- Spending time at the pool (now I kind of have a slight sunburn and I'm itchy. I've never experienced that before)
- Looking forward to the last day of work (tomorrow)
- Writing my first article for the university's newspaper
- Worrying and keeping up with all new information about the swine flu
- Exploring my options for this summer, now that the swine flu has become such a huge concern
Yesterday, I received an email from ISA around 1:30 p.m., in which they reported that they were offering full refunds until May 11 for students who would like to cancel their trip. Three hours later, they posted another notice explaining that they were urging all students who have been studying in Mexico for the spring semester to return to the United States. None of the students have been sick, but ISA is taking routine preventative measures to protect all of the enrolled students.
For now, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the swine flu, and I'll make my decision to take the refund (or not) closer to May 11. Health officials will have learned more about the virus by then, and everyone will be able to make a well-informed decision about traveling to Mexico and other affected areas.
I'll admit that I was very worried in the beginning when information was being released about the dangers and the spread of the swine flu. The fact that many young, healthy Mexicans have been dying from the flu had been a huge concern for me. Also, when American health officials began to say they believed we would be seeing more severe flu cases and deaths in this country, it scared me.
However, I have been worrying less as the days pass (and as the cases increase in the U.S.--funny, huh?). No one who has caught the flu in any other country has died, and I'm sure it's because they are actually getting treatment as soon as possible. On the other hand, this might not be happening in Mexico. The healthcare system there is not at the level of others around the world. First, Mexico has a shortage of the antiviral medication like Tamiflu and Relenza. Even if Mexicans began to recognize their symptoms as soon as they started, many of them might not have enough money to be seen by the doctor. Misdiagnosis has also been a problem. I read a news article the other day on MSNBC in which the reporter said a man was misdiagnosed. Instead of being diagnosed with and treated for the swine flu, the man was treated for a stomachache. It was already too late by the time they realized he had the swine flu.
I had been thinking about all of these factors as soon as the media was reporting that only people in Mexico were dying. In the beginning, they attributed it to the belief that, although the strains of swine flu from Mexico and the U.S. were identical, perhaps the strain in Mexico was much stronger. Now the media is addressing the possibility that the strain might not be that much stronger, if not at all, and the factors that I have mentioned might have a large effect on the deaths of swine flu victims in Mexico.
The media is getting less sensational as the days go by. Take a look at this article. It talks about the effects of the regular flu season on countries worldwide. Also in the article, the information about the regular flu serves to calm the readers' worries about the swine flu, putting the situation in a different perspective that likens the swine flu to the regular flu and showing that it isn't that abnormal. Whereas the swine flu is more dangerous because vaccines are not available, Tamiflu and Relenza are still able to stop the disease in an individual if taken at the right time.
Regular flu has killed thousands since January
Anyways, I hope everything turns out okay soon. Until then, I'll be washing my hands and using hand sanitizer often...
But I don't think I'll be worrying as much.
