Dispatches from the Quarantine Zone

I am reporting now from Ground Zero of the Changzhou Swine Flu Epidemic. Sources tell me that 16 students have confirmed cases of H1N1 and that 300 more are being kept in isolation.
Classes have been canceled until next week. For comparison around 100 cases have been reported at Wake Forest University and classes are continuing as usual...Ok, so the Chinese may be a little more paranoid about the flu. Either that or my alma mater's response to a pandemic is about as slow and plodding as their offensive game in football.

I wouldn't exactly call the Chinese reaction to the H1N1 outbreak hyperbolic. There are naturally contributing factors unique to China that lead to a heightened awareness when it comes to disease. First, the student's live in rather squalid 8-person dorm rooms. Second, sanitation tends to be more of a luxury around here.

And this is China--anything disruptive, be it intellectual or biological, is viewed as a potential seed of mass dissent. But I'll admit, when it comes to my health and the health of those around me, I don't mind the extra security. Still, when the authorities go beyond reasonable caution they run the risk of breeding the paranoia and fear they hoped to avoid.

And the fear is certainly there. My students (for the brief time I've had with them) asked me several times if I was afraid of H1N1. I've simply shrugged and downplayed the hysteria as best I could. However, after hearing about the conditions some students are facing in the quarantine location, I've grown a tad more apprehensive. If I caught it they probably wouldn't just let me "chill" in my penthouse apartment for a week.


Leb Wohl (und Gesundheit)