Swine Flu

This morning, almost at the crack of dawn, I was sitting in a little bar in a working class neighborhood in Sao Paulo. My bus got in from Belo Horizonte before the sun came up, and I didn't want to knock on my host and colleague's door before 8am. (That seems basic, right?) Anyway, so as I knocked back one café con leite after another, the news was on. A reporter from Mexico talked about the fact that public services will be suspended between May 1st (a major holiday for working people) and May 5th (the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla). So, while the hospitals will be open, there will be no public transportation to get there. The President of Mexico was on TV telling people that the safest place for them to be was at home. Safe, that is, in terms of avoiding swine flu.
Frankly, in my opinion, there may indeed be a threat of a nasty flu, but when I see governments impeding people's free movement, particularly on a holiday commemorating workers' rights, I can't help but think that there is some manipulation going on here. "Be afraid. Be very afraid". That is what we have been told in the US since 9/11. Generally, we should be afraid of terrorists, even when there aren't any. Now we should be afraid of the possibility of contagion, too. So, please, reduce your interaction with other people. Make yourself as isolated as possible. That is what will keep you safe. They say. Too bad you can't really fight the power single-handedly.