Word: shutdowns
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...fitting that in a booming metropolis of 20 million people, the first sign that Mexico City had been recalled to life wasn't a public religious ceremony or a political rally but a traffic jam. After a weeklong shutdown in response to the H1N1 flu outbreak, on May 5--Cinco de Mayo--Mexico City began to stir again. The spread of the swine flu had slowed, leading Mexican officials to hope that the worst had passed. "Our strategy is working," said Mexican President Felipe Calderón. "We are now in a position to gradually resume our everyday activities...
...president's bellicose language underscores the uphill battle the nation has to fight to recover from being the epicenter of swine flu. Following the biggest shutdown in its recent history, the country will gradually get its cogs rolling again Wednesday. But the economic impact of the closures and lost tourism has already been calculated at $2.2 billion, according to Finance Minister Agustin Carstens. Mexico is also facing the suspension of flights and cancellations of visa application from countries across the globe, threatening trade and tourism further. And amid these challenges, the swine flu itself, although less deadly than feared...
...Laughing about the crisis does help and there has been some online discussions focused on whether officials may have over-reacted. In nearby Dallas, individual schools have closed but no district-wide shutdown has been imposed yet. But as the number of confirmed cases in Fort Worth increases from one to six with a possible total of 15, Wahl said she believes the closures were correct. "It's better to over-prepare," she said. "I don't fault the school district...
...Phillips says the manager of a large outlet mall in San Marcos, 200 miles north of Laredo, Texas, told him that sales were down over the Easter holiday, traditionally a popular shopping time for Mexican tourists in Texas. But that slowdown would pale beside the impact of a border shutdown. (See a video of protests against building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border...
Much of the evaluation of the city's shutdown has been overshadowed by mounting criticism on the federal government for letting the virus get out of control in the first place. After alleging the first fatality from swine flu was a 39-year-old woman from the poor southern Mexican state of Oaxaca who died on April 13, Health Secretary Jose Córdova conceded that Edgar Hernandez, a four-year-old boy, who survived a bout of flu in February and March, had actually had the virus, as tests have now shown. Local authorities had raised alarm bells about...