Flu epidemic stifles Mexicans' traditional sociability (Feature)

By Nelson Keiman Apr 30, 2009, 13:34 GMT

Mexico City - A week of measures to combat a flu epidemic - including several cases of swine flu - is stifling the sociability that has traditionally characterized Mexicans.

The usual practice of going out to lunch together on working days, heading for cinemas, theatres or clubs at night, going to weekend sports events or just taking a walk in the park are no longer an option.

'I am locked at home. It is from here that I work, talk to clients, and I stay in my pyjamas all day,' Jorge Manrique told the German Press Agency dpa.

Manrique, a mid-level executive with an international company, said the firm sent home those among its employees who could do their work through the Internet or over the telephone. The request came after the government ordered a suspension of school classes until at least May 6.

'It is a different experience, neither better nor worse,' Manrique said.

However, after four days at home, he admitted that he missed chit-chat with colleagues.

On April 23, the Mexican government suspended classes at all levels, from kindergarten to university, throughout the country, and called upon the population to avoid large gatherings that might lead to a faster propagation of the flu and swine flu viruses.

Major cinema chains decided to suspend their activity, and the government of Mexico City banned restaurants from serving food on their premises. Football games were to be played before empty stands, and zoos, museums and theatres were to remain closed, among other measures.

Ahead of a long weekend Friday-Tuesday in Mexico - over a series of public holidays unrelated to the epidemic - Mexican President Felipe Calderon asked compatriots late Wednesday to remain at home as far as possible.

'I want to call upon all of you, all of you without exception, that over these days off we are going to have you remain at home with your family, because there is no safer place to avoid being infected with the swine flu virus than your own home,' Calderon said.

Eight people have died of swine flu in Mexico, with a further 84 flu deaths still pending testing and under suspicion of having been caused by the same virus. Beyond that, there have been thousands of infections, and over 1,000 people remained hospitalized with the flu on Thursday.

'I am reading, preparing the return to school, which will probably be very intense,' Georgina Rodriguez, a secondary school teacher, said about her forced time at home.

Arturo Martinez Lagarde, who owns a hardware store - a small family business - said the mostly self-employed workers who shop at his store have also found their own work suspended 'until the situation with the epidemic improves.'

His own life has been limited to going from his home to his store.

'There are no outings, just television. Night-time meetings with friends at the pub have been cancelled till further notice,' Martinez Lagarde said.

And without school, and without the chance to go out to the parks where they usually play, children just spend their time on the computer or watching television.