Two and a half months ago, when I entered the US on the very week when the H1N1 virus was being announced (the disease was called swine flu at the time, to then switch to a more politically correct term), I posted about the lack of hygiene at the US border. All people entering the country had to place their hand on the fingerprint reader without any way to clean their hands beforehand.
Now that the outbreak has gained the highest status in the WHO classification and is officially defined as a pandemic, the US borders have not changed their practices, as I have just discovered landing in San Francisco. This is particularly surprising as I have seen some of the government offices I visited in California displaying soap and cleaning lotions on various desks.
This being said, the situation is not much better in most European airports. Stockholm, Berlin, Milan, Munich, I could not find any sign of anything aimed at preventing or discouraging behaviors that may favor H1N1 to spread further: little visible notice, no leaflet delivered to passengers, no measure to protect airport employees. Interestingly, there was more information and activity in earlier stages, when this was not yet officially rated as a pandemic.
A striking contrast with Singapore, Malaysia and especially Hong Kong where body temperature scanners as well as the use of surgical masks by some or all airport staff does convey the necessary sense if urgency. I do still remember my flight from HK to Singapore last month, where at least a third of the passengers were wearing masks. As the flight was pretty packed, the idea of faking sneezing and coughing to empty seats around me crossed my mind, but I was afraid of potential consequences upon arrival (quarantined? arrested?).
For sure some Asian countries have practiced and improved their preparedness as a consequence of SARS. I did not have a chance to travel into Canada, which was also badly hit by SARS, to see whether Canadians would convince their colleagues from US Customs and Border Protection to act more cautiously, including giving up or better handling the shoe examination, which is another phenomenal violation of basic hygiene principles.
Thanks God this flu ended up being pretty mild. But the bottom line is that it has not been contained and now we hear about projections of 100,000 cases per day in some countries. What if mortality rate was 5 or 20 or 40 per cent. I’m sure many governments would claim that in such case more extreme measures would be taken. But as a frequent traveller I would argue that if what I’ve seen is a rehearsal, then it is far from successful and I am looking forward to this next flu season with some apprehension
5 responses so far ↓
1 valas // Jul 8, 2009 at 1:56 am
.. on the other hand, some might think that Asian countries are wasting resources. It’s partly a matter of priorities and perceived dangers. You are outraged with lack of H1N1 awareness, while some US citizens might be outraged with lack of terrorism awareness when his shoes are not checked boarding from Narita to HK.
2 Paolo Magrassi // Jul 8, 2009 at 2:47 am
Andrea, I know you will admit that it’s easier to patrol the borders of Hong Kong or Singapore that those of the USofA.
Also, this is just influenza. We have an influenza “pandemic” every winter… IMHO you can stop worrying about this.
3 Andrea Di Maio // Jul 8, 2009 at 6:15 am
For Valas: I guess US citizens should be more concerned with pretty much any flight directed to the US where shoes are not checked in that unhealthy way. Incidentally, shoes could simply be put into plastc bags or put straight on the conveyor belt rather than the same containers where people put their jackets, purses, laptops and other belongings.
For Paolo: I never suggested to lower securoty, but just to make sure people clean their hands before using the fingerprint readers. And – as I am sure you know – viruses mutate. One would expect some other measure to be in place in between closing borders and making those readers vehicles for infection.
4 Max Claps // Jul 9, 2009 at 7:52 am
another rather disconcerting thing I recently notice in some European airports: at the security checks there sometimes are flyers posted on the walls that suggest passengers to pay extra attention to hygiene if they are coming from countries where flu outbreaks are happening (or something like that)… too bad the flyers usually do not say what those countries are…
5 H1N1 Corollary: The Irony of US Federal Government Communication // Jul 9, 2009 at 11:33 am
[...] days ago I posted about the continued unhealthy practices applied at the US border in airports (all people entering the country have to put their hands on fingerprint readers, but there is no [...]
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