Swine Flu in China and the U.S.: Different Reactions

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

A slightly bizarre story here out of the United States about differing reactions to the news that China's first swine flu victim is a graduate student at the University of Missouri. Here in Beijing, the health authorities have indeed gone into overdrive. I have received three sets of text messages asking anyone who was on board the flights that carried the flu victim to report in immediately. Chinese TV stations meanwhile carried a constantly repeating ticker conveying the same message, but only in English. Everyone who has come into contact with the thirty year old--amounting to several hundred people-- has been put in quarantine. The country's two top leaders have called for firm action to prevent the spread of the flu and news broadcasts have been dominated by that message and accompanying instructions.