If anyone still thinks the Daily Mail has any moral compass at all, this headline should disabuse them of the idea:-
‘We just thought it was jet lag’, say newlyweds who caught swine flu and brought it to UK
The mail must employ some deeply despicable, conscience-free, hacks, not to mention editors, to publish so scurrilous, and possibly untrue, a headline.
Every single person on that flight from Cancun had the potential to be infected before ever boarding the plane, as did anyone leaving Mexico in the past few weeks (there’s a swine-flu timeline here). Accusing those two of bringing swine flu to Britain is gutter journalism at its very worst. I mean, can you imagine the impact of such an allegation on this young couple, as we teeter on the edge of a pandemic?
Really, I just can’t get my head around the mental processes of the asswipe who came up with that headline. I just can’t. Words, for once, fail me. Except to say, again, that it may well not be true.
Do bear in mind that this couple are the first confirmed cases in the UK. How many cases there have been in the past couple of weeks that haven’t come to the attention of the authorities may never be known, but there were almost certainly some.
Identifying a Patient Zero, in countries outside Mexico, is probably going to be impossible.
The daughter of one of the staff in my local pub is about to return from Cancun,if she hasn’t already (and her mother was there a couple of weeks ago, but returned before the outbreak). Whether the daughter will be infected, or a carrier (the flu virus can survive outside the body for some time, on door handles, clothing, elevator buttons, luggage etc), and whether she will pass it on to her mother, I can’t say. I will, though, be staying out of the pub for a couple of weeks, as well as away from crowded places in general for the duration.
And no, I’m not naming the pub, so please don’t ask – anyone who goes there regularly will know what I know, and can make their own decisions. Anyone else will just have to take their chances as they will, of course, wherever they go.
