When tragedy strikes, people are supposed to band together and find strength in numbers, right? When the well-being of your community is threatened, it's important to look out for your neighbors and lend a hand to those in need, no?
Well, that's what many of us may have thought before all the hysteria about the looming swine flu pandemic.
Last week, as public health officials braced for what they thought was the worst, they were on the verge of prescribing something that may seem counterintuitive to the bleeding hearts among us: If you want to stay alive, stay the heck away from other people.
Maybe I'm too sensitive, but every time I get the sniffles, I invariably wind up feeling insulted by someone telling me not to get too close to them. I mean, I'm feeling lousy and the first thing they tell me is "stay away"? Don't get me wrong. I'm all for self-preservation (and I know, I know -- if I'm sick, I should do everyone a favor and go home). But I promise not to sneeze on you, and you could at least feign concern for my well-being. I mean, what if I had swine flu or something?
With all this in mind, I frankly found it rather tacky that Argentina, Cuba and Peru banned all flights to and from Mexico as swine flu spread last week. How do you say, "A friend in need is a friend indeed," in Spanish?
After all the preaching and haranguing we receive daily to care for our fellow man -- from religious figures, politicians, do-gooders of all stripes and, of course, our mothers -- it seems a shame that we'd be spreading the message that turning away from everyone else is our key to survival.
And, at least at the broadest level, it just wasn't true. At the same time that the president was explaining how the "horse was out of the barn," we were also told by the experts at the World Health Organization that closing borders not only wouldn't stop H1N1, it could cause economic collapse and possibly add to the flu death rate. That's because during a pandemic, we need stuff we can only get from trading partners around the world.
Of course, one way to avoid a virus is to stay away from wherever people congregate. When Vice President Joe Biden suggested staying off commercial airlines and even subways, his aides scrambled to protect the travel industry and tone that down after the fact. I know someone who's avoiding the elevator in her student-filled apartment building downtown, and if more people start to get sick, we could be advised to stay six feet away from one another in public. According to news stories, health officials in every state have submitted emergency plans to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They all contain some form of what is politely called "social distancing strategies."
