Travel Delay...

As most of you know, I was supposed to fly out of Salt Lake tomorrow morning for Mexico. But because of the swine flu which broke out down there in Mexico City, our plans have been delayed. We'll find out on Monday at noon what the plan is.

This is what my instructor wrote us:
As many of you have heard, there has been an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico City. Because this just hit the news on Friday, there's not a lot of good information and there's a lot of MISINFORMATION. The US Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have NOT placed any travel restrictions to or from Mexico. The illness seems to be spreading slowly. There have been cases of the same flu strain in the US, but they seem to be fairly mild. However, in Mexico, they have confirmed 18 deaths from this strain. In a city of 22 million, that's not a lot, but perhaps up 1000 have been infected. They just don't know. Because we don't know if it's serious or not, the University people in charge of tours (my bosses) have decided that it's best that we not leave YET.
WE STILL PLAN TO TRAVEL. But it looks like we'll skip Mexico City. I don't know how the itinerary will change yet. The change fee on the flights will be quite expensive. However, you won't be charged for those changes. Tentatively, I imagine we'll still fly home from Cancun on the day we've planned.
ABOUT INFLUENZA. I'm not a doctor so I can give you only general information. However, from what I understand, this strain of influenza is passed by touch. It isn't airborn. However, it can spread pretty easily. Influenza is NOT a permanent disease. It can become dangerous because of the complications it causes. Usually with good health care, influenza is not dangerous to young, healthy people like you (which could be why it seems to be adversely affecting more people in Mexico than in the US). Be careful about information you get from the news or general internet. The best sources of information are http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_24/en/index.html or http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/. They give the best advice and put everything into context.

In the mean while, I'm staying in Salt Lake, and I'm loving it. What a surprise, right?! ;) I'm kind of glad we're not leaving tomorrow because I've kind of been stressing out. Aside from the fact that we won't get to see as much. I really wanted to see the "sinking city." We've been learning so many cool things that make me excited to see and witness it firsthand down there. Anyway, I'll keep you posted...