If Pigs Could Fly, Would We Still Have Swine Flu?

For all that the Caribbean region (however defined) is really small, and is supposed to have some regional organizations, it's often more evident in the English-speaking part that there are differences than similarities, when there should be very little difference. Take the current concerns about swine flu. It would seem reasonable that Caricom nations would at least have a set of similar procedures in place across the countries. A short spot of weekend travel blew that expectation out of the water. Hubs such as Barbados and Antigua, where the regional airline LIAT has planes buzzing in all day long, picking up and dropping off passengers from Europe and the US, as well as our own set of islands and countries, seem to have nothing in place except the usual procedures. In fact, the focus is still on determining whether the bottles of lotion are really the makings of some terrorist threat, or if water bottles are in fact storing nitroglycerin. By contrast, little Anguilla, has a survey form to at least try to ascertain if the visitor has been to Mexico or has symptoms of swine flu.

So, I have no idea what is being referred to when I read in today's paper "Extra medical personnel and new systems have been implemented at the Grantley Adams International Airport and the Bridgetown Port in an attempt to keep the swine flu virus out of Barbados. The stepped-up health surveillance has been put in place at ports of entry to help keep out the disease" (see Nation May 4, 2009 report). If they are there they are well hidden. My family and I came through Grantley Adams International Airport last night, and we saw no one and was surveyed by no one. The most penetrating question we were posed--at Customs, not Immigration--was "What part of Anguilla you come from?" Clearly, no idea of what kind of place is Anguilla.

The newspaper report adds "Each aircraft will be met on arrival by an environmental health officer, who gets a general declaration from the crew before passengers disembark. This declaration speaks to anyone who might be ill. We have placed signage in the arrivals hall as well, so that anyone who might think they have flu-like symptoms and may think they need to see the port health nurse can know what the procedures are..." Nothing of the sort was evident.

People sometimes think that pointing out failings is being critical. I would rather know that nothing exists rather than being falsely assured that something is in place. To add insult to injury, as we exited the departure area, the first person we walked past pulled off a huge sneeze, without even a covered mouth, and sprayed all around him with whatever he had to share.
Nice welcome!