The Phoney Epidemic
Jean-=Claude Hazera - Les Echos
Between the Franco-British declaration of war on September 3, 1939, and the German invasion of May 10, 1940, eight months went by that were called the "phoney war." Nothing, or almost nothing, budged; mobilized soldiers on the Maginot Line got bored. In the same way, the World Health Organization declared war on the A (H1N1) virus last Wednesday, going to a level 5 alert on a six-point scale. Since then, there have been skirmishes; the number of infected people is increasing, but the enemy seems far less deadly than people thought.
Jean-Claude Hazera suggests that the West would do well to help the global South combat the H1N1 virus now, rather than entrench itself defensively behind its stocks of masks, vaccines and anti-virals. (Photo: BBC)
The first problem: [French] Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot will not be able to hold up for several months by the daily repetition of her - nonetheless well-founded - watchword: "serenity and vigilance." Yet the problem, it seems, is to maintain the alert for several months, until next winter, without knowing whether the virus will become more deadly, or, on the contrary, will end up being a flash in the pan. During those months, the authorities risk losing their credibility. However, and above all, they will be tempted to take up defensive positions planned in advance with the feeling of mission fulfilled - stocks of masks, stocks of anti-virals, vaccine production - without subjecting their strategy to review.
Like the French Command of 1940, which, after abandoning Poland to its fate, waited for the enemy behind the Maginot Line until the Germans went around it, entering through Holland and Belgium ... Perhaps we must demonstrate some imagination. Perhaps the best defense against the A (H1N1) virus that will threaten us next winter is to help the countries that are suffering from it today and will send it our way tomorrow ...
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Translation: Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher.