# 3414
While it is too soon to gauge eventual toll this H1N1 pandemic will have on the global economy, we are already seeing signs of economic impact.
Airline travel is down, the cruise industry is taking it on the chin, some summer camps are being canceled, and today public health experts are urging those at greatest risk – the elderly, kids, and pregnant women – not to make the journey to Mecca this year for the hajj.
Each year several million Muslims make the journey to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, in the 12th month of the Islamic (lunar) calendar. That generally falls in late November or December.
This report from the AP.
Elderly, kids urged to skip hajj over swine flu
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer Donna Abu-nasr, Associated Press Writer –
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with chronic diseases should stay away from the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to prevent catching swine flu, health experts recommended Tuesday.
The recommendations come as some in the Muslim world have raised questions about the risk posed by swine flu to the millions attending the annual Muslim pilgrimage, which takes place this year in December, with some even suggesting quarantining people returning from Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi kingdom invited experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and others to a four-day meeting in the western seaport city of Jiddah to examine Saudi measures to prevent the spread of swine flu during the Muslim pilgrimage.
In a statement at the conclusion of the conference, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah said the kingdom invited the experts because "of concerns about the ongoing pandemic and the potential for transmission (of viruses) in the crowded setting of the hajj."
One can’t help but wonder what this pandemic portends for next year’s Lunar New Year, which falls in mid-February.
In many Asian cultures it is a long held tradition that people return home to attend a reunion dinner with their families on the eve of the lunar New Year.
This results in the largest migration of humans on the planet, involving hundreds of millions of people each year.
Factories and businesses all across Asia shut down for a week, sometimes longer, just to accommodate this greatest of all Asian holidays.
And of course, here in North America, we see an exodus of millions of people from the colder climes each fall, who head south to Florida or Arizona, or one of the warmer states for the winter.
Many of these states, and businesses, depend heavily on this yearly influx of tourists.
Should a pandemic cut into that sector of the economy, a great many industries will suffer. Airlines, hotels, restaurants, theme parks . . . .
Where I live, the population quadruples every winter with the arrival of the snowbirds. If they fail to show, many businesses would not last the season.
Not a prediction of course, since we don’t know what the fall will bring.
But definitely a concern.
