[Tango-L] Requesting Truth about Impact of Swine Flu on Buenos Aires milongas

[Felix Delgado]

I have a trip planned to go to Buenos Aires (for the first time) at the end of this month. I am still waiting to see what develops, but a declaration by the government of a 'swine flu emergency' is not encouraging. I have family members in Mexico City and their emergency a few months ago essentially shut down the city for several weeks. Residents were captives in their own homes and I can't imagine what tourists did. There's no point in going to Buenos Aires if the milongas are closed and public activities are virtually non-existent. Even if the milongas stay open, this declaration of an emergency is very likely to diminish the number of people going to the milongas. A friend of mine who travels regularly to Buenos Aires for tango just came back and he told me that were 'a lot less people than usual in the milongas, and not many foreigners'. This was before the emergency was declared.

So, I think there needs to be some truth about what is really happening in the milongas in Buenos Aires as a result of this declaration of a 'swine flu emergency'. Given what my friend has said, the reports of 'milongas still open' posted to this list may not give an accurate picture of the situation.

Another thing to take into account is the ability of the Argentine health care system to respond to the epidemic. If a tourist gets sick, he or she will be competing for medical care and medication. Do you really think Argentina has a sufficient supply of Tamiflu?. Swine flu has killed people all over the globe, so this is not something to take lightly.

I don't mean to sound an alarm, but there is a potentially undesirable situation here, at the very least a waste of money because you came to dance and the milongas are either closed or as poorly attended as at home, or worse you get sick and put your life at risk because you can't get the health care you need.

Some honest answers for some honest concerns, please.

Felix
    



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