A week ago, I wrote about the irrationality surrounding so-called swine flu, in the context of Killer Flu, a videogame Persuasive Games created about seasonal and pandemic flu.

This week, I received an unexpected email from the organizers of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, which is scheduled to take place in Tokyo next week. Apparently the Japanese government has gone totally bonkers about H1N1 flu, despite there having been only three cases of the virus in the country.

I thought I’d share the requirements the government has imposed upon the conference to give you a sense of how quickly panic can displace rationalism. To be clear, I have no gripe with the conference organizers, who are doing thier very best to make the most of a difficult situation. You can read this same information on the SCMS website.

With the advent of the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”), the Japanese government has issued a travel advisory and is aggressively monitoring the situation. Among the actions being taken are quarantines of anyone who appears to have symptoms of the flu. If a case were to emerge on your flight or among our membership at the conference, anyone who came into contact with an infected person may be quarantined. Quarantine can last up to ten days and you may be required to pay for medical attention if you show signs of being ill. Additional airline change fees may also apply if you were to become ill.

Both the National Government and the Chiyoda District Government, where the Josai University-Kioichô Campus is located, have asked Josai to cancel the conference. The Josai University administration has resisted this request and has kindly negotiated conditions under which the conference can take place. These include the following:

 

1) To monitor the situation and inform conference participants of any outbreak, the government requires information regarding each participantâ??s whereabouts, including hotel location and contact numbers during the conference and for ten days afterward.

2) Conference participants will have their temperatures taken when they enter the conference each day. Those registering a temperature above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit will be given an additional test to rule out the H1N1 virus. If the test is positive, there is a chance that conference participants, along with the infected individual, could be quarantined.

3) Participants will need to fill out a health declaration form each day of the conference. The declaration will ask about symptoms (including fever, nausea, dizziness, etc.) experienced during the past twenty-four hours.

4) Participants will be required to wear surgical masks during the conference.

 

5) If the World Health Organization raises the alert level to phase 6 (either before or during the conference), or if a conference participant is found to have the H1N1 virus, then we will be required to cancel the conference. This could happen anytime up to and including the conference dates. Any potential financial costs resulting from quarantine and associated delays are the responsibility of the traveler; the Society is not responsible for these costs, and members traveling agree to incur them.

[…]

 

All nonstop flights from the US and Canada will be boarded by health workers in bio-hazard suits and passengers on such flights will be monitored while on the plane for fever and other flu signs.

As for me, I’m not going to be deterred by panic… my only hope is that the Japanese are manufacturing and selling fashionable Hello Kitty surgical masks. But the broader action represents the very worst in governmental oversight gone awry. I hope those of us in the US and Europe observe such matters in order that we might resist them if introduced in our countries.

published May 12, 2009

Comments

  1. William

    My suggestion is to have name and affiliation printed on our masks.