I traveled to the United States to participate in a conference held by the Aspen Institute, Colorado, on literature and democracy. Before travel, my friends warned me of swine flu, especially as the first case came from the United States and then the disease spread quickly to afflict some 70 people in a month. Some people felt compassion towards me and said: Beware; you will travel to the homeland of this dreaded epidemic that caused horror to all people. Other people said: Take masks with you to cover your mouth and nose immediately after arriving, as there is a shortage in the number of masks! A third group said: Put an amount of Tamiflu in your bag because it might be sold there for hundreds of dollars. Another football enthusiast said: You are lucky because you will watch the match between Egypt and the United States live.
In fact, I spent a full week in the United States, three days in New York and four in Aspen. I met tens of people working in different areas, but none of them talked about swine flu or the match between Egypt and the United States. In addition, I did not read a single article or news in any newspaper there – either state-owned like New York Times or Washington Post or local newspapers, such as Aspen Times or Aspen Review – about the deadly epidemic that terrified us. However, the Egyptian newspapers write everyday about the increasing number of swine flu victims, as if they are taxi speedometers; as a taxi driver put it. I met with journalists, writers, intellectuals, dramatists and university professors. They were occupied with Obama's policy in the Middle East, our reaction to the speech he made in Cairo, the economic crisis caused by the Bush administration and its impact on life in the United States. But none of them talked about swine flu. I did not see people in the street or in the theater putting masks around their mouth and nose. These masks spread in Egypt in recent weeks more than the spread of swine flu itself!
I did not notice an extraordinary interest in the football match between Egypt and the United States. The US TV - or at least the major channels such as CNN or CBS or FOX or ABC – did not broadcast the match, which gained a lot of media coverage in Egypt. It is said that some Egyptian officials had to intervene to calm the situation after the state of national mourning due to the defeat. The Egyptians forgot to fly the flag at half mast for three days!
To be fair, a US newscast said, in its last part about sports, the US national team will play against the Egyptian team tomorrow. What caught my attention was that the announcer said: "The Egyptian team is strong!" However, the match was not broadcast, life did not stop, and the streets were not empty at the time of the match.
Prior to my departure, I met the hotel's receptionist. The dialogue ran to the following effect: I said: I brought some masks and amount of Tamiflu drug from Egypt, but I did not use them. Receptionist: If you mean that the rubbish bin in your room cannot accommodate those things, I'll send a worker to take them to the waste dump. I said: Yes, this is what I mean, but have you heard about swine flu? Receptionist: Of course. I said: What do you do when a person is infected with swine flu? Receptionist: There is nothing unusual. The health services made directives that the infected person should stay at home and go to a doctor. I said: But what would happen if he died? Receptionist: No one dies of swine flu. The number of swine flu victims is lower than the number of those who die of ordinary flu every year.
I said: Did you watch the football match between Egypt and the United States? Receptionist: No, because it was played outside the country, but I think the US team won. Hard luck. I said: Yes, hard luck for us in everything!
