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Anxiety about the Mexican swine 'flu is abating. "The positive news remains," asserted NBC's Robert Bazell. "The virus has caused no more deaths as it continues to spread widely." Precautions persist, however. Bazell showed graduates forgoing handshakes at commencement exercises at Northeastern University and all three newscasts told us about a transAtlantic flight that stopped in Boston rather than Washington DC because a passenger "appeared to have 'flulike symptoms," as Bazell put it.
CBS' Nancy Cordes and ABC's John McKenzie picked up on the genetic analysis of the virus that in-house physician Timothy Johnson told us about on ABC on Thursday. "Slightly more contagious than the typical seasonal 'flu," CBS' Cordes told us, yet "a less lethal strain than feared." ABC's McKenzie put it this way: "While the virus could still change it does not have the genetic makeup of the much-feared 1918 pandemic virus."
CBS' Cynthia Bowers went down on the farm in South Carolina peach country to show us that it is not only those in the hog business who are suffering economic side effects. Fruit and vegetable harvests may be hard hit too, since most of the field labor comes from Mexico, where consulates are still closed and not issuing visas. Kerry Sanders was in Mexico City for NBC as the "virtual ghost town" began its five-day standstill to prevent any further transmission.
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