The Neon Rush

One of the strangest swine flu announcements you'll ever see...

May 19, 2009 15:07

...and it comes from a governmental organization. 

I stumbled across this message last week:

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

COMPUTEX TAIPEI 09 on track...

No swine flu cases in Taiwan!

Taipei, Taiwan: May 12, 2009, Taiwan is free of swine flu up to today, May 12, 2009, and with that announcement ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO for COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2009!

But in the buildup to the mid-summer event, Taiwan is taking no chances by screening all incoming visitors for the virus. Central and local health authorities are also intensely monitoring the situation while producing hundreds of thousands of flu vaccines.

However, after weeks of intense testing and no positive cases, Taiwan is still on guard for any suspect cases.

The above message comes from the official Web site of Computex 2009, organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. It is Taiwan's largest ICT tradeshow and will take place starting June 2.

I didn't blog about it because I thought the H1N1 influenza (a.k.a., swine flu) would pass. Now that it has spread into Asia, things are looking a little more serious.

It's good to be proactive, but unbridled enthusiasim may not be the best approach to such a delicate issue. The message doesn't come across as insensitive per se, but extremely naive.

SARS was damaging to the economy here in Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia, so it's understandable that the organizers want to let overseas visitors know that Taiwan is open for business. But when you're doing PR about world health and potential pandemics, leave the exclamation points and sensational headlines at the door.

Plus, it appears that Taiwan isn't in the clear just yet. As of today, a Japanese and a Taiwanese citizen have been placed in quarantine at the airport after arriving on a flight from Japan. 

Recent Comments

 

Most Discussed

 

Browse Archive