Pandemics and Apocalypses

I was reading this translation on FR:

The “humanitarian crisis” narrative fueled by the administration of Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla, together with the fiscal crisis and the impact of the transmission of the Zika virus, is backfiring on the government of Puerto Rico, costing millions of dollars in revenue and affecting directly tourism, one of the few economic sectors that produce positive results for the U.S. territory.

While it is true that the spread of Zika has had a strong impact on attracting tourists, groups and conventions to the island, this factor has been lagging in third place, taking the head “humanitarian crisis” narrative followed by the government financial crisis .

The “humanitarian crisis” mentioned by the governor on numerous occasions has generated the perception that on the island there are no medical or financial systems, are lacking food, medicine, education and security, which already questioned even wearing shoes, and existence water, electricity and garbage collection. This perception, combined with the economic crisis and Zika, has already cost the country in the past two months, $ 16 million, equivalent to 26,137 room nights and the cancellation of 32 to 35 conventions. In addition, different television reports on US networks are projecting the island to be in a precarious situation.

The information about the cancellations was confirmed by Milton Segarra, president of Meet Puerto Rico, the nonprofit organization that manages and promotes the island as a destination for meetings, trade shows and conventions, as well as incentive groups. He also said that the trend is rising because for December they were 8% above projections and in April they are barely at 68% of them.

I was taken by the synergy. Not only does Apocalypse set up pandemic by weakening the population’s immunity and dissolving any social/governmental structures by which to contain and fight the pathogen’s spread. Pandemic can actually set up and enhance Apocalypse. They feed each other. Here the mere wisp of a scent of pandemic is triggering Apocalypse, even as Apocalypse makes it more likely that a real pandemic could soon run amok.

It is striking how all of these mechanisms are set to trigger around the same time, with each feeding off the other.

Our future will be very interesting indeed.