News ReleasePITCAIRN ISLAND, FEARFUL OF FLU, CLOSES ITS BORDERS, THEN
OPENS THEM AGAIN PITCAIRN ISLAND, SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN, May 4, 2009 ----
Tiny, isolated Pitcairn Island, which a few days ago sent out a world-wide invitation
to visit its shores, on May 2 closed its borders due to the world-wide Swine flu
scare. Some hours later, island officials downgraded the restriction to allow
visitors who pass a local health check. Whereas an emergency meeting of
the local population on May 2, resulted in a barring of all incoming maritime
traffic, subsequently island officials have decided that yachties will be allowed
ashore if they pass a health check by the resident Pitcairn physician. Calling
ships have only to produce a regular port health certificate upon arrival at the
island. On Pitcairn the consequences of an influenza outbreak is a very
serious matter. Because of its isolation from the rest of the world, Pitcairners
who become ill with any form of influenza suffer a prolonged siege of the illness,
and to a more dangerous degree than do most people from other parts of the world. Based
on the World Health Organization's raising of a world-wide alert on the illness
to Level 5, the islanders on May 2, had voted to bar all incoming maritime traffic
until the emergency is over. The only access to Pitcairn is from the sea. Marcie
and David Lynn of the yacht Nine of Cups, already visiting on Pitcairn
at the time, reported an action taken at an emergency meeting of the local population
that for a short time had closed the island's borders. The couple was told that
once they left the island they could not return there until the flu emergency
is over. Whereas influenza may bed some people for up to eight or 10 days,
it is not unusual for a Pitcairner ill with influenza to spend weeks in bed from
the illness. ### Pitcairn Islands Study Center, 1 Angwin
Ave., Angwin, CA, USA. Herbert Ford, 707-965-6625, 707-965-2047, Fax: 707-965-6504,
Email: hford@puc.edu, Website: http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn | 
