How will Swine Flu impact Walmart sales?

Many families have been hit hard by Swine Flu and some families even have multiple members suffering from Swine Flu. Common symptoms are fever, body ache, cough, running nose which are very similar to other flu symptoms and as per medical practitioners, even if you have had flu shot, that does not mean that you cannot have swine flu. People who are suffering from Swine flu continue to indulge in routine activities like traveling in public transportation, attending events, visiting malls etc.  Should you be concerned? Should we all be wearing masks for our safety? So far, it has been deadly in Mexico and not so in America. Is it because

• We haven’t had big enough of number of swine flu patients. So is it just a matter of time?
• Is it that genetically we are more resistant than Mexicans?
• Is it that we have better immune system because of better nutrition & medical systems?
• Or something else (write your comments below)

People are using MASKS as first point of protection, but masks can soon become hard to buy. Many pharmacies do not have them and if they did, they can run out of them right away. I know that they have been handing them out downtown Mexico City and at subway stations, but no such event is reported in USA even after first U.S. swine flu death had been reported in Texas on April 29th.

Another important question is that how will this impact the retail business? During my conversation with mall visitors, they expressed their intent to avoid visiting local malls where Mexicans shop including Wal-Mart as they don’t know if any of the shopper or their friends/family members have recently visited Mexico and got swine flu. That really worries me.

 

http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/cdc-/626560.html

Wachovia has issued a report that gives a cursory overview of how the swine flu crisis will effect Mexico as well as international economies, based primarily on the 2003 SARS epidemic model.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/swine-flus-potential-econ_n_192292.html

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/front/story/66998.html

European Union’s travel advisory has stated that trips to Mexico should be canceled or delayed, unless it was absolutely “urgent”. Many large corporations in USA are also doing the same.  The Wall Street Journal also reports that, though “the potential impact from the influenza on industry is less than clear, retail and tourism businesses are likely to bear the brunt of the losses.”

Airline stocks may continue to plummet as major travel companies in Europe and Asia cancelled tours to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak. So, how will this impact other general travel plans? Pharmaceutical companies may gain on expectations that demand for anti-viral drugs may surge to deal with any pandemic.

It’s far from clear how bad the outbreak will be, but any blow to travel and trade could eat away further at world GDP (Gross Domestic Product), already forecast by the International Monetary Fund to shrink 1.3 percent this year in the first decline since World War II.