News! Week 3

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/08/28/yosemite-officials-say-1700-visitors-risk-rare-rodent-disease/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/yosemite-hantavirus-cabins-closed_n_1844669.html

            On Tuesday August 28, Yosemite park officials had to make over 1,000 people who had stayed there aware that they might have been exposed to a rare rodent disease that caused two fatalities. The park took precautions by disinfecting the cabins that they two tourists stayed in and others in that area. They also sent out letters and emails to that people who had been staying there and to the media. Rodents can only carry this disease, and their feces, urine, or saliva infects humans. People are currently trying to collect rodents to see if they are infected with the Hantavirus for sure. They are also looking into the population count to see if the mice are over populating the park.

            After reading this new article, I was a little surprised to find that they still allowed visitors to stay in the cabins surrounding the infected areas. I think closing down the whole park would be overkill but I do believe that they should have closed down the 91 cabins in the area that the people who died stayed until they knew for sure that it was the Hantavirus. Otherwise I think they are handling the situation well. Now that they let people know the risks, it is the tourists visiting are choosing do staying there, chancing the risk that they could be infected.

            I thought this piece was unbias, they didn’t show either they thought the park was handling the situation poorly or superbly.