Billy Johnson does not have swine flu. So, everyone, please stop asking the drummer for Shots Fired and Paper Cities about it. Johnson and his girlfriend, Alia Castaneda, flew to Play del Carmen, Mexico, on April 26, just before the paranoia about a swine flu pandemic took over the media.
"I was spraying out both ends one day, because I think I had a glass of water," Johnson laughed.
But in the course of their five-night stay south of the border, the couple did not encounter anyone with swine flu. "When we arrived, I didn't even know anything was going on," Johnson said. "By the time we left, some people had started wearing the masks."
Johnson and Castaneda didn't wear any masks or worry about anything besides how much they could drink on their vacation. The craziest thing they experienced, though, was being in a cab as it went through a drug checkpoint. "15 cops in full helmet gear with machine guns," Castaneda recalls.
At the airport in Mexico last Friday, the mass paranoia over swine flu was apparent, though. Castaneda said people were wearing scarves -- including one Harley Davidson do-rag -- over their mouths. Some people had even covered their luggage with plastic wrap. "I told Billy I felt sorry for anyone who sneezed. They'd be instantly pounced!" she said. All passengers went through a medical checkpoint, during which they were asked if they had any swine flu symptoms and had their temperature taken.
As soon as they touched down on U.S. ground in Dallas, they turned on their phones, which instantly began buzzing with curious text messages and voicemails from friends, family and this reporter.
Castaneda joked that she kind of wished she could tell her boss to quarantine her so she could stay home for a few days. Because Johnson works in the service industry, his boss paid to have him checked out by a doctor before he came back to work -- just in case.
"They swabbed my nose," Johnson says.
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