Catholic clergymen, one holding a Bible, wear masks as a precaution against swine flu as they enter for the start of a mass at the Metropolitan¹ Cathedral in Mexico City, Sunday, May 3, 2009

Churchgoers celebrate Mass via television. Congressional candidates campaign with real-time speeches on the Web. A magazine promises Internet tours through the real Mexico - the one with open museums and pyramids. And rock bands plan online concerts.

The H1N1 epidemic² is creating a virtual Mexico.

With school canceled nationwide and many parents forbidding their kids to party, teenagers are logging a lot more time chatting on Facebook, Twittering and downloading music and movies from the Internet. So are many adults, especially after most business and government offices in Mexico City shut down on Friday for five days.

Two rock bands are making a go at reaching shut-in fans, announcing a virtual concert for today. Los Estramboticos, a Mexico City group, and Pastilla, a Latino band from the United States, will perform in a studio and broadcast it online. At least they can get exposure while Mexico's ban on concerts lasts.

But boredom³ was still not enough to lure⁴ many Mexican City residents from their homes on Sunday, 10 days into a flu outbreak that killed at least 22 people and sickened more than 560 in the country, most of them in the capital region.

Normally packed churches were all but empty. Priests in surgical⁵ masks offered Mass before a handful of faithful - also wearing masks. Cardinal⁶ Norberto Rivera held a televized service from the Metropolitan Cathedral for those staying home.

Sunday also marked the official start of campaigning for the July 5 congressional elections - but the government urged candidates not to hold rallies where the virus could spread. So candidates turned to the Internet to reach a population afraid to join screaming crowds, shake hands or hold out babies for kisses.

经常去教堂做礼拜的人现在跟着电视做弥撒，议会候选人通过网络发表实时演讲来竞选，一家杂志许诺通过以开放博物馆和金字塔而著称的the real Mexico网站推出墨西哥网络游，摇滚乐队也在策划网络演唱会。

甲型H1N1流感正将墨西哥变为一个虚拟国度。

由于全国学校停课，很多家长不允许孩子参加派对，所以青少年们将更多的时间用在了上Facebook聊天、写Twitter以及从网上下载音乐和电影等网络活动上。很多成年人也用这样的方式来打发时光，尤其是上周五墨西哥城多数商家和政府部门开始五天的停业和停止办公之后。

两个摇滚乐队则试图博得宅在家中的粉丝们的青睐，他们宣布将于今天举办一场网络演唱会。墨西哥城的Los Estramboticos乐队和美国的Pastilla拉丁乐队将在演播室中进行演唱，并通过网络播出。至少在墨西哥禁止举办音乐会的这段时间，他们还能露面。

虽然呆在家里很无聊，但这还不足以让很多墨西哥城的居民于上周日走出家门。截至当天，甲型流感已爆发10天，至少有22名墨西哥人因此丧生，560多人患病，大多数患者居住在首都地区。

平时拥挤的教堂空无一人。牧师们戴着口罩在几名同样戴着口罩的虔诚教徒前面做弥撒。诺伯特•里维拉主教在都会大教堂为呆在家中的教徒提供电视弥撒服务。

将于7月5日举行的议会选举的竞选活动也于上周日正式开始，但政府要求候选人不得举行集会，以防病毒传播。因此候选人们只有通过网络向人们做宣传，现在墨西哥人对拥挤的人群、握手或把孩子抱给别人亲吻都很害怕。