3rd Local School Closed For 14 Days Over Swine Flu

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   POSTED: 12:39 pm PDT May 1, 2009
UPDATED: 9:29 pm PDT May 1, 2009

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SAN DIEGO -- Two "probable" but unconfirmed cases of swine flu prompted the closing of two San Diego Unified School District schools in San Diego for the next two weeks, a district official said Friday. A third school, Mission Hills High School in the San Marcos Unified School District, was also closed and a letter was posted on the school's Web site. 
In all, The School of Creative and Performance Arts in Paradise Hills, Kearny High School, and Mission Hills High School are to remain closed until May 18, according to the San Diego Unified School District and the San Marcos Unified School District. 
A student at each of the schools may have the disease. 

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We're doing what the health department advised," said spokesman Jack Brandais of the San Diego Unified School District. 
A letter sent to parents of students at Mission Hills High School and posted on the school Web site said in part: "We have determined a student that attends Mission Hills High School has a probable infection with H1N1influenza A virus. Under the guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in a decision made jointly between Public Health Services and the San Marcos Unified School District SMUSD), we are closing Mission Hills High School for a period of 14 days. The closure dates will be from 05/02/2009 to 05/15/2009 with the school being allowed to reopen on 05/18/2009. This closure includes all school-sponsored activities, such as sports or school dances." 
School officials will discuss the closing of Mission Hills High School in a press conference to be held Saturday at a time that had not been set at the time this article was written. 
Earlier Friday, the county Health and Human Services Department announced three more confirmed cases of swine flu in San Diego County, bringing the total number to 11. 
Officials did not provide details about the new cases and couldn't confirm that two Camp Pendleton Marines are among those that have contracted swine flu, as reported by military officials late Thursday. 
"The service members are isolated and are being treated as outpatients," according to a statement released by the Marine Corps. 
Additionally, the U.S. Navy confirmed that a sailor stationed locally has tested positive for swine flu, 10News reported. 
The base and ship where the sailor is located was not provided by Navy officials. 
In addition to the 11 confirmed cases, tests are pending for about a dozen other people in San Diego suspected of having the virus. 
Other confirmed cases include a 10-year-old boy, a 54-year-old man and his 16-year-old daughter, a 7-year-old boy, a 20-year-old man, a 3-year-old boy, a 38-year-old man and a 23-year-old man. 
None of those infected in the county have been hospitalized, according to the county's public health director, Dr. Wilma Wooten. 
Wooten said the state will start processing tests of suspected swine flu cases Friday, so county health officials will no longer have to send samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. 
"We expect to get a much faster turnaround time with state testing," she said. 
So far, there are 141 confirmed cases of swine flu nationwide, and a 23-month-old boy in Texas is the only known person to die from the disease in the United States, according to the CDC.