New York Swine Flu Update.

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   April 28, 2009, 2:25 pm 
Possible Swine Flu Outbreaks at Two More Schools

By Sewell Chan AND Fernanda Santos

Michael Appleton for The New York Times Employees of the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene investigated a possible swine flu outbreak at Public School 177 in Fresh Meadows, Queens. 
Updated, 4:30 p.m. | New York City authorities announced on Tuesday afternoon that two possible new outbreaks of swine flu have been detected, after the large outbreak recorded last week at another school, St. Francis Preparatory Academy, in Fresh Meadows, Queens. The authorities emphasized that they were monitoring the situation closely and urged the public not to overreact. 
Twelve children with fevers at Public School 177, a special needs school in Fresh Meadows, less than a mile from St. Francis, are being tested to see if they are ill with swine flu, and the school has been closed, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the New York City health commissioner, announced. At the Ascension School, a Catholic parochial school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, six children have been ill with fevers, and they too are being tested, he said.
P.S. 177 is at 56-37 188th Street in Fresh Meadows, in eastern Queens; Ascension is at 220 West 108th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Several St. Francis students had siblings at P.S. 177, but it was not immediately clear how or whether the Manhattan school was linked to the St. Francis flu outbreak. 
About 60 percent of the students and staff at St. Francis Preparatory in Fresh Meadows, Queens, had filled out the questionnaires sent to them by the city’s Health Department and because of that, “we have a much firmer grasp at the situation at the school,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. 
Dr. Frieden said, “We’re closing schools at this point, today, out of an abundance of caution and because we’re not certain how this virus acts or whether, as the initial reports from Mexico at least suggest, it was more dangerous, it made people sicker.”
There have now been 44 or 45 confirmed cases of swine flu, all of them at St. Francis, the mayor said, adding that there were very likely more cases, as hundreds of students at the school have been sickened and are still being tested. 
“Yes, it is here and it is spreading — we do not know that it will continue to spread, and we don’t know whether it’s worse,” Dr. Frieden said, adding that it was “too soon” to predict the course of the virus.
“So far nothing about the progression of swine flu in our city has surprised us,” Mayor Bloomberg said at a City Hall news conference, adding that after the initial outbreak at St. Francis, “We would be extremely surprised if we didn’t see other cases around the city.”
The Health Department has been making daily calls to hospitals citywide to find out if anyone reporting symptoms similar to those of swine flu have sought treatment, particularly those who have severe illness. Dr. Frieden said that five people have severe symptoms, but he added that it will not be until Wednesday that he will be able to release more information about them. 
There are two other likely cases of swine flu: a 2-year-old Bronx boy, who remains hospitalized but is recovering, and a woman from Brooklyn, who has been treated and released from a hospital. Neither of them has connections to St. Francis, but both have connections to people who have recently traveled to Mexico, Mayor Bloomberg said. And so far, these seem to be the two common factors among all of those who have contracted or shown symptoms of the disease. 
“That does not mean there aren’t other ways that this has been spread, but these things do seem to repeat, giving us some confidence in the patterns,” the mayor added. 
The mayor noted that each year tens of thousands of New York State residents get the flu, and that about 2,000 of them die from either pneumonia or the flu.
“We suspect that if swine flu continues to spread,” he added, there may likely be deaths in the United States. 
The mayor tried to reassure the public, saying, “Once again, I want to emphasize that so far, the swine flu here looks like the garden-variety flu and influenza that we see every year.”
He added, “We don’t know how widely the swine flu will spread; only time will tell.”
Dr. Frieden said the city had enough courses of Tamiflu stockpiled for one million people, and that the drug could be distributed “at a moment’s notice” to city’s hospitals. But the mayor cautioned against a mass run on Tamiflu, saying that only those with confirmed flu should take the medication. 
The mayor answered questions from reporters — some of them from international news outlets — in the Blue Room at City Hall. 
“It’s hard to measure the economic impact,” the mayor said, adding, “We just want people to get better.” He added that “we don’t think there will be any appreciable effect.”
“Is it worrisome?” he continued. “Everything is worrisome.” But the city’s wide network of health institutions are working closely with private health care providers to monitor the situation, he said. 
Yana Paskova for The New York Times Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg addressed the swine flu outbreak in a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday. 

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jdljr1 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: June 05 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1621	Post Options Post Reply Quote jdljr1 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: New York Swine Flu Update. Posted: April 28 2009 at 2:10pm
	April 28, 2009, 2:25 pm Possible Swine Flu Outbreaks at Two More Schools By Sewell Chan AND Fernanda Santos Michael Appleton for The New York Times Employees of the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene investigated a possible swine flu outbreak at Public School 177 in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Updated, 4:30 p.m. \| New York City authorities announced on Tuesday afternoon that two possible new outbreaks of swine flu have been detected, after the large outbreak recorded last week at another school, St. Francis Preparatory Academy, in Fresh Meadows, Queens. The authorities emphasized that they were monitoring the situation closely and urged the public not to overreact. Twelve children with fevers at Public School 177, a special needs school in Fresh Meadows, less than a mile from St. Francis, are being tested to see if they are ill with swine flu, and the school has been closed, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the New York City health commissioner, announced. At the Ascension School, a Catholic parochial school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, six children have been ill with fevers, and they too are being tested, he said. P.S. 177 is at 56-37 188th Street in Fresh Meadows, in eastern Queens; Ascension is at 220 West 108th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Several St. Francis students had siblings at P.S. 177, but it was not immediately clear how or whether the Manhattan school was linked to the St. Francis flu outbreak. About 60 percent of the students and staff at St. Francis Preparatory in Fresh Meadows, Queens, had filled out the questionnaires sent to them by the city’s Health Department and because of that, “we have a much firmer grasp at the situation at the school,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. Dr. Frieden said, “We’re closing schools at this point, today, out of an abundance of caution and because we’re not certain how this virus acts or whether, as the initial reports from Mexico at least suggest, it was more dangerous, it made people sicker.” There have now been 44 or 45 confirmed cases of swine flu, all of them at St. Francis, the mayor said, adding that there were very likely more cases, as hundreds of students at the school have been sickened and are still being tested. “Yes, it is here and it is spreading — we do not know that it will continue to spread, and we don’t know whether it’s worse,” Dr. Frieden said, adding that it was “too soon” to predict the course of the virus. “So far nothing about the progression of swine flu in our city has surprised us,” Mayor Bloomberg said at a City Hall news conference, adding that after the initial outbreak at St. Francis, “We would be extremely surprised if we didn’t see other cases around the city.” The Health Department has been making daily calls to hospitals citywide to find out if anyone reporting symptoms similar to those of swine flu have sought treatment, particularly those who have severe illness. Dr. Frieden said that five people have severe symptoms, but he added that it will not be until Wednesday that he will be able to release more information about them. There are two other likely cases of swine flu: a 2-year-old Bronx boy, who remains hospitalized but is recovering, and a woman from Brooklyn, who has been treated and released from a hospital. Neither of them has connections to St. Francis, but both have connections to people who have recently traveled to Mexico, Mayor Bloomberg said. And so far, these seem to be the two common factors among all of those who have contracted or shown symptoms of the disease. “That does not mean there aren’t other ways that this has been spread, but these things do seem to repeat, giving us some confidence in the patterns,” the mayor added. The mayor noted that each year tens of thousands of New York State residents get the flu, and that about 2,000 of them die from either pneumonia or the flu. “We suspect that if swine flu continues to spread,” he added, there may likely be deaths in the United States. The mayor tried to reassure the public, saying, “Once again, I want to emphasize that so far, the swine flu here looks like the garden-variety flu and influenza that we see every year.” He added, “We don’t know how widely the swine flu will spread; only time will tell.” Dr. Frieden said the city had enough courses of Tamiflu stockpiled for one million people, and that the drug could be distributed “at a moment’s notice” to city’s hospitals. But the mayor cautioned against a mass run on Tamiflu, saying that only those with confirmed flu should take the medication. The mayor answered questions from reporters — some of them from international news outlets — in the Blue Room at City Hall. “It’s hard to measure the economic impact,” the mayor said, adding, “We just want people to get better.” He added that “we don’t think there will be any appreciable effect.” “Is it worrisome?” he continued. “Everything is worrisome.” But the city’s wide network of health institutions are working closely with private health care providers to monitor the situation, he said. Yana Paskova for The New York Times Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg addressed the swine flu outbreak in a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday.
	John L