H1N1 Swine Flu Warnings In New York Serious H1N1 Swine Flu Case In NY School Closures

New York city has reported it’s first serious case of the Swine Flu H1N1 Virus, but the number of infections in the laregst city in the US has been increaisng at an alarming rate. New school closures are causing residents to become more nervous, and the Mayor of New York admits that the stories of H1N1 swine flu infection are “troubling”, and says that H1N1 Swine flu infection rates in New York are at “unusually high levels”. New York is potentially a prime candidate as a starting point for a pandemic wave of the H1N1 Swine flu. The combination of high population density, ability of the residents to leave, thereby dispersing the infections outward, and areas of poverty with limited access to doctors or medical facilities make it a breeding ground of a pandemic-like spread of H1N1 Swine Flu.

New York City closed three public schools for at least five school days because of “unusually high levels” of flu-like illness, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

“I know that many will find this information troubling, but information I’ve always thought is the best antidote to anxiety and we will continue to provide New Yorkers with clear, accurate and timely information as we have it,” Bloomberg said last night at a City Hall news conference, where he was joined by Governor David Paterson and city schools Chancellor Joel Klein. “By taking common sense precautions and not by overreacting we will get through this together.”

The male assistant principal at Intermediate School 238 in Jamaica, in the city borough of Queens, where more than 50 students have been sent home ill, may have had a pre-existing condition that worsened his illness, Bloomberg said.

Peru confirmed its first case of H1N1 Swine Flu, a 27-year-old woman who traveled to her Lima home from New York, Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said yesterday. Measures such as total shutdown and Social Distancing may not be as viable for containing H1N1 Swine Flu infection in New York as they were in Mexico – and this has the New York school system acting quickly to close down schools immediately.

School Closures

In addition to IS 238, or the Susan B. Anthony School, the schools shut in New York yesterday are Public School 16Q in Corona, Queens, where 29 students were documented with flu-like symptoms, and IS 5Q, the Walter Crowley Intermediate School in Elmhurst, Queens, where 241 students were reported absent.

“We have been carefully monitoring the H1N1 virus, and we’re taking this action today because there are unusually high levels of flu-like illnesses at three public schools,” Bloomberg said yesterday.

A total of 4,500 students attend the three schools. The earliest date the schools may reopen is May 22 under the order put in place after health officials discovered the influenza symptoms. Bloomberg said swine flu has been documented in the assistant principal and four students.