April 30, 2009

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
The number of probable cases of swine flu has risen to at least 41 in Illinois on Thursday and with school children among the possible cases, several area schools will close through the weekend.

Sixteen suspected cases are in the city of Chicago, 11 are in surrounding areas of Cook County, two are in DuPage County, seven in Kane County, three in Lake County and one each in McHenry and Will counties, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which said the numbers reported reflect the count as of 6 p.m. Thursday.


SWINE FLU INFO• MAP: Global swine flu alerts
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• CPS: How to protect yourself

But Will County health officials said there are three suspected cases there, and Kane County officials are reporting eight cases. IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said Thursday that information on the number of cases of swine flu (H1N1) is changing quickly.

A "probable" case means lab testing done by the state has found a 99 percent certainty that a person has swine flu, Arnold said. All cases are sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation.

According to the CDC, 109 human casesof swine flu have been confirmed nationwide, with one of those resulting in death.

To help fight the virus, several state agencies and the Illinois National Guard are assisting with repackaging shipments of anti-viral medications and medical supplies delivered Wednesday and Thursday from the federal Strategic National Stockpile, the IDPH said. Chicago received its own portion of the stockpile in a separate shipment, but local health departments and hospitals throughout the state will soon be receiving the repackaged portions of Illinois' shipment, Arnold said.

Thursday afternoon several schools announced they will be closed on Friday as a preventative measure after probable cases of the swine flu were detected.

In Kane County, Batavia High School and Rotolo Middle School in Batavia, Marmion Academy and Bednarcik Junior High in Aurora, and Fox Chase Elementary and Thompson Junior High in Oswego will be closed until Monday. All after-school and weekend activities, practices and meetings are canceled, according to the schools’ Web sites.

A press release from the Kane County Health Dept. said the school closings will help interrupt influenza transmission and protect students, staff and the community. While this is not a prevention action taken for ordinary flu, it makes sense in the early stages of this new swine influenza period, the release said.

A release from Oswego Community Unit School District 308 said two of the district’s probable swine flu cases are under review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and conclusive results are expected in a few days. Parents will be notified, likely Sunday evening, about the status of school for next week and updates will be posted to the district Web site.

In addition to the school closings, the Batavia Park District has canceled all programs and gatherings through Sunday for children in grades six through eight.

Two schools in southwest suburban Joliet -- Farragut Elementary and Sator Sanchez Elementary -- have announced they will be closed until Tuesday due to three probable cases of swine flu in the district, according to the district’s Web site.

Those cases were detected after an 11-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl and a 7-year-old girl, all from Joliet, went to local hospitals. All three have been released and are recovering, according to a release from the Will County Health Dept.

In Chicago, Chicago Public Schools officials announced Thursday that Joyce Kilmer School in Rogers Park will remain closed until further notice. The school was closed Wednesday when a 12-year-old student was determined to be a probable case of swine flu, and officials noticed lower than normal attendance, according to a release.

CPS is monitoring attendance at all schools to determine whether more should close.

Dr. Damon Arnold, state public health director, called all the cases "relatively mild" and said only the 12-year-old girl was hospitalized.

In addition to that child, the Chicago victims are Michael Hairsine, a 20-year-old Loyola University student; a 25-year-old man from Lake View; a 35-year-old woman from Hegewisch, and a 36-year-old woman from Woodlawn.

"As anticipated, we are now seeing cases of swine flu both in the city and the suburbs," said Dr. Terry Mason, head of the Chicago Public Health Department. "And we expect these cases to rise in the days, weeks and months ahead.

www.suntimes.com...#

Originally posted by ofhumandescent

reply to post by mikerussellus

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Excellent post. I enjoyed the humor. Humor is a tremendous help in times of crisis.

If you are a biomed than give us some additional thoughts if you can, on what you think is going on.

Do you suspect this is man made or a natural viral mutation.

I live in the Chicago area and my understanding is there are a few schools that have closed.

That's what I don't understand. Too many conflicting reports.
First, the posts here from Mexico appear to show that there is not the "death and destruction" going on despite what the MSM is telling us.
Second, "media hype" was an answer to a question I had posted here. But all this just for revenue dollars?
Third, my job actually has more of us flying all over CONUS to perform these inspections at an even greater rate. There's a conflict right there.
Fourth, why raise the level to 5 or possible 6? Is this to prevent a "Katrina" like incident just in case there is a great pandemic? I have a friend who is an epidemiologist in DC, he hasn't been tasked for anything specific and it's just business as usual in their section.

It's frustrating. Usually when you have a few pieces of a puzzle, you can put a few together to get an idea of the picture. In this case it looks like pieces from several puzzles.

Originally posted by czacza1
I suppose it was not posted here on ATS yet:

maps.google.com...,-109.335937&spn=101.871352,255.58 5938&z=2

it is a quite accurate map with the cases and its status.
hope it will be helpfull.

greetings to all

Originally posted by jtma508
reply to post by themamayada

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The keyword here is seasonal. The H1N1 viruis is NOT the typical seasonal flu that follows the same vectors each year. Different bug coming from a different reservoir.

Originally posted by theflashor
updates are now at
flutracker.rhizalabs.com...

another good link where you can keep an eye on the severity of this event
www.idemc.org...

[edit on 2-5-2009 by theflashor]