U.S. Flu Cases Up, Over 400 Schools Close

Obama Voices Hope That H1N1 Virus Will Run Its Course "Like Ordinary Flus"; Airlines Cut Seats Sold To Mexico

(AP)  Scores more schools shut down around the country because of the swine flu virus at week's end and Education Secretary Arne Duncan offered tips to teachers and students on how to deal with classroom interruptions.

Federal officials closely watched developments as at least two dozen new cases of swine flu were reported.

President Barack Obama, whose administration has taken a high profile to offer reassurances and advice about the threat, expressed hopes the swine flu will run its course "like ordinary flus." Health officials suggested the virus now appears less ominous than it did at first.

"I'm optimistic that we're going to be able to manage this effectively," Mr. Obama said Friday. But he said the federal government is preparing as if the worst is still to come so that it won't be caught flat-footed.

"This is a new strain of the flu virus, and because we haven't developed an immunity to it, it has more potential to cause us harm," the president said in his radio and Internet address Saturday. "Unlike the various strains of animal flu that have emerged in the past, it's a flu that is spreading from human to human. This creates the potential for a pandemic, which is why we are acting quickly and aggressively."

The government issued new guidance for schools with confirmed cases, saying they should close for at least 14 days because children can be contagious for seven to 10 days from when they get sick. That means parents can expect to have children at home for longer than previously thought.

The Education Department said that more than 430 schools had closed, affecting about 245,000 children in 18 states. That was about 100 more schools reported closed than reported on Thursday.

The latest developments in the flu scare - more intense in neighboring Mexico than in the United States - came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the virus had been confirmed in more U.S. states.

Confirmed cases had risen from 109 on Thursday to 161 Friday, the CDC said, with the flu reported in about double the number of states as the 11 reported Thursday. The U.S. death toll remained at one - the Mexican toddler who visited Texas with his family and died there.

Mexico has confirmed more than 300 swine flu cases and has 16 confirmed deaths, although reports have indicated that roughly 120 may have died from it.

Worldwide, the total confirmed cases numbered more than 650, although officials believe there are many more.

The CDC said that the virus was continuing to spread, though no faster than the rate of the regular winter flu.

"We think the cases do continue to occur," said CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat. But CDC also said the new swine flu virus lacks genes that made the 1918 pandemic strain so deadly.

While emphasizing at a news conference that the closures to date represent a tiny fraction of the almost 100,000 schools in the country, Duncan instructed teachers, parents and students to be prepared if their school does close.

To teachers, Duncan said: "Think about reworking upcoming lesson plans so students can do their schoolwork at home if necessary."

To parents: "Learn about what they're learning at school. Keep them on task."

And to students: "Don't fall behind your peers at other schools that are still in session. Keep working hard."

Major U.S. airlines announced plans to curtail flights into Mexico.

Many travelers have become increasingly concerned about going to Mexico, though authorities there said new cases were leveling off.

U.S. travelers have been advised to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico. Continental Airlines Inc., the biggest U.S. carrier to Mexico, said Friday it would halve the number of seats it sells to fly there. Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines also announced plans for reduced flights to Mexico, while smaller carriers were following suit.

Though most U.S. cases have been relatively mild and have not required a doctor's visit, U.S. precautions include shipping millions of doses of anti-flu drugs to states in case they're needed, replenishing the U.S. strategic stockpile with millions more treatment courses, and shipping 400,000 treatment courses to Mexico.

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2009 H1N1 Flu Outbreak Map:
This is a map depicting confirmed and suspected cases of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, with contributors from all over the world, from a variety of backgrounds including health, journalism, technology.

[Dgunner]

SEARINGTRUTH, Just a note on your post. I was part of a anyi-viral anti-biological warfare rsponse team for 13 years . what you are wanting is a just and very good idea however, it is not the smart people who would have a problem with social seperation. Except. This would take the cooperation ofhundreds of thousands people and it would only take one infected p[erson with the IQ of a rock to desroy the foundational values of the seperation idea. If the CDC OR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES couldn't find that one person or out fear of prosecution could hide and stay hidden until they think the time is right to reappear in public and kill hundreds more later on.Never forget the baseline of dormat carriers. these are people whose immunne syste,ms may harbour the virus and not show signs under the recorded mean number of the viruses intial impact. This is where we are at this point. It would pose more of a threat if the outside ignorant where to threaten the well being of thousands because they were afraid of the repucussion of not obeying the laws or restriction put in place. It is better to know where evryone is and who is getting ill than break the avenue of travel. Right now we know. With social seperation this would not be possible.. It would only take one sleeper to start it over again.

[searingtruth]

Fellow citizens,

My one year old niece is ill and is now being tested for H1N1 a day after my aunt's probable infection was sent in for testing. To protect their privacy I can only say that they live in San Joaquin County.

And yet today San Joaquin County is listed as having only one "probable" case, even though there are articles about a 31 year old female from Tracy being a probable case, and an elementary school in Linden being shut down because a student has a probable case. And no, my aunt and niece live in neither of these cities.

So now with this personal experience, It appears that the CDC is either purposely lying about infections, or at least to slow or negligent to report them accurately. The most logical answer is that they are trying to prevent panic, and are therefore releasing information as slowly as possible. However, I have no proof of this, just a concern that multiple probable cases are not being reported accurately.

My friends, over the last few weeks some have claimed me to be overreacting, or seeking to induce panic, but I am not. I am merely trying to save lives, so let me reiterate the problem we face.

First of all, some have been comforted by reports that the current virus is not as deadly, at least in the US, as the Spanish flu virus. And this is indeed good news.

However, most people don't know the history of the Spanish flue pandemic. The 1918 pandemic "Spanish flu" virus appeared twice. First towards the end of the flu season as the current virus has, and it was similarly contagious, but produced relatively mild illness as does the virus we are experiencing today.

However, it then reappeared at the beginning of the next flu season in a mutated version that had an extremely high mortality rate, and killed approximately 50 million people worldwide.

That is why we must eradicate this virus in its infancy, so it cannot continue to circulate and mutate.

For we allow it to persist at our own peril.

So please call your Governors today and demand immediate social distancing, which is the only way to stop the spread of asymptomatic contagion. If we had done this when I first raised the alarm, I'm sure that many of the cases we are now seeing would not have occurred.
ST


"Fellow citizens,

Even before the first unfortunate death occurred in this pandemic, I felt it was critical that as many as possible call their Governors and demand the immediate imposition of social distancing, which means the temporary closing of all our borders, schools, non-essential businesses and public transportation, and a request that as many as possible stay in their homes. While this is indeed an extreme response, I believe the following information will convince you to agree, and call your Governors and demand that the spread of this virus be minimized.

So first of all, let's look at why I believe this virus, which while called the swine flu is actually a combination of swine, avian, and human influenza, is likely to spread to unacceptable levels without prophylactic (this means before infection is detected) social distancing.

If you go to "http://www.lanl.gov/news/images/avianflu.shtml" you can view three successive pictures of the Los Alamos supercomputer Pinks simulations of the spread of an airborne avian virus over 130 days, introduced by only 10 infected persons in LA, without prophylactic social distancing. These pictures represent the optimum outcome if we use travel restrictions, anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu, and limited social distancing after the detection of infection. The second picture (90 days) shows the best we can hope for.

The link at the bottom has a Quicktime video link to what we can expect with no action at all. If you can't view Quicktime then you can view the same video at "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htnh7pBBtrM"

For an explanation of the death pattern of this virus, you can read the article at "http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011701113.html" for the University of Wisconsin's Spanish Flu study.

This article explains what can best be characterized as "Immune System Shock" where mature immune systems attack our bodies as much or more than the virus, and why young and old immune systems, because of their inefficient response, attack with less efficiency.

Fellow citizens, I don't want to panic anyone, I simply want you to know the truth we face, in hopes you'll contact your Governors so later panic will not be necessary.

My greatest hope is that you, and all those you love, never suffer, and never die such a horrific and needless death."
SearingTruth, April 24, 2009

A Future of the Brave

[crelld]

400* my bad

[crelld]

Norcass-

I dont think the media is hyping up anything, especially the right wing. go to foxnews.com and you'll have to look hard to find a swine flu story. And the last time a swine flu story WAS headlining over there, it was mocking it.

This and other articles on cbsnews definitely arent hyping anything up either. they are not insinuating a pandemic, just reporting cases and deaths and comments from political figures.

If anything the media is DOWNplaying it.

So we're at 125ish cases? yet 300 schools close? i think this virus is infecting many more people than the media is reporting

[norcalruss]

HOG FARMS MAY BE IMPLICATED IN H1N1 2009 VIRUS

According to a number of virus experts, massive US "hog factory" farms are literally incubating viruses capable of spreading through the human population. These experts have traced the origin of H1N1 swine flu to these farms, already, says Wired Magazine.
++++++++++++++++++
Well lets kill off the piggies then, I don?t care much for bacon anyway.

[norcalruss]

I think this flu is a lot of overblown hype being manipulated by rightwing, xenophobes to blame it on Mexico and send troops to the border or some whack ***** like that. Influenza kills 30 or 40 thousand Americans EACH year. What has the Swine flu done, killed a few dozen?

[TXFLET]

I don't make fun of anyone because of their nationality, but YOU might want to get your facts straight. No one in the US has died from a confirmed case of the swine flu as of this point.

[slantedview]

Actually, it is not killing Americans yet and it's most probable that it won't - or at least not very many, since most of us have access to over the counter flu drugs to reduce fever, can stay hydrated and have access to health care if needed.

As with all flu - the ones at greatest risk for severe symptoms and death are the infirmed (already sick), babies and the elderly. This flu has been over-hyped and will run its course like all flus - no more a "killer" than any other. You can wear a mask and disinfect your hands every 5 minutes if it makes you feel better but it won't keep it from gradually spreading and eventually petering out anyway. I'm amazed at the overkill and fear that has been perpetuated by the press and the local governments over this.

Apparently ignorance doesn't have a race or nationality. Your concern is touching... who cares what you think.

[mav547166]

Lets see now that we have run the circle of "The world is ending tommorow because of {insert your concern here}" stories I guess we will be back to overpopulation, global cooling or warming whatever next week. The media should leave the flu horror stories to Stephen King and Captain Tripps in "The Stand". Its more realistic than this tripe.