04-29-2009, 06:26 PM
9 probable swine flu cases in state, 3 schools close
April 29, 2009 6:08 PM | 43 Comments | UPDATED STORY
Three schools in the Chicago area have been closed as nine probable cases of swine flu were reported today by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The "relatively mild" cases include a 12-year-old girl at Kilmer Elementary School on Chicago's North Side. Chicago Public School officials said the school will be closed for at least two days.
Two of the other cases are in Kane County, where two schools are closing until Monday.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Terry Mason discusses the city's response to possible swine flu cases during an afternoon news conference. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Rotolo Middle School in Batavia is being closed as a preventative measure. All activities and practices are canceled, as well. "Our first priority is the safety of our students, faculty and community," said Superintendent Jack Barshinger in a statement issued Wednesday.
Marmion Academy, a Catholic-Benedictine High School in Aurora, also has a probable case and is closed until Monday, said a spokesperson.
Neither school had any information on the students, due to confidentiality laws.
"The health department was acting with an abundance of caution," when it asked the schools to close, said Tom Schlueter, spokesman for the Kane County Health Department. At both schoools, there was a probable case of swine flu, coupled with a higher than average rate of absenteeism.
"This was a lot more than little Johnny's feeling sick," Schlueter said.
Both schools co-operated.
"The've been great. They're working with us and asking good questions," he said.
Schlueter said that future decisions to close schools, should further cases appear, will be made on an individual basis.
He could not provide additional information about the victims in the two cases.
Officials at all three schools are awaiting further lab testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tests by the Illinois Department of Public Health found people who likely fell ill from the new flu virus in suburbs and city neighborhoods, including five in Chicago, one in DuPage County, two in Kane County and one in Lake County, ranging in age from 6 to 57.
The 12-year-old at Kilmer lives in Rogers Park, city officials said. The other probable city cases are: a 20-year-old man, also from Rogers Park; a 25-year-old man from Lake View; a 36-year-old woman from Woodlawn; a 35-year-old woman from Hegewisch.
In the suburbs, the cases were: a 27-year-old man in Elmhurst; an 18-year-old man in Geneva, in Kane County; a 12-year-old girl in Kane County; and a 6-year-old girl in Lake County.
At this point, there are no school closures in Lake County as a result of the swine flu. The probable case reported Wednesday involves a school-age child, but county health officials said there is evidence the child had not yet enrolled in a local school.
"It's very important to understand exactly what we're dealing with," said Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Damon Arnold, explaining that the situation bore no resemblance to the flu pandemic of 1918. "In 1918 we had no medications. ... We have emergency services systems we never had before."
"The name of the game is take your own pulse. Relax," Arnold said.
So far, officials have stuck to warnings about hand washing and limiting exposure to crowds, and have not expanded school closings beyond Kilmer Elementary School, 6700 N. Greenview Ave., in the Rogers Park neighborhood, where it seemed likely at least one student had the virus.
A proclamation by Gov. Pat Quinn freed up state assets to distribute medical supplies already on the way from U.S. Homeland Security stockpiles.
"We have to spend whatever is necessary to protect the public's health and safety," Quinn said at an afternoon news conference in Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. "When it comes to public health, that's our top priority in government."
Illinois government officials began taking the precautions amid a flu outbreak that already has caused one death in Texas and 159 in Mexico and has sickened thousands of people in places as widely separated as Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Israel. Five new states announced Wednesday that they had confirmed cases of swine flu, bringing to the total number of states with confirmed cases to 10.
The rapid spread of the virus prompted school closings in Illinois, New York City, Texas, California, South Carolina, Connecticut, Minnesota and Ohio. Hard-hit Mexico had already suspended all schools until May 6. On Wednesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration and the state suspended high school sports competitions until May 11.
In Illinois, Cinco de Mayo festivals scheduled for this weekend were cancelled in Mundelein and at Navy Pier, organizers said.
"We decided that in order to keep everybody safe, we would go through the problem and cancel the event this year," said Eduardo Rodriguez, chairman of the Navy Pier event. Five months' planning and "a considerable amount" of money were lost in the cancellation, he said. "We're going to err on the side of caution and make sure that our community, at least, is safe."
Public health authorities said the virus has been spreading easily, but cases have rarely been fatal. There is no vaccine.
Officials around the world, faced with the extent of the outbreak and magnitude of public concern over it, took steps to limit the exposure wherever swine flu cases were confirmed or strongly suspected.
Illinois was taking no chances, while also urging the public not to panic.
Chicago Public Schools Chief Ron Huberman said school officials had been checking attendance rates at all its other schools today, looking for any drop in attendance greater than 5 percentage points.
"It's fluid. We are monitoring schools," he said.
School officials had been braced for the flu strain to raise its head as early as Sunday, when Chicago Public Schools headquarters reached out to the system's 680 principals.
Officials closed Kilmer Elementary School after attendance fell 9 percentage points on Tuesday. The school will remain closed at least through Thursday.
The decision to close the school was made Tuesday night after the state reported initial results of the probable swine flu case, Huberman said.
The Kilmer student population of 850 is 60 percent Hispanic. The school is also in a heavily Hispanic populated area of the Rogers Park neighborhood. The swine flu has taken its heaviest toll in Mexico.
A few parents tried to bring their children to Kilmer this morning but were turned away by staff handing out a flier, in English and Spanish, saying there had been a "confirmed" case of swine flu at the school.
Nevertheless, Chicago Public Schools spokewoman Monique Bond said the case remained probable and had not yet been confirmed.
Parents who live in the neighborhood and have children at Kilmer said they were concerned their children may have been exposed by children who were sick and should have been kept out of school.
Arlette Crawford, who lives near Kilmer, said her daughter, 5, is in preschool and was sitting next to a girl who was sick.
The girl's mother dismissed Crawford's concerns about her illness, she said. Two brothers, ages six and 7, and another girl, 8, had to go to the hospital with flu symptoms last night, she said.
Mason said there are no other suspected cases of swine flu at Kilmer. He said there are no plans to disinfect the school, stressing the problem is not with the building but with students infecting each other.
"It's children coughing, sneezing on each other," he said.
The first U.S. death from swine flu was confirmed today--a 23-month-old child in Texas.
Mason said Tuesday that people should be on guard and take preventive measures such as frequent hand washing with soap and water and boosting immune systems with water, vegetables and sleep. He said that officials are taking efforts to make sure that if the illness hits the area, it is contained.
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April 29, 2009 6:08 PM | 43 Comments | UPDATED STORY
Three schools in the Chicago area have been closed as nine probable cases of swine flu were reported today by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The "relatively mild" cases include a 12-year-old girl at Kilmer Elementary School on Chicago's North Side. Chicago Public School officials said the school will be closed for at least two days.
Two of the other cases are in Kane County, where two schools are closing until Monday.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Terry Mason discusses the city's response to possible swine flu cases during an afternoon news conference. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Rotolo Middle School in Batavia is being closed as a preventative measure. All activities and practices are canceled, as well. "Our first priority is the safety of our students, faculty and community," said Superintendent Jack Barshinger in a statement issued Wednesday.
Marmion Academy, a Catholic-Benedictine High School in Aurora, also has a probable case and is closed until Monday, said a spokesperson.
Neither school had any information on the students, due to confidentiality laws.
"The health department was acting with an abundance of caution," when it asked the schools to close, said Tom Schlueter, spokesman for the Kane County Health Department. At both schoools, there was a probable case of swine flu, coupled with a higher than average rate of absenteeism.
"This was a lot more than little Johnny's feeling sick," Schlueter said.
Both schools co-operated.
"The've been great. They're working with us and asking good questions," he said.
Schlueter said that future decisions to close schools, should further cases appear, will be made on an individual basis.
He could not provide additional information about the victims in the two cases.
Officials at all three schools are awaiting further lab testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tests by the Illinois Department of Public Health found people who likely fell ill from the new flu virus in suburbs and city neighborhoods, including five in Chicago, one in DuPage County, two in Kane County and one in Lake County, ranging in age from 6 to 57.
The 12-year-old at Kilmer lives in Rogers Park, city officials said. The other probable city cases are: a 20-year-old man, also from Rogers Park; a 25-year-old man from Lake View; a 36-year-old woman from Woodlawn; a 35-year-old woman from Hegewisch.
In the suburbs, the cases were: a 27-year-old man in Elmhurst; an 18-year-old man in Geneva, in Kane County; a 12-year-old girl in Kane County; and a 6-year-old girl in Lake County.
At this point, there are no school closures in Lake County as a result of the swine flu. The probable case reported Wednesday involves a school-age child, but county health officials said there is evidence the child had not yet enrolled in a local school.
"It's very important to understand exactly what we're dealing with," said Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Damon Arnold, explaining that the situation bore no resemblance to the flu pandemic of 1918. "In 1918 we had no medications. ... We have emergency services systems we never had before."
"The name of the game is take your own pulse. Relax," Arnold said.
So far, officials have stuck to warnings about hand washing and limiting exposure to crowds, and have not expanded school closings beyond Kilmer Elementary School, 6700 N. Greenview Ave., in the Rogers Park neighborhood, where it seemed likely at least one student had the virus.
A proclamation by Gov. Pat Quinn freed up state assets to distribute medical supplies already on the way from U.S. Homeland Security stockpiles.
"We have to spend whatever is necessary to protect the public's health and safety," Quinn said at an afternoon news conference in Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. "When it comes to public health, that's our top priority in government."
Illinois government officials began taking the precautions amid a flu outbreak that already has caused one death in Texas and 159 in Mexico and has sickened thousands of people in places as widely separated as Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Israel. Five new states announced Wednesday that they had confirmed cases of swine flu, bringing to the total number of states with confirmed cases to 10.
The rapid spread of the virus prompted school closings in Illinois, New York City, Texas, California, South Carolina, Connecticut, Minnesota and Ohio. Hard-hit Mexico had already suspended all schools until May 6. On Wednesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration and the state suspended high school sports competitions until May 11.
In Illinois, Cinco de Mayo festivals scheduled for this weekend were cancelled in Mundelein and at Navy Pier, organizers said.
"We decided that in order to keep everybody safe, we would go through the problem and cancel the event this year," said Eduardo Rodriguez, chairman of the Navy Pier event. Five months' planning and "a considerable amount" of money were lost in the cancellation, he said. "We're going to err on the side of caution and make sure that our community, at least, is safe."
Public health authorities said the virus has been spreading easily, but cases have rarely been fatal. There is no vaccine.
Officials around the world, faced with the extent of the outbreak and magnitude of public concern over it, took steps to limit the exposure wherever swine flu cases were confirmed or strongly suspected.
Illinois was taking no chances, while also urging the public not to panic.
Chicago Public Schools Chief Ron Huberman said school officials had been checking attendance rates at all its other schools today, looking for any drop in attendance greater than 5 percentage points.
"It's fluid. We are monitoring schools," he said.
School officials had been braced for the flu strain to raise its head as early as Sunday, when Chicago Public Schools headquarters reached out to the system's 680 principals.
Officials closed Kilmer Elementary School after attendance fell 9 percentage points on Tuesday. The school will remain closed at least through Thursday.
The decision to close the school was made Tuesday night after the state reported initial results of the probable swine flu case, Huberman said.
The Kilmer student population of 850 is 60 percent Hispanic. The school is also in a heavily Hispanic populated area of the Rogers Park neighborhood. The swine flu has taken its heaviest toll in Mexico.
A few parents tried to bring their children to Kilmer this morning but were turned away by staff handing out a flier, in English and Spanish, saying there had been a "confirmed" case of swine flu at the school.
Nevertheless, Chicago Public Schools spokewoman Monique Bond said the case remained probable and had not yet been confirmed.
Parents who live in the neighborhood and have children at Kilmer said they were concerned their children may have been exposed by children who were sick and should have been kept out of school.
Arlette Crawford, who lives near Kilmer, said her daughter, 5, is in preschool and was sitting next to a girl who was sick.
The girl's mother dismissed Crawford's concerns about her illness, she said. Two brothers, ages six and 7, and another girl, 8, had to go to the hospital with flu symptoms last night, she said.
Mason said there are no other suspected cases of swine flu at Kilmer. He said there are no plans to disinfect the school, stressing the problem is not with the building but with students infecting each other.
"It's children coughing, sneezing on each other," he said.
The first U.S. death from swine flu was confirmed today--a 23-month-old child in Texas.
Mason said Tuesday that people should be on guard and take preventive measures such as frequent hand washing with soap and water and boosting immune systems with water, vegetables and sleep. He said that officials are taking efforts to make sure that if the illness hits the area, it is contained.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/more-probable-swine-flu-cases-in-illinois.html">http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009 ... inois.html</a><!-- m -->