Re: Confirmed/Suspected Cases in New York State outside NYC
News updates for 6/19/09:
Reported by WRGB CBS 6 News in Albany, NY:
Albany County Health officials reporting a spike in flu cases around the county, an upsurge in emergency room visits, and higher school absences.*
Henry Johnson Charter School has closed until Monday after more 30 of its 200 students and 2 staff members were home sick Wednesday with flu symptoms. A school concert and a Father's Day Assembly have been postponed because of* the outbreak.*
A spokesman for the Albany County Health Department tells CBS 6 News that the time for normal seasonal flu has passed and the cases of flu cropping up now are probably swine flu.* However Health officials are not advising schools to close saying the illness is mild. Classes at Henry Johnson Charter School will resume Monday.*
Albany City School district is also reporting a slight increase in flu-related absences.
http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/flu-1264206-cases-officials.html
Reported by the Buffalo News in Buffalo, NY:
Swine flu cases increasing in Erie County
Swine flu cases continue to spread in Erie County. A small but growing number of people are getting sick enough from the flu to require hospitalization and, in some cases, treatment in intensive-care units, the county health commissioner said Thursday.
Dr. Anthony J. Billittier IV said the most severe cases so far have involved both adults and children, but ? citing privacy laws ? he declined to comment on reports that a student at Buffalo?s School 59 on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway is seriously ill with swine flu.
?We have had, and continue to have, people in the hospital,? Billittier said. ?Some of them have been in the intensive-care unit and have been very sick.?
Erie County now has 154 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu, but the actual number is thought to be considerably higher because many people are not tested.
In general, symptoms have been ?mild to moderate,? Billittier said, and no deaths have been reported locally from swine flu.
Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore said teachers have heard reports that a School 59 student is seriously ill but that school officials have not provided any official information. Teachers are eager to learn the facts and to know whether the situation presents danger to them or other students, Rumore said.
School officials could not be reached to comment late Thursday.
School 59 is one of seven local schools ? six of them in Buffalo ? that have had sustained transmission of the flu.
The H1N1 influenza outbreak in the United States so far appears to be hitting younger people the most, with 57 percent of the cases reported in people ages 5 to 24 and 41 percent of the hospitalizations among this
group, according to data presented last week by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the highest rate of hospitalization is among children younger than 5.
The federal agency has confirmed about 1,000 hospitalizations from the new strain of flu, and 71 percent of the hospitalized patients have suffered from underlying conditions such as asthma, immune deficiencies or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, officials said.
?A small percentage of people will become very sick,? Billittier said. ?I think that?s what we?re seeing here in Erie County.?
As of early June, there were 17,855 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States and 44 deaths. The seasonal flu causes an estimated 36,000 deaths each year.
Billittier continued to urge people to wash their hands fully and often, to use tissues when they cough or sneeze, and to stay home from work or school when they have flulike symptoms.
?It?s ?mom and apple pie? stuff,? he said. ?It may not appear to work, but it does work. We all have a responsibility to other people.?
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/708169.html
Reported by WGRZ TV in Buffalo, NY:
Student at Dr. Charles Drew Science Magnet School in Critical Condition
A letter informing parents of a case of swine flu at a Buffalo Public School was sent home with students on Thursday. The sick child attends Dr. Charles Drew Science Magnet School #59, next to the Science Museum. According to the Teachers Union President, the child is in critical condition.
Buffalo Teachers' Federation President Phil Rumore tells us at least one teacher notified the BTF of the student's illness yesterday.
School district officials cannot comment on the case due to health privacy laws.
According to the Erie County Health Commissioner, "this is a not a school disease this is a community disease, the virus is not contained in the walls of the school it's contained in the bodies of people."
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=67819&provider=gnews
Reported by the Niagara Gazette:
Falls Schools: Gaskill reports 2 swine flu cases
Staff Reports
Niagara Gazette
Two Gaskill Prep School students were confirmed to have swine flu by the Niagara County Health Department on Thursday, according to Niagara Falls School District officials.
Ages or other information about the students wasn?t provided Thursday night.
Gaskill parents were notified by automatic messaging system Thursday evening. The school is expected to be cleaned and all precautions are being taken, a school official said late Thursday night.
The school will be open today, according to the district official.
The students will be out of school for at least seven days as required by the Health Department.
Interim Superintendent Cynthia Bianco and Deputy Superintendent Mark Laurrie did not return calls seeking comment Thursday night.
http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_169223920.html
Reported by the Post Standard in Syracuse, NY:
3 More Onondaga County Schools placed on Swine Flu List
by Elizabeth Doran / The Post-Standard
Thursday June 18, 2009, 9:10 PM
Three more schools have been added in the past week to the list of those with probable cases of H1N1, or swine flu, according to the Onondaga County Health Department.
New probable cases of the illness have been reported in the Jowonio School in Syracuse; Lyncourt Elementary in the Solvay School District and Onondaga Central Junior-Senior High School, health department officials said.
So far, there have been 83 confirmed cases county wide of H1N1 flu; 44 probable cases and 21 hospitalized. There were 11 patients hospitalized in the week ending Wednesday, the most for any week so far, officials said.
As of Wednesday, only those hospitalized with symptoms are being tested for H1N1, meaning suspected cases in school will only be reported as probable cases, said Melanie Drotar, health department spokeswoman.
County Health Commissioner Cynthia Morrow said local labs are still reporting the number of overall influenza cases. Morrow said the number of cases, which is about 120 in the past two weeks, is about equal to what the county saw at the peak of seasonal flu season in the second week of March. She believes nearly all of the current cases are H1N1.
"This continues to be a relatively mild illness, particularly for healthy children who seem to bounce back very quickly," she said.
Children who attend schools who become mildly ill with flu-like symptoms do not need to be tested, according to the Health Department. Anyone with mild flu-like symptoms should stay at home and not go to an emergency room or urgent care center, the health department has said. Anyone with moderate to severe symptoms is advised to contact their health care provider.
Elizabeth Doran can be reached at
edoran@syracuse.com or 470-3012.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/three_more_onondaga_county_sch.html
Reported by WKTV in Cooperstown, NY:
Otsego County swine flu cases up to 18
By EVAN WHITE
Story Created: Jun 17, 2009 at 3:58 PM EDT
Story Updated: Jun 18, 2009 at 11:35 AM EDT
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (WKTV) - The Department of Health in Otsego County has confirmed 18 positive cases of swine flu in the area.Of the 18 total cases; 8 students are from Cooperstown High School, 7 from Morris Central School, 2 from Oneonta High School and 1 additional case in which officials declined to discuss.
School districts in Morris and Cooperstown have been sending letters home to parents describing swine flu and what can be done to deal with and prevent it. In addition, the districts have stepped up cleaning efforts to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Some of the tips include staying home if you are sick, especially if there is a fever of 100 degrees or above.
School officials in Morris say they began noticing problems about two weeks ago after dozens of students age 12-13 started showing up at the nurses office with temperatures above 100 degrees.
Approximately 12-15 students per day were sent home during a recent one week stretch, according to School Nurse Kim Schlosser.
The school later found out from the Otsego County Health Department that it had seven positive cases of swine flu.
On Wednesday, results for eight of nine students in Cooperstown exhibiting flu symptoms turned out to be positive.
Classes for most of the 475 students are over with regents exams scheduled for next week. Officials say the number of flu cases has slowed as a result.
Health officials say the cases locally have been mild and no one has died. They also said the 18 confirmed cases is likely just a snapshot of the overall cases in this county since not everyone exhibiting flu like signs are tested for the H1N1 virus.
http://www.wktv.com/news/local/48276967.html
Reported by the Albany Times Union in Albany, NY:
Pandemic Swine flu won't give us a break
Global reach of illness made clear as area sees unusual June caseload
*
By HUMBERTO MART?NEZ, Staff writer
First published in print: Friday, June 19, 2009
ALBANY -- Local hospitals and schools are feeling the effects of a rare June outbreak of flu, including cases of swine flu, health officials say.
*
Albany Medical Center, which saw no cases of flu in June 2008, has seen at least 43 cases this month, including 8 confirmed cases of H1N1, or swine flu, spokeswoman Nicole Pitaniello said.
On Thursday, Henry Johnson Charter School in Albany closed for the remainder of the week after 36 of 194 students and two teachers were sick on Wednesday.
The number of regular flu cases is unusually high at Albany Medical Center, Pitaniello said. The state Health Department also confirmed that influenza is circulating in the state at unusually high levels.
Department spokesman Tom Allocco said the majority of flu cases in the state recently have been H1N1.
Last week, the Health Department reported one case of swine flu in Albany County. On Thursday, it reported seven. But that jump was normal and not considered a "spike," Allocco said.
Local and state health officials said H1N1 is making a normal progression through the state.
"H1N1 has become increasingly widespread in New York State over the past several weeks and months, as we expected it would," the Health Department said in a statement. "We are seeing more confirmed cases reported from upstate counties every day now than we were a few weeks back. ... More people are likely to be exposed to it now, as opposed to a month ago. Seeing more cases is not a surprise, and doesn't indicate anything new about the virus."
On June 11, the World Health Organization declared swine flu to be a global pandemic, with more than 70 countries reporting cases of the illness. According to a June 12 CDC report, there were 17,855 confirmed and probable cases of swine flu in the U.S., with 44 deaths related to the disease. On Thursday, the state Health Department said there had been 1,709 cases in the state.
Saratoga County now has three cases, Schenectady County has six and Rensselaer county has six cases. On Wednesday, Warren County confirmed its first case.
Albany Medical is implementing stricter rules to prevent the disease from spreading, including restricted visitations.
Most people with flu at Albany Med were outpatients or clinic visitors, but nine were hospital workers. In an e-mail to employees, Albany Medical Center Executive Vice President Steven Frisch warned managers to keep an eye on employees who may be getting infected.
"We are beginning to see employees developing flu-like symptoms," Frisch wrote. "It is imperative that staff understand the importance of tracking employee absenteeism during this time when calling in sick. They must report if their absenteeism is due to flu-like symptoms."
Pitaniello said that though personnel are required to wear protective gear at work, outside the hospital they can catch the flu like anyone else.
"This is a community issue," Pitaniello said. "And anybody can be vulnerable to develop flu-like symptoms."
Saratoga Hospital and St. Peter's Hospital in Albany reported they were seeing a normal number of influenza cases. A spokesman for Samaritan Hospital in Troy said they were seeing more cases for upper-respiratory and flu-like symptoms, but couldn't give specific numbers.
Pitaniello said that while swine flu has been receiving less attention than it did some time back, it is still a concern. People will stay at home and treat themselves, so the true number of cases is unknown. The only way to get an idea of the flu's impact is to watch absentee patterns in schools and workplaces.
Ron Lesko, spokesman for the city school district of Albany, said that like Henry Johnson Charter School, they have seen a rise in students absent for flu-like symptoms, though not as significant.
Other Capital Region cases of swine flu started showing up in schools in late May and June, including a Schenectady High School student, a Troy school student and Shenendehowa middle schooler. Most of the students were reported as having mild symptoms and returned within a week.
Humberto Mart?nez can be reached at 454-5057 or
hmartinez@timesunion.com. Staff writer Robert Gavin contributed to this story.
What to look for
H1N1 symptoms are similar to those of seasonal flu, which include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. According to the CDC, a significant number of people who have been infected with this new H1N1 virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting.
If you get it
H1N1 is a subtype of the seasonal flu most are familiar with and stay home for. You could be ill for up to a week. The CDC recommends you stay at home and avoid contact with others to avoid spreading the illness. If you are seriously ill or need to leave your home, wear a mask or cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=811868
Reported by the Watertown Daily Times in Watertown, NY:
4 tested for Swine Flu in St. Lawrence County
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2009
CANTON ? Four St. Lawrence County residents are being tested for swine flu, according to Public Health officials.
Deborah M. Kent, interim Public Health director, said samples were taken from one adult and three children. She did not say where they live.
"Two had been hospitalized and two had not, but they met the criteria for being suspicious," she said.
Mrs. Kent said swine flu, or H1N1 virus, is suspected when a patient has symptoms similar to seasonal flu, like fever and respiratory illness, that are more severe and steadily worsen.
She said she expects to receive the state's test results today.
The county so far has reported only one confirmed H1N1 case, an inmate at Riverview Correctional Facility, Ogdensburg.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090617/NEWS05/306179970
Reported by the East Hampton Star:
Swine Flu in Sag Harbor
By Taylor K. Vecsey
(06/18/2009) ** The Sag Harbor School District announced last week that two of its high school students had the swine flu virus.
*** John Gratto, the superintendent, made the announcement last Thursday, both in a letter to parents and in a posting on the district?s Web site. He said Dr. Mark Kot of Southampton had informed the district that two Pierson High School students had confirmed cases of the H1N1 influenza A virus. In the letter Dr. Gratto said the students would not return to school until Dr. Kot had cleared them.
*** Yesterday Dr. Gratto said the students had been cleared and returned to school earlier this week, having spent almost seven days at home before he was even informed they had the virus. They were busy taking finals and Regents exams, he said, adding that there have been no further cases.
*** Dr. Gratto said he did not want parents, students, or staff members to be alarmed. He had asked the County Health Department how to proceed, he said, and it recommended that anyone with flu-like symptoms stay home from school for seven days after they appeared, or for at least 24 hours after they went away.
*** ?Any student illness should be reported to the school nurse or other designated school official immediately,? Dr. Gratto said the Health Department advised.
*** It did not recommend that school be closed, he said, adding that the department said that ?the severity of H1N1 is less than originally thought, and the advice is to treat it as any seasonal flu.?
*** Until last week?s cases in Sag Harbor, the easternmost case of swine flu on Long Island had been in Hampton Bays.
*** On Monday, the County Health Department announced the deaths of two Brookhaven Town residents linked to the swine flu. Both people, a man and a woman, had underlying medical conditions.
*** The man, who was between 35 and 45, had been hospitalized two weeks ago with several medical problems, including pneumonia. He died on June 10. The woman, between 55 and 65, had reported a fever, dry cough, and a sore throat on June 6. She died three days later.
*** As of Monday there had been 81 confirmed cases in Suffolk County since the pandemic began on April 26.
http://www.easthamptonstar.com/dnn/Advertise/Home/News/SwineFlu/tabid/9144/Default.aspx
Reported by the Shawangunk Journal:
Swine Flu Strikes Ellenville School Trip
Eighth Graders Return from Boston with Symptoms
By Chris Rowley
ELLENVILLE ? On Wednesday morning, June 17, the first confirmed diagnosis of swine flu arrived at the Ellenville School District. By 1:30 p.m. that day, a letter had gone out to all parents warning them that a student had been diagnosed with swine flu and that the student was being treated at home.
More than 90 students from the Ellenville School District went on a field trip to the Boston area last week, June 11-13.
"The field trip is taken every year," said Superintendent of Schools, Lisa Wiles. "They visit the historical sites around Boston."
Upon their return on Saturday evening, a number of them are believed to have complained of fevers and flu-like symptoms. However, as of Monday, June 15, Wiles said, "There was no reported swine flu here."
Nor was there any reported swine flu in the schools on Tuesday morning.
However, on Tuesday afternoon, Tyler Fitzgerald of Napanoch, who had been on the trip to Boston, was diagnosed by the Ulster County Health Department as having swine flu. By that time a letter had gone out from the district to all parents to say that no swine flu had been confirmed.
At 11:45 p.m. that night, Catherine Fitzgerald, Tyler's mother, called Superintendent Wiles at her home to inform her that Tyler had swine flu.
Wiles explained the process. "I have to make sure that any information we have about something like this is correct and confirmed before we release it."
At 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17, Ellenville Regional Hospital reported that they had no confirmed cases of swine flu.
The hospital noted that those individuals who were vulnerable to the complications from swine flu, should contact their doctors if they began having flu-like symptoms. Vulnerable groups include those under five or over 65 years of age, pregnant women, anyone with chronic pulmonary or cardio-vascular disease, or with kidney or liver disease. Chemotherapy patients and those with HIV are also considered vulnerable.
At the Ellenville School District, the administration was encouraging students to wash their hands frequently and to use the hand sanitizers that were installed recently.
Calls to the Ulster County Health Department were not immediately returned.
http://www.shawangunkjournal.com/2009/06/18/news/0906180.html
?? (tell that to the parents!)
