Swine Flu Reasserts Itself In New York City; 3 Schools Shuttered

Just days after saying that the City wouldn't consider shuttering schools that may have been affected by swine flu outbreaks, the City has closed three schools through the end of next week because of several hundred cases of suspected flu.

Just as many New Yorkers were beginning to forget the threat of swine flu, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a hastily called news conference Thursday evening that swine flu had been confirmed in the sick man, whom colleagues identified as Mitchell Wiener, the assistant principal of Intermediate School 238 in Hollis. He was being treated at Flushing Hospital Medical Center, where he was on a ventilator.

Mr. Bloomberg said Mr. Wiener appeared to have had some health problems that could have made him more susceptible to the virus. His colleagues and friends said he had diabetes and sometimes walked with a cane.

In addition to Mr. Wiener, who is in his 50s, four students at I.S. 238 have been confirmed as having swine flu, officials said, and more than 50 students have been sent home with flulike symptoms since May 6.

The city’s Education Department decided Thursday to close that school, along with Public School 16 in Corona, where 29 students went to the nurse’s office Thursday with influenzalike symptoms, and I.S. 5 in Elmhurst, where 241 students were reported absent Thursday. Officials said the plan is to reopen those schools next Friday.

I have a personal connection to this as my brother in law works at one of the affected schools and he had been telling us that there had been quite a few absences from class of late - far more than a typical day.

The closures mean that the potential transmission between students is thwarted because students wont be in close contact. The City also scaled back its testing for swine flu as it became evident that swine flu is more mild than typical flu. However, as I've repeatedly noted, the regular flu kills nearly 36,000 people and sickens anywhere from 5-20% of the nation every year. The situation gets more attention since a name was placed on this particular strain, which is one of many that circulate around the globe naturally and which evolve on a constant basis.

These three schools were closed because of the unusually high percentage of flu cases.

Meanwhile, a vigil is being held for Assistant Principal Mitchell Weiner, who is suffering from complications of swine flu and is in critical condition at a Queens hospital. Weiner appears to have had a preexisting condition, which made his case more difficult to treat, although the Daily News ominously claims that this may be a mutated version of the influenza (ignoring and/or omitting that the regular flu kills thousands annually).

It's one thing to be cautious, it's quite another to blow things out of proportion. The media needs to keep its perspective on the situation.

UPDATE:
There's some question about the accuracy of reports claiming that Weiner had a preexisting condition. New reports indicate that Weiner had gout, but no other ailments at the time he came down with the flu. Also, his wife claims that the City botched its response to a growing number of cases at Weiner's school in Queens because the principal wasn't given the ability to shutter the school before Weiner came down with the ailment.

Bonnie Wiener, whose husband, Mitchell, is assistant principal of Susan B. Anthony Intermediate School in Hollis, one of three schools closed by the latest swine flu outbreak, said the city health department denied the principal's request to close the school because of suspected swine flu cases there.

"If he [the principal] was allowed to shut the school down, my husband would not be in this condition," she said.

Three Queens schools -- IS 5, the Walter Crowley Intermediate School, in Flushing; PS 16, an elementary school in Corona, and Susan B. Anthony -- are closed through next Friday after hundreds of students were sent home sick this week....

(snip)Bonnie Wiener said her husband called the city Department of Health after meeting with four students at his school who reported feeling ill May 8 with flulike symptoms. He told the department he was concerned the students may have swine flu, she said.

"He was chastised by the [department] of health or someone higher that he was setting off a panic," Bonnie Wiener said. "The man said there is nothing to worry about."

She said the health department official told her husband, "Even if it is swine flu, it is still diluted."