According to a CNN report, the assistant principal of a NY middle school dies Sunday of complications from the “swine” flu (H1N1.)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/17/ny.flu.death/index.html?eref=rss_health
Just last Friday President Obama named New York City’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, as the new head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The Atlanta-based CDC has a map and list of infections by state
http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm.
Although it seems to be running about 48 to 72 hours behind current events – for example, the map and data were last updated May 15 at 11:00a.m. ET as I file this story at 9:30 a.m. EST on Monday May 18.
Not exactly being updated in a New York Minute, or a New York Second, perhaps that is why the new head of the CDC will be from New York.
(BTW, the definition of a New York Second is the shortest measurable period of time – it is the pause between when a street light turns green and the first taxi horn honks.)
If you can’t wait, the daily WHO updates are found at http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/updates/en/index.html.
May 17th’s map is at
http://www.who.int/csr/don/H1N1map200905017.jpg
New York officials announced Friday that 3,000 more students will have a week off because of the threat of the flu.
The schools are being closed in Queens and Brooklyn.
So far most health officials in the U.S. and Europe are still saying this is acting much more like a normal seasonal flu outbreak rather than a highly dangerous virus strain such as the dreaded Bird Flu (H5N1) which has an extremely high mortality rate even when patients get excellent medical care.
