All Swine Flu, All the Time!

As the swine flu death toll in Mexico rose to 149 yesterday (with 2,000 hospitalized), for the first time ever the World Health Organization raised its global epidemic threat level to Phase IV. That's two phases below a full blown pandemic, and the alert means there is sustained human-to-human transmission, with containment is no longer possible.

In New York, the number of confirmed cases at St. Francis prep in Fresh Meadows increased to 28, and doctors estimate that as many as 200 people linked to the school probably have the swine flu. President Obama told reporters yesterday, "This is obviously a cause for concern, but it's not a cause for alarm." And Mayor Bloomberg again urged everyone to stay calm, saying, "There's an important number for New Yorkers to keep in mind, and that number is one. We have one reported cluster of swine flu at one school."

Except now health officials are looking into possible swine flu cases at P.S. 177 in Fresh Meadows, not far from St. Francis Prep! And there's another cluster, or perhaps the start of a cluster, in the heart of Times Square, where an employee at Ernst & Young has come down with the swine flu. Time to panic and exterminate all the pigs? One store in Flushing, Queens, has already reported a run on surgical masks, and in Israel the government officially renamed it "Mexico flu" because pigs aren't kosher. But some media watchdogs say the press is blowing this out of proportion—one journalism professor points out the obvious to the Washington Post: "If you scare people, they'll tune in more."

Still, it's big news when the federal government is bracing for "a full pandemic." No deaths have been reported in the U.S. yet, and in most cases the illness is so mild most patients just need bed rest to recover. But 17-year-old St. Francis senior Sophia Goumakos tells the Post the swine flu has really ruined her on-the-go lifestyle: "I couldn't text anyone. I couldn't watch TV." And the Times takes a close look at the students' fateful spring break trip to Cancun that brought pestilence to our shores, while the Post checks in on another St. Francis teen fighting a 101 degree fever. Her mom says, "My daughter on Friday asked me if she was going to die because of Mexico... She can't pick her head up. It's scary." Not to be outdone, the Daily News spends time with an entire swine flu family in Queens.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on April 28, 2009 10:59 AM

Comments [rss]

grandeur

I wonder if tickets to mexico are any cheaper now?

airtech1

We should prop up Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Paula Radcliffe, and a few Kenyan marathoners to boot as our first line of immuno-defense at the borders.

Past Taliban

I always suspected Mexican people's lack of personal hygiene would eventually come back to bite us in the azz.

grandeur

mexico does not have the money nor infrastructure in certain areas to be as clean as a hotel.

Most of the dirty homes i've seen reside right here in the city. Thoes garbage bags on the sidewalk must be carrying something.

Swine flu isn't lack of personal hygiene, i'm sorry your stereotype isn't fitting in this instance.

TN

CNN just reported that 2 deaths in Los Angeles are being investigated for a possible connection to swine flu.

Snoopy

Did the LAPD also realize that the two had some serious bullet wounds to their chests?

tmz is evil

Anyone getting a 12 Monkeys vibe from all this? Cuz I am!

Alice38NY

We all got full face masks at work. They also gave us all Purell and asked that we use it often. The site for the masks is http://www.ProactiveAndPrepared.com They said that this specific type, the Breath of Life Emergency Escape Mask from Technon, is the best because it protects not only your mouth and nose but eyes too...

Is my boss over-reacting?

Trilby16

I wouldn't mind taking a little bedrest. Please? May I? Maybe the woman sitting next to me on the subway this morning, coughing into the air, infected me. Eh, I should be so lucky....

nomnomnom

I just don't get what all the concern is about. Getting the swine flu is just like getting the regular flu. The only people that should be concerned are the old, infirm, or young. Everyone else can deal with it as they do with any flu.

jules1000

I agree that the panic is overblown, however, the difference between the swine flu and a regular flu is precisely that it is NOT primarily the very young or very old who have been dying (in Mexico), but healthy adult people.

the regular flu usually kills just the very young and very old...

I'm not really concerned at the moment for my own health

Steven

What a shame. The teen isn't able to text. Should we all be crying now?

Outter Burrougher

really, Israel? this flu is somehow kosher and needs to be protected from an association with pig?

and really, Israel? it's better to be offensive to a country than an animal that you already consider to be unclean?

nyrangers

has really ruined her on-the-go lifestyle: "I couldn't text anyone. I couldn't watch TV."

funny.

mrguy

let me get this straight. there are 28 cases in new york, nobody has died yet, and doctors are prescribing BED REST?? This is what everybody is panicked about?

This seems like total bullshit to me, but can somebody clarify? Are there like different levels of swine flu that you can get- a mild one and a deadly one? or did those people in mexico die because of other factors like an already-weakened immune system, other concurrent medical conditions they had, or just poor treatment?

Snoopy

I've been sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose for the last few days. I think it's a regular cold. But if I have the flu perhaps I can get some federal funding for tissues and over the counter medications, plus sue them for allowing Mexicans and Texans from entering this country.