St. Francis Prep, the Queens private school where many of the city's swine flu cases originated (some students had gone to Mexico for spring break), has reopened today. Mayor Bloomberg was present to help welcome back the students who had been catching up with homework via the Internet. And the students seem to be glad to get back to normalcy—one student who had the A(H1N1) flue told WABC 7, "I'm feeling great now. After the long break, I'm glad to see everyone else and how they're doing... I'm just hoping the school's clean."
The school was scrubbed down over last week, but some students are just making sure to be safe—some told the Daily News, "I wash my hands more, don't get too close to anyone" and "I have a little hand sanitizer with me. I'm not going to buy any of the food. I brought my own lunch."
There are currently 73 confirmed cases of A(H1N1) in NYC. Yesterday, the Health Department noted, "To date, nearly all confirmed and probable cases have been mild, and all of the affected people have recovered or are recovering. No deaths have been associated with the illness in New York City." In Suffolk County, schools are closed this week as a precaution.
Overseas, Mexico has accused China of discriminating against Mexican citizens; Reuters reports, "Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa accused China at the weekend of discrimination after Beijing ordered dozens of Mexicans into seclusion across the country, although only one, a man now in Hong Kong, has been found to have the H1N1 flu... A spokeswoman for the Mexican Embassy in Beijing said her government planned to send a plane to China to take back confined nationals and other Mexicans who want to leave." The World Health Organization says "20 countries have officially reported 985 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection; Mexico has reported 590 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 25 deaths."
