Latest Swine Flu Update: County Postpones Non-Essential Gatherings

EL PASO — The City of El Paso Department of Public Health identified eight suspect cases of swine flu on Thursday, city health spokeswoman Tammy Fonce-Olivas said.

The laboratory samples are being forwarded to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further testing, and the results are expected within five days.

The Department of Public Health continues to investigate the suspected cases, Fonce-Olivas said.

No other information about the cases was released.

A new hotline for information on the swine flu in El Paso County has been set up in English and Spanish. Call (915) 577-0970 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

After hours the public may call (888) 777-5320, an information service on swine flu provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The public may also call 2-1-1 around the clock, or 24/7, for information about swine flu.

The Department of Public Health recommends that citizens avoid overwhelming emergency rooms or doctors’ offices if under usual circumstances they wouldn’t seek medical care for their illness since this could delay service for those who are seriously ill.

For more resourceson swine flu, go to the ABC-7 Swine Flu page.

EL PASO COUNTY — All county departments and officials are encouraged to postpone unofficial social gatherings pending recommendations from public health officials.

A May 5th open house intended to inform residents about county services and a county employees appreciation picnic have been postponed until further notice, county officials said.

A news conference will be held Friday at 11:30 a.m. to address the swine flu response.

JUAREZ — Juarez has no confirmed cases of swine flu, Juarez health officials told ABC-7.

NEW MEXICO — The New Mexico Department of Health reports that it is sending two more probable cases of swine flu to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. The new samples are from a 14-year-old female and 15-year-old male both from Socorro County.

The Department of Health previously reported two probable cases in an 18-year-old male from Valencia County and a 1-year-old male from Santa Fe County, who was hospitalized. All four cases are recovering, officials said.

So far, the department has determined that the first two cases did not have exposures to public schools or contact with Mexico that would have caused their illness. The department does not have information yet about potential exposure of the most recent cases.

For general questions about swine flu, call the state’s Swine Influenza Hotline at 1-866-850-5893. People who have symptoms may call the Nurse Advice New Mexico at 1-877-725-2552. The department also set up a specific hotline for callers who speak Spanish: 1-800-784-0394.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Swine flu has been ruled out as the cause of a death of a 6-year-old Las Cruces boy on Tuesday, the Dona Ana County officials said. The University of New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator made the announcement Thursday.

Investigators said the boy never exhibited flu-like symptoms.

No further information on the boy’s cause of death was released.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The governing body for Texas high school athletics has decided to go ahead with regional track competitions and push the state meet into June.

The decision Thursday comes a day after the University Interscholastic League said it was canceling the regional meets in response to the swine flu outbreak.

The UIL will stick with its plan to postpone all athletic events through May 11. The 20 regional meets will be held on various days after that, and the state meet will be held June 5-6 on the University of Texas campus. The state meet had been scheduled for May 13-15.

Locally, El Paso ISD also has canceled UIL as well as all other out-of-town student travel until May 11. However, campus activities such as prom, field trips, concert, etc. will remain as scheduled.

Ysleta ISD will continue to have local afterschool activities but will adhere to the UIL interscholastic and inter-district mandate. “YISD is monitoring the situation, and any additional information regarding local events will be announced as required for our school district,” district spokeswoman Patricia Ayala said.

EL PASO — The High School Mariachi Battle of the Bands at the County Coliseum has been rescheduled from Friday. It will now be held May 15 due to the postponement of UIL events until May 11 because of the swine flu.

HOUSTON (AP) – Special Olympics Texas has canceled its spring games across the state amid concerns about swine flu.

Games that were scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Houston, Wichita Falls, Dallas, Waco, Amarillo, San Antonio, Laredo and the Gulf Coast area have been canceled and will not be rescheduled.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Health officials are reporting another 10 cases of swine flu in Texas, bringing the state’s number of confirmed infections to 26.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported Thursday that most of the confirmed cases continue to be in Guadalupe County, where at least eight people have the virus. Dallas County has three cases, while there is no information yet about where 10 of the cases in Texas were confirmed.

Health officials say the latest known illness onset was Friday.

McALLEN, Texas (AP) – A Mexico City toddler who became the first swine-flu death on U.S. soil spent a day shopping at a huge indoor mall in Houston one day before he began to show symptoms.

PRESIDIO, Texas (AP) – State parks are canceling a planned weekend party at the Big Bend Ranch State Park because of fears of the swine flu pandemic.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Tom Harvey said Thursday the sprawling park will stay open, but planned tours and a free barbecue scheduled for the weekend have been canceled.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – More than 200 Texas school closings over swine flu fears are causing dilemmas for parents of some 130,000 students, such as missing work, paying for child care or trying to stop teens from hanging out – the reason schools closed in the first place.

The strain may be felt most in Fort Worth, where all 144 public schools – with 80,000 students – will be closed through at least May 8 because of one confirmed case of the virus. The decision was announced Wednesday night by school district officials.

MEXICO CITY (AP) -Mexico’s health secretary says the number of new swine flu cases is stabilizing.

Jose Angel Cordova says he hopes that trend will continue and that a vaccine will be available in six months.

He says Mexico has 260 confirmed swine flu cases, including 12 deaths. But he says he’ll stop updating his count of suspected cases and deaths, which had stood at about 2,500 and 168.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Health officials on Thursday stressed people with flulike symptoms should avoid public transportation but said everyone else needs only to follow commonsense precautions.

The CDC and officials in several states have confirmed at least 116 cases. They are in New York, Texas, California, South Carolina and scattered cases in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado, Georgia and Maine. Four cases have beenconfirmed so far among University of Delaware students.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration stood solidly against closing the U.S.-Mexico border, with Vice President Joe Biden calling it “a monumental undertaking” that would do little good.

CHICAGO (AP) – Immigration-rights rallies are set for Friday as health officials try to clamp down on a swine flu epidemic with roots in the same country as many of the expected demonstrators: Mexico.

Organizers of the May Day rallies, which have drawn thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people in recent years, said they would look to recommendations from public health officials about whether to cancel or modify the events.

BOSTON (AP) – Churches around the country are trying to ensure that passing the plate doesn’t pass on the swine flu.

Close contact is part of worship in many faiths, but handshakes, praying close to one another and sharing a communion cup are ways to spread the flu.

Some Catholic dioceses, including in Miami and Austin, Texas, won’t offer communion wine.