Probable swine flu closes (Chicago) Rogers Park school

[sabra]

Source: Chicago Trib

A probable case of swine flu has prompted the closing of a North Side elementary school for at least two days.

The case involves a student at Kilmer Elementary School, 6700 N. Greenview Ave. in the Rogers Park neighborhood, Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman said at a morning press conference at the school.

Chicago Public Health Commissioner Terry Mason said the student "is recovered at home." Ald. Joe Moore (49th) said the student is 12.

Huberman said tests on the student have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and he expects results back in 24 to 36 hours.

...

The Kilmer student population of 850 is 60 percent Hispanic. It has a teaching staff of 46. The school is also in a heavily Hispanic populated area of the Rogers Park neighborhood. The swine flu has taken its heaviest toll in Mexico.

Read more: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/could-swine-flu-cause-a-n-side-school-to-close.html

[hedgehog]

1. From what I can see, most of the cases in the US are associated with people

who vacationed in Mexico, not Mexicans who are living in the US! If anyone needs to be isolated, it's people rich enough to do a lot of traveling, not the people they hire to mow the lawn!

[dalaigh lllama]

3. Exactly. This article seems written to increase paranoia

about Mexicans who live here -- irresponsible of them, I think.

[dalaigh lllama]

2. You know, if this gets worse, they need to emphasize

that Hispanics in USA are not all flu carriers. The last paragraph in your link seems worded to increase the xenophobic hysteria amongst the ignorant. I wish they had said whether or not the victim had been to Mexico recently, which would be more newsworthy criteria than how many Hispanics are in the school.