I am finishing up a masters in public health right now, so this is kind of exciting in a perverse kind of way...
That seems like one of those degrees that are like library science where you have about one job you are qualified for.
Not sure if you are kidding or not, but that is pretty off the mark -- you can go into advocacy, health policy, management, health systems, program evaluation, disease surveillance, intervention / program design, health education / behavior change, social marketing, formative research, data collection, biostatistics, epidemiology, vaccine development, work for health departments, bilaterals, multilaterals, NGOs, for profit, philanthropy...no shortage of public health health jobs, even in this recession.
I go to Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and there are 10 departments with between three and six degree programs within each department.
Only young Lewis died from the swine flu itself in 1976. But as the critics are quick to point out, hundreds of Americans were killed or seriously injured by the inoculation the government gave them to stave off the virus.
According to his sister-in-law, John Kent of President Avenue in Lawrence went to his grave in 1997 believing the shot from the government had killed his first wife, Mary, long before her time. Even before Mary Kent died an invalid at age 51 in January 1982, Kent had joined the hundreds of Americans who filed suit against the government on behalf of children left without a parent due to fatal side effects from the swine flu vaccine.
Kent's sister-in-law, also named Mary Kent, recalled the other day that Jack Kent died in 1997 still angrily blaming the government for giving his wife Guillian-Barre, leading to her death.
The swine flu case of 1976 forever reduced confidence in public health pronouncements from the government and helped foster cynicism about federal policy makers that continues to this day.
CNN: "Pandemic Imminent" "all of humanity is under threat during pandemic"
2 confirmed cases in my area with about 30 more suspected. You guys still think this is a joke? Wish I did.
It might get to the point of being a concern, but again thousands of people get the regular flu all the time. I know its not the same and seems to be spreading - but compare that to how the regular flu spreads during the season. This would be considered extremely slow.
It seems like most people in the US are getting regular flu-like symptoms and recovering. And yeah a 2 year old died, which I don't think is out of the realm for the regular flu.
CNN: "Pandemic Imminent" "all of humanity is under threat during pandemic"
2 confirmed cases in my area with about 30 more suspected. You guys still think this is a joke? Wish I did.
It might get to the point of being a concern, but again thousands of people get the regular flu all the time. I know its not the same and seems to be spreading - but compare that to how the regular flu spreads during the season. This would be considered extremely slow.
It seems like most people in the US are getting regular flu-like symptoms and recovering. And yeah a 2 year old died, which I don't think is out of the realm for the regular flu.
True indeed. Some doctors said this could also mutate to become less benign so who knows. I think that's the problem right now - nobody knows wtf any of this is gonna mean in the upcoming weeks. Most likely it will become another flu we all will have to live with from hear on out. The media is pretty good at scaring the shit outta people with giant "PANDEMIC IMMINENT! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIE!" headlines tho.
I only care about my kids anyway. Speaking of, so far 100 schools closed in the U..S. I guess we'll have to wait and see...
Man, I hope they keep giving that wackjob airtime. Supremely entertaining, and plus it makes the Republicans look even more batshit loony than they actually are.
But the swine-flu pandemic never materialized. In retrospect, some critics now say 40 million Americans were vaccinated for nothing.
Of course had that been a pandemic imagine the shit they would've gotten for not doing anything.
I sympathize with the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation, but I think the media's "boogie man" treatment of the whole thing is really ridiculous.
This woman is straight up insane. Are there any Minnesotans in the house who can describe the kind of district that would elect someone like this???
Criticism of Obama's involvement with bailout packages, etc. - ok, I get it.
Criticism of Obama because the swine flu happened to arise 30 years apart because of democratic presidents:
Big rural district near the Twin Cities, a friend of mine lives in her district, and he pretty much lives a Hunter S. Thompson-esque lifestyle on his farm w/llamas and lots of room to shoot guns and tear shit up (Larry,you remember our guitarist Dan B? Crazy dude). He is among a handful of token weirdos out among lots of religious Republicans, rednecks and people who are convinced Big Government are going to make their guns illegal. People who live out in the sticks because 'they' now run the Twin Cities (pick your minority group or oppositional political affiliation). THAT's who elected Bachman. She is an embarrassment even to ex-Minnesotans.
ALSO, don't know if it has been mentioned here, but Bachmann is WRONG, FORD was the prez then, so, even in Crazytown your logic has lost it's center! Total moron.
This woman is straight up insane. Are there any Minnesotans in the house who can describe the kind of district that would elect someone like this???
Criticism of Obama's involvement with bailout packages, etc. - ok, I get it.
Criticism of Obama because the swine flu happened to arise 30 years apart because of democratic presidents:
Big rural district near the Twin Cities, a friend of mine lives in her district, and he pretty much lives a Hunter S. Thompson-esque lifestyle on his farm w/llamas and lots of room to shoot guns and tear shit up (Larry,you remember our guitarist Dan B? Crazy dude). He is among a handful of token weirdos out among lots of religious Republicans, rednecks and people who are convinced Big Government are going to make their guns illegal. People who live out in the sticks because 'they' now run the Twin Cities (pick your minority group or oppositional political affiliation). THAT's who elected Bachman. She is an embarrassment even to ex-Minnesotans.
I remember Dan! I'd have to have guns if I lived amongst Michelle Bachmann supporters...
This woman is straight up insane. Are there any Minnesotans in the house who can describe the kind of district that would elect someone like this???
Criticism of Obama's involvement with bailout packages, etc. - ok, I get it.
Criticism of Obama because the swine flu happened to arise 30 years apart because of democratic presidents:
Big rural district near the Twin Cities, a friend of mine lives in her district, and he pretty much lives a Hunter S. Thompson-esque lifestyle on his farm w/llamas and lots of room to shoot guns and tear shit up (Larry,you remember our guitarist Dan B? Crazy dude). He is among a handful of token weirdos out among lots of religious Republicans, rednecks and people who are convinced Big Government are going to make their guns illegal. People who live out in the sticks because 'they' now run the Twin Cities (pick your minority group or oppositional political affiliation). THAT's who elected Bachman. She is an embarrassment even to ex-Minnesotans.
I remember Dan! I'd have to have guns if I lived amongst Michelle Bachmann supporters...
Dan could take out most people with his bare hands, frankly, his fighting skills are impressive, it's a good thing he's happy crazy. I think he just has some hunting rifles, standard Minnesota sportsman stuff. Dan and I both have the hoarding gene, and he deals in antiques, so his farm looked like a used vehicle lot last I visited, cars, trucks, rv, boat, tractor....and the alpacas!
Like many on the strut I'm more liberal leaning, but I can accept logical or at least well-thought-out republican/conservative arguments. I don't mind when it's something that makes sense but I don't necessarily agree with.
Then you have some fruitcake shit like that.
I would call foul on a democrat or anyone else who let some retarded shit like that fall out of their mouth.
(and trust me Ohio is loaded with retarded Democrats, sadly)
Like many on the strut I'm more liberal leaning, but I can accept logical or at least well-thought-out republican/conservative arguments. I don't mind when it's something that makes sense but I don't necessarily agree with.
Then you have some fruitcake shit like that.
I would call foul on a democrat or anyone else who let some retarded shit like that fall out of their mouth.
(and trust me Ohio is loaded with retarded Democrats, sadly)
MN Republicans have often been far more centrist than their counterparts in, say Iowa or Nebraska, because the Dems in MN had a long lock on the agriculture folks. It is still known,I believe as the DFL, which is Democratic Farm and Labor Party. So even rural areas for YEARS were big Dem areas, and their Republican counterparts probably shared many of the same views. This started to shift in the 80s, and has become very much a 50/50 situation lately, more or less. I say all this to point out that most Republicans in MN are FAR from nuts, they are just on the other side of the aisle. Even Norm Coleman is simply incompetent and thoroughly incapable of indepedent thought without his puppet masters, he is not some total reactionary knucklebeak like Bachmann.
WHO Cautions Public on Alarmist Flu Predictions By Joel Achenbach, David Brown, and Rob Stein Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, May 1, 2009; 1:31 PM
Officials from the World Health Organization today cautioned the public against jumping to any conclusions about the virulence of the swineflu virus, and President Obama said that since the disease is caused by a new strain of the influenza virus, officials are concerned that it could cause more serial disease as it spreads.
Some observers have questioned whether reports have been too alarmist about the new virus, which, outside of Mexico, has resulted in relatively mild symptoms. But Gregory Hartl, spokesman for the WHO, told reporters in a conference call that the devastating Spanish Influenza started out very mild in the spring of 1918, "only to reappear in the autumn of 1918 with a vengeance." That epidemic killed at least 50 million people around the globe. ad_icon
He went on: "It would be remiss of us not to take this extremely seriously. If, at the end of the day, it remains a mild pandemic, or if we could somehow avert the worst of the disease, or stop the worst of the disease, that would be fantastic."
He added, "People should act with common sense rather than panic."
That message was echoed by Obama in remarks to reporters after a cabinet meeting today.
The president said he is pleased with the government efforts on the outbreak and that federal health officials will continue to work together and with state and local officials on the disease and are in discussions about vaccine production. It is important to stay vigilant, Obama said, because even if the disease seems mild in the United States now, "it could come back in a more virulent form during the actual flu season."
"It may turn out that H1N1 . . . runs its course like ordinary flus, in which case we will have prepared and we won't need all these preparations," the president said. "The reason that people are concerned is -- the scientists are concerned is this is a new strain. . . . When you have a new strain, then, potentially, our immune systems can't deal with it as effectively. And there are indications that, in Mexico at least, what you saw were relatively young, healthy people die from these -- from the H1N1 -- rather than people whose immune system is already compromised, older individuals, very small infants, and so forth."
The WHO predicted that it could take four to six months to develop a vaccine against this new strain of flu. The vaccine already in use against seasonal flu is very unlikely to offer protection because the new strain of the virus, officially known as Influenza A (H1N1), is so genetically different from the seasonal strain.
Manufacturers are gearing up for production of a vaccine, said Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research.
"Unless there is very soon a signal that this might not continue, it seems most likely that manufacturers will proceed," she said.
The WHO also announced today that it has confirmed cases of the virus in 11 countries. Cases were reported in Hong Kong and Denmark today.
In the United States, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 141 in 19 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today.
The acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that there is no single best way for communities to respond to the growing outbreak of swine flu, and he played down the role the nation's chief public health agency will play in managing the illness around the country.
"The actions will vary by community, and that's a good thing," said CDC Acting Director Richard Besser. "We'll learn from that what things are more effective and what things are not a good use of resources."
Illustrating the range of responses, 300 schools have canceled classes in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, though the vast majority are open. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) yesterday suspended all high school sports competitions in his state until May 11, while most public officials elsewhere have maintained a wait-and-see attitude.
One consistency, from the Obama administration down, was the effort to convey information without spreading panic.
"I know people are concerned and some people are afraid," Besser said. "And it's important that we do what we can to take those concerns and fears and channel them into personal action and personal planning."
He was certain, however, that the number of cases will rise steeply as the government distributes lab kits that will allow states to test hundreds or thousands of people.
"As we continue to look, we will see more cases in more states," he said. "Unfortunately, I do expect there to be more deaths."
Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization's assistant director general, yesterday cautioned against drawing too much from the WHO's raising of the pandemic alert level two notches this week. The move, he said, "is a warning to countries and the global population that the risk of this spreading to their countries is there." It does not urge any particular response on countries.
European Union health ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, rejected a suggestion from France that European countries suspend their airline flights to Mexico. The Czech health minister, Daniela Filipiova, told a news conference that decisions on flights would be left to individual governments in the 27-nation union.
Meanwhile, Vice President Biden told a talk-show host yesterday that he would not want members of his family to get on an airplane now.
Asked whether people should avoid traveling, Besser said no -- with the exception of anybody who is feeling ill.
"I think flying is safe. Going on the subway is safe. People should go out and live their lives," he said.
The federal government's 227-page National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan, published in May 2006, recommends an "immediate" action at this stage of an outbreak to "limit non-essential passenger travel in affected areas" -- a policy that is not being followed.
As he has in nearly every public appearance, Besser emphasized that some uncertainty and contradictory information are expected. "The microbes don't read the plan, and you need to move away from the plan pretty soon after Day One," he said.
The lack of a strongly prescriptive stance by the government reflects how little is known about what works to slow a pandemic or dampen its effects.
Much of the evidence comes from comparing the experiences of states, cities and villages during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19. Many instituted dramatic policies to increase "social distancing" -- essentially, to keep people apart -- and isolate the ill, but the value of such measures wasn't clear.
Arnold Monto, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, said public health experts are not sure how aggressive officials should be.
"Are we going to close lots of schools and tell people to work at home? A lot of this is based on a question that we don't have an answer to yet, which is: How severe is this going to be?" Monto said. "We don't want to add social disruption to the already severe problems of having a lot of people sick for a long time."
Thomas Inglesby, deputy director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said week-long closures of individual schools where confirmed cases have occurred seems reasonable, but more wide-scale closures for longer periods may not be effective.
"What's not as obvious is if we close schools, does that reduce the risk of getting flu or not? . . . There's a matter of debate abou
t how strong the evidence is whether school closures really reduce the impact of an epidemic," Inglesby said.
He noted that there are negative repercussions of large-scale school closings. Many children get their only good meal of the day at school, and many children with working parents depend on school as a place to go.
As the epidemic develops, several experts noted that the steps individual communities take will continue to vary.
"The things you do in a rural farm town are going to be very different from what you do in a New York City," said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "You need to tailor your efforts to the local setting."
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling and correspondent Edward Cody in Paris contributed to this report.
Comments
Well what do you know!
2 confirmed cases in my area with about 30 more suspected. You guys still think this is a joke? Wish I did.
1976: The Swine Flu Scare[/b]
Only young Lewis died from the swine flu itself in 1976. But as the critics are quick to point out, hundreds of Americans were killed or seriously injured by the inoculation the government gave them to stave off the virus.
According to his sister-in-law, John Kent of President Avenue in Lawrence went to his grave in 1997 believing the shot from the government had killed his first wife, Mary, long before her time.
Even before Mary Kent died an invalid at age 51 in January 1982, Kent had joined the hundreds of Americans who filed suit against the government on behalf of children left without a parent due to fatal side effects from the swine flu vaccine.
Kent's sister-in-law, also named Mary Kent, recalled the other day that Jack Kent died in 1997 still angrily blaming the government for giving his wife Guillian-Barre, leading to her death.
The swine flu case of 1976 forever reduced confidence in public health pronouncements from the government and helped foster cynicism about federal policy makers that continues to this day.
It might get to the point of being a concern, but again thousands of people get the regular flu all the time. I know its not the same and seems to be spreading - but compare that to how the regular flu spreads during the season. This would be considered extremely slow.
It seems like most people in the US are getting regular flu-like symptoms and recovering. And yeah a 2 year old died, which I don't think is out of the realm for the regular flu.
True indeed. Some doctors said this could also mutate to become less benign so who knows. I think that's the problem right now - nobody knows wtf any of this is gonna mean in the upcoming weeks. Most likely it will become another flu we all will have to live with from hear on out. The media is pretty good at scaring the shit outta people with giant "PANDEMIC IMMINENT! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIE!" headlines tho.
I only care about my kids anyway. Speaking of, so far 100 schools closed in the U..S. I guess we'll have to wait and see...
My wife had it last week.
When I have been sick enough to go to the dr, they were only interested in bacterial infections. They never wanted to identify a flu bug.
The virus desires to spread.
It is doubtful it would become stronger.
Dead hosts don't spread viruses.
Please make arrangements to donate your brain to science in case the Swine Flu gets you.
Thank you.
that's exactly right. All the surveillance efforts and government / health system mobilization is really to be ready for that potential outcome.
Soulstrut top ad banner:
Don't get the flu! Protect your family! Get Flucinex"
We are now officially Level 5.
This woman is straight up insane. Are there any Minnesotans in the house who can describe the kind of district that would elect someone like this???
Criticism of Obama's involvement with bailout packages, etc. - ok, I get it.
Criticism of Obama because the swine flu happened to arise 30 years apart because of democratic presidents:
Man, I hope they keep giving that wackjob airtime. Supremely entertaining, and plus it makes the Republicans look even more batshit loony than they actually are.
Of course had that been a pandemic imagine the shit they would've gotten for not doing anything.
I sympathize with the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation, but I think the media's "boogie man" treatment of the whole thing is really ridiculous.
Big rural district near the Twin Cities, a friend of mine lives in her district, and he pretty much lives a Hunter S. Thompson-esque lifestyle on his farm w/llamas and lots of room to shoot guns and tear shit up (Larry,you remember our guitarist Dan B? Crazy dude). He is among a handful of token weirdos out among lots of religious Republicans, rednecks and people who are convinced Big Government are going to make their guns illegal. People who live out in the sticks because 'they' now run the Twin Cities (pick your minority group or oppositional political affiliation). THAT's who elected Bachman. She is an embarrassment even to ex-Minnesotans.
ALSO, don't know if it has been mentioned here, but Bachmann is WRONG, FORD was the prez then, so, even in Crazytown your logic has lost it's center!
Total moron.
I remember Dan! I'd have to have guns if I lived amongst Michelle Bachmann supporters...
Dan could take out most people with his bare hands, frankly, his fighting skills are impressive, it's a good thing he's happy crazy. I think he just has some hunting rifles, standard Minnesota sportsman stuff. Dan and I both have the hoarding gene, and he deals in antiques, so his farm looked like a used vehicle lot last I visited, cars, trucks, rv, boat, tractor....and the alpacas!
Then you have some fruitcake shit like that.
I would call foul on a democrat or anyone else who let some retarded shit like that fall out of their mouth.
(and trust me Ohio is loaded with retarded Democrats, sadly)
MN Republicans have often been far more centrist than their counterparts in, say Iowa or Nebraska, because the Dems in MN had a long lock on the agriculture folks. It is still known,I believe as the DFL, which is Democratic Farm and Labor Party. So even rural areas for YEARS were big Dem areas, and their Republican counterparts probably shared many of the same views. This started to shift in the 80s, and has become very much a 50/50 situation lately, more or less. I say all this to point out that most Republicans in MN are FAR from nuts, they are just on the other side of the aisle. Even Norm Coleman is simply incompetent and thoroughly incapable of indepedent thought without his puppet masters, he is not some total reactionary knucklebeak like Bachmann.
THIS is prime Bachmann
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=artslot
WHO Cautions Public on Alarmist Flu Predictions
By Joel Achenbach, David Brown, and Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 1, 2009; 1:31 PM
Officials from the World Health Organization today cautioned the public against jumping to any conclusions about the virulence of the swineflu virus, and President Obama said that since the disease is caused by a new strain of the influenza virus, officials are concerned that it could cause more serial disease as it spreads.
Some observers have questioned whether reports have been too alarmist about the new virus, which, outside of Mexico, has resulted in relatively mild symptoms. But Gregory Hartl, spokesman for the WHO, told reporters in a conference call that the devastating Spanish Influenza started out very mild in the spring of 1918, "only to reappear in the autumn of 1918 with a vengeance." That epidemic killed at least 50 million people around the globe.
ad_icon
He went on: "It would be remiss of us not to take this extremely seriously. If, at the end of the day, it remains a mild pandemic, or if we could somehow avert the worst of the disease, or stop the worst of the disease, that would be fantastic."
He added, "People should act with common sense rather than panic."
That message was echoed by Obama in remarks to reporters after a cabinet meeting today.
The president said he is pleased with the government efforts on the outbreak and that federal health officials will continue to work together and with state and local officials on the disease and are in discussions about vaccine production. It is important to stay vigilant, Obama said, because even if the disease seems mild in the United States now, "it could come back in a more virulent form during the actual flu season."
"It may turn out that H1N1 . . . runs its course like ordinary flus, in which case we will have prepared and we won't need all these preparations," the president said. "The reason that people are concerned is -- the scientists are concerned is this is a new strain. . . . When you have a new strain, then, potentially, our immune systems can't deal with it as effectively. And there are indications that, in Mexico at least, what you saw were relatively young, healthy people die from these -- from the H1N1 -- rather than people whose immune system is already compromised, older individuals, very small infants, and so forth."
The WHO predicted that it could take four to six months to develop a vaccine against this new strain of flu. The vaccine already in use against seasonal flu is very unlikely to offer protection because the new strain of the virus, officially known as Influenza A (H1N1), is so genetically different from the seasonal strain.
Manufacturers are gearing up for production of a vaccine, said Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research.
"Unless there is very soon a signal that this might not continue, it seems most likely that manufacturers will proceed," she said.
The WHO also announced today that it has confirmed cases of the virus in 11 countries. Cases were reported in Hong Kong and Denmark today.
In the United States, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 141 in 19 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today.
The acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that there is no single best way for communities to respond to the growing outbreak of swine flu, and he played down the role the nation's chief public health agency will play in managing the illness around the country.
"The actions will vary by community, and that's a good thing," said CDC Acting Director Richard Besser. "We'll learn from that what things are more effective and what things are not a good use of resources."
Illustrating the range of responses, 300 schools have canceled classes in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, though the vast majority are open. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) yesterday suspended all high school sports competitions in his state until May 11, while most public officials elsewhere have maintained a wait-and-see attitude.
One consistency, from the Obama administration down, was the effort to convey information without spreading panic.
"I know people are concerned and some people are afraid," Besser said. "And it's important that we do what we can to take those concerns and fears and channel them into personal action and personal planning."
He was certain, however, that the number of cases will rise steeply as the government distributes lab kits that will allow states to test hundreds or thousands of people.
"As we continue to look, we will see more cases in more states," he said. "Unfortunately, I do expect there to be more deaths."
Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization's assistant director general, yesterday cautioned against drawing too much from the WHO's raising of the pandemic alert level two notches this week. The move, he said, "is a warning to countries and the global population that the risk of this spreading to their countries is there." It does not urge any particular response on countries.
European Union health ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, rejected a suggestion from France that European countries suspend their airline flights to Mexico. The Czech health minister, Daniela Filipiova, told a news conference that decisions on flights would be left to individual governments in the 27-nation union.
Meanwhile, Vice President Biden told a talk-show host yesterday that he would not want members of his family to get on an airplane now.
Asked whether people should avoid traveling, Besser said no -- with the exception of anybody who is feeling ill.
"I think flying is safe. Going on the subway is safe. People should go out and live their lives," he said.
The federal government's 227-page National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan, published in May 2006, recommends an "immediate" action at this stage of an outbreak to "limit non-essential passenger travel in affected areas" -- a policy that is not being followed.
As he has in nearly every public appearance, Besser emphasized that some uncertainty and contradictory information are expected. "The microbes don't read the plan, and you need to move away from the plan pretty soon after Day One," he said.
The lack of a strongly prescriptive stance by the government reflects how little is known about what works to slow a pandemic or dampen its effects.
Much of the evidence comes from comparing the experiences of states, cities and villages during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19. Many instituted dramatic policies to increase "social distancing" -- essentially, to keep people apart -- and isolate the ill, but the value of such measures wasn't clear.
Arnold Monto, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, said public health experts are not sure how aggressive officials should be.
"Are we going to close lots of schools and tell people to work at home? A lot of this is based on a question that we don't have an answer to yet, which is: How severe is this going to be?" Monto said. "We don't want to add social disruption to the already severe problems of having a lot of people sick for a long time."
Thomas Inglesby, deputy director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said week-long closures of individual schools where confirmed cases have occurred seems reasonable, but more wide-scale closures for longer periods may not be effective.
"What's not as obvious is if we close schools, does that reduce the risk of getting flu or not? . . . There's a matter of debate abou t how strong the evidence is whether school closures really reduce the impact of an epidemic," Inglesby said.
He noted that there are negative repercussions of large-scale school closings. Many children get their only good meal of the day at school, and many children with working parents depend on school as a place to go.
As the epidemic develops, several experts noted that the steps individual communities take will continue to vary.
"The things you do in a rural farm town are going to be very different from what you do in a New York City," said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "You need to tailor your efforts to the local setting."
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling and correspondent Edward Cody in Paris contributed to this report.
http://likeathrottle.blogspot.com/2009/04/this-is-another-public-service.html