Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Swine flu: to close schools or not?


In today’s Daily News, Juan Gonzalez takes a good look at the report of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) on the swine flu which has some very worrisome warnings and advice that the Bloomberg administration seems intent on ignoring.

Last spring, Mayor Bloomberg insisted on more than one occasion that shutting schools "has absolutely nothing to do with the spread of the disease." The city closed only about 50 schools - and usually only in response to the demands of angry parents.

The panel urges that our leaders learn from the experiences of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Mexico and Japan, which have used more aggressive policies on school closings so far. ….The report says that "there is significant evidence, as well as logic, to support the idea that school closure ... can reduce virus transmission," while it also notes that local communities will have to weigh the "tradeoffs between the medical benefit gained and social disruption caused by school or institutional closure."

To see the PCAST report , click here (pdf).

4 comments:

NYC Educator said...

Why rely on evidence and logic when you have Bill Gates ready to pour surreptitious millions into valuable PR?

Unknown said...

Ya according to me school must be off for few days so that students get not infected by this dangerous flu... And if it not possible then school management must provide the specially prepared medical kit for the prevention of this...

Thanks
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ICTS study guide said...

Swine-flu is a decease spreads rapidly and its meditation is very necessary.Obviously schools should be close.

kaney said...

Vaccine making is not an easy process. Each February experts make a decision about what type of flu vaccine to produce for the upcoming season and as you might imagine, this year's outbreak of A (H1N1) and the production of a swine flu vaccination has disrupted that schedule a bit.

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