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).

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4 comments:

  1. NYC EducatorAugust 26, 2009 at 12:39 PM

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

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 1, 2009 at 4:33 AM

    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
    English schools

    ReplyDelete
  3. ICTS study guideSeptember 16, 2009 at 4:19 AM

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

    ReplyDelete
  4. kaneyJanuary 5, 2012 at 12:22 AM

    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.

    EPA-DHA Extra Strength Kaprex

    ReplyDelete