Swine Flu Pedia

When will Mayor Bloomberg finally heed the pleas of anxious public school parents and teachers and order wholesale closings of swine flu-afflicted schools?

What will it take for Hizzoner and the Health Department to shutter at least those buildings in the Queens school districts that have become the epicenter of this new epidemic?

At Public School 21 in Flushing, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed one swine flu case earlier this month, 164 of the school’s 800 students were absent Tuesday.

An additional 20 were sent home by the school nurse with flulike symptoms, PTA President Lorraine Kosnar said.

Meanwhile, 17 teachers - nearly 25% of the staff - are out sick. Several of those teachers are said to have reported high fevers.

At Intermediate School 227 in East Elmhurst, 60 students were sent home with flulike symptoms Monday, two school system sources said.

More than 460 pupils - a third of the entire student body - didn’t show up for class yesterday.

Yet both schools remain open for business.

So are dozens of other Queens schools that have witnessed huge spikes in student absences from flulike symptoms

Parent leaders say they know of several principals who requested that their schools be closed but were ordered to keep them open.

Source from NYDailyNews