Panama Suspends Classes in Four Schools Due To Swine Flu Outbreak
(panama-guide.com) Panamanian health authorities have ordered the closure of four schools due to the detection and confirmation of H1N1 Swine Flu infection in students attending those facilities.
The four schools ordered closed are the Instituto Episcopal San Cristóbal in Parque Lefevre, the Colegio International Oxford (Oxford International School) located on Via España, the Angel María Herrera school located in the Coclé province, and in the Western Panama province the C.E.B.G. Residential Vacamonte.
All of these schools will remain closed for at least one week, and health care authorities have ordered a deep cleaning and disinfection of these facilities in an attempt to control the spread of the virus.
Authorities are warning against panic or alarm, but simultaneously they want the population to take effective preventative measures to help slow the spread of the disease. (See Comments)
Editor's Comment: This is a prudent move. As of today, 11 May 2009, there have been fifteen confirmed cases of H1N1 Swine Flu infection in Panama, and four of those cases were in school aged children who were attending classes in these four facilities that have been ordered closed. This will allow authorities to clean the facilities, as well as to potentially identify any of the classmates of the four students who might have been exposed to the virus, who would currently be in the incubation process. These kinds of efforts can still be effective when the numbers are in the tens or dozens, but once there are hundreds or thousands of cases then there's no longer any practical hope of containing the spread of the virus. At this point health authorities will be communicating with the teachers and parents of the students attending these schools to help identify any students who might be getting ill. the next steps will be to take similar actions where the other eleven adult victims worked or studied.
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Original Source: Telemetro.com
Translation and Editor's comment by Don Winner from Panama-guide.com
Date Retrieved: May 12, 2009.
