Poynter Online
Go


Top Story

Young Journalists Use Facebook Ads to Reach Prospective Employers
Most Recent Articles
Most E-mailed
Recent Comments
Recent Tags
Community Activity

Poynter Training
Poynter Seminars
Small, in-person training experiences.
News University
Today's most popular courses on NewsU, Poynter's e-learning site for journalists.
Webinars
Our online classroom is just a click away. Learn more.
All Webinars

Al's Morning Meeting

Home > Al's Morning Meeting
Tools: Text Sizeor, Print, RSSRSS, Subscribe via e-mail
Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
POYNTER GROUPS
Find and join conversations about Reporting, Writing & Editing and Online & Multimedia.

CHECK AL's
TWITTER FEED for nonstop story ideas throughout the day.

UPDATED: JOIN AL ON THE ROAD AND LIVE ONLINE

APPLY FOR BROADCAST AND ONLINE SEMINARS

SEND AL YOUR STORY IDEAS

A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


*1. StinkyJournalism.org's "Dubious Polling" Awards list is worth a read.

*2. Find out why a six-hour flight now takes seven. Airlines are "baking in" extra time to make up for long delays.

*3. Check out RTDNA's News and Terrorism workshop chat site.

4. BusinessWeek has highlighted big corporations that are pouring millions into Haiti relief.

5. Amazing: how phone apps helped save a man's life after he was buried by the Haiti earthquake.

6. The New York Times explains how cancer-treatment radiation saves lives, and ruins some.

*7. Here are some great databases that newsrooms have created to help connect people with their community.

8. A new study explores the media habits of teens.

9. The pros and cons of evangelizing on Facebook.

10. The FCC investigates the health and future of local news.

11. Brookings assesses Obama's first year in office

12. Why you better be careful when covering 100th birthdays!

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


Covering The Swine Flu, As U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency
Posted by Al Tompkins at 9:42 PM on Apr. 26, 2009
A dangerous and never-before-seen flu strain has claimed at least 81 lives and sickened more than a thousand people in Mexico and has spread to the United States. The CDC says it will issue daily updates here.

As of Sunday night, 20 cases had been confirmed in the United States.  (Ohio-one case, Kansas-2 cases, New York-8 cases, California-7 cases and Texas-two cases.)  None of the swine flu cases in the U.S. has been as severe as those reported in Mexico.

Over the weekend, The World Health Organization called the "swine flu" outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern."

U.S. officials declared a public health emergency on Sunday. The declaration included a recommendation that school systems get prepared to close if necessary to stem the spread of the flu. The New York Times reported:

"The emergency declaration frees government resources to be used toward diagnosing or preventing additional cases, and releases money for more antiviral drugs. ...

"Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ... called the emergency declaration 'standard operating procedure,' and said it should be considered a 'declaration of emergency preparedness.'

" 'Really that's what we're doing right now,' she said. 'We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size of seriousness of this outbreak is going to be.'

"...So far, there have been no deaths from swine flu in the United States, and only one of the people who tested positive for the disease has been hospitalized, officials said.

"Still, officials said they expect more severe cases."

There are other reports of suspected flu cases. The New Zealand Herald reported Sunday night:

NZ Health Minister Tony Ryall has this evening confirmed ten positive influenza results from testing carried out on 13 Rangitoto College students who returned from Mexico early yesterday morning.

"Ministry of Health officials advise me there is no guarantee these students have swine influenza, but they consider it likely.

The Ottawa Citizen says cases are showing up in Canada:

Canadian health officials reported six “mild” cases of swine flu on Sunday — the first confirmed cases in Canada since an outbreak of the illness began in Mexico several days ago — and warned there could be more cases in the days ahead.

Other suspected cases have shown up in Scotland, France and Spain.

Reuters said:

"Mexico City has closed universities and schools until further notice, suspended all major public events and advised people feeling flu-like symptoms to stay home from work.

"Mexico City's busiest subway stations are handing out face masks to passengers to use on crowded train carriages. The city government has closed museums, including the popular Anthropology Museum.

"Authorities recommend people avoid crowded places and have cautioned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or to share food, glasses or cutlery.

"The government has also extended the deadline on filing tax returns by a month to the end of May."

So far there have been no travel or trade restrictions to or from Mexico.

Reuters said:

"U.S. Commerce Department data show about 5.9 million U.S. citizens flew to Mexico in 2008.

"The last major health-related disruption of air travel occurred during the 2002-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, outbreak, which killed hundreds of people around the world.

"The outbreak, which began in China, came on the heels of the Sept. 11 attacks and hit earnings for airlines with large operations in Asia.

" 'Avian flu in 1997 and SARS in 2002-2003 killed economic activity, so a swine flu problem in 2009 might result in more of the same,' said Stephen Schork, editor of the Schork Report, an energy-related newsletter in Philadelphia.

"In 2008, Mexico was the top export market for U.S. beef, with sales valued at nearly $1.4 billion. It was the No. 2 market for U.S. pork, valued at $691.28 million."

The good news is the virus seems to respond to some medicines.

The last big swine flu scare was in 1976.

Background from the CDC:


Read More In This Series:
Tools:
Comment, e-mail, Permalink, Share
Recent Comments:
Context, please. I'm seeing a lot of absence of context in the... More.
Read All Comments (2 comments)
Username
Password
New User? Signup Now
Poynter Careers
More media jobs