New York school vice-principal dies from swine Flu

Assistant principal Wiener - handout photo

A New York assistant school principal has died from Swine Flu and city officials who closed additional schools on Sunday are being blamed for acting too late to close the school where he had worked. The critics said authorities did not close the school even though the virus had already been identified among some kids.

A spokesman for Flushing Hospital confirmed the death of Mitchell Wiener, 55,  of intermediate school 238 in Queens. This is the fifth flu related death in the United States where cases of Swine Flu continue to escalate. (Read this as well : Two among eight dead in U.S. were school teachers.)

At the same time, The New York Daily News quoted the angry wife of the school principal saying authorities should have acted sooner to close the school where flu had already been identified.

The newspaper said when the  principal tried to close the school authorities told him he was causing a panic.

Initially, the Centers for Disease Control ordered schools closed even if a single case of Swine Flu was identified. But Canadian officials advised schools to remain open even if there was a case of Swine Flu.

The CDC later revised its guidelines to suggest school closure would be left up to local authorities. The flip-flop by the CDC is also likely to come under attack.

There were 4714 cases of Swine Flu in the U.S. when the latest report was available. Updates are not issued on weekends.

On Friday, New York authorities closed three schools and on Sunday they ordered five more schools closed as more students became ill from suspected Swine Flu.

Posted by News Editor on May 17 2009. Filed under Featured, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry