# 3210
The change to the CDC’s guidance a little over a week ago on the closing of schools was a risky one, something that I’m sure wasn’t lost on those who had to make that call.
In the face of what appeared to be a `mild virus’ (and that is a relative term, and probably not applicable if it is your child that’s sick) no doubt it became increasingly difficult to continue to recommend automatic school closures.
There are huge social and economic impacts to mass school closures, and no guarantees that 2-weeks down the road you could re-open a school without immediately seeing another round of illness.
In other words: A very complex and tough decision.
And while (so far) fewer than a dozen schools from around the country have been forced to close again, there are literally thousands of schools that look like they’ll be able to finish out the last couple weeks of the school year.
This from the AP.
Swine flu closes three more schools in Queens
by Associated Press
Sunday May 17, 2009, 3:57 PM
Three more city schools will close because of swine flu, bringing the current total to nine. City health officials announced today that two Queens public schools and one Catholic school would close Monday for up to five school days. They are Middle School 158 in Bayside, Intermediate School 25 in Flushing and Our Lady of Lourdes in Queens Village.
Each of the schools had students with flu-like illness last week.
Six schools were closed last week after hundreds of students became ill with suspected swine flu symptoms. An assistant principal at one school remained critically ill today.
New York City's first outbreak of swine flu occurred about three weeks ago, when more than 1,000 teenagers at a Catholic high school in Queens began falling ill following the return of several students from vacations in Mexico.
