Richard Besser, M.D., Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Glen Nowak, director of media relations for the CDC answered questions from the press at 11:30 a.m. today. We listened in on the call, and here are the latest updates.
• More U.S. communities are being affected. Today there are 109 confirmed cases in 11 states, and many more states with suspect cases—the median age 16 years old.
• Emergency declarations will be made in more states, to release funding and resources.
• Federal government is deploying the strategic stockpile of antiviral medications. They are now in 9 states and will be in all states tomorrow. No shortage has been reported by states.
• The CDC’s information line, 800-CDC-INFO has added staff and the wait is now less than 90 seconds.
• CDC is moving forward on vaccine with manufactures. They are hoping to see a reduction in transmissions and then get a swine flu vaccine ready for the fall, after the seasonal flu vaccine is ready.
• Swine flu testing is now available in the labs in Mexico. What we learn from Mexico will be very important for the U.S. We're still trying to understand why the illness in Mexico has been so severe.
• Seeing more transmission in the U.S. and expect to see a broader spectrum of severity.
• Mass transit and flying is safe. Unessential travel to Mexico is not recommended. People with flu symptoms should not travel on mass transit.
• The virus is easy to spread in crowded settings, but we don’t yet know how easily it transmits.
—Kevin McCarthy, associate editor
Keep up to date with our swine-flu coverage and recommendations.
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