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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency to help California agencies coordinate efforts in response to the outbreak of swine flu, during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento , Calif., on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
As cases of Swine Flu rise slowly -- and I'll stress this point: still most rather mildly -- in the Bay Area and throughout the state of California, government officials worked to coordinate efforts and provide a clear course of action for public health and safety.
On Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, mostly a formality at this point to best coordinate the state agencies designed to reduce the spread of the disease. Consider that by Wednesday the state had on 14 confirmed cases to understand the use of the "state of emergency" label may be importantly politically but not exactly accurate in the truest sense of the word.
This is not to discount the threat of this pandemic that has reached level 5 (it's second to highest level) by the World Health Organization. By Thursday the San Francisco Chronicle reported Contra Costa, Marin and Santa Clara counties now had a dozen confirmed or probable cases.
Most importantly, school officials were especially aggressive -- rightly so as classrooms are always little incubators for all type of ailments -- closing two schools, one in Pittsburg and one in San Jose where students attended classes after becoming ill with the flu.
President Obama, if he didn't already have enough on his plate, requested $1.5 billion in emergency funding for adding to the supply of antiviral drugs and for tracking the spread of the disease. Meanwhile the Investor's Business Daily said the Swine Flu will surely dent the recent upsurge in the economy, just the latest wave in a sea of it on the financial front.
And still the biggest question that remains among wary citizens who have made a run on medical face masks and hand sanitizer is simply "how can I avoid catching this?" Public concern and/or curiosity was so high searches for swine flu dominated search engines from Google to Wikipedia in recent days.
The answer is just as one would expect. The disease has been spreading for a weeks now. The number of cases, just like any flu, will rise. To stop further spread students and employees are being told to stay home at any sign of flu. avoiding contact with others. The symptoms are quite similar to the 24-hour variety, though many times more extreme -- fever, cough, sore throat, aching muscles, vomiting and diarrhea. In most cases it simply must pass, but if symptoms grow serious, seek immediate medical help.
Emergency room officials from around the state are urging people to first try to see their local doctor to relieve pressure on emergency rooms.
For more information, go to the World Health Organization Web site, or here is a list of Swine Flu questions and answers. CNN put together a helpful lesson about the disease and how to best avoid it. See this report here.
More California News:
- Facebook exec makes interesting attorney general race even more so.
- No let up at 100-day mark for president.
- Gay combat veteran to run for Congress.
- Facebook's political profile growing.
- Newsom says he'll defer to Feinstein, but not for long.
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