Article 14

Well, aren't we just the coolest..lol. At least we know that the school is doing something right. Although, it's funny to me that I have not personally heard anything about it while on campus. I don't ever check myLeo account. So there has got to be a better way to get information out to commuter students.

Commerce swine flu preparations garner national attention

By STAFF REPORTS
The Commerce Journal

Commerce’s preparations for swine flu received national attention Tuesday — with a segment on NBC Nightly News. The newscast featured interviews with city mayor Quay Throgmorton, county judge John Horn and Emergency Management Coordinator Richard Hill. As well as views of A&M-Commerce, the school district and the city’s preparations.

In other swine flu news, the UIL track meet scheduled for this weekend at Texas A&M-Commerce was canceled as state officials took extreme cautions despite few cases of sickness.



School District on alert

The Commerce Independent School District has no known or suspect cases of swine flu, its director of health services reported this week.

“Commerce ISD wants to assure you we are doing everything possible to prevent a swine flu outbreak,” Jennifer Speulda said in a letter that went out to the students’ parents and guardians Tuesday. “We are prepared in the event we do begin to see cases. Commerce ISD is putting forth the extra money and time so that our custodial staff can thoroughly disinfect our campuses and buses.”



County prepared

Hunt County emergency management officials are taking steps to control a possible pandemic.

“We are taking a very proactive approach,” said Emergency Management Coordinator Richard Hill. “We have a plan in place and will follow it.”

According to Hill, no cases of swine flu have been reported in the Hunt County or any other bordering counties.

“We are going to control the event and not let it control us,” said Hill.

Officials from local school districts, Commerce emergency management, Greenville emergency management and Hunt Regional Healthcare met Monday with Hunt County emergency management officials to form a comprehensive plan to combat the possible spread of swine flu in the county.

“We will speak with one voice,” said Hill.

Speulda and Hill are urging all citizens to wash their hands, cover their coughs and sneezes, avoid sharing cups and glasses and avoid those that display symptoms of the swine flu. Those infected with the swine flu are urged to stay at home for at least two days after symptoms disappear.

Hospital reports caution but no cause for alarm

Meanwhile Hunt County hospital officials were optimistic that the new influenza A (H1N1) strain, while a cause for concern, should not be the cause of public anxiety or panic.

“There were 64 reported cases nationwide at 4 p.m. today (Tuesday),” reported Dr. James Sandin, chief of medical staff at Hunt Memorial Hospital District during the HMHD Board of Directors meeting Tuesday night. “There were 68 reported cases at 6 p.m. today. That’s a very slow rate, certainly not the rate that you would expect with any major outbreak. I think the President struck just the right tone when he said that we should be concerned, but not enough to cause public anxiety and certainly not a panic. From the information that has been released publicly by the Center for Disease Control, this virus must be a very low virulence because were not seeing very many serious cases. Of the 68 cases, only six were in the state of Texas. 45 of those 68 were in one Catholic High School in New York City where the kids just came back from spring break in Mexico. The attack rate must be very low as well, because obviously there’s been a lot of exposure and very few people have actually become physically sick. I think the bottom line here is that we have cause for scientific concern but do not have a basis for any public anxiety.”



Track meet cancelled

Danny Kambel, sports information director at A&M-Commerce reported Wednesday that the UIL Region II-AAA Track and Field meet scheduled for Friday and Saturday, May 1-2 at Texas A&M University-Commerce has been cancelled.

“The state track and field meet will be extended to a three-day format to include semifinal heats. The state track and field meet will be extended to a three-day format to include semifinal heats. The meet is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 14-16,” Kambel stated in a news release.

Semifinal qualifiers will be based on the district track meet results. each region will be represented at the state meet by the top four performances in each event for all conferences. Hand-held times will be converted to fully automatic times as defined by the National Federation of State High School Association rules. A revised track and field state meet schedule will be posted on the UIL web site no later than Friday, May 1. Qualifiers to the UIL state track and field meet will be posted on the site on Wednesday, May 6.



Journal staff Warren Morrison, Chad Blackshear, Amber Pompa and Daniel Walker contributed to this report