Flu update in Orlando Paper

[Mouseaholic!!!]

S.C. school shut down after Disney trip
On Thursday, students in a South Carolina high-school marching band were being tested for swine flu after showing influenzalike symptoms after a trip to Disney World. Officials with Greenville County Schools said they shut down Mauldin High on Thursday and disinfected the building while waiting on lab results from swabs taken from the 18 students. The students began showing signs of the flu Monday, shortly after returning from Festival Disney, a four-day event for student bands.

Representatives from Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando and the University of Central Florida, Valencia Community College and Orange County Public Schools met with other top business, health and public-safety officials for about 45 minutes Thursday morning for a swine-flu briefing and strategy session.


Disney 'monitoring' events
At the session — closed to the media except for a few minutes for photo and video opportunities — mobilization plans were discussed, but no specific information flowed from the theme parks, one attendee said.

Walt Disney World spokesman Mike Griffin was peppered with questions afterward about how the parks were handling general precautions and didn't go into specifics.

But he said that Disney was "monitoring" the situation surrounding the South Carolina students. "That's all we can say at this point."

A Disney official later said the company continues to employ "rigorous" cleaning standards, including, among other things, monitoring bathrooms closely and sanitizing restaurant tables after each guest. "We are working closely with public-health officials and will continue to rely on their guidance and adjust our operations as needed," spokeswoman Kim Prunty said.

Sherin said some of Orlando's theme-park-area hotels are equipped to hand out special masks to sick visitors who request them, and each has sanitizing and cleanup plans in place to deal with the swine-flu virus, he said after the meeting with business leaders convened by Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty.


Crotty: 'We are prepared' for anything
Sherin said he's comfortable with how Orlando's major theme parks and hotels were handling the situation, but he plans to send more masks and more basic swine-flu information to some smaller tourist hotels and attractions, which may not have plans in place.

Sherin also noted that about 35,000 people die each year from seasonal influenza, which hits the U.S. mostly during the winter months.

Crotty said officials are "on top of their game," just as they were after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and multiple hurricane strikes in 2004. "We are prepared to deal with any situation as it may emerge," he said. "This has not begun to play out yet at this point. ... We're prepared to do deal with this as is appropriate in the days ahead."

At Orlando International Airport, almost all passengers on an incoming Aeromexico flight Thursday afternoon wore blue masks provided at the airport in Mexico City, passengers said. Irene and Jorge Flores of Mexico were on their way to Miami for a family cruise reunion but said they would have postponed their plans if they hadn't been arranged a year in advance. Irene Flores, 43, held up her mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer and pronounced the swine-flu situation "scary."

 

[SassyCat]

Thanks for posting this article! I had been hoping to see an update. Well, I don't know how much WDW can really do besides trying to keep everything as clean as they can.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Sure, lets add to the mass hysteria that this has become...this isn't the bubonic plaque, 25% of the population is not going to be wiped out, and for the most part, the cases that have come up have been very mild compared to the general flu that is seen each and every year.

I'm glad they are being smart, but this should be an every day event, nothing new.

 

[artesian]

Sure, lets add to the mass hysteria that this has become...this isn't the bubonic plaque, 25% of the population is not going to be wiped out, and for the most part, the cases that have come up have been very mild compared to the general flu that is seen each and every year.

I'm glad they are being smart, but this should be an every day event, nothing new.

Gee another like minded person that won't give into the hysteria. Well said jlew. We need to have a beer sometime.

 

[Uncleromulus]

There is a thread around on some board (there are so many I can't keep up!!) with posts suggesting people start to hoard food.

 

[ThurlFan]

The more panic the better. We're going to WDW at the end of the month and hopefully this will reduce the crowds

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I just wish A) the media would stop hyping this up, it really is a very mild event and B) people would put this into context of the risks they take EVERY DAY!

You are more likely to be killed from cross at a cross walk then you are this flu straing, you are more likely to get sick from working out at your gym then you are in catching this, etc, etc, etc.

 

[queenpatricia]

The more panic the better. We're going to WDW at the end of the month and hopefully this will reduce the crowds

We are also going to FL the end of the month & are also hope the the panic will keep the crowds down. We are taking friends with us who have never been there & would like to make their trip enjoyable.

 

[mitros]

We are also going to FL the end of the month & are also hope the the panic will keep the crowds down. We are taking friends with us who have never been there & would like to make their trip enjoyable.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the crowds are alive and well at WDW. NO difference in the number of bodies on property, sorry................
We wish it would be so ourselves! We are growing weary of the wall-to-wall people on property all the time.