In less than a week, the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, has taken the life of a Queens assistant principal and possibly a toddler, and has caused the temporary shuttering of 17 city schools, 14 of which are in Queens.
The two-week lull that followed the reopening of St. Francis Preparatory High School and P.S. 177 – the Queens schools that first experienced H1N1 outbreaks – ended Thursday, May 14, with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) calling for five-day closings of three schools in Queens. That announcement was followed by more closings on Friday, May 15, Monday, May 18 and Tuesday, May 19.
In all, the DOHMH has recommended the closing of 11 school buildings, some of which house more than one school, bringing the total number of schools closed by the agency to 15. The agency said all additional closings are of the schools’ own accord, which suggests that the shuttering of one Manhattan and one Bronx private school in recent days were voluntary.
Mitchell Wiener, the assistant principal of I.S. 238, died of complications caused by H1N1 just two days after his Hollis school was closed due to an outbreak. The following night, Monday, May 18, a 16-month-old from Corona with a fever and flu-like symptoms was admitted to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he later died.
According to Dan Andrews, spokesperson for Borough President Helen Marshall, on Monday, May 18, Elmhurst Hospital saw 800 patients, 500 of whom were children.
Even before the death of the toddler, Jonathan Zamora Castillo – whose death has not yet been attributed to swine flu – and despite the fact that cases of the virus have yet to be confirmed in some of the schools closed by his agency, DOHMH Commissioner Thomas Frieden admitted on May 18 to seeing “a rising tide of flu in many parts of New York City.”
“As the virus spreads,” Frieden said, “we will look to slow transmission within individual school communities by closing individual schools.”
The first wave of schools to close included Hollis’ I.S. 238, P.S. 16 in Corona and I.S. 5Q in Elmhurst. That announcement was followed by the shuttering of JHS 74Q in Bayside, P.S. 107Q in Flushing and I.S. 318K in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; and M.S. 158Q in Bayside, Our Lady of Lourdes in Queens Village and the Q025 building in Flushing, which houses I.S. 25Q, the World Journalism Preparatory and Q233. Most recently, the DOHMH and the Department of Education (DOE) ordered the closing of P.S. 19 in Corona, P.S. 32 in Flushing and Whitestone’s Q209 building, which includes P.S. 209 and P9.
The DOHMH – which decides to close schools based on the number of children documented with flu-like symptoms and fever and the number of absences recorded – has acknowledged the “significant disruption” caused by the closings, and said all schools will remain closed for at least five days as cleaning crews sanitize them.
The agency said that while the symptoms of the H1N1 virus seem to resemble those of seasonal flu, H1N1 appears to spread more extensively, at least in schools. The DOHMH explained that it recommends closures “in an effort to slow transmission in that school and minimize exposure to students and staff and their household contacts with underlying medical conditions.”
The city-mandated closures affect more than 14,000 students, around 12,500 of who attend schools in Queens.
“School closures are a difficult decision, but our first priority is the health of our students,” Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said in announcing the May 15 closings.
Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Tuesday, May 19 that an outbreak of swine flu had occurred at the Riker’s Island jail complex, with four confirmed and four likely cases of the virus.
Two days earlier, on May 17, amid growing concern regarding the spreading of the virus, Bloomberg and Klein expressed their condolences to the family of Mitchell Wiener and the I.S. 238 community.
In a statement, Bloomberg called Mitchell Wiener a “well-liked and devoted educator” and said, “his death is a loss for our schools and our city.”
The DOHMH is conducting tests to determine if the toddler, Jonathan Zamora Castillo, had contracted H1N1 prior to his death.
“As we have said from the outset of the appearance of H1N1 in our city last month, we will share with New Yorkers what we know and not speculate on what we don’t know,” Bloomberg said, in announcing the closing of the first three Queens schools on the 14th.
