New York, NY –
Two more New Yorkers have died, possibly of complications from swine flu. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.
REPORTER: A 41-year-old Queens woman and a 34-year-old Brooklyn man died on Friday, but test results only came in this week (confirming that they had H1N1 flu). Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden says that doesn’t mean the virus killed them.
FRIEDEN: It is possible or likely that it may have contributed in some way or other. Whether it was the main cause, only the autopsy will tell.
REPORTER: Frieden says both had underlying health conditions but he won't say what they were. One died at home and the other was brought to a hospital near death and could not be resuscitated. Frieden still says the flu mostly appears to be mild, despite being highly contagious. He says up to 1.5 million New Yorkers get flu each year and more than a thousand die. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.
REPORTER: Last night, the city's Health Department announced the closure of five additional public schools where there's been an increase in flu-like symptoms. The schools are in Washington Heights, Saint Albans, Queensk, Wakefield in the Bronx, and in two sections of Brooklyn: Bensonhurst and Boerum Hill.
Fred Mogul has been covering healthcare and medicine for WNYC since 2002. His beat takes him to hospitals, community clinics, doctors offices, health agencies, public schools and research labs across the metropolitan area. His work has appeared on NPR and in the New York Times, Time magazine and Philadelphia Inquirer, among others.
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