NEW YORK, NY October 29, 2009 —Governor Paterson has declared a state of emergency to free up personnel and resources in the event of a swine flu epidemic. The governor says there's not an epidemic now and that he issued the order only to get the state ready in case of a disaster.

"We don't want to alarm people, but a number of our local governments and New York City came to us and said, 'Look, worst case scenario -- what are we looking at, and how do we administer the vaccines as quickly as possible?'" Paterson said today.

The governor's executive order says at least 75 deaths in the state have been attributed to swine flu. The order is needed to suspend provisions of state law that limit the types of health-care workers who can administer vaccinations.