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Comments

• [1] Greg from Manhattan, Gramercy May 19, 2009 - 10:03AM

  I wish someone would clear up the importance of this flu. Thousands of people die each year from the "regular" flu, and schools are never shut down. Why is this flu, such a scare?

  
  
• [2] Charles Harris from Island Heights NJ May 19, 2009 - 10:11AM

  Previously healthy always die of flu with certain viri

  also find out nhow much immunity is coferred by getting flu. If it confers immunity let the mild epidemic run to protectit from severe flu

  
  
• [3] David from Queens May 19, 2009 - 10:12AM

  One of the neighboring schools to IS 238, IS 237 has has over 200 absentee students with 60 leaving sick, yet remains open. The DOE is flat-footed and dumbfounded. School officials do not have the authority to shut down - it has to be approved from upper levels.

  
  
• [4] Charles Harris from Island Heights NJ May 19, 2009 - 10:13AM

  You cannot stop a flu epidemic without vaccine or specific medications.

  
  
• [5] Charles Harris from Island Heights NJ May 19, 2009 - 10:17AM

  what data are there to substantiate the usefulness of the usual flu shots?

  
  
• [6] ceolaf from brooklyn May 19, 2009 - 10:18AM

  The guest did not answer Brian's question about whether this is an over reaction to this particular flu.

  Can Brian ask, "Is this abundance of caution that you mention too much caution?"

  Also, can he ask, "How often do new strains of flu appear and has this kind of reaction to them been the norm?"

  
  
• [7] Rachel Thieme from Williamsburg, Brooklyn May 19, 2009 - 10:19AM

  Thanks for this segment. I want to know where the kids go during the day once their schools are closed. Surely all their parents can't take this time off of work. Do most of these kids end up in childcare centers with potentially slightly less health standards than the schools?

  
  
• [8] Arthur Aptowitz from Forest Hills-Key Food-Queens Blvd and 108th Street May 19, 2009 - 10:19AM

  What is the mayor going to do next flu season, when a real flu epedemic hits? Close all the schools for months?

  
  
• [9] janis Warren from Hastings on Hudson May 19, 2009 - 10:20AM

  My daughter is a type 1 diabetic and always gets an annual flu shot. With this new flu threat, should we just watch carefully and get her anti-flu medication in case of any flu-like symptoms?

  Thank you.

  
  
• [10] Lina May 19, 2009 - 10:21AM

  Please help... I am feeling sick- low energy, sore throat, I think fever... I do not have health insurance. Where can I get tested for the flu? Thank you!

  
  
• [11] S.A. from Brooklyn May 19, 2009 - 10:21AM

  What is the relationship between HIV infection and influenza deaths? Why aren't you mentioning HIV as one of the conditions that compromises immune system? NYC has one of the highest rates in the country.

  
  
• [12] ceolaf from brooklyn May 19, 2009 - 10:22AM

  What are the "signs and symptoms of influenza," especially as compared to the common cold?

  
  
• [13] Susan from Manhattan May 19, 2009 - 10:22AM

  Dear Brian:

  Regarding school closings and swine flu:

  As there aren't that many weeks left in the school year, why not just close down the schools now for the summer and start the 2009-10 school year 2 or 3 weeks early? Why "wait to see what happens?" It's better than dealing with the situation case by case, which will breed confusion and potential chaos along with the swine flu virus.

  thanks for a great and informative show!

  Susan

  
  
• [14] Nancy Dwyer Chapman from Scarsdale, NY May 19, 2009 - 10:23AM

  One of the concerns about this version of the flu, AH1N1, is whether it will re-emerge in fall-winter 2009-2010 slightly mutated and stronger, far more virulent and lethal.

  If that hypothesis is correct, and if exposure to specific flu viruses affords a degree of immunity (which has been the case in past outbreaks and was a mortality factor for the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic), is it **almost a good idea** for an otherwise healthy person (the immuno-compromised/underlying conditions population unquestionably being exempt from this consideration) to be exposed to AH1N1 now, in order to develop some immunity against the flu virus that might erupt this fall and winter?

  
  
• [15] Matt from Brooklyn May 19, 2009 - 10:23AM

  I really think behind all this Michael Bloomberg is really worried about whether tourism is going to drop.

  
  
• [16] thatgirlinnewyork from manhattan May 19, 2009 - 10:24AM

  this requires a sea change in our behavior around illness. americans are long known to continue to go to work while sick, and that behavior extends to their children, who often couldn't stay at home unless the parent was able.

  why would a girl need to be pulled out of school with a fever of 101 or more? most likely, she felt badly in the morning, and should have stayed home in the first place.

  common sense should tell us that we have a responsibility to others when we are ill. staying home at the onset of symptoms is paramount, for young and old.

  
  
• [17] Viktoria May 19, 2009 - 10:27AM

  If people with swine flu are going to the doctor, how safe are their offices for kids who are sick with anything but swine flu?

  
  
• [18] Douglas L from Brooklyn, NY May 19, 2009 - 10:43AM

  This year I had to spend almost

  $500 to get my car to pass inspection

  in Brooklyn, NY. (1995 Ford)

  The garages are clearly taking

  advantage of us.

  
  
• [19] thatgirlinnewyork from manhattan May 19, 2009 - 11:05AM

  Lina--anyone in NYC can get good quality pay-as-you can treatment from NYU doctors at Bellevue Hospital. Their clinics are very well-run. good luck and good health.

  
  
• [20] Joey May 19, 2009 - 04:06PM

  Has anyone reporter visited a New York City public school bathroom? There is never any decent soap and paper towels to make for appropriate hand cleaning. There is never any luke-warm water. The kids are washing their hands with cold water (obviously it cannot be too hot, but luke warm is productive).

  Instead of putting money to the shifts in the Times Square traffic, why not put that money in hand cleaners for kids. And instead of those corn syrup products being handed out for free around that spectacular heart of Times Square why not toss out some hand sanitizers for New Yorkers?

  In addition, instead of the mayor cutting apart Broadway and pouring money on the streets, and other streets (that were often just paved only to be uprooted again for "proper turns") he could have put that money into hand sanitizing procedures for the NYC public schools once this flu outbreak broke. I could get more sanitation from the newly paved roads around Manhattan, then I could from the cold, cardboard sanitation devices in the public schools.

  Also isn't it ironic that the mayor just started to shut the schools down when his neighboring Upper East Side private school got a few cases. Public and private, differences?

  Instead of this emphasis on standardized tests, there should be standardized hand cleaning. Some of those tests are actually more sterile then the bathrooms, and just as unproductive to the real roots of what a New York education should provide.

  Well, if schools close, at least we have WNYC from which to learn.