Earthquake Hits in Mexico; Mexico Officials Increase Flu Suspected Death Estimate to 149
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, so much talk about the swine flu right now. I'm over in our international area, international desk right now, because this is not just a situation that's unique to Mexico City or the United States. It's becoming an international story. And the questions are where did it come from, where is it going? How bad is it going to get? Those are the things we're going to be looking at during this hour. We are pushing this story forward here. This has sparked a worldwide outbreak of questions, precautions, also an outbreak of fear. This hour we are pushing you forward on facts. We hope to learn more in a live news conference from the CDC. We're expecting that to come just moments from now. Again, I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for Kyra Phillips in the CNN NEWSROOM. And again, this has become an international story, so we are staying close to our international reporters and producers over here at our international desk. Again, I want to give you an update about what we're keeping an eye on this hour. We're expected to hear from the New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, expecting a press conference from him, expecting that to get under way any moment - actually, it's under way now. We will listen in at this. We will at least keep someone on who's back there in the back right now in our booth listening in, getting the update from what's happening in New York. We know there are several more cases of students in New York who have now been confirmed to have that swine - that swine flu now. Those students who, of course, had gone to Mexico. It was only eight confirmed cases of those students. Now we know it is up to at least 28. So getting the update from New York there. We'll bring you any information that comes out of that. Also, the CDC, expected to get new numbers from them, as well. A press conference expected to get under way at the top of the hour, right about now. As soon as that happens, we'll take you there and get the very latest. So let me get you some updated numbers here, some that we are getting. Now out of Mexico, where, of course, this thing, the epicenter of this swine flu outbreak. We are told now that 149 suspected deaths there now. That number has gone up, has been going up, really, by the hour. Every time we do get an update, we do hear some new number. So 149 is the number there now. Now, also masks. You see these pictures here. We've been showing you this. A lot of people are wearing masks. We don't know if those are helpful or not. But still, people using them as a precaution. Also, we've got word that many schools are going to be shut down across the city and across the country there, as well. Now back here to the United States, we know there are at least 40 confirmed cases in the U.S. That number was 20. Now it's shot up to 40. Now, I want to emphasize that, of the cases here in the United States, we do know that no one, at least - at least one person had to be hospitalized. And again, a lot of this noise you hear around me is because I'm standing in our international desk, and they are working and working hard here to really get a handle on this whole swine flu story. I want to turn to our Deborah Feyerick, who is in New York that we know of right now. She's - and Deb, we know that area there, at least 20 students that we know of have now been confirmed to have this swine flu at that school. We thought it was only eight. It's gone up to 28, I believe, is the case now. So first tell us just what's the condition of these students? Do we know? Have most of them recovered? We've been hearing that at least those who did have swine flu, it was a mild case, if you will.</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right. And their age is actually one of the benefits. Because they're young, because they have strong immune systems, we're told that they're able to recover much more quickly, even though their bodies have never been exposed to this kind of swine flu, this kind of influenza. So that's the good news. As of yesterday, nobody was hospitalized. They had sent about 125 people home. Some who were given medications to treat symptoms of influenza. Others who were told just take aspirin. Right now they're not really surprised. Infectious disease specialists who are monitoring this not really all that surprised. They were really anticipating it, because that's simply the way this kind of thing spread. The big concern, of course, is that this human-to-human transmission could form sort of - for lack of a better word, a superbug, that it will mutate into something that's not easily treatable. That's the concern, and that's why they're trying to map out exactly who's coming down with this, where they're located and who they may have come into contact with -</s>T.J. HOLMES: OK. Deborah, appreciate you. We are going to go ahead and take a listen in to hear Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York, giving an update on the situation there with the swine flu. Let's listen.</s>MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: ... but, and this is important, this in no way indicates a change in the size of the population affected. It just means that we have more data back confirming what we already suspected and talked about yesterday. We believe that there were probably more than 100 cases of swine flu at the school, and lab tests are confirming what we have suspected. Cases that we suspected were swine flu have been confirmed to be swine flu. And every one of the 45 confirmed or probable cases is associated with the school. So the biggest piece of news today is that four to five days after seeing first signs of the swine flu in Queens, we are still dealing with a single cluster of swine flu cases all associated with this one school. Sunday, yesterday, we also told you about a day-care center in the Bronx where six students were tested and five of the tests were negative for swine flu. Today I can tell you that results on the sixth student were also negative. So this rules out this day-care center as a flu cluster, and there are no other clusters evident in New York City. In addition, nearly all of the St. Francis students with confirmed swine flu, I'm happy to say, are improving. And none of them, as far as we know, are getting worse. And the second really important thing is that, after contacting every intensive care unit in New York City each of the past three days, we don't have a single person with severe illness and even possible or suspected flu. That indicates that so far we are not seeing a situation comparable to being - that being reported in Mexico. The city's...</s>HOLMES: All right. We've been listening in to Michael Bloomberg. We're going to dip in and interrupt him there to bring you another news conference, the CDC giving us an update now. Let's head to them now.</s>GLEN NOWAK, DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: ... Glen Nowak. I'm director of media relations here at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and I welcome you for today's update on the swine influenza situation. Today's spokesperson or speaker is Dr. Richard Besser, acting director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He's going to provide an update on the cases, as well as where we stand in terms of public health and CDC actions. For those of you who are in the room, when we take questions from the floor, I would ask that you wait until we get the microphone to you. And that will facilitate things. We will take questions today from both those who are present, as well as from the phone. And I will now turn the conference over to Dr. Richard Besser.</s>DR. RICHARD BESSER, ACTING DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: Thank you very much and good afternoon. I know there's a lot of concern around the country about the situation here around swine flu. And it is a situation going on in Mexico. I hope this afternoon to share with you the current status of our investigations and the work that's going on both here and around the world to understand this better and to control this outbreak of swine flu. This situation is evolving very quickly; it's changing quickly. And so you will continue to hear information that seems in conflict. You'll see numbers in one place that may be different from another. Today I'll give you the numbers as we have them but ask you to focus a little less on the specific numbers and more what it tells us. What we learned from the numbers is how disease may be spreading. And where it's not spreading. It tells us something about transmission. And I'll share that information with you. We continue to approach this investigation and our control efforts aggressively. That's because you don't know going into an outbreak what it will look like in the end. And we want to be aggressive. We want to take bold action to minimize the impact on people's health from this infection. So where are we in terms of today's cases? We are officially reporting 40 confirmed cases in the United States, in five states. These are the same states that we reported yesterday: New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. The only change in confirmed cases from yesterday is 20 additional cases in New York city. These are associated with the same school outbreak that we talked about yesterday and really represent additional testing in that group not as - not an ongoing spread of that - of that cluster. Of the 40 cases, we are only aware of one individual who was hospitalized, and all people who have been infected and were sick have recovered. The median age is 16 years, with a range in age of 7 to 54 years. And as I've been trying to stress, as we continue to look, I expect that we will see cases in other parts of the country, and I would fully expect that we'll see a broader range in terms of the severity of infection. Thankfully so far, we've not seen severe disease in this country, as has been reported in Mexico. So far CDC has confirmed 26 cases in Mexico, but clearly, from the reports coming out of Mexico, this is a small fraction of what they're seeing. These are the number of cases that we have confirmed here in our - in our laboratory. I want to talk about some of the public health actions that CDC has taken and that state and local public health are taking and that the global community is taking. We continue to work with state and local public health to investigate and understand what's going on. We're continuing to provide support in the laboratory testing that's taking place. And as we investigate, we'll continue to learn more about how this disease, how this infection is transmitted and how it can be prevented and controlled. We're working with the World Health Organization. We're working with the Pan-American Health Organization, and we're working as part of a tri-national team that's on the ground in Mexico, trying to investigate and understand the disease transmission there. We have folks on the ground, and we will be sending additional personnel to the ground to understand this - this outbreak. Yesterday the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency. This is in recognition that this is a serious event, and we are taking it seriously and acting aggressively. But what it also does is it gives us additional authorities. It allows us to move products and dispense drugs in ways that we couldn't before. And it streamlines the process by which the government works. And so it's primarily a reflection of that. It's something that we do whenever we feel that we want to have the ability to move quickly and swiftly. We will be distributing yellow cards at ports of entry. These will provide information on swine flu so that people coming into the United States will have information about this outbreak, what to do if they become sick, what things that they can do to prevent the likelihood that they will become - become sick. Later today we will be releasing a new travel advisory for Mexico. This is out of the abundance of caution. And we will be recommending that nonessential travel to Mexico be avoided. We'll also be including in there steps people can take should they need to travel to Mexico during this time. Again, this is out of an abundance of caution. As we learn more, you can look to see our travel recommendations reflect that. Yesterday we announced the release of material from our strategic national stockpile. This is a stockpile of medications and other supplies that can be very helpful in managing an outbreak. And so as, again, a forward-leaning move, we've released 25 percent of state's allocation of the stockpile. This is 11 million courses of antiviral drugs. These are en route to affected states of California, New York and Texas, as well as other states around the country. Yesterday we issued on our Web site, and we've sent out new guidance, refined guidance on what communities can do when they have a case of swine flu in their community. This provides guidance on what people who have that infection should do, and clearly, that's stay home. Don't go out in the community during the period of your infection, which is about seven days. But you should stay home until at least one day past your symptom period. If you do go - go out, it provides guidance into how you can interact safely in the community. It provides recommendations in terms of contacts, again avoiding crowded places and trying to stay home as much as possible. It talks about the closure of a school or dismissal of students at a time when there's an identified case in the school. Again, this is out of the abundance of caution while a health department is looking to see whether there's been additional transmission. And it talks about other gatherings. We know that in some communities, where there has been a case, they've canceled school functions related to that affected school. We think that makes sense. All of these guidelines need to be tailored based on the local situation. And we expect to see, and it's appropriate to see, different applications of these guidances in different parts of the country. I always like to make the point that control of an outbreak of infectious disease is a shared responsibility. There are things that individuals need to do. There are things that communities need to do. There are things that the government needs to do. And it's important that individuals realize they have a key role to play in reducing their own likelihood of getting infected. Those are the typical guidelines for respiratory infections: frequent hand washing. If you don't have access to soap and water, use an alcohol gel. Covering your cough or sneeze, that's very important. And if you're sick, and you have a fever and you're sick and your children are sick, don't go to work and don't go to school. That can help reduce the likelihood that you will - that you will share that infection. But it's also time for people to be thinking about, well, what would I do if my child's school were closed? What would I do for child care? Would I be able to work from home? It's time to think about that so that you're ready in the event that there were a case in your child's school. It's time for businesses to review their plans and to think about what would I do if some of my workers couldn't come to work? And how would - how would my business function? And think about that. There's been tremendous planning that's gone on around the country over the past number of years. It is time for people to review those plans and think about what they would do. It's time for schools and faith-based organizations to think about, as well, what would I do if there were an ongoing outbreak in my community? Hopefully, this outbreak will not progress. But leaning forward and thinking about what you would do is one of the most important things individuals and communities can undertake right now. You know, it matters less what we call this than what actions we take. And we are acting aggressively, based on what we know today. And whether the term changes, that's not going to change our approach to this situation. And that's a very important point. We trigger our actions based on what's going on in the community, not based on what label is put on a particular outbreak. There's no single action that will control an outbreak, but the combined actions that we are proposing and that are being undertaken around the country will help to stem the tide of any infectious disease outbreak and this one in particular. I want to reiterate that everyone has a responsibility, and it's been absolutely incredible to see people around the country standing up and taking responsibility and doing the things that they need to do to help reduce the impact of this - of this outbreak. I want to recognize that much is unknown. We're going to continue to give you information as we know it, provide as much opportunities as possible for your questions to be answered. And lastly, I really want to recognize the - the incredible work being done by the medical provider community and the public health community. In these periods of uncertainty, where we're working with very limited knowledge, very limited information, are very difficult. And people are doing an outstanding job across the country, trying to understand this and control it. So thank you, and I'll be happy to take your questions. We'll start in the room, and then - and then we'll go to the phone.</s>QUESTION: Dr. Besser, Maryann Colbert (ph), FOX News. Is the CDC working on a vaccine specifically for this new subtype of swine flu? Or are existing vaccines effective so far?</s>BESSER: We don't think that any of the existing vaccines are effective. And whenever we see a new strain of influenza, we look to create what's called the seed stock. And that's the stock of the virus that would be used in the event we decide to make a vaccine. There are discussions that are ongoing about the decision to make a vaccine and whether that should be undertaken, but it's not an easy decision. It would involve looking at what vaccine is needed for next year's flu season, whether this is a strain that we'd want to look to include. And there are trade-offs there. But those discussions are under way so that, if we decide to manufacture a vaccine, we'd be ready to start that process.</s>QUESTION: Diana Davis (ph), WSB television in Atlanta. So far the illness seems to be more severe in Mexico, less severe among the cases here. Is that optimistic to you? Do you think the disease will remain with that pattern, or is it too early to tell?</s>BESSER: That is a critical question. What we need to understand is why we're seeing a different disease spectrum in Mexico than we're seeing here. I wouldn't be overly reassured by that. There are many reasons that could explain that. And as we gather information, we hope to sort that out. But I wouldn't - I wouldn't rest on the fact that we are - have only seen cases in this country that are less severe. As we continue to look, I expect that we'll see additional cases, and I expect that the spectrum of disease will expand. Sure.</s>QUESTION: I was told that some government agencies in a neighboring state, Alabama, that workers are being ordered to wear masks at work. In a workplace where there has been no active sign of disease, is that recommended at this time?</s>BESSER: No, I'm not aware of any states undertaking that. In terms of our recommendations, we would not recommend that people generally wear masks in their workplace as a precautionary measure. Now, as a doctor and as a parent, the issue of masks comes up, and people say, "Wow, should I wear a mask? Is that going to protect me?" All the things that I described earlier that you can do to prevent infection are critically important. Masks, the evidence of their value outside of healthcare settings, outside of settings where you are coming direct face-to-face with someone who has an infectious disease, the evidence there is not - is not very strong. I know some people feel more comfortable having a mask and there are certain circumstances where that may be a value. But I would rather people really focus on hand washing, not giving that little kiss of greeting when you're meeting somebody right now, doing those sorts of things. Covering your cough and your sneeze. And then if you feel more comfortable with a mask, if you're in a community or a setting where there's ongoing disease transmission, then you can think about that. But the other things, where there is that evidence, are the things we're really trying to push.</s>HOLMES: All right. We're not going to go too far away from that story, of course, the swine flu. We'll be breaking down the updates there. But also, another story happening out of Mexico, as well. An earthquake, a fairly moderate to strong earthquake that has hit a particular area there. We understand evacuations are going on in certain places. What we're going to show you here is some of the latest video we're getting from that area. Mexico City is where this video was from, however, this wasn't, we understand, the epicenter of this particular earthquake. But they did feel it in Mexico City. I'm again in our international desk. We'll be hearing the voice now of Myra. I'm going to talk to her, one of our international folks who have been handling this situation. Now, we understand there are, Myra, some evacuations going on, Acapulco. Do we know of any major buildings down? Do we know of injuries right now? Please give us the latest. I know you've been listening .</s>MYRA CUEVAS, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): CNN affiliate KVSH basically reporting that many of the hotels there along the line of Guerrero, which is close Acapulco, are being evacuated. They're not reporting collapsed buildings at this - at this time. They're not reporting any injuries. They did say that they felt a very strong earthquake in that area. There's people out on the streets basically just evacuating and just taking precautions.</s>HOLMES: And you were giving me an idea - even though they felt it in Mexico City, give us an idea where they believe, at least, the epicenter for this thing was.</s>CUEVAS: If you can follow me here, we have a map of Mexico. The epicenter took place right here. When you see it. This was in the state of Guerrero, which is - it's Acapulco, which is a huge tourist spot. It's about 60 miles south. About 140 miles north of that epicenter, you have Mexico City. And they did feel a very strong - a very strong shake there. If you can see some of the pictures we're getting from Tivia Seca (ph). People have just basically left their buildings. They are out on the street. I mean, you already have the city on very high alert because of the epidemic situation going on - going on in the country.</s>HOLMES: But they felt it as far up as Mexico City.</s>CUEVAS: Yes, Mexico City.</s>HOLMES: And what are the - we have seen at least some of the video. Some of the quickest video we could get was out of Mexico City. But what do we understand, even though, you know, it was a little ways away from the epicenter, what's the situation like in Mexico City, just in regards to this earthquake? Are they evacuating? Any buildings damaged, reported?</s>CUEVAS: Right now everybody - Mexico City sees a lot of tremors and earthquakes. So they're very prepared for this situation. People knew where to go. They - they have plans in action. So everybody went to their meeting points quickly, from what we're hearing. I'm told it was very organized. It wasn't chaotic at all. So basically, people just left. They went to their meeting points in the street. They - from what we're hearing, again, from CNN affiliates, is that there are no major damages to report. There's no collapsed buildings. All the damage we're hearing is just gas leaks, electric cables down, trees are down. That kind of thing. In fact, I was just - I was just overhearing that people are getting ready to go back into the building.</s>HOLMES: OK.</s>CUEVAS: And as you can see, they've gone back to normal programming...</s>HOLMES: Normal programming.</s>CUEVAS: ... which is always a good sign.</s>HOLMES: OK. All right. Well, Myra, thank you so much.</s>CUEVAS: Thank you.</s>HOLMES: We will continue to, of course, follow that breaking situation out of Mexico, out of Mexico City, out of Acapulco, as well. But of course, the other major situation we have been following is the epicenter, essentially being Mexico, Mexico City for this swine flu. We will continue to follow that story as well. On the earthquake, our Chad Myers. He has some - of course, some pretty unique tools over there. He's going to be showing more about this earthquake. But also, our Sanjay Gupta on the other story. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Mexico City; going to be giving us the very latest on what's happening there with the situation with the swine flu. And again, Mexico City, we do believe, the epicenter for this outbreak so far. Stay with us. We are on top of both of these breaking news stories.