Time Magazine: A New Pandemic Fear: A Shortage of Surgical Masks

If the currently circulating flu virus does in fact reach full-fledged pandemic proportions, U.S. health officials say there won't be enough face masks to go around.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says the nation would need more than 30 billion masks — 27 billion of the simple surgical kind, which can be worn safely for only about two hours before needing replacement, and 5 billion of the sturdier respirator variety, which also requires regular replacement — to protect all Americans adequately in the event of a serious epidemic.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Strategic National Stockpile currently contains only 119 million masks — 39 million surgical and 80 million respirator.

Time Magazine: A New Pandemic Fear: A Shortage of Surgical Masks

NY Daily News: When will Mayor Bloomberg close the schools?

In a column in The NY Daily News, Juan Gonzalez writes today:

When will Mayor Bloomberg finally heed the pleas of anxious public school parents and teachers and order wholesale closings of swine flu-afflicted schools?

What will it take for Hizzoner and the Health Department to shutter at least those buildings in the Queens school districts that have become the epicenter of this new epidemic?

At Public School 21 in Flushing, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed one swine flu case earlier this month, 164 of the school's 800 students were absent Tuesday.

As swine flu keeps causing panic, when will Mayor Bloomberg close the schools?

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 34

As of 06:00 GMT, 20 May 2009, 41 countries have officially reported 10 243 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 80 deaths.

The breakdown of the number of laboratory-confirmed cases by country is given in the following table and map.

Map of the spread of Influenza A(H1N1) As of 06:00 GMT, 20 May 2009

WHO Update with a breakdown of the 41 countries