Safety

A year after H1N1 pandemic began, Hawaii school reports possible outbreak

Emergency Management Alert, April 27, 2010

In April 2009, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX began to experience a surge of patients concerned about H1N1 infection, reports CNN. Soon, the pandemic was sweeping the U.S and many other countries.

Shortages of supplies resulted in crowded emergency rooms and long vaccination lines in areas that were lucky enough to receive shipments. Soon, top Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials were by Sesame Street's Elmo's side in a public service announcement commercial, telling people how to cough.

Since the outbreaks began subsiding, panic has been subdued. But just as recently as of late March, a school in Maui, Hawaii, reported an H1N1 outbreak that led to nine kindergarten students missing class, according to the Honolulu Advisor. The mild outbreak was confirmed by the state department of health, which reminded parents for the need to get their children vaccinated, and that children under 10 need two doses of the vaccine.

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