ROGERS PARK–Nine “confirmed probable cases” of swine flu have been identified in Illinois, five of which are in Cook County, the Evanston Department of Health and Human Services announced in a press release Wednesday night.
The department does not have confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but is 99 percent sure all nine cases are swine flu, the release said.
Northwestern administrators met Monday and will reconvene today to discuss preventative measures and possible reactive plans, should swine flu emerge on campus.
On Wednesday afternoon, a post on the Eighth Ward message board said the disease may have reached Evanston.
The post, made from the account of Ald. Ann Rainey (8th), the site’s administrator, said one of the nine cases is being treated at St. Francis Hospital, 355 Ridge Ave. Rainey could not be reached for confirmation.
Interim City Manager Rolanda Russell said she could neither confirm nor deny the information.
“The only thing I am able to confirm is that there are nine cases in Illinois, one of which is in our locality,” Russell said.
Though the press release identified five cases as being in Cook County, it did not specify any case as more proximal to Evanston.
The hospital plans to make a statement today, pending test results from the CDC, said Margo Schafer, a hospital spokeswoman.
“I am not willing to confirm that this is a probable case right now,” Schafer said.
Earlier Wednesday, the World Health Organization classified swine flu as a “Phase 5” epidemic, a designation meaning it is being experienced in several countries and is just shy of pandemic status.
Illinois’ first probable case of swine flu emerged Tuesday night in Rogers Park, Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman said in a news conference Wednesday morning. Though Huberman identified the case as “probable,” CPS called the illness “confirmed” in a flier.
The 12-year-old patient’s school, Joyce Kilmer Elementary School, 6700 N. Greenview Ave., is closed pending further investigation.
At 8:30 a.m., faculty and staff were on hand outside the building, distributing fliers to parents, students and community members who had not yet heard the news. When one student waded through the film crews stationed outside Kilmer, a school security guard quickly intercepted him, explaining the situation. Soon after, the school’s morning bell rang, echoing in the empty entryway.
Down the street from Kilmer, a nursery school, Lake Shore Schools, remained open, Executive Director Marsha Engquist said.
“(The children) need to be here,” Engquist said. “Seventy percent of our children come from single-parent households. It would negatively affect all of our parents if we closed.”
She said the school’s staff is used to closely monitoring students’ health and looking for anything out of the ordinary. The school has a long-held routine of hand washing. Pupils scrub their hands upon walking into the building each day. Wednesday, the school also asked parents dropping off their children to wash up as well.
In addition to the five probable cases of swine flu in Cook County, two cases are in Kane County, while DuPage and Lake Counties each have one probable case, said Evonda Thomas, Evanston’s director of health and human services.
“We are getting cases and lab reports hourly,” Thomas said Wednesday afternoon. “It’s very fluid. It could change at any moment.”
Thomas said one of her focuses is informing the public on how to avoid spreading disease.
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 distributed its own letter, informing students and their families of ways to prevent the spread of swine flu.
NU administrators have been planning in case the disease reaches campus, said Al Cubbage, vice president for university relations.
“Basically, what the university has is a framework that allows us to react depending on circumstances,” he said.
Planning for previous epidemics has helped the university develop the policies it uses today, Cubbage added.
“There was the avian flu epidemic about three years ago,” he said. “It helped us develop the policies we have in place now.”
