Oink

The mayor's office announced tonight that there are three probable (note that is probable, not confirmed - an important difference) cases of swine flu in Wisconsin - two in the city of Milwaukee and one up in Adams county.

Frankly, I'm not surprised. We have a very large Hispanic population in Milwaukee, a population with close ties to relatives in Mexico. It makes sense that someone traveling back and forth in the last week or so may have brought the little bugger bug with them.

One of the two cases here is a child. Because of that child's own interactions in the area, they've decided to close four MPS schools for at least Thursday and Friday, just as a precaution (again, note that this is as a precaution, not because there are any suspected cases involving children at those schools). Again, not surprisingly, three of the four schools are on the south side, in areas of the city with high Hispanic populations.

In addition, the officials urged anyone who showed any signs of a spring cold symptoms on the list to stay home from work, and contact their doctor if they felt it necessary.

It's a really good thing the implementation of the City of Milwaukee's mandatory paid sick time ordinance has been delayed, huh?

Overkill? Probably, but better safe than sorry.

Reactions from the local news teams varied from almost hysterical (ABC) to rational and sensible (Fox). The ABC affiliate managed to preempt the entire national newscast with their coverage of the local announcement. Who knows, if more information is available tonight, I wouldn't put it past them to preempt the president.