I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Gov. Bill Richardson said yesterday there are two potential cases of the H1N1 — or “swine” flu — in New Mexico: One is in Valencia County and the other is in Santa Fe County.
Nevertheless, the governor urged New Mexicans to stay calm. “We’re going to be fine,” the second-term Democrat said. “We don’t want anyone overreacting.”
The Las Cruces case looks to not be swine flu. According to the KRQE assignment editor’s Twitter account, the Doña Ana County Manager said, that there is zero evidence or test results that death of six year old is related to the swine flu outbreak.
According to an Associated Press story, the state lab cannot determine whether the cases are H1N1 or another strain of flu. Because of this, they sent the two samples to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
“The two cases involved a 1-year-old boy from Santa Fe County and an 18-year-old male from Valencia County,” the Associated Press reported.
The results will be in the next couple of days. “Probably Friday,” Richardson said.
“We spent years preparing for a new influenza virus and developed a comprehensive plan to deal with the possibility of an influenza pandemic,” Richardson said at the Santa Fe press conference.
“The state has been on top of the swine flu developments from day one, and everybody should be confident that we will keep that vigilance,” he said. “We will update the public on any significant developments and continue to get out the word on stopping and preventing the spread of the swine flu.”
Richardson said the emergency press conference called this afternoon was an example of keeping the public informed on the developments of the swine flu in New Mexico.
According to the CDC, there are 91 laboratory-confirmed cases of the swine flu in the United States and one death. There are no confirmed cases in New Mexico yet, despite the rumors that always swirl around these types of situations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier today raised the alert level from level 4 to level 5.
The virus “must be taken seriously because of its ability to spread to every country in the world,” WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
The raised level means that all countries should immediately activate their pandemic preparedness plans, and remain on high alert for unusual outbreaks, she said.
