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About the Authors:
Simon G. Agolory
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Epidemic Intelligence Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Oxiris Barbot
Affiliations Department of Health, City of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, City of New York, New York, United States of America
Francisco Averhoff
Affiliation: Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Don Weiss
Affiliation: Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, City of New York, New York, United States of America
Elisha Wilson
Affiliation: Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, City of New York, New York, United States of America
Joseph Egger
Affiliations Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, City of New York, New York, United States of America, SciMetrika LLC, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States of America
Jeffery Miller
Affiliation: Epidemic Intelligence Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Ikechukwu Ogbuanu
Affiliation: Epidemic Intelligence Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Sabrina Walton
Affiliation: Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Emily Kahn
Affiliation: Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Introduction
As with previous influenza outbreaks in which school-aged children were disproportionately affected [1]–[6], the 2009 pandemic influenza A virus (pH1N1) outbreak predominantly affected school-aged children [7]–[12]. The pH1N1outbreak was more pronounced among children and was associated with high rates of pediatric deaths and hospitalizations compared with previous influenza seasons [13]. In New York City (NYC), the first case of pH1N1 was confirmed in a high school student on April 23, 2009, a week after the first cases in the United States were diagnosed in two children in California [14]–[16]. Before the first NYC case was confirmed, 33% of students from one NYC school were found to have symptoms consistent with influenza infection, according to a survey conducted by NYC health officials [17], [18].
Concerns about the spread of pH1N1 in NYC prompted the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to develop guidelines to mitigate the spread of the virus...