**Swine flu prompts UIL to postpone all athletic & academic competitions**

[EAGLE07]

The district I am associated with has( had) a number of kids going to the UIL State Academic meet next week....We do not know when they will be now...This has been a strange year for seniors. First Ike, now this.... :-\

I agree. Strange and rough year to be a high school senior.

[Panther Dad]

At least the Varsity games will be made up, and the playoffs will be completed.

Sub-Varsity athletes just lost their last games.

[TexasHSFootball]

OFFICIAL TAPPS RESPONSE

Swine Flu Notice

The TAPPS Board of Directors met in Executive session on Wednesday, April 29, to determine the TAPPS response to the Swine Flu Pandemic. After discussion and deliberation, the TAPPS Executive Board unanimously determined the following:

At this time, the TAPPS Spring Athletic Playoffs remain intact with no changes. TAPPS continues to monitor the situation and will advise member schools should changes be deemed necessary.

TAPPS is supportive of our member schools and parents. The welfare of students is best determined by parents and individual member schools. No sanction or penalty will be imposed by TAPPS should a school choose to not participate in the TAPPS playoffs in response to health concerns.

[24 over par]

have mercy

[stangchain]

They've made it a pandemic.  This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.  Why don't they let the schools that can play go ahead and play and then they can go from there.  If they then have to wait on the SA schools, then so be it.  If they are going to cancel everything until then, just cancel school until then, or as somebody said, cancel work, cancel grocery store visits.....gimme a break.  I just think it's far-fetched and a little too quick on the draw.

[Gabe]

have mercy

Haha you have found a new two-liner I see.

[bigballer10]

This is very ridiculous. Eliminate track? What happens to all the athletes that worked hard and made it to regionals its just oh thrown away cause they may catch a flu if they go run?

[CSI-Texas]

Tens of thousands of people die every year from the regular flu.  No epidemic or pandemic for that.  This seems more like the news channels needed a ratings boost so they play it out a lot worse than what it is.  They have vaccines for it just like any other flu strain.

[southland]

I think they are jumping the gun way to soon. Postponment of these events is so unfair to the athletes. I totally agree with prior comments about closing school, work, grocery stores,etc.....

[Terrier]

I think they are doing this because most of the cases seem to be in High School age kids and younger so far. It is an inconvenience but how would you feel if your son or daughter got sick and died? Yesterday they had the first confirmed case of a Houston high school aged girl from Fort Bend County. And there is no vaccine for this particular strain. It is an unusual combination of strains that has never been seen before.

[HouTexan]

Tens of thousands of people die every year from the regular flu.  No epidemic or pandemic for that.  This seems more like the news channels needed a ratings boost so they play it out a lot worse than what it is.  They have vaccines for it just like any other flu strain.

FYI, there is no vaccine for this strain of the flu. The cause for concern is that this is a new strain of flu that can mutate quite rapidly and become more resistant to anti-virals like Tamiflu with each case. The H1N1 you're seeing in folks today is not the same as what will be out there in a month. We have no natural immunity to this version of the flu and there is no vaccine. If we're all lucky this will die out in the next month and there will be a new vaccine available for it in the Fall.

[besbolbenbedygud]

this will not be something that effects one school district........SA been out.......think i heard this morning Fort Worth ISD is out........You also have to think.....if this was your school district that was out would you want the rest of the state to move on without you??   

"four probable cases of the disease among Cleburne High School students.  The students ranged in age from 15 to 17 years old."

Cleburne ISD has closed

40 total schools accross the state so far, is what a report said, that I read this morning!

[besbolbenbedygud]

"Both the Comal and New Braunfels independent school districts announced on their respective Web sites and phone system they will close their campuses"

just read this also.........

[PURPLE 4EVER]

This morning I heard Fort Worth ISD was shutting down.

Got to make you wonder if they will cancel the baseball and softball playoffs if the school cancellations become more widespread.

[besbolbenbedygud]

just saw this....... "Alabama cancels high school sporting events because of swine flu."

[RETIREDFAN1]

I think they are doing this because most of the cases seem to be in High School age kids and younger so far. It is an inconvenience but how would you feel if your son or daughter got sick and died? Yesterday they had the first confirmed case of a Houston high school aged girl from Fort Bend County. And there is no vaccine for this particular strain. It is an unusual combination of strains that has never been seen before.

You should stop believing the propaganda.....

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[Terrier]

You are right this flu so far has not been as deadly as the regular flu. But public health officials are between a rock and a hard place. If they do nothing and it turns deadly then people are mad that they didn't close down schools and athletic events. Now people are mad because they are acting prematurely. I would rather see them err on the side of caution. I am sure these decisions are not made lightly. They are trying to do what is in the publics best interest.

[Guest beat-em_deep]

lets play ball! lol

[KFDM COOP]

I think they are doing this because most of the cases seem to be in High School age kids and younger so far. It is an inconvenience but how would you feel if your son or daughter got sick and died? Yesterday they had the first confirmed case of a Houston high school aged girl from Fort Bend County. And there is no vaccine for this particular strain. It is an unusual combination of strains that has never been seen before.

You should stop believing the propaganda.....

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Let's Play Ball!!! Geez.

[besbolbenbedygud]

this is the communication age and we all have to be carfull where we get our info........meaning just as one can find some people (Dr.'s) saying it will not be as bad as the yearly flu.......I just read out of Wisconsin a Dr. saying without a timely vaccine this could be worse then the 1918 flu...........I would rather the precautions to be in place then a month or year form now saying .........someone should have done more............JMO

[Guest beat-em_deep]

and again lets play ball lol

[besbolbenbedygud]

Houston confirms first resident with swine flu.....10 year old boy who's family had recently been to San Antonio.......

[Bobcatfan4life]

From an article on foxnews

“The illness is consistent with seasonal influenza and has generally the same symptoms of seasonal influenza,†Fukuda said. “Our information to date shows that the infection can range from very mild, requiring no hospitalization and recovering after a few days, to fatal, which is also in keeping with seasonal influenza."

Fukuda said there is no evidence that the virus is spreading from pigs or that it is unsafe to eat pork.

Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes.

Children, especially those younger than age 5, are particularly vulnerable to flu and its complications, and every year children die from seasonal flu.

According to the CDC, more than 20,000 children younger than age 5 are hospitalized every year because of seasonal flu. In the 2007-08 flu season, the CDC received reports that 86 children nationwide died from flu complications.

As of April 11, CDC had received reports of 53 seasonal flu-related deaths in children during the current seasonal flu season.

Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.

Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient — called a "reference strain" in vaccine jargon — to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.

The first doses of a swine-flu vaccine could be available about 15 weeks after the World Health Organization decides what kind of vaccine it wants companies to produce, Sanofi-Aventis SA's chief executive said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal."

[KDOSullivan]

and again lets play ball lol

Not funny.

[Guest beat-em_deep]

didnt mean for it to come off that way im just ready to play some baseball!!