There are four confirmed H1N1 cases in Tompkins County including on the Cornell Campus. Today the Tompkins County Health Department confirmed a positive H1N1 test result involving a member of the Cornell Community who is doing well and recovering at home. H1N1 is likely the common flu virus now circulating in our community and across the country.
I'm surprised that it's taken so long for the virus to reach Ithaca, given how much members of the Cornell and Ithaca College communities travel to other places. I had a Spanish professor who had traveled to Mexico shortly before the first outbreak was reported in that country.
Regardless, it's a relief that the virus first appeared over the summer, as opposed to during the end-of-semester exam period. It's likely that by the time classes resume in August, the swine flu will be so widespread both in Ithaca and across the country that it won't be a big deal when it starts spreading between students. The initial pandemonium about the virus has since subsided into a general recognition that its symptoms aren't much worse than those of the normal, seasonal flu.
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