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Last Friday, 13-year-old Bryan Pineda Rosas was diagnosed with Type A flu, and by Wednesday the Breckenridge boy died as a result of the illness.
Summit County officials say “currently 99 percent of positive Type A flu tests are thought to be 2009 H1N1 (swine) influenza,” but a combination of an early start to the flu season and the prohibitive cost of swine flu tests has kept officials there from diagnosing H1N1 in patients who are not hospitalized, according to the Summit Daily News. Yet, Summit, like counties across the state, is being hit hard by flu.
Summit High School canceled a gymnastics meet this weekend due to six of the seven team members being out with flu. In Pueblo’s School District 70, a fourth-grade class has been canceled because student attendance dropped to 10 from 27, writes the Chieftain. At the same time, the city’s other school district has been “praised” by health department officials for the procedures it has planned for dealing with the flu, notes another Chieftain story.
In Larimer County, where at least six people have been hospitalized, the Medical Center of the Rockies is preparing a “swine flu drive through” for its emergency room, reports the Fort Collins Coloradoan, which points out that a vaccine will not be available until next month.
Down in El Paso County, 380 inmates have been quarantined, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette. Officials are preparing by cutting other services, such as a travel clinic, in order to free up workers to deal with the flu.