– State News: Swine flu on the web, posted Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
– Politics: Price to kick off 24th House campaign, posted Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
– Local News: Presidential Library opens new wedding exhibit, posted Thursday, 8:20 a.m.
– State News: Update on swine flu, posted Thursday, 8:20 a.m.
State News: Swine flu on the web, posted Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
Beginning today, the Virginia Department of Health will maintain counts of Influenza A (H1N1) virus cases on the VDH Web site.
A map of Virginia will display the boundaries of the 35 health districts and indicate the number of reported cases per health district. In addition, there will be a table listing the number of cases by health district. This information will be updated by 5 p.m. each day.
To view this map and the case numbers, visit the VDH Web site at www.vdh.virginia.gov. Also, the Web site offers valuable information for clinicians and the public about Influenza A (H1N1).
Politics: Price to kick off 24th House campaign, posted Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
Amherst businessman, Jeff Price, will announce his candidacy to represent the 24th House District in Virginia’s House of Delegates this Friday, May 8.
Price is a recognized instructor in the field of historic preservation and has over 10 years experience in masonry restoration. He and his family own and operate Virginia Lime Works, an Amherst based manufacturer of products used in historic preservation and green building processes.
Price is also a member, former board member, or officer of the Preservation Trades Network, the Virginia Sustainable Building Network, the United States Green Building Council, the American Society for Testing Materials International, the Rotary Club of Amherst, and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Virginia. He is also the President of the Board of Directors at the Sweet Briar-based Endstation Theatre Co.
Price will hold announcement events in Amherst at the Old Courthouse on Taylor Street at 2 p.m. and in Lexington at the Old Courthouse at the corner of Main and Washington at 4 p.m.
Local News: Presidential Library opens new wedding exhibit, posted Thursday, 8:20 a.m.
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum announced today a new wedding exhibit displayed in President Wilson’s Birthplace, including vintage wedding dresses and Wilson family wedding announcements. The exhibit is timed to coincide with the spring wedding season and the upcoming Wilson First Families Reunion to be held at the Presidential Library.
The display includes three vintage wedding dresses from President Wilson’s time, including one belonging to President Wilson’s niece, Alice Wilson McElroy. Mrs. McElroy’s wedding on Aug. 7, 1918, to Presbyterian minister I. Stuart McElroy Jr., was the last White House wedding until Luci Johnson’s wedding to Pat Nugent in 1966. The wedding was held in the Blue Room at the White House, as a security precaution at a time of war. The wedding dress belonging to President Wilson’s sister-in-law, Kate Wilson, who was Alice McElroy’s mother, is also on display. Mrs. Wilson was the bride of Joseph Ruggles Wilson Jr., the younger brother of President Wilson. Alice Wilson McElroy donated both of these dresses to the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation in 1966, months before the Johnson/Nugent wedding. The day she presented the dresses and other items to the Foundation, Mrs. McElroy wore the wedding dress and was interviewed by CBS television for a news story on White House weddings.
The third wedding dress on display belonged to a Harrisonburg bride who was married on Nov. 7, 1916, the day President Wilson was reelected President. In addition to the dresses, the exhibit includes the wedding invitations for the President’s daughter Jessie Woodrow Wilson’s White House wedding on Nov. 25, 1913, to Francis Bowes Sayre; his daughter Eleanor Randolph Wilson’s White House wedding on May 14, 1914, to William Gibbs McAdoo, who was President Wilson’s Secretary of the Treasury; and the President’s Dec. 18, 1915, wedding to Edith Bolling Galt. Guests can also see a reproduction of a Victorian wedding cake and read a brochure about Victorian wedding customs.
The wedding exhibit has been produced to be in time for the spring wedding season and the Fourth Annual Wilson First Families Reunion, which will be held at the Presidential Library from Thursday, May 7, through Saturday, May 9. It is also produced in time for Mothers’ Day, which President Wilson and Congress started in 1914, and on which mothers receive free admission to the Presidential Library. The exhibit will remain on display until at least June.
Those with questions about the wedding exhibit or any other part of the Presidential Library’s collections should contact Jarod Kearney, the Curator at the WWPL, at 540.885-0897, ext. 111, or at [email protected]. Those with questions about the First Families Reunion, Mothers’ Day, and visiting the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library should contact Barbara Wimble, Manager of Visitor Services at the Presidential Library, at 540.885-0897, ext. 106, or by email at [email protected].
State News: Update on swine flu, posted Thursday, 8:20 a.m.
The number of confirmed cases in Virginia of the new influenza A (H1N1), also known as “swine flu.” is now 11, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
The 11 cases include seven in the Central Shenandoah Health District (five adult men and two adult women), two in the Chesterfield Health District (one adult man and one adult woman), an adult man in the Three Rivers Health District and one female child in the Norfolk Health District. None of these cases involved a hospitalization and all patients have recovered or are recovering well.
The Norfolk preschool that closed on Monday as the result of the case involving the female child has reopened in accordance with new school closing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These recommendations no longer suggest school closing for confirmed cases.
The Central Shenandoah cases are all at Washington and Lee University. VDH has made an exception to its usual policy in reporting these cases at a specific location to enhance local control and treatment efforts.
The number of cases reported today reflects the reclassification of probable cases as confirmed. Prior to today, influenza samples were initially tested by the state laboratory with confirmation coming from the CDC in Atlanta. In the initial test, a sample was classified as probable if it had characteristics consistent with the new virus. It generally took more than 48 hours for the CDC to confirm cases.
To accelerate the time it takes to confirm samples, the CDC has provided testing materials for the new H1N1 virus to state laboratories, which now will be able to more quickly confirm samples.
“The good news is that we are continuing to see mild cases of H1N1 infection and patients are receiving good medical care and are recovering,” said Virginia’s Health Commissioner, Karen Remley, MD, MBA. “It also will be helpful that we are among the first states in the country to be allowed by the CDC to conduct all testing for the H1N1 virus. This will enhance our ability to identify and track where these cases are occurring and to respond as necessary,” Dr. Remley said.
Dr. Remley said that most patients being tested do not have the new virus and that the state will now concentrate its testing on those segments of the population that are at higher risk for complications from the new influenza H1N1. These include people who are hospitalized with influenza-like illnesses, pregnant women, the elderly, the very young, health care workers, and people with underlying chronic health conditions.
The current H1N1 influenza outbreak is caused by an influenza A virus previously not detected in humans or animals. Symptoms are similar to those of seasonal flu and typically include fever, cough and sore throat. Additional symptoms may include headache, chills, fatigue and body aches. Persons with H1N1 influenza are contagious for up to seven days after the onset of illness and possibly longer if they are still symptomatic.
Dr. Remley advised anyone with these symptoms to protect themselves and others by:
· Staying home from work or school and limiting their contact with others to keep from infecting them.
· Calling their health-care providers or their health department before seeking care so that the necessary infection control measures can be put in place.
· Covering their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze and throwing the tissue in the trash after use.
· Washing their hands often with soap and water, especially after they cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners also are effective.
· Limiting close contact with sick people
· Preventing the spread of germs by not touching eyes, nose or mouth
VDH has established an information line at 877.ASK-VDH3, or 877.275-8343, for anyone with concerns or questions about H1N1 influenza.
Also, for further information, consult the CDC’s website at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu and the VDH Web site at www.vdh.virginia.gov.
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