Utah reports first swine flu death; NYC has closed 21 schools

A Utah man with chronic health problems died Wednesday from complications associated with swine flu, a local health official said. If confirmed, it would be the ninth U.S. fatality associated with the flu outbreak.

The man, who was from around Salt Lake City, was between 18 and 25 years old and “had chronic medical conditions that may have contributed to severe complications from influenza,” said Gary Edwards, executive director of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department.

Also on Wednesday, health and education officials in New York announced that 21 of the city’s public schools had been closed after an increase of reports of students with flu-like symptoms. A school administrator in Queens died after being hospitalized with the H1N1 virus, commonly called swine flu.

Nineteen of the schools closed at the recommendation of the Health Department are public and two are private, the city’s Education Department announced in a news release.

In addition, two private schools in Manhattan — St. Davis Academy and Horace Mann — have decided on their own to close after a number of students exhibited flu-like symptoms, according the schools’ Web sites.

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