ELLENVILLE – On Wednesday morning, June 17, the first confirmed diagnosis of swine flu arrived at the Ellenville School District. By 1:30 p.m. that day, a letter had gone out to all parents warning them that a student had been diagnosed with swine flu and that the student was being treated at home.

More than 90 students from the Ellenville School District went on a field trip to the Boston area last week, June 11-13.

"The field trip is taken every year," said Superintendent of Schools, Lisa Wiles. "They visit the historical sites around Boston."

Upon their return on Saturday evening, a number of them are believed to have complained of fevers and flu-like symptoms. However, as of Monday, June 15, Wiles said, "There was no reported swine flu here."

Nor was there any reported swine flu in the schools on Tuesday morning.

However, on Tuesday afternoon, Tyler Fitzgerald of Napanoch, who had been on the trip to Boston, was diagnosed by the Ulster County Health Department as having swine flu. By that time a letter had gone out from the district to all parents to say that no swine flu had been confirmed.

At 11:45 p.m. that night, Catherine Fitzgerald, Tyler's mother, called Superintendent Wiles at her home to inform her that Tyler had swine flu.

Wiles explained the process. "I have to make sure that any information we have about something like this is correct and confirmed before we release it."

At 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17, Ellenville Regional Hospital reported that they had no confirmed cases of swine flu.

The hospital noted that those individuals who were vulnerable to the complications from swine flu, should contact their doctors if they began having flu-like symptoms. Vulnerable groups include those under five or over 65 years of age, pregnant women, anyone with chronic pulmonary or cardio-vascular disease, or with kidney or liver disease. Chemotherapy patients and those with HIV are also considered vulnerable.

At the Ellenville School District, the administration was encouraging students to wash their hands frequently and to use the hand sanitizers that were installed recently.

Calls to the Ulster County Health Department were not immediately returned.

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