Cricket will take place July 1 and July 3 at the Beausejour cricket ground.

News of St Lucia’s first confirmed case of the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as Swine Flu, swept the island yesterday.  Novel influenza A (H1N1) is a new flu virus of swine origin that first caused illness in Mexico and the United States in March and April this year. It’s thought that novel influenza A (H1N1) flu spreads in the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread, mainly through the coughs and sneezes of people who are sick with the virus, but it may also be spread by touching infected objects and then touching your nose or mouth.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the outbreak was first detected, an increasing number of US states have reported cases of novel H1N1 influenza with associated hospitalizations and deaths. By June 3, 2009, all 50 states in the United States and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were reporting cases of novel H1N1 infection.
On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. A Phase 6 designation indicates that a global pandemic is underway. More than 70 countries are now reporting cases of human infection with novel H1N1 flu. This number has been increasing over the past few weeks, but many of the cases reportedly had links to travel or were localized outbreaks without community spread. WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus. It’s uncertain at this time how serious or severe this novel H1N1 pandemic will be in terms of how many people infected will develop serious complications or die from novel H1N1 infection.
Jazz was certainly a concern for persons who believed the numbers of visitors to the island during this period would have posed serious threat to the island.  Their fears went unrealized. But now, since the confirmation of a swine flu case, although authorities have reported that it was not as severe as it could have been, the issue of visitors coming for mass crowd events, namely Carnival and cricket, is once again in the spotlight as this coming Friday and Sunday will see St Lucia hosting West Indies Vs India in two one day international matches.
At a press conference yesterday morning at the GIS studios, senior medical officer, Dr Merlene Frederick, revealed that there is definitely a concern for mass crowd events.  She said: “The fact that we’ve confirmed one may mean that there are others out there. It’s possible so I don’t want persons to think that this person has brought swine flu in. It’s not necessarily that way and we do understand the concern with mass crowd events but we haven’t reached the state right now where we’ll be closing down schools and preventing persons from gathering and the like. But at the same time we have been in contact with the organizing committee of the CDF, Mr Samuel and other members, and we have a plan in place for carnival in much the same way we did for the Jazz festival, and a similar thing for the cricket coming up as well.”
When the issue was first raised about the procedures in place for mass crowd events, the question of possible cancellations came to mind.  At a May 4 press conference Frederick said: “Even if the government says Jazz is cancelled persons, are still going to be coming in. The issue is not necessarily Jazz.  The infection is in the world and at some point in time it will come to St Lucia. At Jazz there is normally a medical team, who will also be involved in active surveillance.”
Frederick went to say that persons noted to be sick or coughing, could be “pulled on a side, the necessary measures taken” and possibly, “sent home and given their money back.”
When contacted yesterday around 10:30am, the Director of Tourism, Louis Lewis, was unaware St Lucia had a confirmed case of H1N1 and promised a statement later in the afternoon on the upcoming mass crowd event activities.  Speaking to the STAR around 3:30pm, the Director said he was not in possession of the facts and said he believes that as the Ministry of Health is in charge of this “initiative” and that he has no comment at this time.
Meanwhile mass crowd-world events are being scrutinized. Wimbledon officials have reportedly been accused of playing down swine flu fears on Monday after four ball boys and girls were asked to remain home because of flu symptoms. The All England Club urged all visitors and personnel to stay away from the tournament if they develop any symptoms, reported AP.  Five-time champion Roger Federer said the players were told about the flu cases a couple of days ago.
“For sure, not good news,” Federer said after beating Robin Soderling in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals. “:Especially for the players traveling around the world, meeting so many people. It’s obviously not a good thing. But I’m sure the club, ATP, ITF, they’re trying their very best to protect us as much as they can. Being careful, I think, is very important right now.”
For her part Venus Williams told AP: “I guess there’s sicknesses all around. Hopefully the players won’t get sick. Hopefully our immune systems are strong enough. That’s what they’re there for. We’re going to all put ours in use, take vitamin C, keep playing and call it a day.”
Meanwhile as the cases of swine flu around the world begin to rise there is increasing urgency for the development of a vaccine and that could be administered amass.