The outbreak of swine flu moved to a new level Tuesday. Here in the US the CDC reported two dozen new cases and hundreds more are suspected that makes 65 confirmed cases in this country in six states. But for the first time some of those patients are ending up in the hospital, three in California and two in Texas. The most serious swine flu outbreak continues to be in Mexico where more than 150 people have died. That has some travelers here in the Quad Cities cancelling trips.
Tuesday Western Illinois University canceled all student travel to Mexico until swine flu concerns are over. It's not only universities and colleges that are rethinking their trips there; it's also companies backing off planned vacations.
When John Resnick was honored as a top salesman in his company, his reward was an all expenses paid trip to Cancun for him and his wife...the two were ecstatic.
"We were very excited. The company pumps the promotion all year long and sends you all these cool things about what you're going to be doing. A nice agenda of what's going on and we hadn't been away from our kids for this long ever," says Kandi Resnick.
They were excited until they saw reports about the growing number of swine flu cases and deaths in Mexico. Then they saw the news that New York students who traveled to Cancun had gotten sick.
"We had taken some precautions. I had the tama-flu script ready to go and then after watching the news Sunday night I looked at John and said, 'I don't think I can do it.' When you go on vacation you want to relax and enjoy yourself, you don't want to be stressed," says Kandi.
They say, thankfully, John's company made the decision for them. Days before their trip to Cancun on Wednesday, he got an email that the trip had been cancelled.
"We started thinking, okay, if we come back with even a small symptom and we have 3 kids and they go to school and infect others were thinking all because we wanted to go to Mexico?" says John.
John says his company still plans to reward top employees with a trip just probably one inside the United States now. We also know of at least one Quad City couple that cancelled their honeymoon to Mexico and switched their destination to Jamaica to avoid any chance of dealing with swine flu.
Western Illinois University isn't taking a chance either. Because of travel warnings from the CDC students likely won't go on study abroad trips to Mexico unless the flu concern ends before the scheduled trip, but like the Resnick's, students at Western are saying thanks to the University for putting their health first.
"We have gotten several thanks from students and people who have family there and they think we're doing the right thing. It's a reminder to take care of ourselves and our responsibility to the global community," says Joseph Rives, Western Illinois University.
Tuesday Western Illinois University canceled all student travel to Mexico until swine flu concerns are over. It's not only universities and colleges that are rethinking their trips there; it's also companies backing off planned vacations.
When John Resnick was honored as a top salesman in his company, his reward was an all expenses paid trip to Cancun for him and his wife...the two were ecstatic.
"We were very excited. The company pumps the promotion all year long and sends you all these cool things about what you're going to be doing. A nice agenda of what's going on and we hadn't been away from our kids for this long ever," says Kandi Resnick.
They were excited until they saw reports about the growing number of swine flu cases and deaths in Mexico. Then they saw the news that New York students who traveled to Cancun had gotten sick.
"We had taken some precautions. I had the tama-flu script ready to go and then after watching the news Sunday night I looked at John and said, 'I don't think I can do it.' When you go on vacation you want to relax and enjoy yourself, you don't want to be stressed," says Kandi.
They say, thankfully, John's company made the decision for them. Days before their trip to Cancun on Wednesday, he got an email that the trip had been cancelled.
"We started thinking, okay, if we come back with even a small symptom and we have 3 kids and they go to school and infect others were thinking all because we wanted to go to Mexico?" says John.
John says his company still plans to reward top employees with a trip just probably one inside the United States now. We also know of at least one Quad City couple that cancelled their honeymoon to Mexico and switched their destination to Jamaica to avoid any chance of dealing with swine flu.
Western Illinois University isn't taking a chance either. Because of travel warnings from the CDC students likely won't go on study abroad trips to Mexico unless the flu concern ends before the scheduled trip, but like the Resnick's, students at Western are saying thanks to the University for putting their health first.
"We have gotten several thanks from students and people who have family there and they think we're doing the right thing. It's a reminder to take care of ourselves and our responsibility to the global community," says Joseph Rives, Western Illinois University.
