White House to detail government’s response to swine flu outbreak; top officials to brief

White House to detail govt response to swine flu

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has received regular briefings from advisers on the swine flu outbreak and the White House readied guidance for Americans.

The Obama administration planned a Sunday afternoon briefing to outline the government’s response.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the outbreak is serious but the public should know “it’s not a time to panic.” Gibbs told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Obama has been getting updates “every few hours” on the situation.

New York City’s mayor on Sunday said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed that swine flu had infected students of a city high school. Before that, there were at least 11 confirmed cases of swine flu in California, Texas and Kansas. Patients have ranged in age from 9 to over 50.

A deadly swine flu strain in Mexico has killed up to 81 people and likely sickened 1,324 since April 13.

Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett wouldn’t rule out travel restrictions to Mexico.

“Well, I don’t want to prejudge what the officials are going to say later today,” Jarrett told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“But let’s just put it this way: the president is taking this very seriously. He has assembled his teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Homeland Security. He has been briefed regularly. And he has asked them to speak to the American people and give the appropriate counsel later today.”

Obama recently traveled to Mexico. Jarrett said Obama is not ill.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the CDC’s acting director, Dr. Richard Besser, were to speak with reporters at 12:30 p.m. at the White House.

Obama officials said the White House’s Homeland Security Council is monitoring the outbreak, along with the State Department and the CDC.