Wednesday, May 20th 2009, 2:57 AM
Shariyar Rohan, 3, struggles to put on a protective mask Tuesday while standing outside the pediatric emergency ward at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens.
Flu fear reached a cold hand across the city Tuesday, filling emergency rooms and emptying classrooms as dread spread from prestigious prep schools to seedy cellblocks.
In one instance, a principal who showed up at her Brooklyn high school campus wearing a surgical mask had teachers wondering why she would risk sparking a frenzy.
“The kids were already in a panic because more teachers than usual were out,” said one teacher at the 500-student Academy for College Preparation and Career Exploration at Erasmus. “And when they saw the principal, they went crazy.”
Principal Ditta Korbeogo told the Daily News she couldn’t understand the stir, saying, “I only wore the mask for a few periods.”
Though there was no indication that the disease was getting more severe, people were on edge. “My phones are ringing off the hook,” said Queens City Councilman Eric Gioia, who is running for public advocate.
“I’m hearing confusion and concern. It’s not panic – nor should it be panic – but there is so much stress on Queens parents right now.”
Among Tuesday’s developments:
- The wait for care at some hospital emergency rooms was growing dramatically – up to 10 hours in some places.
- Flu was on the loose at Rikers Island, where both inmates and guards complained fearfully of being cooped up with sick people.
- Six more schools closed, including the private Horace Mann School in Riverdale, the Bronx, bringing the total shuttered to two dozen.
Attendance rates were down in many schools, both because of illness and nervous parents keeping their kids home.
About 20% of public school students were out across Queens, and some schools saw a bigger spike: At Public School 60 in Staten Island, only 55% of students showed up.
City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens), hoping to calm fears, signed up as a substitute math teacher at Junior High School 189 in Flushing, Queens, where he said a third of the 800 students and nearly two-thirds of the faculty called in sick this week.
Liu, a teaching assistant in college, will go to the classroom because “I want to allay fears about whether school is safe. I believe it is, and I’ll be there because education has to go on.”
- A growing chorus of elected officials began questioning why the city hasn’t closed more schools.
- Nationally, a death in St. Louis brought the flu death toll to eight. About 5,500 people are sick, with fewer than 300 in New York.
- The mayor told immigrant families not to fear seeking help. “Whether you have health insurance coverage or your immigration status is in question, it doesn’t matter,” the mayor said. “The only question that matters is, are you severely ill? And if you are, our hospitals are there to take care of you.”
