Cleveland County officials announced the first cases of swine flu Thursday, and OU officials say they are monitoring the situation but are not yet changing plans for commencement ceremonies or future study abroad programs.

OU press secretary Jay Doyle stated in an e-mail “we continue to monitor and evaluate the situation,” after the news that two cases of swine flu had been confirmed in the county was broken on OUDaily.com Thursday afternoon.

Shari Kinney, administrator of the Cleveland County Health Department, said Thursday that officials believe the exposure of the two residents to the rest of the county’s population has been limited.

“One [female with swine flu] is a high school student and one is an adult female and both of them, when they became ill, stayed home. They saw their physician and they have both recovered,” Kinney said.

Kinney said she expects to see more cases of the virus confirmed in Cleveland County, and there have been more cases of seasonal flu this year than in previous years.

“I would say at the rate that people are being tested that we will probably see more cases that are confirmed,” she said. “But just to put it in perspective, we don’t test every person who has flu-like symptoms, so we would expect to maybe have some cases confirmed.”

Oklahoma health officials confirmed another case of swine flu Thursday. A Deer Creek High School student in Edmond — 45 miles from Norman — was diagnosed with swine flu, bringing the total number of cases in Oklahoma to four.

The first case was confirmed Tuesday in a Pontotoc County woman who did not require hospitalization and has since recovered.

OU’s Plans

Goddard Health Center has not seen any suspected cases of the swine flu virus, said Maggie Pool, OU Health Services spokeswoman.

Doyle said Thursday the swine flu situation is “evolving” and officials will monitor it.

“As of today, campus activities are proceeding as normal,” Doyle stated in an e-mail. “Discussing potential responses to hypothetical situations serves no purpose,” he said Tuesday.

Doyle said the university has a plan if the swine flu worsens, but declined to release details of the plan.

“If the situation warrants, we can activate our plan,” he said.

Study Abroad

Mexico closed its schools and universities last week because of the outbreak, but most reopened Thursday. However, all of the OU students studying abroad at the six partner universities in Mexico had already returned home by the time the schools reopened, according to Jack Hobson, assistant director of program development in the study abroad office.

Hobson said credits for the students will be assessed on an individual basis because most students studying in Mexico didn’t finish their semesters abroad.

He said study abroad officials are still encouraging students to apply to study abroad in the future and that Mexico is still on the list of safe places to travel in the future.

He said study abroad officials will monitor the World Health Organization’s recommendations in relation to travel to Mexico.

“We are assessing it internally and we will make a decision in the next couple of weeks,” Hobson said.

Millie Audas, director of OU’s study abroad program, sent an e-mail last week to all students studying abroad, encouraging students to follow guidelines issued by the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and to keep in contact with both their partner institutions and the OU study abroad office.

Graduation Plans

Oklahoma State University officials announced Wednesday that they would forgo traditional handshakes for graduates at this year’s commencement ceremonies because of health concerns related to the swine flu. Other universities around the country are doing the same.

Graduation Office director Becky Heeney said there are no plans to modify OU’s commencement ceremonies as of now.

“At this time, the plan is to move forward as we always have,” Heeney said. “We’re not doing anything differently than we have in the past.”

She said officials will continue to evaluate the situation.

“I think it goes without saying that, first and foremost, the safety of our graduates and guests is very important to us,” she said. “We’re certainly going to take all the information under consideration.”

Heeney said no deans or faculty members have expressed reservations about shaking hands at commencement ceremonies.

Kinney said she is not recommending that OU officials or graduates refrain from shaking hands, but that they should make sure to wash their hands and take other sensible health precautions.