Beijing Olympics: Flu fears abate despite new US death

Mexico was planning a return to business as usual and the United States eased guidelines for school closures Tuesday, signs that fears of a global swine flu pandemic were abating despite the first US resident death.

US health authorities said a woman with chronic underlying conditions died of the flu in Texas earlier this week, the first death from the AH1N1 virus in the United States since that of a Mexican toddler visiting relatives in Texas late last month.

The virus has now affected 1,419 people, including 30 who have died, up from a tally Tuesday of 1,124 confirmed cases and 26 deaths, according to world health officials.

But Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, made plans to reopen schools and businesses on Wednesday as it estimated that the nationwide shutdown and the devastation to the tourism industry cause a loss of some 2.3 billion dollars to its economy.

And the United States, the second most affected country, said the flu appeared less virulent than once feared, and eased its guidelines for school closures.

"This is presenting itself more like seasonal flu, and in seasonal flu time, the only time a school would consider closing is when enough of the teachers and enough of the student population had gotten the flu, so that they really could not function," said US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, urging schools to not close but rather send infected students home for seven days.

Richard Besser, acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC, pointed to the "difficulty involved" with the closures, with reports "of children who are dropped at libraries because there's no home care, of people who might lose their jobs because they don't have sick leave."

But Sebelius and Besser acknowledged that the virus would continue to spread in the United States and elsewhere in the world, and more deaths would follow.

The number of confirmed cases in the United States jumped from 286 to 403 in 24 hours, but Besser played down the development, saying "that doesn't reflect transmission as much as that we're catching up with the testing."

The virus has spread to 38 of the 50 US states with two more states -- Georgia and Maine -- confirming cases.

In Illinois, the number of confirmed infections rose more than tenfold in the space of 24 hours, climbing from eight cases on Monday to 82. New York continues to lead the tally, with 90 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu.

The United States is the only other country apart from Mexico to have recorded any deaths.

Apart from the human cost of the crisis, Mexico's economy has also had to pay a heavy price with Finance Minister Agustin Carstens putting the cost at "close to 0.3 percent" of GDP or 2.3 billion dollars.

The government would pump 1.3 billion dollars back into the economy to mitigate some of the impact, he said, explaining the package would include extra money to promote Mexican tourism.

Mexico has been eerily quiet since Friday after President Felipe Calderon urged everyone to stay at home over a five-day holiday weekend.

But in a televised address, Calderon said the country was coming to a point where it could start returning to normal after the virus had peaked.

"At last," said Ana Maria Rodriguez, a teacher from Mexico City. "We live in the capital, we're not used to being cooped up at home."

Although no cases have been recorded on the Chinese mainland, dozens of Mexicans have been quarantined across the country. But they flew home on Tuesday as part of a repatriation deal between the two governments.

Marai