Swine Flu Updates: Thursday

The death toll in Mexico is now at 170 and the government is telling all citizens to stay home for the next five days, and "ordered all but the most essential government services shut down from Friday through Tuesday, meaning only functions like transport, supermarkets and hospitals will stay open." "There is no safer place to protect yourself against catching swine flu than in your house," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said.

116 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. with hundreds more awaiting test results. The following states have confirmed Swine Flu cases: New York, Texas, California, South Carolina and scattered cases in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado, Georgia and Maine.

U.S. and international cases continue to be mild, unlike what's happening in Mexico. No citizen of any country other than Mexico has died, and very few of the U.S. cases have even required hospitalization, unlike Mexico. Some health officials think the logical explanation for that is that there were far more than 2500 people infected in Mexico. One official said to get that many sick people, the number of infected may have been much higher, but misdiagnosed early on.

Update 12:16PM CDT:

Vice President Joe Biden appeared on Good Morning America and said he would tell family members to avoid confined spaces like airplanes and subways. That created an uproar in the travel industry.

Update 3:07PM CDT:

A White House staffer has the Swine Flu, as well as three of his family members. All have recovered. The staffer accompanied the President and other staff members during the recent trip to Mexico but did not have any contact with the President.