Most employers probably are aware that incidents of swine flu have been reported in numerous states, including California, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, and New York. Although the World Health Organization has indicated that it does not have enough information regarding the strain of influenza to raise the global pandemic level alert, the Department of Homeland Security has declared a public health emergency in the United States. This allows funds to be released to support the public health response. Homeland security officials reportedly are responding aggressively with the expectation that the outbreak will spread.

Please see full alert for more information.