State officials today tried to reassure residents and travelers about measures being taken to handle cases of swine flu in the Islands.

“Swine-origin influenza is in our community,” state Department of Health director Chiyome Fukino said in a news conference. “However, all indications at this time are that this novel flu is behaving very much like seasonal flu.”
Seven new cases of the flu were confirmed in Hawaii today, bringing the state’s total to 40.
Fukino said four of the cases are children who came in contact with someone who was sick. Three adults were also confirmed to have the flu, one of whom has traveled recently.
Today's update represents the single largest number of cases reported since the Department of Health began issuing weekday updates on May 13.
The state first confirmed cases of swine flu on May 5.
At today’s news conference, state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert acknowledged that the flu is hurting travel to Hawaii from Japan, as visitors decide to forgo vacations for fear of catching the flu.
She said she has seen double-digit declines in arrivals from Japan.
But she said she expects travel to bounce back once flu fears subside.
Meanwhile, Fukino said the best defense for stopping the spread of the flu is for people who are sick to stay home.
She also responded to calls to close schools that have seen cases of the flu, saying that school closures are an economic hardship to many families and would likely just result in children congregating in closer groups at malls or day care centers.