"The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some locations," the president wrote in his declaration.
 

The announcement was prompted by the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, which declared that 46 states had cases of that flu and that it was "unprecedented during seasonal flu."

 
Over 1,000 people have died from the swine flu and many of them are young people. Fifty-three children have died since August. If the deaths continue to occur at this rate, will be more than the generic flu strain, which normally is responsible for taking 80 childrens' lives each year on average. Nearly 5,000 people have died worldwide from H1N1.