SEATTLE – A 6-year-old boy and a 34-year-old woman from Snohomish County are believed to have the swine flu, according to samples tested by the state Department of Health.

Four other suspected cases – an 11-year-old boy, a man and a woman from King County, and a man from Spokane County – were reported by state health officials at a hastily-called news conference in Seattle tonight.

The state is sending samples to the federal Centers for Disease Control and prevention for more sophisticated tests to confirm or rule out the new swine flu. Results could take a couple of days.

The announcement was made about 8:30 p.m. in Seattle at the headquarters for the Seattle-King County public health agency.

Earlier today the state Department of Health lab in Shoreline reported receiving 70 samples this week to test for the possibility of swine flu. The state lab is awaiting supplies that will allow it to test for swine flu on site. Those tests could begin in about a week.

Dr. Gary Goldbaum, health officer for the Snohomish Health District, said he only received notification of the cases a few hours ago and did not have many details. By the time the news conference started health officials had not even been able to notify the family of one of the patients, he said.

“There is a lot we still don’t know about the actual severity of this disease,” he said. He noted that the severity of the cases reported thus far in the U.S. has not been as strong as cases in Mexico, where the strain first appeared.

And travel to or from Mexico thus far does not seem to be a common denominator in the U.S. cases, he said.

In King County, one case is a Seattle man who has a cough and a fever. He lives alone and has not traveled. He is recovering at home. Another is a 33-year-old woman who is a physician. She had a fever and a cough. Her husband and children have flu conditions.

The third King County case is an 11-year-old boy who is a student at Madrona Elementary School.

Global health authorities are warning that swine flu is threatening to bloom into a pandemic. And federal officials are urging parents to prepare for the possibility that their children’s schools could be closed if swine flu cases spread to them.

Snohomish Health District activated its emergency response system to prepare for local cases, working with fire districts, the county’s emergency management department.

A key part of the response are the area’s hospitals and clinics.

Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, the county’s largest hospital, has begun daily meetings to begin preparing to treat patients infected with swine flu.

The hospital, like others, also is stocking up on critical supplies, such as masks, gloves, hospital gowns and hand sanitizer.

A plan for how to respond to pandemic flu has been in existence for several years, Goldbaum noted, and it is now being used.

Nationally, there are 91 confirmed swine flu cases in 10 states. New York, Texas and California have been hardest hit by the bug.

On Wednesday, health authorities reported the first death in the United States caused by the disease, a toddler from Mexico who died in Texas.

Anti-viral medications have been shown to be effective against the disease. The state expects to get enough of the medication to treat 230,000 people.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said on Wednesday that the medicine is due to arrive by the first of next week.

Meanwhile the list of countries with confirmed cases continues to grow.

Mexico, where the swine flu outbreak began, has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection including seven deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

However, the disease is suspected in a total of 160 deaths in Mexico and some 2,500 people have been sickened. New cases seem to be leveling off there.

Cases have now been confirmed in Austria, Canada, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Several school districts across Snohomish County have updated their Web sites with information about what will happen in the event of a local swine flu outbreak.

If the swine flu reaches local schools, it will be up to the Snohomish Health District to determine if a campus should be closed after consulting with the school district’s superintendent, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

School districts in Snohomish County will receive their first alert from the health district today Goldbaum said. It will ask staff to be on the lookout for students who are ill, “and being prepared if we have a first case to actually close down schools.”

Right now, though, “parents should not be concerned about their kids being in in school,” he said.

If a student is diagnosed with swine flu, “we’ll recommend that they keep them out of school for seven days,” he said.

The flu bug’s impact could reach far beyond one campus, said Nathan Olson, a spokesman for the state superintendent’s office.

“You could have a grade school student who has it and that student has a brother in high school. Are you closing both schools now? It becomes very complicated very quickly,” Olson said.

Student dismissals could last for days or even weeks to reduce contact among children and stop the flu’s spread, according to state plans.

“The process at this moment would be the health and safety of all the kids first,” Olson said.

The new virus is keeping local school leaders on their toes.

“We’re not panicking but we do want people to know we are staying on top of it,” said Misti Gilman, an Arlington School District spokeswoman. “What we are trying to do is counteract any nervousness people might have by providing good information and remind them of the importance of frequently washing their hands.”

Over the next several days the health district will provide additional information to businesses, child care providers and other groups who need information on how to respond to any cases of swine flu.

Public health officials across the nation are working together to investigate new cases “so we get a good picture about what this epidemic looks like,” Goldbaum said.

Herald reporter Jerry Cornfield and the Associated Press contributed to this story