H1N1 - Thoughts

[DowntownSA]

My experience:

Close to one third of my daughter's (small) school were out sick on Monday. She also encountered an outbreak in NC at camp this summer. Camp was ultimately canceled.

She is still just fine; a sniffle here, 24 hour quarantine there.

We haven't had flu shots in years. Probably since we gave up meat and chicken and stuff like that.

I actually fretted over the meningitis and ovarian cancer vaccines. Too many vaccines!

End of Rant;~)

[the_dimwit]

The kids won't be required to get them. In fact, schools are prepared for outbreaks if/when they happen. Last school year, CDC was instructing school districts to close individual schools when illness rates reached a certain percentage. Now, the onus is on the parents to keep the kids home for 24-48 hours *after* the fever breaks.

BN is right--wash hands, cough into your arm, etc. is the best prevention for this thing. I don't see it being a huge problem in most areas, but I can tell you that there have been some fairly considerable outbreaks on several college campuses already. Isolation of sick individuals for the appropriate time period (as indicated by CDC) along with the aforementioned preventative measures should keep this from getting out of hand.

--Dim