Oink Oink!

What's all the hype about? Thousands died of the regular flu. Right?

That's what a mommy of 3 Kindergarteners said to me this morning as she went to teach at the high school.

Are you kidding me? Now, I am not panicked or freaked out YET, but here is what I know so far:

1) a 23 month old little boy from Mexico City died at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. He was visiting family in Brownsville, TX, a border town.

2) there is a confirmed case at McLean Middle School in Fort Worth and the school district of 80,000 students and who knows how many on staff closed schools until May 11.

3) my friend who is a diagnostician in Carrolton-Farmers Branch near Dallas had to take her 5 year old to be tested because there are 3 possible cases at his pre-school in Lewisville.

4)the state of Texas has shut down all UIL activities until May 11.

5)other districts in the Dallas/Fort Worth area have closings too such as Cleburne, Irving, and Oak Cliff and Richardson. This is according to channel 5 in D/FW.

6)many other school districts have cancelled any field trips. Think about it, if your child's grade level is going to the zoo, how many other schools might be visiting too?

7)you don't start to show symptoms for days after you have come in contact with the virus

Just thinking about Aggieland: There are over 45,000 students at Texas A&M and many of them went out of town last weekend. Many are from DFW, Houston, and border towns such as Brownsville. How do we know that they did not come into contact with the virus and have brought it back with them and they are sitting in classrooms with hundreds of other students....grabbing doorknobs, pushing buttons on the coke or snack machines that others will touch after them? How many Aggies volunteer with the children in the public schools here in town? How many of them substitute at our public schools? Lots!

We are all connected!

According to an article on foxnews.com:

-This is a new strain of the flu, which means there is no available vaccine to prevent it.

-When a new strain of flu starts infecting people, and when it acquires the ability to pass from person to person, it can spark a pandemic. The last pandemic was in 1968 and killed about a million people. Think about how people travel today and how much more we interact with people.

Lauren's first dance recital is this Saturday and I have been thinking of all the family members who will be travelling from out of town to watch this special event. I would not be upset at all if it was cancelled.

Who wants to take that chance? Not me. Like I said, I'm not freaking out yet. If that were the case, I wouldn't be at school and I wouldn't have let Stephen take the kids to Wal-Mart this morning to get more Pull-Ups (I made him take Clorox wipes for the shopping cart and he is buying sanitizer). I reminded him to wash the kids' hands the minute they walk in the door too.

We should all be careful and become "germ-a-phobes" until this passes.