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Is the Swine Flu freaking you out?
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It wasn’t enough that we have to worry about when the next Columbine killer might attack our kid’s school or if their Sunday School teacher is a rapist-murder.
Now we’ve got the Swine Flu to add to our list of terrible things that probably won’t happen but will freak us out anyway.
What gets me are the symptoms: fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. I have all these symptoms right now just thinking about the dang maybe-pandemic.
So every time our kid sniffles from now on, what do we do? Run to the doctor?
The Center for Disease and Prevention says no. Chill out dude. (They don’t actually say that but if they did they’d seem way cooler.)
As of today, their website says there have only been 14 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in California. Yet today, cases started popping up throughout the Bay Area. I was surprised to hear one high school in San Jose decided to shut down for a week after one student contracted the Swine Flu.
Shutting down a whole school for a week seems extreme and unsustainable for the future...but is it? Are we speeding toward an era of home schooling and online education for our kids? Are we one step away from making them wear astronaut globes around their heads when they go to school?
Considering there are over 7.2 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area, it would seem, at least for now that odds would be better for winning American Idol while getting hit by lightning than catching the Swine Flu. But still, as moms, it's our job to worry, and we do that exceedingly well.
And it is scary since it can spread fast, just like a cold. We all know of colds that spread through our schools faster than Governor Schwarzenegger could say “I’ll be baaack.”
What are we supposed to do if our kids start to sneeze? Taking your kid to the doctor every time they get feverish seems extreme, but we all have different thresholds for worry.
The Center for Disease Control suggests that we all be very careful. Remind your kids to wash their hands frequently at school and if they have to sneeze, make sure they sneeze into their sleeves (like kids will ever do that faithfully when we're not watching).
The main point seems to be, when our kids are sick, keep them home.
For single moms like me and many working mothers that can be really hard to do. Nevertheless, it may be the most effective way to prevent a pandemic.
To get all the facts on the Swine Flu, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/.
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