How is the flu/swine flu hitting your area?

[KatieLou]

ETA: I just saw the other thread on the flus...OOPS!

I know it has been talked about a lot, I am just curious as to how hard your area is being hit right now. Does everywhere else seem to be as swampped with the flu and Swine flu?


They have finally shut down schools here. People are being asked to wear masks in doc offices if they have flu symtoms.

It is crazy the amount of sickness I am hearing about. Every day my facebook reports 2 or 3 new cases of one or the other. Our church is overrun by both flus. I have actually keep my kids out of church for the past two weeks after some of the other children and most of the teens are passing these around. Call me over protective for avoiding church, and storytime....something I have been called before! lol :p I am also staying out for my own sake, being 28 wks preg.

A friend has a itty bitty (like 1.5 month old) baby and he has caught the regular flu from his siblings. Poor little guy.

I am by no means freaking out over this, but it does concern me a bit. DS has cold/allergy induced Asthma, and both kids get horribly sick when they do catch something. Plus we battled the flu with them in '07 and it still makes me sick to think how lifeless DD was at that time.

[still_me]

We had a couple cases that were confirmed around our area. Nothing has really been confirmed here.

I hate to be like one of those people who have everything that goes around, but I do think we got it.

[KatieLou]

I hope you guys feel better quickly!

[BoobySnacks]

I think the other day, there were 28 people that were hospitalized and I don't know how many who are just at home with it. It is rampant at the schools right now apparently. Our kids were sick 2 weeks ago with high fevers, runny noses and cough, but I don't know if that was it or not. I never took them to the doctor because they do not have asthma, no rattling in the chest, fever controlled with Advil and Tylenol. It was a really mean fever and it was really hard to keep down, but nothing went wrong, so they just got better here because if it was not the flu, I did not want to expose them at the docs office while their immune systems were compromised with something else. Sami came down with another high fever only a few days after that, like the same thing all over again, which made me suspicious of H1N1, but it worked out fine in our house so far.

[ima062002]

I wouldn't know. Nobody here talks about it so I assume that we are not (yet) hit hard with it. I live in New England.

[AuLait]

I live in the greater Seattle area. I haven't heard a thing. Its not even in the daily news, so I guess we've avoided any significant problems. I don't know anyone IRL that has had it, or at least was diagnosed as having it. Everyone has been playing it safe... if they feel flu-ish at all they stay home. No one seems to be rushing in to get tested for it if they suspect they do have it. They're just riding it out. My sister is a nurse and she's been exposed a few times, but even she refused the vax.

Where do you live Katie-Lou?

[Candi]

It's been in the local news, but I don't know of anyone personally that has been affected, by any flu.

[3girls2luv]

There has been several unconfirmed cases here since they are not really testing for it anymore. As for the people I come in direct contact with no one has been sick. DD1 did have the flu when school stated but she got over that and so far my family has been lucky.

[KatieLou]

Where do you live Katie-Lou?

I live in KY. I know so many people IRL that have one or the other. I just read the attendance is at 74% in most of our schools. Some in the 80's.

[MrsKitty]

There was a school with 93 sicknesses in the first few weeks BUT they didn't know if it was swine flu or not. They are not testing for swine flu unless you end up in the hospital, and none of the kids had to be hospitalized. I mean, I am guessing it is likely that it was, but I don't know for sure.

Dreighton was supposed to start preschool this September, but I never got around to enrolling him ( I wasn't that thrilled with the idea) and now I am thinking that I might wait till January. Few more months of breastmilk and home with mommy can't hurt ;)

[Sputterduck]

"no confirmed cases of Swine Flu." in our county. Up north an hour and a half there is one possible case, but not confirmed yet. I wonder if our section of the country is actually going to avoid this.

[KatieLou]

Just a little update. Out county is basically shutting down it seems. No school for the rest of the week. No sports, Lilly dance was called off. No Wenesday night church services at most of our 9000 local churches. It takes a lot to cancel church here.

[JudyJudyJudy]

Stay healthy!

One of our homeschooling families has it. Homeschool classes were canceled last week due to the flooding (they were already sick then), and this week (tomorrow) they won't be attending. Other than that, I've heard of a lot of cases in colleges but not as much elsewhere. The school systems (county and city) are reporting an unusually high rate of absenteeism due to illness, but only a few cases have actually been confirmed.

[vulturemom]

As far as I know their are not any confirmed cases in our county. Their have been a few in the county on either side of us. At my OB's office you are no longer aloud to bring children to appointments with you and children under 14 are not aloud in the hospital where I will be delivering after Oct. 1st. My Ob was also telling me that I should go on maternity leave because of the risk of swine flu (I work in a daycare center/preschool) I have decided to stay working at this point.

[SarahFae]

We have one case in our town, a 14-month-old girl. Shut down the at-home day care she was at. Apparently no one can inhabit the place for seven days and it needs to be thouroughly sanitized. Only case for miles, we live in southern Minnesota.

[kohlby]

Every school here has had at least one confirmed case, but that was weeks ago. I have a hunch that DD and I had the swine flu though it wasn't verified. (We had definite flu-like symptoms and 97% of all diagnosed flu cases here have been swine flu. DD's ped also thinks she likely had it). My baby, 6 year old, and husband did not get it though. I'm outside of Augusta, GA but in SC.