The 5am news reported that the four cases of suspect swine flu had not come back yet, but the local Tucson NBC station reminded viewers that results should come back by noon today and that the station would report that right away.
I was gardening in the back yard at 8:30am when I was called in to work. One teacher's child was sick and was told to keep it at home today.
I came to her rescue, to the same World History class I had last week.
Today the same students were a little more rambunctious. One young man came up to me after 6th hour and apologized for the bad behavior...most of the really rude ones were the young women who just absolutely had to gossip about the latests "sluts" in school.
Today's kids made me miss yesterday's six-graders even more. And yes, I have been considering focusing on middle school rather than high school. I really enjoy the combination English/Social Studies very well.
The majority of students were busy listening to their iPods, keeping abreast of the spreading swine flu when, during 4th hour, we were given a printed "Health Alert" on the swine flu: preventative measures to take just in case.
An hour later the first confirmed case of swine flu from Maricopa County (Phoenix area) was reported: an 8-year-old elementary student.
After that news none of the students could concentrate and each subsequent class was worse than the rest. I couldn't wait to get out of the high school today.
Swine flu swine flu swine flu is all I heard all day. By the time I walked to the car I was sneezing myself.
The World Health Organization raised its level from 4 to 5 today, one short of all-out pandemic. Indiana and Nevada reported their first cases today; Arizona now has 20 more suspect cases and the virus is showing up in other countries.
I don't even want to think what the town will be like when the first local cases show up. The rednecks will blame Mexicans and Obama for the outbreak.
I'm not panicked yet. (What good will that do?) but I'm worried that by the time my road trip starts in three weeks I could be held back by this virus, which by then will have spread all over. What if I catch the virus? I couldn't even hold my own grandson then. I'd be too worried about infecting him.
Traveling while down with the flu is no day at the beach, either. Neither is sitting in a brewpub not being able to taste that golden ale in front of you. Of all the mission stoppers I could come up with, changing travel plans because of an infectious disease was the last thing on my mind!
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/04/29/20090429flu-USroundup.html
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/04/29/20090429arizonaflucase.html
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