What's the big deal? kids just have to wash thier hands and keep healthy, it's kinda like normal flu. come on! the only difference is that this one came from mexico and is infecting the people there.



But if this wipes out all of mexico, then it would suck for me because it will wipe out half the reasons I take spanish class.

We need to stop illegal immigration. Swine flu is just one of the many diseases that are flooding over from Mexico. I have family who are nurses and it is a fact that they perpetually see cases of tuberculosis coming from people who can't speak english and are obviously illegal immigrants from Mexico. Obama was confronted with the question if he's going to close the borders, and he said it would be akin to closing the barn doors when the horses already escaped. WRONG! A few horses have escaped. We must close the door before the rest do. Mexico is on the verge of cataclysmic state and economic failure, all due to their own fault, not ours. If our borders stay open, they will flood over, drug cartels, diseases and all, as has already been happening. I know that sounds 2-dimensional and even cruel, but unfortunately it's the truth. I'm sorry. There's a reason most first world countries are advising against travel to Mexico. We can not fix the Mexicans burdens by wasting our money and taking on third-world diseases. By the way, the swine flu evolves and becomes deadly quick. If we don't stop its spread now, it will become evermore lethal. Flus go dormant during hot times, which means we haven't come close to seeing its full potency. It will rebirth in the fall and winter with even greater power. The more people who have it now, the more it will have time to evolve to then launch its full strike on all the kids returning to school. We must nip this in the bud! OUR CHILDREN ARE AT STAKE!!!

For those of you who think it's no worse if even less worse than the normal flu, you are utterly mistaken. Otherwise the government would shut down schools every flu season. Schools lose a lot of money when they shut down, so when they do, that means that what they are dealing with is extremely serious. And it's only gonna get worse.

I tend to agree with Rick. It's faulty reasoning to say it's "just like other flus" because it's a new mix of bird/swine/human flu that has a high risk of mutating into something far worse. The more we can minimize the spread the better. I'm a BIG Obama fan generally speaking, but I am a bit disappointed in his comment about the horses out of the barn. I think his analogy is wrong. A few horses got out, but we could have certainly kept the rest of them in. I think we have missed an important opportunity to slow this spread when we didn't immediately and swiftly close the border. In the first few days, the big vector (i.e. known risk) for this was recent travel to Mexico. We've had 7-10 days now of letting people back across the border, and that opportunity is now gone and were now seeing most people who get it have had no known connection to or contact with someone from Mexico. (Recent stat from the AP wire was that only 33% of the cases now are from recent travelers.) My SIL is from Latin America and I expected her to say I was being xenophobic... but she agreed with me 100% about closing the border. Her philosophy is like this, "you really think someone at the border is going to tell the truth and say they're not feeling well? They're going to lie. I would." Let's be real here, folks. This is serious. With the cluster of schools in Pittsburg/Bay point being closed and now one in San Ramon, how long before schools all across the 680 corridor are going to be closed and this thing spreads. Bart will be a breeding ground. Aaaaaaagh. I can't even think about it.

I'm just plain scared. This is not a normal flu. I agree with Rick. People are saying that I'm paranoid, well I couldn't care less! I am scared for my life!!!

This is only going to postpone summer..
they might as well shut all the schools if they are worried because i am sick and have all the symptoms of swine and it is spreading.

If this continues to spread in our area, I personally will be keeping my kids home till the end of the school year, regardless of what the schools decide to do. I don't want my kids to be guinea pigs while the county waits to see how far and wide this will stretch (and I think it's only a matter of time before it's in most schools). I channeled some of my fears into updating (and increasing) my earthquake supplies.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Does anyone have any information about California high school? I just wanna make sure. Will our high school be closed for this week?

Just so people don't think I was trying to politicize this very serious issue of protecting our kids, let it be known that I voted for Obama, so I was not taking a swipe at him just to do so. I feel that our children are very much at risk and we must protect them from this potentially dangerous pandemic.

The problem is, this has been blown so far out of proportion by the media. Keep in mind that last week, the media reported with glee that there were thousand with swine flu in Mexico and hundreds dead. Now, we're finding out that's not the case, but they're not so quick to report it because it's not as dramatic. This is from the WHO website this morning:

Mexico has reported 397 confirmed human cases of infection, including 16 deaths. The higher number of cases from Mexico in the past 48 hours reflects ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. The United States Government has reported 160 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death.

Web Link

So, as of this past July, there were 6,706,993,152 people on the globe. 658 of them have confirmed swine flu (or whatever the politically correct name is today.) To keep that in perspective, here are the leading causes of death in the US for 2005:

* Heart disease: 652,091
* Cancer: 559,312
* Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 143,579
* Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 130,933
* Accidents (unintentional injuries): 117,809
* Diabetes: 75,119
* Alzheimer's disease: 71,599
* Influenza/Pneumonia: 63,001
* Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 43,901
* Septicemia: 34,136

Web Link

So everybody, please take a breath and relax. This is not the end of the world.

The Danville Weekley News and the SRVUSD should check the facts, the Coyote Creek School closure is precautionary, this case has not been confirmed. It takes days to confirm the H1N1 virus. Again, this is not a labratory confirmed case. Go to a reputable source, do the research and get the facts. In comprarison to other flu viruses, this is not much different. To date there are only three confirmed H1N1 cases in the Bay Area. As it turned out these cases were mild, requiring nothing more than the average flu care. A good reputable resource is the World Health Organization's web site.

Tina, actually, the WHO and the CDC have both publicly stated that they may not be listing accurately the number of "confirmed" cases now that several states including California have the ability to test and confirm independently. And, as confirmed numbers on the local level rise, it would become tedious for them to spend their time trying to continue the tally when it's clear it is spreading and they have more important things to do than to report each additional "confirmed" case. Plus, the term "confirmed" has a very specific meaning, that the DNA match has been done on the virus strain, which takes several days from having the actual test done.

That's why they're taking actions off of the term "probable," which is a more instant result (i.e. the initial test shows it's a type A variety, from which H1N1 comes). They can then state with a high degree of probability that those cases will be confirmed but that they don't want to wait those few days during such a critical time before taking some action.

But hey, if someone is more comfortable splitting hairs and relying on the "confirmed" count and downplaying the risk and potentially exposing themselves and their family to this seemingly innocuous Swine flu because they really don't think it's all that bad, then hey, go for it. But if my local news says there's a "probable" case, and the county health people think it's advisable to stay away, that's what I'm personally going to choose to do. Great thing about personal choice, that is.

The logic that it's so inconsequential compared to other things or other flus, it's really faulty reasoning. Right now, it's easy to say it's benign, just a "flu." But it's not 100% a human flu. Yes, the media's having fun at our expense, but the WHO and CDC are certainly not overblowing their concern. Our bodies aren't intended to get this virus. And, evidence from Mexico shows it's attacking people in their prime, healthy 20-40 year olds, not necessarily just small children and older folks (and that's what the 1918 flu did, too). It seems to actually cause the most complications in healthy adults, where their immune system does such a good job of fighting it off that the body puts out a hyper-response and fills the lungs with fluid. That's pretty darned scary.

So far it is still isolated, but it has the ability to affect large numbers of people. So what if we don't all die from it. Can you imagine if 50% of the population of San Ramon or Danville, or Walnut Creek, coming down with a sudden upper respiratory infection akin to pneumonia. Imagine how that would tax our health care system, our public services, grocery shopping, public transit, and other services. And what happens if, as a result of continued spread, our state decides to essentially "shut down" the way Mexico did for a week. That's fine in a small village or big city where you can essentially get what you need by walking. But how does that work on the 680 corridor?

I'm not saying that it would definitely come to that, but I think it's reasonable to think through that kind of a situation and make sure we're all prepared, much in the same way we would be prepared for an earthquake.

And in terms of minimizing the spread, now they're concerned about human to animal transmission. Canada is now reporting the first cases of actual live pigs having this exact same strain of virus, which they likely caught FROM the farmer, so now we have human to animal transmission. What happens if this thing mutates into something more deadly. Or if it spreads to more pig populations. Or if our bird populations start getting this and it unlocks the key that makes the dreaded Avian Flu more portable from human to human.

It's just silly to reason, "I'm not going to worry until thousands of people are dying." I'm not urging everyone to run for the hills, but I think trying to seem nonchalant and cynical about the statistics is really laughable. And it sets a precedent for other people, perhaps maybe younger people or people that aren't as well informed, it tells them they don't really have to be all that dilligent. "Hey, it's just the flu, man." So they're going to go to work or out with friends even though they're not 100%, and they're going to unwittingly spread this even further.

And Tired, the big difference to me between Swine flu and those stats... is you can't "catch" Stroke, Cancer, Septicemia, Heart Disease, and Diabetes standing on the bart train or shopping in the grocery store. And if this turned into something more deadly, it could potentially knock off that many people in one fell swoop. Why wait till it starts mutating into something more deadly before taking this seriously?

You're missing the point - 5 days ago, there were ~2000 cases of it in Mexico. With testing, that number has been reduced to 397. Out of a population of 110,000,000 people, it's not laying waste to the population as the media portrays.

And I believe you misunderstood - WHO and CDC certainly are maintaining accurate numbers and continue to report. Certain state laboratories are now able to confirm cases without forwarding specimens to CDC for confirmation. No, you can't catch several of those maladies at the grocery store, but 16 deaths is a drop in the bucket.

After reading these comments - - Paging Michele Bachmann. Paging Michele Bachmann. Surely she's been talking to folks in Danville about the connection between this outbreak and the last outbreak of swine flu. Sounds like folks here would buy the connection hook, line, and sinker.

Not missing it; just choosing to ignore it because the comparison isn't valid to me.

You're comparing the evolving numbers on a new, highly contagious, and potentially deadly disease with the relatively static statistics of common diseases which follow a more or less predictable trajectory. I may not have been a statistics major, but I don't think there's enough empirical data yet about this swine flu to make a fair comparison ot the two.

But hey, I think I'd rather miss the point than miss an opportunity to protect my family from this thing.

Had to google the Michelle Bachmann reference. LOL. Really. I mean, r-e-a-l-l-y? Gotta love them wacky fundamentalist Repuglicans politicians and their unique grasp of history.

Actually, on a totally unrelated conspiracy theory, my DH and I were thinking this whole swine flu outbreak reminds us too much of this season of "24." Where is Jack Bauer when we need him?

Seriously, though, I love Obama and think he practically walks on water. In this issue, I don't really fault him for anything except perhaps staying too calm; waiting till all the facts are in before acting swiftly. Maybe he's trying to appeal to all ides, and not wanting to alienate our neighbors or appear xenophobic or hurt trade, or (frankly) our food supply. Tomatoes and zucchini in March, come on! I just think that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't have hurt to temporarily shut the border, on both sides. If this disease had started in Canada instead, or Asia, would we have been more comfortable saying, "hey... we're just going to close this little border here and see what's going on before you come in."

I can't even imagine (actually shudder to think) how McPalin would have handled this situation (armed militia in the streets?) That's certainly one extreme, but Obama may seriously need to step up to the plate with something more agressive if this gets worse. We elected him to guide us through some rough patches... and it seems like this is certainly a rough patch, isn't it?

Mr. or Ms. Tired, what do all those diseases that largely effect older people who have poor eating or other unhealthy habits have to do with our children. Let me give you some perspective. On a CNN report with John King this morning I watched them explain how this is completely different from the normal flu. It is killing people who never die from the normal flu, 25-35 year olds. The normal flu only harms people with weak immune systems, such as the very elderly and babies. A flu which can also kill the healthiest age demographic is far more deadly. I tell you, I'm not worried about my kids getting Alzheimer's or most of those other diseases you mentioned, but I am worried about them getting something that kills people my age and everyone. As I said earlier, this flu has broken during the hot season. It will be far worse during fall and winter. If you want to stop child diabetes, I'm with you. Kids should eat better and be more active, but don't you dare obfuscate the danger to our children with such irrelevant comparisons.

You know what I'm tired of, is people who say they're tired of parents protecting their children. I'm tired of people who try every trick in the book to mislead and tamper down our legitimate concerns for our kids.

If we closed and patrolled the US-Mexico border, which would probably involve a large military draft, Illegal nonresident aliens will just keep taking commercial aircraft or use other methods that do not have require ground travel to get to the United States and and resident aliens will continue overstay their visas. Closing up the borders will not solve any illegal immagration problems we are facing. People will not lose their motivation to come and stay in our country illegaly just because it is not possible to get over the US-Mexico border on land. The only three solutions to illegal immigration that I can think of are becoming a third world country and having an economy even worse than Mexico and the rest of Latin America's, becoming a completeley solcialist country and having the government only hiring people who they are sure are legal residents through thourough backround check, or implanting legal citizens with devices similar to microchips so that police officers can scan someone whenever they are pulled over or suspected of commiting a crime. However, all of these options have problems as well. Simply put, there is no easy solution to curbing illegal immagration.

Rick, I don't think anybody is trying to mislead or tamper your fears - I do think you need to keep things in perspective though. By the line of reasoning /panic I'm reading here, is everybody also going to stop driving? After all, there were 41,000 deaths in traffic collisions last year. I guess my point is that we need to keep things in perspective - caution is fine but outright panic is not.

I don't care about all the other ways we can die. I don't want to pile on new ways for our kids to die. Guess what? Most driving accidents are preventable. On the other hand, besides quarantining my kids from society, there is no way to protect from a pandemic. So stop talking about all the other way people can die. It's irrelevant. It's another trick in the book to mislead parents into thinking they shouldn't care if their kids are being unreasonably endangered. It's very easy to curb illegal immigration. you shut down the borders. end of story. I'm tired of amnesty lobbyists endangering our society and now our children. I will not tolerate it and I know plenty who are with me. Plenty of people die from smoking, does that mean I should let my kid eat tainted food. That's how illogical your comparisons are. Your sides debating is a bunch of non sequitors. Stop finding reasons for me not to care about my children's safety concerning a pandemic and START PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN!!! [Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]

Simply put, people like Dave are nothing but pro-amnesty lobbyists who don't give a damn for our children. They don't care about the drug cartels who kidnap our people. They don't care about illegal immigrant pedophiles who kidnap and rape our children. they don't care about the diease-ridden population who now infect our children. [Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]

PS: I and hundreds of young men I know are ready to protect our borders if that draft comes. And protect our streets as well.[Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]

Our culture has lost it's societal immune system. Consider me and my posse to be white blood cells, antibodies, ready to protect our children from foreign and destructive agents!

Rick,
Seems to me that you have an autoimmune infection.

Dear Concerned Parents,

I am very worried about H1N1 Influenza Type A, in our district.

You should also be considered MPR. Coyote Creek is just one of the schools with a filthy servery. Go to this website and check all the schools from SRVUSD. Web Link

Then you will be more concerned. And you may find some answers to your children's mysterious illnessess. You should email the Superintendent and Board members about what they are going to do about it before voting Yes on Measure C.

Rick,

May I know if you are from Southern CA?

You sound pretty patriotic! Good for you.

Rick: You had me at least pondering your ideas/suggestions until you started the profanity laced tirade. If you want to draw people to your conclusions screaming and cursing at them is not effective. It makes your argument less believable.

When you seal the borders, would you tell Americans that they can't travel to Mexico? Otherwise, Americans will simply travel to Mexico, get sick, and then bring the virus home. So, because our government lacks an effective means of patrolling the borders, we should give up the freedom to travel?

Also, what happens if a Mexican travels to Canada and I do as well. I catch the virus from the Mexican and bring it home. I never traveled to Mexico but still got sick and can be a threat to those around me. So, would we also tell Americans they can't return to their own country because they were exposed to a Mexican in Canada.

I'm not saying your ideas are totally without merit, but I don't see how they're are practical in stopping disease-spread given the global nature of the world thanks to modern day travel. But, when you scream and yell and cuss it causes rational people to no longer take you seriously even if you at least raise points worth discussing.

I first became politically active on the local level when Rylan Fuchs was murdered. For those who don't know, Rylan was a 17 year old student of San Ramon High who was murdered by some thug from Richmond who was brought into our community via a group home. I was infuriated that the group home even existed, but the reaction of our local government, papers and some adults was that much more infuriating. Due to their agendas to keep the group home in existence, they resorted to blaming the victim for "associating with the wrong people." I was thinking, who brought this kid into the community in the first place? Adults bring these thugs into our community and then have the nerve to get mad at the kid who "associated with him!" The murderer text messaged Rylan's friends after the murder, saying "you play with fire and you'll get burned." How appropriate. Our local government played with fire, and one of our kids got burnt. I have been so filled with venom since then, seeing how not only are our federal and state governments not protecting us, but our local one as well. The adults who I got mad at on this page reminded me of that same concept, always at the ready with some ludicrous defense to continue their agendas which endanger our children. I'm tired of them playing with fire while our kids get burnt.

I have to be honest, I did not read all the comments, but in response to the first few, and those debating the severity of the swine flu: the swine flu is dangerous regardless of its severity because of how contagious it is; if the flu becomes a pandemic, our infrastructure will fail. Also, closing the border to Mexico will not help in this instance; abandoning an unstable country that has, in the past, relied on us for support will send it further into disarray. It is vital to keep Mexico open and participating in the world in order to lead it on a slow, but reliable, path to stability. (Not to mention, if we do close our borders and the Mexican situation escalates, there will be even more reason for people to cross the border, and they will not be stopped because of a new rule set down by the administration, they will be killed and held in detention facilities in great numbers, feeding into our prison-industrial complex, and possibly creating a humanitarian crisis we should not be responsible for.)

I don't think the flu is going to be the pandemic every did at first. But it never hurts to be careful. If kids miss one week of school but it keeps the flu from spreading then that seems a small price to pay.

As for Rick's many comments here and on other threads. You talk about being politically active. Where? In what way? You make threats, you talk of your posse taking action. Other than your shrill screaming on this site I have not seen any sort of action from you. And you also keep screaming about how people are blaming Rylan Fuchs when its the fault of the kid from the group home.

You also claim knowledge of these text messages that were sent. Do you have any proof or just what the rumormill as srvhs is putting out. I've heard kids talking about how rylan was killed over 800 dollars worth of pot, others said he ripped off the drug dealers. I don't think the full story is out yet. I'm frustrated that it hasn't all come to light too but I don't think screaming and swearing on a message board is going to help. As someone else said, it also does nothing for your credibility.

You described yourself as a firebrand. I don't think you understand the term. a firebrand is someone who lights a fire in others, in other words inspires them. All your screaming hate and rhetoric is accomplishing is showing the people who might actually believe you that you are not capable of holding a civil conversation without resorting to threats, insults and violence.

I'm sure you'll post more profanity and insults attacking me. Trust me, i won't lose any sleep over it. I probably shouldn't have even posted, since its a common practice not to feed trolls like yourself but I am tired of you posting your hate with only a few people calling you on it.

If you really intend to be active and try to make a change in your society, you need to learn how to have a discussion and listen to other viewpoints.

After reading some of the inane comments above, the herd obviously needs culling.

My Friends

Please do not encourage Rick to continue his rantings and allowing him to hijack our forum for communcation. I encourage you to not read, respond, or let his anger-filled entries concern you. He deserves no rebuttals.

He is angry about the death of a young man and is looking for someone to blame ie schools, immigrants, liberals, group homes, etc. I suggest we pray for this angry young man that he will find the peace within. In the meantime, don't fuel the fire.

I'm not looking for someone to blame. I found 'em. You can ignore me, but my cause isn't going away. Evil people have hijacked our town. Don't pray for me to lose my anger. Pray that another one of our children isn't murdered by some thug irresponsibly brought into our community. It's hilarious how you think the guy who's angry about a murdered youth is the problem. People like you, Reader, who don't get angry about murdered kids are the problem. People like you who want to unnecessarily expose our children to disease are the problem. You are the type who does more than anyone to fuel my fire. I'm not the only one who feels this way. I'm one of the few whose not afraid to speak my mind.

Jim, you are the pathetic troll. Reader, this is just as much my forum as anyone's. Believe me, you haven't seen nothing yet.

Dear Rick,

I sympathize with you, and feel your pain.

I want and I feel it is my duty to inform you that there are no superior beings to pray for bad children to leave the area. Prayer in general, is talking to yourself, and is delusional, not to offend anyone, but if you feel strongly about some issue, use you emotions productively and not in talking to yourself, that way you can make a difference.

And I beleive that you should stand up for what you believe, no matter what, but I advise you to do this productively, but not in talking to yourself(prayer).

Anger is a good thing, and it is good to express and means you are still alive and you are not cold inside.

For the rest of the people, stop blaming Rick for the problems of the soceity and our inferior government. Rick, is free to express himself in this country.

As a community, you(everyone) should act to protect this neighborhood.

Sincerely,

Atheist

You keep daring me to be more active. Don't you worry. I will.

We should have a military schoosl in our district SRVUSD, and send all of the troubled teens there, or an JROTC in all the district high schools.

We should have a ballot to close Del Amigo High School, and Venture, they bring people from everywhere in the Bay Area, mostly troubled youth, and SRVUSD has to absorb the cost to operate these schools exclusively for these unruly teens. Contact Steve Enoch, and the board members. This is the money needed for Measure C.

Lets Take Action,

Evelyn

By the way, my last comment was aimed at Jim. Thank you for your support Atheist.

Evelyn, you're awesome!

Rick,

Here is a hint. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges(WASC) has a complaint procedure in which anyone who is unhappy or concerned about any school who is certified by them could contact them either by filing the form online or calling a office located in Southern California and provide details for them to review and check details about the school(s).Give them a ring!

The WASC is the only agency besides SRVUSD who could close these schools if they are considered unnecessary and if they failed for certification which you may have a valid merit.This criteria applies to Del Amigo or Venture, as well as all the schools in the district or any school who received certification. That may be a solution to eliminating the bad wood from other parts of the Bay Area. The closure from those schools.

If you could make difference in the world that is good enough, if you try it is good enough, and if you fail at least you tried.

Evelyn.

Group homes are sanctioned by the State of California. Danville cannot deny the placement of a group home as the State of California has jurisdiction and allows, regardless of local planning ordinances, the placement of these group homes. This applys to child care as well. Don't blame the local school district or the municipality in which you live, contact your assemblywoman or state senator if you want the law changed.
If you want positive change, do something positive and proactive, don't just rant and rave on a blog! Take action if you want change!

Military schools work wonders! One of my teens developed a very surly attitude and began cutting school. We sent him to a military school in southern california for two years and it did wonders to improve his study skills and attitude. But, I don't think military schools should be funded by local school districts. Most are private schools and should be kept as such. It was worth every penny.

It's time to take action people. I am telling everyone I know to contact our local and state governments. I am personally telling them to wait until we can all call at around the same time and inundate the heck out of them. Sometimes the trickle effect doesn't work well. I am starting to organize street protests as well. People are gone in the summer, but when everyone is back around before school, this movement will be kicking off. No more endangering our children! Until then, rally the forces, bug the government as much as you can, and do not lose the fire.

OK, I don't get it. Rally the troops for what? Organizing street protests against what, Mexicans in our community? (Or maybe you're talking about the school issue, I can't tell.) It's one thing to proactively and temporarily shut our US borders in the event of a highly dangerous pathogen spreading around the globe, and when I said it I meant everyone, not just mexicans crossing the border. I mean all international travel from every port of entry, but I also meant temporarily till we had a handle on what it was.

It's entirely different to claim that one entire ethnic group is responsible for all the health care problems and ills of society. Ick!

I'm confused by some of your posts. Are you an actual parent with kids, or a recent high school grad? Some of your comments about Rylan Fuchs murder lead me to think you may have known him personally. Have fun with that protesting in the street, Rick.

Heh, I like how tired first says the sky is falling like an idiot, then the next comment he makes is a full-rounded argument with evidence that the world is not gonna end. And then there's concernedmom which probably is a concerned mom, which argues against tired. Then tired explains to concerned mom that there is nothing to be worried about.


Rick is probably just a redneck

And Rick, the swine flu is pretty much non-existent in this area. I'm pretty sure people forgot about this post too. The swine flu was just deemed interesting enough for the media to talk about, because the people in the media themselves don't have anything exciting to talk about, but swine flu wore out, because now nobody gives a crap, and like the hit songs on the radio for 2007, nobody really cares to mention the swine flu, simply because they got TIRED of CONCERNED(concernedmom) people freaking out about this epidemic. Sorry, This post was a pretty long time ago but it's fun to revisit this and to Post something just for fun. Ahhh, I feel like an honorable active member of society now

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