A university in Georgia sets up a special dorm for kids with H1N1, the swine flu virus. Campuses everywhere brace for an onslaught, with special plans for feeding ill students while isolating them from the rest of the population -- and seeing that they can continue their studies for the admittedly brief period swine flu will sideline them.
The rest of us wait in apprehensive anticipation. Will we end up bedridden for a few days? Will our work group be wiped out by the fevers of the swine flu?
Well, as we ready ourselves, perhaps too excitedly, for the onslaught of flu season, there are some reasons for encouragement.
Most significantly, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told us Sunday that the cavalry not only is on the way, it's closer than we thought. Vaccine against swine flu should be available as soon as this week for high-risk populations, several weeks ahead of what we expected not long ago.
And last week researchers suggested that a single shot, as opposed to two, should suffice to give us reasonable protection against swine flu. That revelation has the effect of calming the fears of many for whom two shots would be more than twice as painful as one and, on a more important level, of extending the first doses of vaccine coming on-line.
Who can tell whether the impending onslaught of swine flu is a real risk or just the reflection that we hyperventilate at risks that get a lot of attention, regardless of their real danger?
What we do know is that it will be prudent, especially for high-risk populations such as the very young and the very old, to get a shot to ward off this season's most threatening flu.
And the good news is, it looks as if supply and effectiveness will be working in our favor.
So, no excuses. Get that shot.
