RIP George, and to all his family and friends, my condolences.

We've had two 12 year old girls die in RI from H1N1 in the past 10 days. Different schools, different cities. It IS scary! In each case, no underlying health issues. Both girls seemed to be recovering, then suddenly and rapidly declined. One girl, her sister had it the week before, a seemingly mild case, and recovered. Both families are in shock, needless to say.

Dad and I both got the seasonal vaccine in Sept.

RI is having some difficulty getting H1N1 vaccine. School clinics start this week. Dad and I are on the list but not a high risk as this thing came around twice before - 1968 and 1989, so we are considered to have some immunity. Even with all Dad's health issues, he is quite low on the list.

Schools have about 20% absenteeism, but some of that is cautious parents keeping healthy kids home, and some is kids "faking" to stay home. Still, it is a high rate and expected to climb.

What I heard over the weekend, even afterwards, when you feel find again and have no symptoms, you can be contagious for up to 2 weeks! THAT will make this tough to control.