More ensuing panic evident

According to the local news, three schools in the neighboring county are closed due to "probable" - but as of yet unconfirmed - cases of H1N1. I don't want to rant over this, but I feel I must. As I told a coworker today, the influenza virus is biological force to be reckoned with. No matter what we do to combat it, all of our best efforts are for naught, since almost every regular flu season presents a slightly different strain of the virus. Of course, once most people catch the virus and recover from it, they have developed a level of immunity to that strain. Which is why our flu "vaccines" contain small amounts of the virus, in order to innocultate our immune system so that if we catch the flu at all, it will be less severe. And at this point, what are the signs that this new strain is more pathologically virulant or more deadly than your typical influenza that puportedly kills thousands every year? According to members of my family, my Great-Great Grandfather died during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1818 -1819. At that time, for many, basic sanitation was a luxury and there were large numbers of people living clustered in poverty-driven unhygienic conditions - just like the majority of the cases of death from H1N1 in Mexico (the news doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to be very forthright with that little gem of info, does it?). All we can do is be preventative (some basic hygiene, people!), and if you're sick for God's sake stay home! Closing schools won't keep people from going to the grocery store or kids from going to the mall, where they could unknowingly pass it around.