It's always been there, and this year probably isn't any worse than last year or previous years. It just gets more media attention, and schools have started to take different approaches to dealing with it. I'm only 24 so it'snotas though it's been a long time since I was in elementary/secondary school. Even when a large percentage of the student population was sick, closing the school was never considered as an option. Now it is. I personally think the increased media attention has served to create a moral panic, which influenced this change in policy. This doesn't mean that I am against shutting down schools and disinfecting them when a large number of kids have gotten sick- just stating the claim that there has been a definite shift in mentality when it comes to this issue.


AS for news reports- if you actively search for them, you will find what you are looking for. Just like if you do a search related to crime you will come up with horrid stuff that is occuring around the world- it doesn't necessarily mean that there has been an increase over the past year, that you necessarily have ahigh likelihood of becoming victimized, etc.


I am personally more sick of the media attention, which reaches more people than actively need to know or who might be affected (I live in Ottawa- what do I care if a school in, for example, Toronto is shut down due to illness?).


Sending mental orders to all forms of media: Jump on another story bandwagon for god's sake! Isn't some politician (won't name any names, although most can probably infer who I mean) doing something stupid which may have wider implications to a larger population than one school being closed?


*amber*Edited by: crimgoddess