H5N1 will Close Schools

From Future Pundit, news that avian flu H5N1 is currently very lethal to children.

"The disease has been particularly deadly for children. In Thailand, 89% of patients under the age of 15 years died an average of nine or 10 days after illness onset",

and

"schools and day care for pre-schoolers provide the perfect route for infection of the entire population" .

"Protection of children is the biggest problem in a pandemic. During a pandemic of high lethality schools will be closed. But lots of kids are in day care and kids come into contact with each other while playing. Also, with so many working mothers, kids end up under the care of others during the day. This sets up transmission belts of influenza from home to children to day care environments to other kids and then to other homes".

His most effective solution:

"Where economically feasible, mothers could stay home and home school their children. If they have spouses, the spouses could stay somewhere else in order to avoid bringing infection into the home."

With a death rate as high of 89%, I personally would put the issue of the bank loan on a back burner, and stay home no matter what, and I imagine I will not be alone in this, in which case, Home Education could suddenly become a majority activity, that will put the growth of HE numbers in the States due to Katrina in the shade.

Whilst most American families seem to have at least some idea about how to go about home schooling, most UK schooling families have probably never given it a second thought. Volunteers for the HE Support Charities, such as Education Otherwise and Home Education Advisory Service need to be prepared for the possibility of a huge influx of work, which may involve assisting people who would not naturally come to the idea of HE.