I'm not big on H1N1 hysteria and media fear-mongering. But given the general concern about the Disease Formerly Known as Swine Flu until pork industry lobbysists got riled up, I note with respect the fact that in just its second week of business, ThePostSD.com appears to have broken the story last night of the first reported cases of H1N1 on a South Dakota campus this season. Amy Dunkle from up Brookings way gets the news up first—nice work, Amy!
The story is worth noting, since college campuses have been especially diligent in planning for flu outbreaks this year, since college students' lifestyle—less frequent doctor visits, less likely to go get shots, not to mention all that carousing in close quarters—poses some increased risk for spreading disease. Keep sneezing into your elbow (but wait: what about those elbow bumps?), and stock up on that chicken soup! (By the way, if it can be solved with chicken soup, it's not a crisis.)
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Update 18:45 CDT: KELO has picked up the story for tonight's six o'clock report. But notice: The Post gets comment directly from an official at SDSU, where the story is happening. The Post's Dunkle follows up with information from officials at DSU and Mines. The first quotes in KELO's story come from two freshmen at Augustana, 50 miles away from the story. We also hear from an Augie official. KELO follows with a second story that adds no information about the SDSU story, instead getting quotes from students at, inexplicably, the University of Iowa.
Score one for real local news by The Post.
Not to toot too loudly, but we have also followed up the breaking story with a personal interview of Jim Bies, the dean of students at Augie. More quality coverage here: http://thepostsd.com/index.php/faces/item/38-h1n1
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