Here's the lowdown.
The expect the avian flu to hit hard. I go to UVM, and they expect it to be here by late February.
If ANYONE gets sick anywhere within 50 miles of an international airport (i.e. Tokyo, London, Rio de Janeiro), we go home for the semester. All professors are prepared to take their classes on-line.
Basically, out of 10,000 students here, they expect 1,700 to get sick and about 40 to die.
In the world, they expect 5% of those who contract it to die. Scary shit.
Get ready, stock up on duct tape and chicken noodle soup, because if it hits I'm thinking that the only things that will be kept open will be hospitals.