The annual flu season is already rolling through North Idaho and it's not taking any prisoners. Dr. Thomas Neal said there have been about a dozen patients this week at the Ironwood Family Practice with flu-like symptoms and he expects to see more people coming down with influenza virus. "It's been in Post Falls a week or two," Neal said Thursday. "It's contagious and it spreads in schools and workplaces. It spreads enough and reaches a critical mass where everybody gets it." Priest Lake Elementary School will close today because 19 of the 56 students and two of the three teachers are ill with the flu -- Marc Stewart, Coeur d'Alene Press.

DFO: I had a touch of illness last Thursday through Saturday. But nothing that even threatened to knock me out of work. I'm still crediting my flu shot last fall for getting me through until now without a sick day.

Question: Have you had the flu or been ill enough to miss work/school this winter?

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