LOVELOCK, NV - At least one hundred people in the rural community of Lovelock are estimated to be sick with swine flu.

Health officials say up to ten percent of the Lovelock population most likely has or had the flu in the past week. Twenty-four people saw a doctor, two were hospitalized, and seven were positively diagnosed with H1NI. At this point, Lovelock doctors aren't even testing for the flu virus anymore, and just assuming that sick people have it.

Lovelock Elementary School students queued up in a hand sanitizer assembly line Friday on their way to lunch. After nearly two dozen schoolchildren, followed by their parents and their siblings--came down with the flu, nurses and staff began taking extra precautions.

Hand washing classes to teach kids the proper way to kill germs, plus, squeaky-clean hallways and letters home to parents, hoping to calm the fear.

"It's a lot less virulent than we thought it was going to be. We are seeing kids absent for three to five days, at the most," said Debbie Pontius, Health Services Coordinator for the Pershing County School District.

Outside the school grounds, locals seem to be heeding the warnings of local health officials, and staying home when they're feeling sick. Pershing General Hospital nurse, Deanna Davis says the mass hysteria earlier this week overloaded local clinics and took a major chunk out of the rural hospital's already limited resources.

"Because everyone knows somebody who has the flu. So to people in our community, it seems like everyone has the flu," said Director of Clinical Services, Deanna Davis.

Health officials say Lovelock's flu outbreak may still not have hit its peak, but compared to past flu seasons before H1N1 became publicized, the number of sick people really isn't much higher.

"We have managed to contain it very well. And the way you contain it is soon as you know you are sick, go home and stay home," said Davis.

School nurses say while some parents wonder why the schools haven't been shut down, they say in a small community like Lovelock, the flu could just as easily be spread at the local post office, the supermarket, or anywhere.

"Theres' no place else to go, so we're better off controlling it in a school environment where we can control what's happening," said Pontius.

There is a plan in place, just in case this outbreak does grow bigger and faster. Obviously in a small town, it's hard to replace workers that become ill since there isn't a very large population to begin with.

Nurses at Pershing General Hospital say the proper thing to do when someone is sick in Lovelock, is to bring them some home-baked goods or a casserole. Until the flu virus makes its way out of town, they say it's better to just give them a nice 'get well' phone call from home.

For a link to more information about Swine Flu, and tips from the Pershing County School District, head to:

www.pershing.k12.nv.us