Indiana's system will include...school absenteeism counts?
What, are they afraid of JUNIOR TERRORISTS or something?
How wonderful we can protect our schoolkids by having the state government put them into a database and make sure they are well. We could tattoo barcodes on them, too, so we could track them easier. That'd stop terrorism even BETTER.
It's already being attempted.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1344985/posts
Knowing the baseline absenteeism helps to identify spikes. For example, if school absenteeism in the month of April is usually 6%, or if absenteeism at your major employer is usually 5%, and today you find 13% absenteeism, it's time to start asking questions.
Syndromic surveillance can give a health department a few extra hours, even a day or two, to mount a response that could result in limiting the consequences of an act of bioterrorism.