Spring Break
Flu hits campus
23 reported cases Wednesday; college perfects isolation plan
Maria Schmitt
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News
From Tuesday to Wednesday this week, the number of students in isolation on campus due to flu virus infection jumped from three to 23. Excused from classes, delivered food and checked on by doctors, those 23 students will remain in isolation until they recover. The College is uncertain if these students are infected with the H1N1 virus.
The plan
Isolation is one step in a process the college administration has developed as it attempts to prevent and eradicate all possible cases of swine flu on campus. Ten rooms on campus have been set aside as isolation rooms, Vice President for Administration Rich Péwé said.
When students report illness, they may either remain in their room or off-campus house, move to an empty room, or go home.
"We have been acting with urgency and prudence," Péwé said, adding that H1N1 spreads more quickly than regular flu, and that 80 percent of the flu cases on campus are expected to be H1N1.
The school's immediate plan when it learns of someone not feeling well, Péwé said, is to get them to a physician. The student may be prescribed Tamiflu, a medicine that has proven to help possible H1N1 infected students recover. Housekeeping staff sanitize the student's living area and an area of isolation is created.
But what if the number of students with the flu jumps again? The school has a Plan B.
If approximately 35 students report illness, the school would use the Dow Leadership Center as a quarantine zone. Shutting down the school entirely would be a possibility at this point, Péwé said.
Plan C takes things one step further. In the unlikely event that dorms rooms and the Dow Center are filled, the school would make one of the smaller dorms like Niedfeldt or Whitley Residence an isolation zone.
"We want to keep from becoming a major outbreak," Péwé said, "but we know we're going to have some sickness."
Before school began, administrators developed a plan to deal with the virus, Péwé said.
Maintenance and other staff members have also had special training in thorough cleaning.
The disease
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first detected H1N1, or the swine flu, in humans in April 2009.
From Aug. 30 to Oct. 17, the CDC reported 411 confirmed swine flue deaths and more than 8,200 hospitalizations. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization declared the virus a pandemic.
The CDC has concluded that the virus has caused a greater "disease burden" in people younger than 25 years old. This is unusual, especially compared with regular, seasonal strains of influenza, in which over 90 percent of deaths and 60 percent of hospitalizations occur in people older than 65.
Sophomore Robert Lajdziak had a mild case of the virus over a month ago.
After spending a weekend with a friend from Pennsylvania who had been sick, he picked up what he thought was just a cold.
"I came back to campus and tried to go to class but I felt sick," Lajdziak said. "It was hard to breath and I was coughing nonstop."
Lajdziak went home to Clark Lake, Mich., until he recovered.
"The illness itself wasn't that severe," he said. "The problem is how contagious it is. It moves quickly."
Maureen Cousino, a registered nurse at the Ambler Health Center, said the most distinctive symptoms of the swine flu are a high fever that comes on quickly, body aches and a bad cough. Some people may experience nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
The health center is still awaiting the newly-created H1N1 vaccine.
When the vaccines arrive, paid for by the CDC, only those who signed up in September will receive it, as the health center had to order a specific amount.
"Eventually we'll have enough for all who want it," Cousino said.
The consequences
While the college has not yet had to cancel classes or create major isolation zones, other local entities have.
Hillsdale Community Schools had a 22 percent absentee rate last Thursday, the high point of a week-long increase in absent students in the district's six school buildings.
"We'd been watching it for a few weeks," Superintendent Rich Ames said. "At that point, we decided to close."
The district closed Friday, Monday and Tuesday, allowing five full days for students to recover and the majority of the disease to pass.
When the district reopened Wednesday, the overall absentee rate was about 13 percent.
The college decided Wednesday to cancel dorm trick-or-treating in order to avoid giving germs to children in the community or bringing in germs from them.
McIntyre Hall House Director Teri Martin said she was disappointed that McIntyre women wouldn't be able to hand candy out to children in the dorm's hallways.
"This is for everyone's safety, and it's for the best," she said.
Some students have taken to wearing complimentary masks to classes, while others say they aren't very worried about the virus.
"It's should be taken seriously, but I don't think people need to be living in fear of it," senior Keith Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie said he has not changed his day-to-day activities to avoid the disease.
"I'm just living my normal life," he said.
For now, the school urges everyone on campus to wash their hands regularly and thoroughly, use hand sanitizer, and, most importantly, don't go to class if you're feeling sick.
Péwé said attendance policies school-wide are relaxed, so students shouldn't risk their class-mates' health by coming to class if they feel sick.
"It depends on communication," he said. "If people don't feel well, we can do a lot with them. If they don't tell us, we can't react the way we should."
The plan
Isolation is one step in a process the college administration has developed as it attempts to prevent and eradicate all possible cases of swine flu on campus. Ten rooms on campus have been set aside as isolation rooms, Vice President for Administration Rich Péwé said.
When students report illness, they may either remain in their room or off-campus house, move to an empty room, or go home.
"We have been acting with urgency and prudence," Péwé said, adding that H1N1 spreads more quickly than regular flu, and that 80 percent of the flu cases on campus are expected to be H1N1.
The school's immediate plan when it learns of someone not feeling well, Péwé said, is to get them to a physician. The student may be prescribed Tamiflu, a medicine that has proven to help possible H1N1 infected students recover. Housekeeping staff sanitize the student's living area and an area of isolation is created.
But what if the number of students with the flu jumps again? The school has a Plan B.
If approximately 35 students report illness, the school would use the Dow Leadership Center as a quarantine zone. Shutting down the school entirely would be a possibility at this point, Péwé said.
Plan C takes things one step further. In the unlikely event that dorms rooms and the Dow Center are filled, the school would make one of the smaller dorms like Niedfeldt or Whitley Residence an isolation zone.
"We want to keep from becoming a major outbreak," Péwé said, "but we know we're going to have some sickness."
Before school began, administrators developed a plan to deal with the virus, Péwé said.
Maintenance and other staff members have also had special training in thorough cleaning.
The disease
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first detected H1N1, or the swine flu, in humans in April 2009.
From Aug. 30 to Oct. 17, the CDC reported 411 confirmed swine flue deaths and more than 8,200 hospitalizations. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization declared the virus a pandemic.
The CDC has concluded that the virus has caused a greater "disease burden" in people younger than 25 years old. This is unusual, especially compared with regular, seasonal strains of influenza, in which over 90 percent of deaths and 60 percent of hospitalizations occur in people older than 65.
Sophomore Robert Lajdziak had a mild case of the virus over a month ago.
After spending a weekend with a friend from Pennsylvania who had been sick, he picked up what he thought was just a cold.
"I came back to campus and tried to go to class but I felt sick," Lajdziak said. "It was hard to breath and I was coughing nonstop."
Lajdziak went home to Clark Lake, Mich., until he recovered.
"The illness itself wasn't that severe," he said. "The problem is how contagious it is. It moves quickly."
Maureen Cousino, a registered nurse at the Ambler Health Center, said the most distinctive symptoms of the swine flu are a high fever that comes on quickly, body aches and a bad cough. Some people may experience nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
The health center is still awaiting the newly-created H1N1 vaccine.
When the vaccines arrive, paid for by the CDC, only those who signed up in September will receive it, as the health center had to order a specific amount.
"Eventually we'll have enough for all who want it," Cousino said.
The consequences
While the college has not yet had to cancel classes or create major isolation zones, other local entities have.
Hillsdale Community Schools had a 22 percent absentee rate last Thursday, the high point of a week-long increase in absent students in the district's six school buildings.
"We'd been watching it for a few weeks," Superintendent Rich Ames said. "At that point, we decided to close."
The district closed Friday, Monday and Tuesday, allowing five full days for students to recover and the majority of the disease to pass.
When the district reopened Wednesday, the overall absentee rate was about 13 percent.
The college decided Wednesday to cancel dorm trick-or-treating in order to avoid giving germs to children in the community or bringing in germs from them.
McIntyre Hall House Director Teri Martin said she was disappointed that McIntyre women wouldn't be able to hand candy out to children in the dorm's hallways.
"This is for everyone's safety, and it's for the best," she said.
Some students have taken to wearing complimentary masks to classes, while others say they aren't very worried about the virus.
"It's should be taken seriously, but I don't think people need to be living in fear of it," senior Keith Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie said he has not changed his day-to-day activities to avoid the disease.
"I'm just living my normal life," he said.
For now, the school urges everyone on campus to wash their hands regularly and thoroughly, use hand sanitizer, and, most importantly, don't go to class if you're feeling sick.
Péwé said attendance policies school-wide are relaxed, so students shouldn't risk their class-mates' health by coming to class if they feel sick.
"It depends on communication," he said. "If people don't feel well, we can do a lot with them. If they don't tell us, we can't react the way we should."
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