In one day, the university count of possible swine flu cases jumped from 172 to 256. And in a race against time, university administrators are working around the clock to prepare for the worst, while still asking everyone to stay calm.
In response to increased scrutiny over the growing number of suspected H1N1 cases, an e-mail was sent out yesterday by Sacared Bodison, the University Health Center’s director, outlining a plan of action, including opening the Health Center on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. and holding an emergency vaccination drill on Oct. 15, where free seasonal flu shots will be given to the first 2,000 people who attend.
“We’ve received a lot of phone calls and a lot of traffic,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement, noting the university is trying to be transparent in their plans for addressing the H1N1 virus.
By the end of Tuesday, 256 students were seen at the health center for the flu-like symptoms, though because the university does not have the ability to directly test the students for the H1N1 virus, this number is just an estimate of the possible swine flu cases.
“We’re just assuming everything is H1N1,” Clement said. “We’re calling them suspicious cases.”
The students, who were given rapid tests to determine whether they have flu strain A — which could be H1N1 — or flu strain B, were told to drink clear fluids, treat their symptoms with over-the-counter medications and rest, according to the e-mail.
“It’s just being there and being available for students who need help,” Clement said.
As of yet, the university has not been dubbed an H1N1 hot spot — a designation given out by the county health department signifying where there are extremely high concentrations of the illness. But officials aren’t waiting to act, Clement said.
University officials are no strangers to emergency preparedness, Clement added, but have instituted new plans to handle the H1N1 outbreak this year, knowing the situation is unlikely to end any time soon because of the contagious nature of the disease and close proximity of the cases.
Students have been reporting concentrations of flu outbreaks since school began — Centerville Hall and South Campus Commons are recently rumored locations.
Because of circulating rumors about the disease and what the university is doing to respond, Clement said students should be wary of what they hear.
“We did a lot of education planning and prevention, putting up posters with basic sanitation messages, making hand sanitizer available in campus buildings,” she said. “We feel that students are prepared and informed.”
Clement also pointed to a recent rumor that the sixth floor of Centerville Hall was overtaken by the virus and quarantined as an example, adding officials were sent to check on the area, but found only three students with flu-like symptoms.
“I understand the need to make people aware, but I feel like the campus is building it up to be more than it is,” said senior education and English major Christin Nixon, who is an RA for Commons. “I’m tired of being bombarded with information and little plans. Everyone understands that it’s something that can happen. There’s no need to panic.”
Today, Clement and the university’s Incident Response Team will meet to evaluate the effectiveness of their current plan and to add to it, if necessary.
“It’s going be a challenge for the entire fall season,” she added. “We see this as a rolling sickness.”
hampton@umdbk.com
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The campus should be implementing higher precautions already. They've had six months since this broke and we still don't have a good plan. There's no disinfectant wipes in the classrooms to wipe down a desk thats been sneezed all over. The university hasn't issed masks to the general student body in case you get sick and still need to go out. Have they aquistioned Tamiflu for the most serious cases? When are they going to be able to test for the swine flu so there are no "suspected cases"? What are the dorms suppose to do with people living this close? Just shut down into quarentine? How are those students going to get food, water, supplies? Have the cleaning staff been warned about those quarentines? What do the airducts do in the dorms? Do they go to all the room or spread the flu back inside? There are so many issued the campus hasn't touched yet!
Students on campus are also in the high risk group for death with this virus. It's teenagers and early twenties that have been seriously effected by the virus. I'm hoping no one dies before they have to change policy on sick people in class.
and see if clinic has received this many sick cases in this period of time last year- I think that an
apology needs to go to the reporters yesterday- when they were accused of not accurately reporting
the information. The school NEEDS to give the diamondback, at least a weekly total of the number of cases.because people like realty have their head in the sand- ( by the way the state department of health
has to keep a record of the number of potential cases.- If a much smaller university in washington state
had 2000 reported cases- how many can University of Maryland get up to?
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