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Source: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2021/...lls-this-fall/
Yale Health sees “unprecedented” number of visits and calls this fall
As an unidentified virus circulates among the student population, students are running into issues with missing classes with no uniform absence policy in place.
Isabelle Qian & Isaac Yu 11:24 pm, Sep 29, 2021
Staff Reporters
Dubbed the “Yale Plague,” a non-COVID-19 sickness has spread throughout the student body. Yalies infected with the illness have struggled to make up content for missed classes.
A large number of students have reported experiencing flu symptoms in recent weeks — with triage calls to Yale Student Health this month up 40 percent from Sept. 2019, according to Chief of Student Health Christine Chen. Per the University’s COVID-19 guidelines, students with flu-like symptoms are advised to stay in their room and self-isolate until they receive a negative COVID-19 test. When students fall ill, they are therefore forced to miss class for at least a day, if not more.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented number of visits, calls, and communications via [MyChart] this fall,” Chen wrote in an email to the News. “Though we continue to see COVID-19 cases, the virus that has been circulating among students appears to be something else.”
Yale’s student outpatient clinic currently has tests for COVID-19, influenza, strep and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Chen said that Student Health has seen no influenza cases and “sporadic” cases of strep. A weekly report on epidemic and seasonal viruses detected by labs at the Yale School of Medicine can be found here.
Chen suggested that part of the increase in demand for clinic services can be attributed to an increased student population for this academic year. Still, she asked students to protect themselves from the circulating sickness with now-familiar pandemic precautions, like mask-wearing and social distancing. She also urged all students to sign up for mandatory flu vaccines as soon as possible, calling the approaching influenza season a “great concern.”
As sickness continues to spread, the News spoke to four students who expressed concerns about the difficulties of missing class while sick...
Yale Health sees “unprecedented” number of visits and calls this fall
As an unidentified virus circulates among the student population, students are running into issues with missing classes with no uniform absence policy in place.
Isabelle Qian & Isaac Yu 11:24 pm, Sep 29, 2021
Staff Reporters
Dubbed the “Yale Plague,” a non-COVID-19 sickness has spread throughout the student body. Yalies infected with the illness have struggled to make up content for missed classes.
A large number of students have reported experiencing flu symptoms in recent weeks — with triage calls to Yale Student Health this month up 40 percent from Sept. 2019, according to Chief of Student Health Christine Chen. Per the University’s COVID-19 guidelines, students with flu-like symptoms are advised to stay in their room and self-isolate until they receive a negative COVID-19 test. When students fall ill, they are therefore forced to miss class for at least a day, if not more.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented number of visits, calls, and communications via [MyChart] this fall,” Chen wrote in an email to the News. “Though we continue to see COVID-19 cases, the virus that has been circulating among students appears to be something else.”
Yale’s student outpatient clinic currently has tests for COVID-19, influenza, strep and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Chen said that Student Health has seen no influenza cases and “sporadic” cases of strep. A weekly report on epidemic and seasonal viruses detected by labs at the Yale School of Medicine can be found here.
Chen suggested that part of the increase in demand for clinic services can be attributed to an increased student population for this academic year. Still, she asked students to protect themselves from the circulating sickness with now-familiar pandemic precautions, like mask-wearing and social distancing. She also urged all students to sign up for mandatory flu vaccines as soon as possible, calling the approaching influenza season a “great concern.”
As sickness continues to spread, the News spoke to four students who expressed concerns about the difficulties of missing class while sick...