Commonground
Senior Moderator
Thursday, September 17, 2009
By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The University of Pittsburgh has had 147 people report influenza-like illness in the past couple weeks, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg told a meeting of the Senate Council yesterday.
"Our situation to date has been manageable," the chancellor said. He did not break the number down into students and staff.
Mr. Nordenberg's brief report came after The Pitt News published a letter to the editor in which the director of the university's Department of Environmental Health and Safety acknowledged that 142 students and two staff members on the city campus had self-reported influenza-like illness in the previous 14 days.
The letter was written by Jay Frerotte Tuesday, said university spokesman John Fedele. It was published in yesterday's edition.
Mr. Fedele said the time between Mr. Frerotte's writing of the letter and Mr. Nordenberg's announcement probably accounted for the different totals of flu-like sickness reported.
"These numbers are fluid and we get new cases just about every day and they likely will change daily," Mr. Fedele said.
Mr. Frerotte's letter followed a Pitt News editorial, published Friday, which criticized university administration for not announcing the number of students who had reported flu-like symptoms.
The university reported one confirmed case of H1N1 flu and a "few" cases of influenza-like illness in early September. But it apparently resisted efforts by The Pitt News to get updated numbers later.
The editorial criticized Mr. Frerotte and other officials for refusing to announce the number of flu-like illnesses on grounds they did not want to start a panic.
"Pitt's reticence on this issue also makes us wonder: If there is no reason to panic, why don't they provide numbers? ... At some point there is legitimate cause for concern, and students deserve a chance to decide for themselves when that point is."
The editorial suggested students might ignore preventative measures like handwashing if they didn't know the number of cases.
Mr. Frerotte gave The Pitt News what it wanted in his letter.
"In the 14 days since the reports of [influenza-like illness] on the Pittsburgh campus, new cases of ILI have been self-reported each day," Mr. Frerotte wrote.
"During the second full week of this period, the number of persons with ILI on any given day has remained around 50. The average duration of influenza-like symptoms has been 2.7 days and nearly all of the individuals have reported that they were free of symptoms within five days."
He said the numbers "mean that ILI remains present on the Pittsburgh campus and that students should continue to follow flu prevention measures. ... Wash your hands, cover your sneezes and coughs, report ILI to the flu hotline at 412-624-2222, self-isolate at home with ILI and stay informed through www.pitt.edu/swine-flu."
Bill Schackner contributed. Pohla Smith can be reached at 412-263-1228.
First published on September 17, 2009 at 12:00 am
By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The University of Pittsburgh has had 147 people report influenza-like illness in the past couple weeks, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg told a meeting of the Senate Council yesterday.
"Our situation to date has been manageable," the chancellor said. He did not break the number down into students and staff.
Mr. Nordenberg's brief report came after The Pitt News published a letter to the editor in which the director of the university's Department of Environmental Health and Safety acknowledged that 142 students and two staff members on the city campus had self-reported influenza-like illness in the previous 14 days.
The letter was written by Jay Frerotte Tuesday, said university spokesman John Fedele. It was published in yesterday's edition.
Mr. Fedele said the time between Mr. Frerotte's writing of the letter and Mr. Nordenberg's announcement probably accounted for the different totals of flu-like sickness reported.
"These numbers are fluid and we get new cases just about every day and they likely will change daily," Mr. Fedele said.
Mr. Frerotte's letter followed a Pitt News editorial, published Friday, which criticized university administration for not announcing the number of students who had reported flu-like symptoms.
The university reported one confirmed case of H1N1 flu and a "few" cases of influenza-like illness in early September. But it apparently resisted efforts by The Pitt News to get updated numbers later.
The editorial criticized Mr. Frerotte and other officials for refusing to announce the number of flu-like illnesses on grounds they did not want to start a panic.
"Pitt's reticence on this issue also makes us wonder: If there is no reason to panic, why don't they provide numbers? ... At some point there is legitimate cause for concern, and students deserve a chance to decide for themselves when that point is."
The editorial suggested students might ignore preventative measures like handwashing if they didn't know the number of cases.
Mr. Frerotte gave The Pitt News what it wanted in his letter.
"In the 14 days since the reports of [influenza-like illness] on the Pittsburgh campus, new cases of ILI have been self-reported each day," Mr. Frerotte wrote.
"During the second full week of this period, the number of persons with ILI on any given day has remained around 50. The average duration of influenza-like symptoms has been 2.7 days and nearly all of the individuals have reported that they were free of symptoms within five days."
He said the numbers "mean that ILI remains present on the Pittsburgh campus and that students should continue to follow flu prevention measures. ... Wash your hands, cover your sneezes and coughs, report ILI to the flu hotline at 412-624-2222, self-isolate at home with ILI and stay informed through www.pitt.edu/swine-flu."
Bill Schackner contributed. Pohla Smith can be reached at 412-263-1228.
First published on September 17, 2009 at 12:00 am