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Quarantine advised for student papers
UAlbany mulls placing papers in quarantine box till any H1N1 would die
By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer
First published in print: Monday, November 23, 2009
Editor's Note: To comment on this story, visit the Schools blog.
Don't touch the box.
It is full of college English papers and an untold number of flu germs. Yes, even the essay on Huckleberry Finn is no longer immune to the swine flu.
The University at Albany's English Department has asked professors to consider quarantining student papers in a box for a few hours so that any potential streaks of H1N1 can die off. That and a good dousing of Lysol should make them safe.
Liz Lauenstein, assistant to the English Department chair, has the unenviable job of soothing the nerves of anxious professors who are telling their students to turn in papers by e-mail. The university offers 158 courses in English and journalism, which are taught by 100 full- and part-time professors. The poor Department HP Laserjet, which prints 80 pages a minute, just can't take the swarms of papers that are sent to it all day by professors who don't want to touch what their students touch.
Lauenstein turned to dire measures the other day, when she sent out an e-mail saying student papers can no longer be printed in the department. Imagine if everyone tried to print the paper of their entire class of 25, she wrote, exasperated.
Enter the quarantine box.
"It's like 'if you're going to go to extremes, try this extreme," Lauenstein said Sunday. "Three people wrote back to say it's brilliant."
With 18,000 students, UAlbany administrators have fretted about the possibility of H1N1 raging through campus. Perhaps it is diligence like that displayed in the English Department that has kept the number of sick relatively low.
The school has had 502 reports of influenza-like illnesses and four confirmed cases of swine flu, spokesman Karl Luntta said. More than 2,000 students have been vaccinated in mass clinics in the last few weeks.
The state Department of Health seemed skeptical to the notion of a decontaminating box. Washing hands and staying home if you're sick that's the recommendation for schools, spokeswoman Claire Pospisil said.
Sound medical advice, to be sure, but things can look different on the front lines, like when there is a kid who just picked his nose or girl in the front row who looks faint. They're among the ones handing in papers.
Dr. Michael Dailey, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Albany Medical Center, thinks it could be useful. He cited a 1982 study that found viruses can live on paper for up to 12 hours.
Of course, there's still the doorknob everybody touched on the way into class, but thinking about the way germs are transmitted will keep at least a few people healthy.
"Some hypervigilance at work may lead to more safe practices after work," Dailey said.
So maybe a quarantine box isn't so crazy after all. And the University at Albany English professors will know who to thank if they get a flu-free semester.
Scott Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at swaldman@timesunion.com.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=869273&category=ALBANY
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=869273&category=ALBANY#ixzz0Xhk2AGOH
UAlbany mulls placing papers in quarantine box till any H1N1 would die
By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer
First published in print: Monday, November 23, 2009
Editor's Note: To comment on this story, visit the Schools blog.
Don't touch the box.
It is full of college English papers and an untold number of flu germs. Yes, even the essay on Huckleberry Finn is no longer immune to the swine flu.
The University at Albany's English Department has asked professors to consider quarantining student papers in a box for a few hours so that any potential streaks of H1N1 can die off. That and a good dousing of Lysol should make them safe.
Liz Lauenstein, assistant to the English Department chair, has the unenviable job of soothing the nerves of anxious professors who are telling their students to turn in papers by e-mail. The university offers 158 courses in English and journalism, which are taught by 100 full- and part-time professors. The poor Department HP Laserjet, which prints 80 pages a minute, just can't take the swarms of papers that are sent to it all day by professors who don't want to touch what their students touch.
Lauenstein turned to dire measures the other day, when she sent out an e-mail saying student papers can no longer be printed in the department. Imagine if everyone tried to print the paper of their entire class of 25, she wrote, exasperated.
Enter the quarantine box.
"It's like 'if you're going to go to extremes, try this extreme," Lauenstein said Sunday. "Three people wrote back to say it's brilliant."
With 18,000 students, UAlbany administrators have fretted about the possibility of H1N1 raging through campus. Perhaps it is diligence like that displayed in the English Department that has kept the number of sick relatively low.
The school has had 502 reports of influenza-like illnesses and four confirmed cases of swine flu, spokesman Karl Luntta said. More than 2,000 students have been vaccinated in mass clinics in the last few weeks.
The state Department of Health seemed skeptical to the notion of a decontaminating box. Washing hands and staying home if you're sick that's the recommendation for schools, spokeswoman Claire Pospisil said.
Sound medical advice, to be sure, but things can look different on the front lines, like when there is a kid who just picked his nose or girl in the front row who looks faint. They're among the ones handing in papers.
Dr. Michael Dailey, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Albany Medical Center, thinks it could be useful. He cited a 1982 study that found viruses can live on paper for up to 12 hours.
Of course, there's still the doorknob everybody touched on the way into class, but thinking about the way germs are transmitted will keep at least a few people healthy.
"Some hypervigilance at work may lead to more safe practices after work," Dailey said.
So maybe a quarantine box isn't so crazy after all. And the University at Albany English professors will know who to thank if they get a flu-free semester.
Scott Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at swaldman@timesunion.com.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=869273&category=ALBANY
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=869273&category=ALBANY#ixzz0Xhk2AGOH
- all but not close the schools :yinyang: