Commonground
Senior Moderator
Elizabeth Anderson
Issue date: 10/27/09
As the H1N1 strand of influenza spreads around campus, the administration is responding accordingly. In a campus-wide email sent out October 21, Dean Frederick Alford reported that as of early October, seventy-three students had presented with flu-like symptoms and 39 of them were still recovering.
Presently, 116 students have been diagnosed with H1N1, with 89 recovered and 27 still symptomatic.
Even though Connecticut is behind the national average in the number of reported cases, it is expected that the number will continue to rise. On October 24, President Obama declared the Swine Flu a national emergency. 46 states are reporting flu activity, over 1,000 Americans have died, 20,000 have been hospitalized, and millions have been infected.
In accordance with CDC guidelines, Trinity staff are not testing students presenting flu-like symptoms to see if they have H1N1, but rather presuming infection. All students exhibiting these symptoms are being asked to leave campus if they live within a reasonable distance.
Those who cannot get home are in on-campus isolation in single bedrooms, where they are being asked to remain. "We've seen over 100 students in the health center in the last two weeks who are diagnosed with Influenza-Like-Illness, which at this time in the absence of Seasonal Flu, means they are all presumptive H1N1," said Nurse Practioner for the Health Center Martha Burke.
The Trinity Health Center has been prepared for the H1N1 virus to hit campus since early September. "We had a sense of what was coming early in the semester based on what occurred in the southern hemisphere. Since students have returned I have met with subsets to educate how to stay healthy with using social isolation and good social hygiene such as coughing into a bent arm and discarding used tissues immediately," noted Burke.
Antiviral treatment, such as Tamiflu, is only being prescribed for ill students in high risk categories. Such categories include those with immunosuppression, compromised respiratory conditions, or those with chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, hematological, or metabolic disorders. Distribution of an H1N1 vaccine has begun at the national level, but is only being offered to those with the highest risk for complication from the illness.
Vaccines should be coming to Trinity in mid-November, but distribution will be prioritized, and only 1750 will be made available.
In the meantime, it is vital that all students work with the school to slow down the spread of H1N1. The Health Center advises proper hygiene, sufficient sleep, and avoiding those infected with the virus.
The Health Center is in high demand right now and is asking that students respect the need to prioritize the types of cases to be seen.
For more information and weekly updates, visit www.trincoll.edu/flu.
http://media.www.trinitytripod.com/...ts.Infected.With.H1n1.On.Campus-3814320.shtml
Issue date: 10/27/09
As the H1N1 strand of influenza spreads around campus, the administration is responding accordingly. In a campus-wide email sent out October 21, Dean Frederick Alford reported that as of early October, seventy-three students had presented with flu-like symptoms and 39 of them were still recovering.
Presently, 116 students have been diagnosed with H1N1, with 89 recovered and 27 still symptomatic.
Even though Connecticut is behind the national average in the number of reported cases, it is expected that the number will continue to rise. On October 24, President Obama declared the Swine Flu a national emergency. 46 states are reporting flu activity, over 1,000 Americans have died, 20,000 have been hospitalized, and millions have been infected.
In accordance with CDC guidelines, Trinity staff are not testing students presenting flu-like symptoms to see if they have H1N1, but rather presuming infection. All students exhibiting these symptoms are being asked to leave campus if they live within a reasonable distance.
Those who cannot get home are in on-campus isolation in single bedrooms, where they are being asked to remain. "We've seen over 100 students in the health center in the last two weeks who are diagnosed with Influenza-Like-Illness, which at this time in the absence of Seasonal Flu, means they are all presumptive H1N1," said Nurse Practioner for the Health Center Martha Burke.
The Trinity Health Center has been prepared for the H1N1 virus to hit campus since early September. "We had a sense of what was coming early in the semester based on what occurred in the southern hemisphere. Since students have returned I have met with subsets to educate how to stay healthy with using social isolation and good social hygiene such as coughing into a bent arm and discarding used tissues immediately," noted Burke.
Antiviral treatment, such as Tamiflu, is only being prescribed for ill students in high risk categories. Such categories include those with immunosuppression, compromised respiratory conditions, or those with chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, hematological, or metabolic disorders. Distribution of an H1N1 vaccine has begun at the national level, but is only being offered to those with the highest risk for complication from the illness.
Vaccines should be coming to Trinity in mid-November, but distribution will be prioritized, and only 1750 will be made available.
In the meantime, it is vital that all students work with the school to slow down the spread of H1N1. The Health Center advises proper hygiene, sufficient sleep, and avoiding those infected with the virus.
The Health Center is in high demand right now and is asking that students respect the need to prioritize the types of cases to be seen.
For more information and weekly updates, visit www.trincoll.edu/flu.
http://media.www.trinitytripod.com/...ts.Infected.With.H1n1.On.Campus-3814320.shtml