Thursday, September 10, 2009

H1N1 spreading in colleges and universities


I'm glad that I'm not a college student this year. According to this CNN report, H1N1 (swine flu) appears to have infected over 2,600 students at Washington State University. Sounds like people should stay at home and take their courses online. Distance learning is now very effective thanks to major advances in communications technologies.

The school is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the local health department by "treating all patients with influenza-like symptoms as if they have H1N1."

As H1N1 spreads to more colleges this fall and winter, I wonder how this will impact academic performance. Wouldn't you love to have an excuse for those lousy grades? I was sick during finals. I missed too many classes. I was quarantined.

1 comment:

  1. In addition to the CDC guidelines, HHS, WHO and other government and public health agencies recommend having an operational plan in place for dealing with a worst case scenario –high mortality rates and an inadequate vaccine supply. Here are some free resources about pandemic planning, along with the copy of a presentation given by Carnegie Mellon University Student Health Services Director Anita Barkin, DrPH, MSN, CRNP; who chairs the Pandemic Planning Task Force for the American College Health Association.

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