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NU plans for flu

By Hailey Ribeiro

On October 21, 2009

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Norwich University has taken precautions in the new school year against the H1N1 virus to protect the health of the Norwich community, according to Martha Mathis, Norwich dean of students.

So far, 29 students have been quarantined for flu-like symptoms.

Using guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control, Norwich's Crisis Management Team came up with a plan for what the school would do in the case of a massive H1N1 viral outbreak. The plan has several levels, starting with precautions for mild danger and a full evacuation plan in case of a more severe epidemic.

"The low level plan is not to underestimate how serious the H1N1 (virus) can get," Mathis said.

The university has taken several precautions against the spread of any viral infection, starting with principles of basic hygiene.

"They have put out hand sanitizers, (and) education about H1N1," O'Hara said, also mentioning that the school has a Web page dedicated to H1N1 education and prevention for students and parents.

The school hopes to lessen the chance of the virus spreading through these small safety measures.

"I hate to sound like a parent, but the hand washing, the liquid soap in most public places – use it," Mathis said. "The mask; how to cough; all of that sort of thing is the first tier of safety."

One student who was sick in the school infirmary for several days said that she uses the precautionary provisions around campus, but still got sick with a fever and some sort of flu.

"When I go into chow I always use the hand sanitizer and I always wash my hands after I go to the bathroom. It's gross if you don't," said Sigrid Rafoss, an 18-year-old freshman and sports medicine major from East Hartland, Conn. "In my room, if my hands don't feel good, I use hand sanitizer."

The school has a process in place for students like Rafoss who are experiencing flu-like symptoms.

"If you're feeling (like you have the flu) at all I am recommending kids to go over to the infirmary and get your temperature taken," Mathis said.

Depending on the student's temperature, further precautions may be taken to keep them from spreading a virus.

"The precautions were that any student with any viral illness or any flu-like symptoms, with a temperature of 100, has to be put in isolation in their room," said Deb O'Hara, the physician's assistant at the Norwich infirmary. "Their roommate can stay there, but they need to be put in their room with a mask until they haven't had a fever for more than 24 hours."

Once a student's fever breaks, they are free to leave their rooms, and no longer have to be isolated.

"Once you have been afebrile, which means no fever, for 24 hours, than you are off of the H1N1 precautions," O'Hara said. "In this case, it means a temperature less than 100 (degrees) without using Tylonol or Motrin or to get it down."

The infirmary personnel are using this protocol to ensure that students who experience flu-like symptoms do not spread the flu to fellow students, but they don't know whether these symptoms are being caused by swine flu.

This is because the school is not testing sick students to see if they have H1N1.

"The Center for Disease Control and the Central Vermont Medical Center are recommending not to test for H1N1, and the reason is that last spring we were testing a lot of people, and everyone was coming up negative," O'Hara said.

According to O'Hara, the test for H1N1 is not very reliable, and it is not worth it for the school to spend time and money testing.

"We felt like it was a waste of our time and resources," O'Hara said. "The test is very sensitive, meaning if you have H1N1, 99 percent of the time, the test would be positive. But if you don't have H1N1, 50 percent of the time the test will be positive. So it's not very reliable."

Another reason the school decided not to test is because the treatment for a student with swine flu is no different than the treatment for a normal flu.

"The Centers for Disease Control also realized that even if the student had the H1N1 and tested positive, we are not going to treat them any differently, so why bother," O'Hara said. "If it's not going to change your course of treatment, there's no reason to test for it."

Norwich has only tested one student this year, and the test came up negative.

In case of a campus-wide epidemic, the plan is to get all students off campus.

"The plan really is to get the students out of here and go home," O'Hara said. "The plan is to evacuate the school."

Another area of concern is sick students who have to miss classes because they are quarantined.

"I missed two days worth of class, so I am going to be pretty stressed out next week," Rafoss said.

The school is not planning on changing its attendance policy because of the outbreak of the flu, so students who are missing classes have to communicate with their teachers to figure out a plan for making up what they have missed.

"I have not heard that we are going to lessen our policy, but neither have I heard of any student getting grief from their faculty with a bona-fide document that they were on quarters and needed to be watched," Mathis said.

The goal is to keep sick students out the classroom so that sickness does not spread.

"None of us want to get it, so if you are feeling the least bit ill, I'm going to do everything possible to get you feeling better," Mathis said. "But also to keep me well, which means you better not come to class."

The H1N1 virus became such a big concern on campus because of the national hype in the media and news.

"There was a lot of hype because it was something new and different," O'Hara said. "What it did though, was it got us on board with how to deal with an epidemic. It was almost like a training program for when something really bad does happen."

Although it is big concern in national news, because of the precautions taken and plans in effect at Norwich currently, the H1N1 virus does not pose a big threat to the school.

"I am not anxious about it being as deadly as people made it out to be initially," O'Hara said.

To develop the plan, faculty, staff and personnel from the school infirmary met monthly with the "Crisis Management Team," a committee that "talks about how to manage crisis of any type," Mathis said.

"In that group, there are members of campus safety, there are folks from the commandant's office, the dean's office, a couple of faculty (and) infirmary types," Mathis said. "The committee is not just one that talks about swine flu, but of how to manage crisis of any type."

This committee has existed for several years, but recently evolved to focus more on swine flu as the virus became a national concern. More faculty and staff members were asked to participate in the committee this year to develop protocol for the possibility of a massive H1N1 outbreak.

"We have had H1N1 committees since before school started," said O'Hara. "They were working on it before I even got here in the middle of August."

The committee was put together by Norwich President Richard Schneider and the Board of Trustees, according to Mathis.