How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
The H1N1 virus has brought an early flu season to many colleges this year, and many are taking precautions to prevent its further spread on their campuses.
Topics
According to Henry Chung, NYU's assistant vice president for student health and executive director of the Student Health Center, the level of activity for the H1N1 virus and the flu in general is currently low at NYU. But some students have been diagnosed with H1N1, Chung said, and the university is taking precautions to prevent the virus from spreading.
In a e-mail sent Sept. 19 by Chung and Marc Wais, NYU's vice president for student affairs, students were told that if they experience flu-like symptoms, they must not attend classes and must stay away from other public areas until they are fever-free for 24 hours without having taken fever-reducing medication. The e-mail also said residence hall directors will supply surgical-type face masks to students who need them.
Chung said students with H1N1 are given a few isolation options while recovering: They can remain in their own rooms and wear a mask while keeping their distance from their roommates and suitemates, return home if they live relatively close to campus, or relocate to an open room in select NYU residence halls.
So far, only one student with the virus has chosen to relocate and was temporarily assigned to live in Palladium residence hall, Chung said. The student has since recovered and left Palladium.
In addition to Palladium, a few other residence halls are reserving rooms for isolation. Chung did not disclose any specific ones as they are still being determined.
"While some rooms in Palladium are the first to be held for use in this way, other residence halls will also be involved based on housing stock availability, if necessary," he said.
Chung said it is important to distinguish the isolation option from quarantining, the latter of which he said is an involuntary measure.
"Our planning reflects the recommendations made by public health authorities, which highlight 'isolation' — not quarantine — as a key strategy," Chung said. "Isolation refers to the voluntary actions taken to minimize the activity of a person ill with the flu."
Some NYU students are already considering the action they would take if diagnosed with H1N1.
"If I had the swine flu, I'd choose to be isolated," Stern sophomore Sonam Shah said.
But Gallatin sophomore Kelly Wallace said the significance of the virus is "sensationalized by the media."
"The isolation option might be a comfort for others, but medically, I don't think it's really necessary," Wallace said.
Stern sophomore Enrique Esclusa also thinks the virus is over-hyped.
"My friend had the swine flu," Esclusa said. "It wasn't what people hype it up to be. She said it just felt like a regular case of the flu."
Chung emphasized that even though the virus has not significantly impacted NYU and New York City as a whole yet, it still poses various risks that need to be addressed until a vaccine is released in mid- to late October.
"Its spread could become disruptive if it affected a large portion of our community, as it seems to have done in other places," Chung said. "Therefore, until we have adequate levels of immunity through vaccination … it is prudent that we use isolation strategies."
