University readies for H1N1 pandemic

As students return to campus, University officials are preparing for a possible H1N1 flu outbreak.

Officials sent out new guidelines to students and staff in a mass e-mail Wednesday and have been working on a pandemic readiness plan for the campus.

The plan consists of four levels, with the highest calling for the University to shut down — an unlikely scenario as of yet.

Right now the University is at level one, which signifies a low level of risk for the community.

“The reason we are still saying it is minimal hazard to students, faculty and staff is because the illness is not very bad yet,” said Mary Beth Koza, director of environment, health and safety at UNC.

“If you look at the virus from 1918, it killed a lot of people, but this virus is not that type.”

University administrators have acknowledged that some students are going to contract the flu, and they are prepared to deal with that.

Koza said students who suspect they might have the flu should avoid classes and the dining halls. If possible, students should return home for the duration of their illness, she said.

“This is a communicable disease,” she said. “We have told students what to do if you are missing classes.”

The University decides how to direct their response based on meeting with a pandemic team, contacting local health offices and working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials said the biggest concerns will arise once most students get back to campus and begin interacting.

“A kid goes to class and infects people around him, and then they then infect others, and then it becomes 10 and 20 people,” said David Weber, director of the department of occupational health. “You could come up with a possibility that a third of a class or a third of a dorm becomes sick.”

Weber said vaccines for the regular seasonal flu would be widely available to students by the end of August.

Vaccines for the H1N1 virus should arrive in mid-October and will be available based on CDC guidelines for populations especially at risk.

Some students said they aren’t as concerned about swine flu as the University is.

“I appreciate the University’s concern, but I feel like all these e-mails might be overreacting,” said junior psychology major Luke Somers. “Still, I’m going to get my vaccine like everybody else.”

But Weber said the University’s concern is appropriate because the flu could have a higher attack rate than usual or mutate to a more virulent strain.

“We don’t know what will happen exactly,” Weber said. “There are no hard and fast rules here, but there are contingencies all along the way.”


Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.