FACULTY AND STAFF MEMBERS URGED TO GET VACCINATION
McKinley Health Center has treated more than 600 students for flu-like illnesses, at the onset of a flu season expected to be worse than usual because both the seasonal flu and H1N1 flu are circulating concurrently.
Dr. Robert Palinkas, the director of McKinley Health Center, said that the first student with flu-like symptoms appeared at the health center on Aug. 24. By the end of the first week of classes, the count had surged to 100. By late September, more than 640 ailing students with similar symptoms had sought treatment. About 30 new patients seek treatment every day, he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health officials had advised universities to prepare for serious outbreaks of seasonal flu and H1N1 early in the semester. As of the week of Sept. 24, more than 21,000 students at 267 U.S. colleges and universities had reported cases of influenza-like illnesses, according to the American College Health Association, a leadership and advocacy organization for collegiate health-care professionals.
The Infectious Disease Work Group – a cross-campus group comprising officials from the police, McKinley Health Center, Housing Division, the Office of Student Affairs and other units as well as a representative from Champaign-Urbana Public Health – met weekly during August, monitoring CDC guidelines, adjusting policies, and developing educational campaigns and contingency plans. The group, first organized several years ago in preparation for possible avian flu outbreaks, has conducted emergency preparedness planning and exercises regularly since.
To handle the additional patients, McKinley hired more doctors and nurses, set up a separate waiting area for patients with possible H1N1 and began giving them surgical masks to help prevent airborne transmission.
Sick students are being encouraged to return to their family homes. If going home is not an option, students are urged to isolate themselves in their campus residences, in one of 13 “sick rooms” or unused staff apartments.
Campus health officials are urging people who get the flu to stay away from work or classes until at least 24 hours after their fever has abated on its own.
“Most students do go home,” said James Rooney, associate director for residential life in the Housing Division. “Some students don’t understand the need for it because they’re young and healthy. We say, ‘We understand that you’re a dedicated, hard-working Illinois student and that you can’t afford to miss class for a few days – but neither can the 10 people you’ll infect if you do stay on campus and keep going to class.’ ”
Dining Services delivers meals to the students on disposable trays. The kitchens in the apartments also are stocked with drinks, soups and snacks, Rooney said.
As of late September, about 25 ailing students had used the sick rooms or apartments, some students for only a night, the majority of them for three to five days, Rooney said. So far demand has not exceeded the number of available spaces.
Before leaving McKinley Health Center, students are given a flu kit, which contains soups, thermometers, throat lozenges and other necessities, so they can go straight home without visiting stores to purchase those items.
McKinley began giving seasonal flu shots Sept. 14, about a month earlier than usual. Interest has been “unprecedented,” and vaccines are “going out 10 times faster than we anticipated,” Palinkas said. “We’ve given out about 2,000 so far, and during an entire flu season in the past we gave a total of about 7,000.”
McKinley is urging members of the campus community to get vaccinated for both the seasonal flu and H1N1. The H1N1 vaccines are expected to become available in October.
Three of Illinois’ basketball players – freshmen Tyler Griffey, 19, of St. Louis, and D.J. Richardson, 18, of Peoria; as well as graduate student Lacey Simpson, 22, of Mount Zion – and women’s basketball coach Jolette Law promoted the seasonal flu vaccines by taking one for their teams during a public awareness event held at the Ubben Basketball Complex in Champaign on Sept. 24.
Dr. Damon T. Arnold, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, administered the vaccines. The event was a stop on Arnold’s statewide tour encouraging Illinois residents to get seasonal flu shots.
Cleaning crews across campus are devoting more attention to cleaning high-touch surfaces, such as staircase handrails, doorknobs and elevator buttons.
E-mail messages and posters across campus remind people to cover their coughs, wash their hands frequently and, most important, stay home if they’re sick. Dispensers with hand sanitizer are prominent in many offices, labs and other areas.
Palinkas said that there had been fewer ailing students than he had expected to see, given the CDC’s predictions. In most cases, the flu has been mild to moderate, although three students were hospitalized. All three recovered and were discharged.
Some peer institutions such as Cornell University seem to have far more serious outbreaks. Did Illinois officials’ careful preparations and educational campaigns help it dodge the bullet?
“Perhaps, but I think it’s just luck,” Palinkas said.