H1N1 flu on campus.

In my university mailbox yesterday I received a memo detailing measures to help prevent the spread of flu (whether seasonal or novel H1N1).

The memo had the usual good advice: recognize flu symptoms, stay home if you have them so as not to spread it to everyone else, cover your coughs and sneezes, wash your hands, don't touch your eyes, nose, and mouth.

It also had some information that may not seem so obvious. For example, you ought to stay home at least 24 hours after you no longer have a fever (of 100 ^oF/38 ^oC), and that using a medication that reduces fever masks whether you still have a fever. In other words, you have to stop taking the fever-reducer and measure your temperature to establish that you no longer have a fever, then stay out of circulation for at least another 24 hours. Also, the memo points out that there are separate flu shots for the seasonal flu and the novel H1N1, which means you need both shots if you want protection from both bugs.

Finally, the memo included a link the CDC's guidance on how to take care of someone who is sick with the flu.

My guess is that the flu(s) will unfold differently at our largely commuter university than at colleges where most of the students live on campus in residence halls. Our students are not spending as many hours in close contact with each other (although in a classroom where every single tightly-spaced seat is full, I'm betting germs will spread just fine). Many of our students are, however, spending a significant amount of time with their partners or parents, in workplaces of various sorts, and with their kids who have just started the new school year in crowded classrooms with kids who aren't necessarily good about covering their sneezes or washing their hands.

So yeah, people will get sick. It happens every semester, but the difference this time may be the presence of a virus to which most of our immune systems are naïve at the moment. Maybe the hoopla over H1N1 will persuade students (and faculty and staff) to do what I've been encouraging them to do for years: stay home when you're sick. Seriously, it's better for you and better for the rest of us.

The thing that surprised me most about the memo is the university office that distributed it. It did not originate with occupational health or student health services.

It came from the university police department.

I leave it to the reader to ponder what this says about the flu response planning that may have been done to complement this prevention memo.