Claire Montgomery
Senior News Writer
This past week, positive identifications of Strain B flu were made on campus. The spread of the flu was initially reported in an email sent to the campus community by Ray Tucker, director of Longbrake Student Wellness Center (Wellness) on Jan. 22. “If you are experiencing fever, chills, cough, sore throat, muscle or body aches, vomiting or diarrhea please report to the Wellness center,” Tucker stated in the email. In the email, Tucker also mentioned that it was suggested that students get the flu vaccine as a preventative measure.
On Jan. 23, Angela Johnston, chief of staff and secretary of the College, sent a follow up email, saying, “There have been 22 confirmed cases of flu on campus from students who have sought treatment at the Longbrake Student Wellness Center. Each case has been identified as Strain B. Even if you had a flu shot, you can still contract this highly contagious strain of flu.
Tucker stated that the first case of the flu was identified on Jan. 17, but “over that weekend cases more than doubled, with more students reporting symptoms,” which prompted Tucker’s email to the campus community so preventative measures could be taken. “There was a meeting of the Emergency Response Team (ERT) in which multiple departments (Wellness, Res-life, Service Center, [Security and Protective Services], Dining Services [and more]) coordinated with the Red Cross to expand the inpatient capacity of Wellness by providing cots,” Tucker added.
When asked about the ERT, Johnston stated, “The [ERT] meets the second Tuesday of each month. We either conduct table top exercises to think through all of the issues of different types of incidents so, as a campus, we can be as prepared as possible to respond, or we debrief a recent incident that has impacted the campus so we can improve upon our response the next time.”
Johnston said that the ERT “wanted to be prepared in case we continued to have a significant increase in the number of students seeking treatment” and that they were making decisions based on the impact of flu across the country and trying to predict whether the number of cases would increase or decrease.
Johnston further explained, “The Wellness Center only has so much capacity for overnight stays of students as well as staff to care for individuals seeking treatment. So, in order to support the safety and well-being of students, we pulled the team together to ensure we had enough supplies on hand and to arrange for appropriate spaces to manage care of students if the capacity of the Wellness Center was exceeded.”
Hope Siegel ’20 discussed her experience going to Wellness because, even though she didn’t feel terrible, she had some symptoms that might indicate the flu. “I decided I should go to Wellness to get checked out because of all the emails,” Siegel stated. “Wellness was in full epidemic mode; they [had] hand sanitizer everywhere, and a pitcher of water so no one had to drink from the fountain and open access to cough drops and salt for gargle. [The nurse] said she would have offered a bed for me to stay overnight, but they [were] all filled, and that there was talk about moving cots into the conference room.” Siegel added that she never got tested because Wellness was out of tests, but as of Jan. 28, Tucker confirmed that Wellness currently does have flu tests on hand.
“The number of individuals reporting and diagnosed with flu is on the decrease at this point; however, this is still flu season,” Tucker said. He emphasized taking preventative measures such as hand washing, keeping hands away from the face, especially from the eyes, nose and mouth, and coughing or sneezing into the elbow to reduce “the transmission of any respiratory infections.”
Tucker also emphasized the work that different people have done across campus. “Thanks to all the departments rallying in this time of need, and the staff of the Wellness Center for the extra effort needed to manage this outbreak,” Tucker stated. “Thanks also to the students for their patience and their perseverance as the campus recovers.”