Our college has adopted a three phase plan to prepare for an outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus. In addition, efforts to prevent the spread of the virus are underway to educate our campus populations and to increase sanitization efforts in our facilities.
In order to monitor what phase of the flu season we have in our campus communities at any given time, every faculty member should report weekly to Cecelia Johnson, Associate Vice President of Student Services, the CRN’s of any sections with 25% or more health related absenteeism. Likewise, supervisors and campus directors will report to the Human Resources Office weekly the number of employee absences attributable to the flu.
First, be attentive to your own health and engage in division planning to respond to needs that may arise among the faculty in your unit. Volunteer to cover classes for a colleague who is ill or do whatever you can to help us keep the educational activities going for our students and colleagues.
Following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control, students with flu or flu-like symptoms should stay isolated at home and avoid going to the doctor’s office unless severe symptoms develop. This applies to employees as well, so even though you are dedicated to your career and duties and students, the risk of spreading the illness requires that you isolate yourself and focus on getting well.
In dealing with student absences, we must avoid what may be our usual policies that allow excused absences with a doctor’s excuse. The CDC advises against requiring doctor’s excuses due to many students self-isolating at home and the medical provider’s delay for providing excuses, so many students will be unable to obtain the documentation. Yes, we may have some abuse of this leniency, but we do not want to encourage infected students to come to class or to exams and contribute to the spread of the virus.
This does not imply a relaxing of academic standards, but it does encourage alternative routes to meeting our course goals. Academic leaders have already mentioned use of technology or other make-up options as a way to deal with the unpredictable outbreak of the flu among our students.
We are fortunate that so far our incidents of flu do not seem to be a large number. Each of us must plan ahead to deal with the spread of H1N1, and hopefully our planning can minimize disruptions to our campus communities. Thank you for taking the appropriate actions to address this problem as the semester proceeds, and may you stay healthy!