2008 Woodie Awards
Flu outbreak believed to have reached peak
Kristen Domonell
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: News
There has been an outbreak of influenza on the Marist campus in the past few weeks. While Health Services has been busy diagnosing and treating students, administrators say there is reason to believe this flu season, which has been the worst ever at Marist, has already peaked.
According to Dr. Mary Dunne of Health Services, there have been 290 probable flu cases as of Sunday, Feb. 10.
"I say 'probable' because we stopped doing nasal swab testing after the first couple of days and after many positive tests," Dunne said. "The test is expensive, time consuming, and we felt we were getting false negatives."
Pat Cordner, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, who oversees the Health Services office, said extra staff was hired to deal with the problem. The billiards room has been used to keep students with flu symptoms in one area while they wait to be seen by a doctor.
Students who were diagnosed were treated with Tamiflu, one of the only drugs to treat the flu, and asked to stay out of classes for a minimum of five days. Students were also encouraged to go home until the flu subsided, which many did.
"At school you're in a hall by yourself and would certainly be better off home than here. I think the students wanted a family member to take care of them and felt better by being in their own home," Cordner said.
Sophomore Braedan Purcell caught the flu and took Health Services' advice to go home. Purcell said he began feeling dizzy and weak a little less than two weeks ago, and eventually experienced fever, coughing and a sore throat.
"[Health Services] asked me to go home; I got the sense that they were doing that for a lot of kids," Purcell said. "I went home for the weekend and since I didn't have classes Monday I came back that afternoon."
As far as missing classes, Cordner said she has been updating Advising Services frequently, and teachers are expected to be lenient with sick students forced to miss classes. So far, there has not been a problem with this.
According to Dr. Mary Dunne of Health Services, there have been 290 probable flu cases as of Sunday, Feb. 10.
"I say 'probable' because we stopped doing nasal swab testing after the first couple of days and after many positive tests," Dunne said. "The test is expensive, time consuming, and we felt we were getting false negatives."
Pat Cordner, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, who oversees the Health Services office, said extra staff was hired to deal with the problem. The billiards room has been used to keep students with flu symptoms in one area while they wait to be seen by a doctor.
Students who were diagnosed were treated with Tamiflu, one of the only drugs to treat the flu, and asked to stay out of classes for a minimum of five days. Students were also encouraged to go home until the flu subsided, which many did.
"At school you're in a hall by yourself and would certainly be better off home than here. I think the students wanted a family member to take care of them and felt better by being in their own home," Cordner said.
Sophomore Braedan Purcell caught the flu and took Health Services' advice to go home. Purcell said he began feeling dizzy and weak a little less than two weeks ago, and eventually experienced fever, coughing and a sore throat.
"[Health Services] asked me to go home; I got the sense that they were doing that for a lot of kids," Purcell said. "I went home for the weekend and since I didn't have classes Monday I came back that afternoon."
As far as missing classes, Cordner said she has been updating Advising Services frequently, and teachers are expected to be lenient with sick students forced to miss classes. So far, there has not been a problem with this.
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