G reen Mountain College’s Wellness Center is conducting an online survey to get an accurate number of students who got infected by H1N1 flu on November 4 after getting the reports of infection among the students.
“A number of GMC students reportedly got infected by H1N1 flu. Some went back to their homes, but some remained in their dorm rooms,” Joseph Petrick, the Vice-President of the Student Life office said on November 11.
Two hundred and seventy-two students took the survey conducted by the Wellness Center. According to the results of the survey, 13 students were infected and diagnosed with H1N1 flu. Fifty-four percent of the students who participated in the survey had seasonal flu-like symptons this year.
The Student Life office, with the help of student resident assistants, is delivering packages of meals to the rooms of the students who got infected but could not go back home. “For the flu preventive measure, we have spent a couple hundreds of dollars on getting face masks and hand cleaners since the semesters began,” Petrick said.
Alcohol-based hand cleaners have been placed at the college’s Griswold Library, Withey Dinning Hall, the Buttery and the fitness center. Small containers of hand sanitizer can also be requested at Student Life office.
Since the beginning of the semester, the Wellness Center has issued several newsletters about the precautionary methods to prevent catching and spreading illness/flu.
The Wellness center said that the H1N1 flu symptons are similar to those of seasonal flu. Those include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chill, and fatigue.
The limited amount of H1N1 flu vaccines were available at several clinics in Vermont in November.
“We are planning to have the H1N1 flu vaccinations available for students in January,” Joseph Petrick said.
