As students head back to school, Penn officials have released more details about the University's plans to prevent and manage an H1N1 epidemic at Penn.
According to Student Health Service director Evelyn Wiener, Penn's current policy on students with H1N1 is that they should self-isolate in their dorm rooms until they have not had a fever for at least 24 hours. SHS will provide flu kits with masks, tissues, hand sanitizer and other items to help ill students.
Students who suspect they may have H1N1 should call SHS's helpline at (215) 746-3535 to speak with a nurse.
If the nurse decides the student needs to self-isolate, SHS will send an Infection Control Recommendation form to his or her professors stating that the student has an infectious disease and should not go to class.
SHS hopes to begin distributing a general flu vaccine to students in mid-October, Wiener said.
Anticipated limitations in vaccine supply mean that SHS will vaccinate high-risk students, including the pregnant and the immune-compromised, before moving on to the general student population.
Vaccinations will be performed at special mini-clinics around campus, the locations of which have not yet been determined.
An H1N1-specific vaccine may become available later in the year, said Wiener. If it does, it would be distributed in the same manner as the general vaccine.
According to Provost Vincent Price and Wiener, Penn has no current plans to establish a separate isolation dorm for infected students, as Emory University did earlier this month when H1N1 broke out among its freshman class.
Wiener said the Pandemic Incident Management team has considered the possibility and could implement a similar solution if they felt it necessary.
According to Price, Bon Appetit will provide take-away meals, which friends or roommates can pick up for sick students.
According to Wiener, Penn has no plans at this time to increase the cleaning of public areas or change their layout to prevent the spread of H1N1.
"I think [H1N1] will affect Penn the way it'll affect the population," University President Amy Gutmann said. "We have a team in place to manage it, and we have a plan online to deal with cases as they come."
Further details about Penn's preparations against H1N1 as well as updates on H1N1 cases at Penn can be found in the report "Preparing for Influenza at Penn" at www.upenn.edu/flu/.
