By Harry Mok
All UC campuses are publicizing health guidelines and enacting measures to care for students who have flu symptoms.
Students who develop flu-like illnesses are urged to follow recommendations for preventing the spread of the virus by staying at home or in their dorm rooms until they are free of fever for 24 hours. However, at UC Riverside, dorm residents who get sick are being asked to leave campus and return home to their families if possible.
Students who are ill should keep away from others as much as possible to reduce the spread of the virus. If self-isolation is not feasible, another option is to use a large room or suite specifically for ill students with beds at least 6 feet apart and, if possible, with temporary barriers between beds and with bathroom facilities separate from those used by healthy students. Students with severe illness and those at high risk for complications from influenza are being told to contact student health services.
Riverside is taking the extra precaution to help stem an outbreak. A majority of the campus' dorm residents are from Southern California, making it easier for them to go home, said Andy Plumley, UC Riverside's assistant vice chancellor for housing, dining and residential services.
"That’s the option that seemed to work," Plumley said. "We had our parents' orientation and they were saying, 'That's all good, that’s exactly what we'd want to see.' "
Riverside dorm residents who get sick but can't go home will be allowed to stay but will be issued masks and asked to hole up in their rooms, Plumley said.
UC Riverside dining halls are using silverware dispensers to keep students from touching other utensils.
On all campuses, sick dorm residents who remain in their rooms are being told to stay away from student dining areas and arrange with a friend to deliver meals or ask resident advisers for assistance. Most campus residence halls have long-standing "sick tray" procedures for assisting students who are ill.
San Diego, Santa Barbara and Merced are creating a system of volunteer "flu buddies" to help sick students who live on or off campus. The flu buddy will deliver meals and provide other assistance.
It's recommended that students alert their teachers if they need to miss class due to illness. Faculty members throughout UC are being asked to accommodate students who are sick.
Flu kits that contain items such as over-the-counter medications, hand sanitizer and tissues will be available for purchase or for free at most campuses.
Hand sanitizer also is being made available in public areas such as restrooms and elevators in many residence halls. Campus housing staff is being instructed to wipe down desks, phones and tables in common areas on a regular basis.
UC officials will continue to modify their responses at the campus and systemwide level as events evolve.
If larger outbreaks occur, procedures like the plan UCLA has to segregate and care for sick residents are being devised by all campuses.
Last spring's emergence of the H1N1 virus gave campuses time to prepare for the fall arrival of students and the winter flu season.
"Even if we have a mild outbreak, it's a flu, and in a couple days (students) will get over it," said Branden Petitt, associate director of student housing at UC Davis. "The good thing is we have things in place to deal with it."
Harry Mok is a principal editor with the UC Office of the President.