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Magazine Editor:.
Jessica Vosgerchian
EditorinChief:
Gary Graca
Managing Editor:
Courtney Ratkowiak
Photo Editor:
Sam Wolson
The Junk Drawer:
Brian Tengel
Centerspread design:
Sara Boboltz
Coverphoto:
Sam Wolson
new rules
rule 209:
Leaving a pop
can where a
homeless
person can find
it counts as
recycling. And
also charity.
rule 210:
Harassing
someone at a
football game
for not wearing
maize doesn't
make you a
better fan. It
makes you a
dick.
rule 211:
When it comes
to space in
a communal
fridge: if you
don't use it, you
lose it.
- E-mail rule submissions to
TheStatement@umichedu
IS YOUR
BREW THE
BEST ?
Are you currently storing a beer fermenter
tub in your bathroom? Are you collecting
bottles to fill with your recipe? If so, The
Michigan Daily wants to sample your beer
in its student brewer competition.
To learn more. please e-mail vosgerchian@
michigandaily.com with your name, year in
school and type of beer.
Pandemic
paranoia
Campus life during swine
flu hysteria
Kleenex - check. Hand sani-
tizer - check. Molded surgical
masks? Check. This year, with the
introduction of a new strain of
flu - H1N1, dubbed swine flu -
in addition to the run-of-the mill
seasonal flu, University health offi-
cials are fighting infection in more
creative ways.
Swine flu mania is upon us, and
there isn't a place you can go on
campus that won't remind you of
that. First, there was the e-mail
from Provost Teresa Sullivan,
instructing fever-ridden students
to stay quarantined for 24 hours
after the fever broke. (The e-mail
also provided a get-out-of-class-
free card for anyone bold enough
to fib about having the flu.) Now,
every bulletin board seems to fea-
ture this cute reminder of flu safe-
ty: "Coughs and sneezes spread
diseases!"
But the University is also doing
some innovative things behind the
scenes to battle the flu. A "flu bus",
for example, will transport two
sick students at a time from resi-
dence halls to University Health
Services.
The University's All Hazard
Planning Group-a group of about
50 individuals from various Uni-
versity departments- is respon-
sible for such initiatives. After the
avian flu scare a few years ago, the
group has been working behind
the scenes to combat any pandemic
that might threaten campus.
Amid the flu craze, UHS is a
ABOUT CAMPUS
ILLUSTRATIONS BYJOHNOQUIST
beacon for ill students. In the
clinic, signs give tips for avoiding
the transmission of flu and urge
visitors with flu symptoms (fever,
sore throat, cough, headache, body
aches) to put on surgical masks.
But UHS hasn't been able to pro-
vide much more than helpful tips
to some students - since the flu
mania began, walk-in appoint-
ments have sometimes been harder
to get into than Rick's on a Satur-
day night.
At around 4 p.m. last Friday, a
half hour before the clinic closed,
all the waiting rooms were occu-
pied with people wearing surgi-
cal masks. The sign that hung
above the appointment check-in
desk displaying the wait time for
a walk-in appointment simply read
"OVERBOOK."
Aniuska Rovaina, a Public Pol-
icy junior, made an appointment
at UHS that day on account of her
roommate's weariness over her
recentcough and congestion symp-
toms. Although she respected her
roommate's concern over catch-
ing the flu, Rovaina said she thinks
there's too much hype about being
safe this flu season.
"I think that kids are thinking
way too much about (contracting
the flu) when it's not that big of a
deal," she said.
But according to Robert Win-
field, the University's chief health
officer, these safety measures are
necessary during such an aggres-
sive flu season such as this one. *
"It's very uncommon for us to
see this," Winfield said.
About 15 years ago, Winfield
said that there was an outbreak
of flu that overwhelmed Univer-
sity Health Services for about two
weeks - an amount of cases close
ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA GARAVOGLIA
. Other universities are experi-
encing even more aggressive flu
outbreaks. At Cornell University,
one student died on Sept. 11 due
to complications with H1N1. The
number of Cornell students diag-
nosed as probable H1N1 cases
amounted to over 550, The Cornell
Daily Sun reported Sept. 14.
Cornell's Greek scene has put the
kibosh on germ-swapping social
activities like beer pong tourna-
ments and massive house parties.
The Interfraternity Council voted
to place a moratorium on social
events for an undefined amount of
time because of severe outbreak,
the Sun reported.
So with an increasing amount of
flu cases and extreme surges of the
virus on other campuses, should
students be really worried?
Winfield doesn't think so. He
said that last Friday, UHS saw 16
people with flu-like symptoms,
which is a decrease of about 20-30
people per day.
He cited three possible reasons
for the decrease: the outbreak
could be winding.down, students
who caught it at the Sept. 12 foot-
ball game are overcoming the virus
or students are going home when
they feel sick and not checking into
UHS.
Despite the heightened aware-
ness of flu on campus, Winfield
said he believes that most students
are not letting themselves get too
worked up.
"I think that students are han-
dling this well," he said. "We've
had occasional students that are
very frightened, occasional par-
ents that are very worried, but I
think overall, people are being
very sensible."
-LARA ZADE
The Statement is The Michigan
Daily's news magazine; distributed
every Wednesday during the
academic year.
FOLLOW
US ON
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to what he is currently seeing.
On a typical day, UHS sees about
40 to 50 people who are possi-
bly infected with H1N1. Just two
weeks ago, UHS only saw 50 peo-
ple who reported to have flu-like
symptoms. Last week, UHS treated
190 people.
Although the University is no
longer testing patients for the flu,
UHS is a surveillance site for a
study within the School of Pub-
lic Health that submits five to 10
anonymous specimens a day to
a laboratory to be tested for flu.
Based on these studies, it's evident
that there are people on this cam-
pus who are infgcted with HIN.
So there's a real chance your room-
mate isn't just being dramatic.
IS YOUR APARTMENT A DUMP?
We want to hear about it. E-mail vosgerchian@michigandaily.com with a description or photos.