V V V V V V V V V V -W -1w- --w- _. -- -W - -w v w 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 TWITTER @michigandaily @michdailysports @michdailynews 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.