Campus has a different feel this autumn. The H1N1 messaging is conspicuous, as are the hand sanitizer stations set up next to many classroom doors. When students cough, their colleagues look at them warily. There is no doubt that a university campus can be a toxic pool. During my first September with an office in academic advising, I got more sick than at any other time in my life. I must have shaken hands with five hundred people, freshly arrived from anywhere and everywhere. But, back then, if you pulled out the Purell gel after touching someone, that person was sure to take offense. These days, the other person is likely to have their own sanitizer pump ready, too.
For all this worry, things have been, thankfully, calm. There has been illness, but it is not like the classes are half-empty, as I think was the fear held by some people. The biggest practical impediment to preparing for H1N1 complications has been the consistent advice that people with mild flu symptoms not seek medical assistance. As a result, it is folly to require a physician's note for absences. Instead, we have established an online registry where students can report their illness centrally, and all their professors will receive a notice. Now, the expectation is that anyone signing in will commit to staying away for the recommended week, and as a result there is a very real downside to abusing the accommodation. Are you really going to miss a week in Chemistry and History to get an extra few days to write a Philosophy paper? As a matter of fact, there is some evidence that, fearing the recommended time off, some students are trying to hide very mild symptoms.
So, for now, in advance of an H1N1 vaccine, everyone seems to be taking a wait-and-see attitude, hoping for the best but never discounting the worst
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