September 18, 2009 Memo to Teaching Faculty regarding Influenza A (H1N1/Swine Flu)

Memorandum

TO: All Teaching Faculty

FROM: Provost Larkin

RE: H1N1 flu and class attendance

DATE: September 18, 2009

Although we have no documented cases of the H1N1 flu in this county or on our campus, we are prepared to help those of you who are affected by the flu. We are following the guidelines from the Center for Disease Control in preparing for a few cases or for a major outbreak of flu on our campus. Students and employees will be receiving a communication instructing them on infection control processes and steps to follow in the event of an illness. Paraphrasing that letter, students will be told to:

1. Make arrangements to have someone take them home rather than remaining on campus, if possible.
2. Stay in isolation, refrain from attending classes and campus events, have meals brought to them, and wear a mask when going to community bathrooms in the residence halls.
3. Resume normal activity 7 days after the onset of the first symptom OR if you have a fever, after your temperature is normal for 24 hours.

Faculty will receive notification from Student Development for the students with flu like symptoms who have notified appropriate College officials that they have either gone home or who have chosen to isolate themselves in their local residence.

Because it is important for students who are ill with H1N1 to stay in their rooms or go home, we should not penalize them for failure to attend class. We urge you to consider developing alternative assignments for such students, so that they do not fall unduly behind as they recover from illness. While alternative assignments may not be possible for every course, please be as flexible as possible in these unusual circumstances. We also urge you not to require students to provide written excuses for their absence.

We all hope that the H1N1 flu season will be minimally disruptive of our instructional efforts. The College will do whatever it can to try to prevent a massive outbreak of illness, including delivering a vaccine when it becomes available. We believe, however, that it is prudent to plan responses as best we can before a potential crisis and I urge you to do so. Thank you for your cooperation.

Please refer to the College website, http://www.oneonta.edu for updates.

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