Editorial

With the rainy season upon us, the annual wariness among students about fall and winter illnesses is back. This year, however, there is concern regarding H1N1, and students are not the only ones worrying.

Portland State’s administration has taken charge this fall with H1N1 preparedness, issuing a policy for students and faculty found on the PSU Web site and being given in class by teachers.

According to this policy, “Students will not be penalized for illness-related absences and will be provided with an opportunity to make up missed assignments.”

Along with the policy, a “5 Action Steps” handout is available on the SHAC Web site and details flu-prevention tips. These steps state that you should stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever breaks, keeping students out of school even longer.

They are also plastering signs from the Oregon Department of Human Services around campus, encouraging people to stay home if they feel sick. Teachers are being asked to limit the amount of paper they hand out and have students sit one desk apart from each other, if possible, to reduce the risk of spreading illness.

The Student Health and Counseling Services (SHAC) office has been full for weeks with concerned students going in to see if they need to be tested for H1N1—so full that some people cannot even get in.

Counts for the number of students that actually have H1N1 are difficult to find. Since the county does the testing and only hospitalized cases of H1N1 are reportable, the number is an enigma to PSU. However, of the students coming in with flu-like symptoms, only five were sick enough to be sent to the hospital.

The same question asked at the beginning of the outbreak remains: Is all this H1N1 precaution really necessary?
The answer is yes. In the end, it is better to be safe than sorry. So, asking students to stay home is a good thing. Encouraging the hand-washing craze that has swept over PSU is wise.

The concern, of course, is that if we don’t know how many students have H1N1, are students abusing the new attendance policy? Probably not. SHAC is saying that other schools in Oregon are showing higher numbers of possible H1N1 occurrences.

This lower number of people showing here indicates that we are on the right track.