Northern Arizona University

My daughter is a NAU student and she will be going to Cuernavaca, Mexico through the NAU study abroad program. She will be leaving for Mexico January 11 2010. I am not supportive of her going to Mexico unless she has the HIN1 vaccine.

Do study abroad students who are traveling to high risk areas like Mexico get any priority for the vaccine?

Hello, checking in with 2 questions:
1) Do you have, as yet, any estimated date for receipt at Fronske of the injected H1N1 flu vaccine? 
2) Do you know if this vaccine will be available first at the Coconino County Dept. of Health, and later at Fronske, or will it be available at both places once it arrives in Flag?

The H1N1 vaccine is being distributed through the county health departments and the Arizona Department of Health Services.
 
Fronske Health Center will administer to the first priority groups of pregnant women and Fronske Health Center health care workers. It is anticipated that by the end of October we will have received enough vaccine to administer to the next priority group, which is the students within the Health and Human Services academic programs that are participating in direct patient care.

It is anticipated that the vaccine will continue to be distributed weekly. It is unknown how much vaccine will be received. Fronske will follow Centers for Disease Control and Coconino County Health Department guidelines on administering the vaccine. Fronske will administer the vaccine to students, staff, and faculty once sufficient supplies are received.

One thing that I can’t find in your web pages is the percentages, or even an estimate of percentages of reported cases of Swine Flu at NAU.

Is this a convenient oversight, or is NAU trying to suppress this information. If this is not the case, than why don’t you have a link in your sight to the weekly amount of reported cases, confirmed or not. This is what all the people that I’ve spoken with really want to know!

I will be publishing an article this week in an attempt to start an awareness group, and hopefully, a following in the student body at NAU. We need answers!

Neither the state nor the county health departments currently are testing northern Arizona for H1N1 because it is believed that individuals with the flu most likely have H1N1 virus.

Between Fronske and the trained Residence Life staff, NAU keeps a count of the number of individuals who are suffering from flu-like illnesses. Since the beginning of the academic year, 58 individuals have reported symptoms consistent with the flu. There have been no reports of students hospitalized nor have there been any reports of pockets of the H1N1 virus.

Northern Arizona University has developed a public web site that addresses the H1N1 outbreak with updates and Q’s and A’s from anyone. Seasonal flu season is approaching, and an out-of-context running tally of people who may have H1N1 would not serve the campus community.

Fronske and NAU administrators are working closely with Coconino County Health Department officials to stave off the H1N1 outbreak and we will continue to do so. If the outbreak gets more serious, faculty, staff and students will be informed as to what additional steps they should take.

NAU has concluded the seasonal flu vaccine clinics within the residence halls. However, your son can walk in to Fronske during immunization hours and receive his seasonal flu vaccine. The vaccine is covered under the Gold Program so he will have no out-of-pocket expense.

Thus far, the university has few reported cases in the residence halls. NAU has put a great deal of thought and has consulted with Coconino County health officials and other universities about whether the university should isolate students sick with H1N1 in a separate location from their residence hall room.

With the possible severity level of the H1N1 virus (very similar to the seasonal flu) and the potentially high attack rate (the numbers of individuals that will get the flu), it was decided to allow sick students to return to their residence hall room while providing them with instructions on how to prevent further spread.  The Centers for Disease Control and county health officials are forecasting high numbers of illness in all of our communities and it most likely would quickly become unnecessary and ineffective to move sick students to a location away from healthy students. NAU is encouraging students that can go home for the duration of their illness to go home, but recognizes this is not always easy or possible. The university came to this decision considering all of the following:

1. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that the H1N1 could have an attack rate three times the normal seasonal flu attack rate of 8 percent to 10 percent. This means that NAU could have 30 percent of our community get sick from the H1N1. This will likely eventually be all communities, i.e. NAU, Flagstaff, Phoenix.
2. A person with H1N1 can be shedding the virus (it is contained in their respiratory droplets) a day before they become symptomatic. So before they even know they are sick they have possibly exposed others around them. Once they know they are sick there are simple measures to take to prevent further spread, the most effective step being wearing a mask so that respiratory droplets do not become airborne.
3. With a 30 percent attack rate, many exposures will occur in areas where there are lots of people, i.e., dining halls, movie theaters, classrooms. It is more likely a student would be exposed in these areas than from a roommate who knows he or she is sick and can take preventive measures to keep from exposing their roommate.
4. Practicing good hygiene is the single most important thing any student can do to prevent getting the flu. Once someone knows they are sick they are asked to wear a mask when they are in the room with their roommate (preventing airborne droplets) and keep the room clean using alcohol based wipes. If he or she leaves the room to use the restroom or access medical care they are asked to wear the mask.
5. The residence hall staff has a protocol for getting food to the sick students.