Instead of a wall covered with a barrage of boys with cut abs and flowing locks of hair the girls of C-suite in one of the residence halls have a different kind of clipping: an Orange County Register pictograph; the bold and all caps letters on the page spell “Flu Travels.”
The illustration shows the typical sources of viruses: office phones money and loved ones. But this is college. Most students will touch at least four door handles just to get to their rooms in the residence halls. The average household in America is three people; the average Pepperdine student has a household of nearly 50. And the public keyboards in the Sandbar? They used to be white. With the realities of college life and public domain some students say getting sick is inevitable.
“I feel like there’s no real way to avoid getting sick especially with the living environment. Everyone is touching the same things said junior Kira Anderson. Anderson described her experience as a Resident Advisor; tending to sick residents has been a task she said she has been happy to do. Then she got sick.
For the week ending Sept. 25, the American College Health Association reported an addition of more than 6,500 new cases of influenza-like illnesses, totalling more than 3.2 million on college campuses alone.
The Pepperdine Health Center is starting to see an influx of students with respiratory illnesses and flu-like symptoms.
Right now we’re really backed up said Rebecca Roldan, office manager of the university’s Health Center. Because of the environment that we’re in we’re very on-demand right now.”
In a Sept. 25 press briefing on the H1N1 virus Thomas Frieden director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said college students aren’t as invincible as they might think.
“[The virus] has affected disproportionately young adults and children. Although people sometimes think of the flu as a mild illness [it’s] no picnic. Even in an average case it can knock you flat on your back for a couple of days he said.
Students say they have noticed a drop in attendance since the flu season started, and are all-to-familiar with the overture of coughing and sneezing they hear in the classroom.
It freaks me out and I’m thinking ‘Why are you sitting next to me?'” said senior Diana Singhavong.
Nancy Safinick student health director of the Health Center said that although germs like the flu virus can sometimes spread when students touch something that’s contaminated — such as the gray keyboards in the Sandbar — and then touch their eyes nose or mouth it is not practical or possible to clean surfaces continuously.
“Even if a campus was scrubbed from top to bottom once students and staff re-enter surfaces are contaminated all over again she wrote in an e-mail. Safinick suggested the power to ward off illness — for as long as they can — is in students’ hands. It is especially important to wash your hands avoid touching your face and get your flu shot she wrote.
In anticipation for a more difficult flu season, the university invested in free-standing, motion-sensored Purell dispensers. Placed prominently in dining areas, the devices serve as frequent reminders to sanitize.
Although available, students do not always take advantage of them. Safinick said they’re good when students are on the go.
Resources say that soap and warm water is the best but the hand sanitizers are a close second she wrote.
Safinick also said students can use the Pep RN 24-hour hotline for advice if they are feeling ill or have a non-emergency. The nurses are very skilled and will answer student health related questions. They will not diagnose a problem but they will advise on what to do.”
With the risk for students higher students are taking notice to how they’re treating their bodies.
“I have to take precautions Singhavon said. I’m not usually cautious about what I eat and when I sleep now I am. I treat myself like I’m sick even when I know I’m not.” In addition to taking vitamin C and washing her hands Singhavon is taking a prescription that Safinick writes for all students on campus: Get some rest.