Posted on 05/01/2009 1:11:19 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY -- Responding to the spread of swine flu to the United States, university officials have temporarily evicted residents of one of Georgetown’s two university-designated quarantine houses to make space for any students who may contract the virus.
Wednesday morning, residents of 3517 Prospect St. were told that they have 24 hours to vacate their residence. According to Mark Valtierra (SFS ’10), one of three residents at 3517 Prospect, Patrick Lukingbeal, hall director of Alumni Square and university townhouses, notified Valtierra of the eviction at 10:30 a.m.
Valtierra and his housemates were given several boxes and told they must leave the house by tomorrow morning.
“[Lukingbeal] said that there are no cases in the area,” Valtierra said. “[The university] believes that there is a good probability that the disease will spread and wants to take necessary precautions.”
In 2006, the university and the District of Columbia Department of Health responded to the possibility of pandemic disease threats by designating 3517 and 3519 Prospect St. as quarantine houses. This containment plan, funded by a $5,000 grant, is designed to isolate students who are too contagious to remain in a residence hall or apartment but not sick enough to warrant an intensive care stay at a hospital. The university did not utilize the quarantine houses during the norovirus outbreak this October.
According to The Washington Post, six cases of swine flu have been reported in the Maryland, with two children infected in Anne Arundel and Baltimore. No cases have been reported in D.C. or Virginia.
Valtierra said that the eviction notice was largely unexpected.
“I was in disbelief,” Valtierra said.
The university will allow the residents of 3517 Prospect St. to relocate to rooms in LXR Hall or Reynolds Hall. The university also put $200 on each resident’s GOCard and sent e-mails to their professors to inform them of the situation.
According to an e-mail sent to the campus community by James Welsh, assistant vice president for student health, and Rocco DelMonaco, vice president for university safety, the university’s emergency response team is meeting regularly to discuss precautionary measures.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and are in touch with local and federal public health authorities,” Welsh and DelMonaco said in the e-mail. “Officials do not recommend changes to routine operations at this time and we are planning for final exams and upcoming activities, including commencement, to take place as currently scheduled.”
The university’s response comes just after the World Health Organization raised its pandemic threat alert level to phase five and U.S. officials confirmed the first swine flu-related death in the United States. At this time, 49 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in New York City, and 159 swine flu-related deaths have been reported in Mexico.
This should happen to Notre Dame!!!
Interesting.
So much info and misinfo floating around out there, it is getting harder to differentiate.
What to Prep if you have 24 Hours
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.24HrsList
flu virus ping
Swine Flu: Ill woman is in ICU in West GA hospital
http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=10279275
Thursday, the head of Georgia’s Division of Public Health says the CDC has confirmed the first case in the state, a 30-year-old woman from Kentucky who was hospitalized in the town of LaGrange while visiting west Georgia.
She’d been in Cancun, Mexico, earlier this month.
The woman is in the ICU at West GA Medical in LaGrange, GA showing modest signs and considered seriously ill.
Timeline:
She traveled from Kentucky to Georgia with her 5-year-old daughter by way of car.
Prior to her trip to Georgia she took a leisure trip to Cancun, Mexico with a travel companion from April 17- April 21.
She began to fell ill on April 18th, but she thought it was due to the sun.
April 23: She arrived in Atlanta, GA by way of car.
April 24: She went shopping in Atlanta, GA.
April 25: She went to a wedding rehearsal dinner in LaGrange, GA.
April 26: She attended a wedding and later that day went to the ER voluntarily with family to West Georgia Medical in LaGrange, GA. She was immediately isolated. Officials performed a rapid specimen test , which the CDC received on April 28.
The family and those in her close circle were given anti-viral medications as a precaution.
The CDC and the Georgia Division of Public Health are working together to notify those that were in contact with her at the wedding.
April 30: Confirmed 30 year-old woman who has swine flu is from Warren County, Kentucky.
Notice that in the case above the woman was ambulatory for 8 days, with symptoms, before she went to the hospital. She is now in an ICU. She is 30 years old.
This is the same pattern as reported in Mexico.
“I agree with you. I also have to say for the first time in my life I agree with VP Biden!”
Ole Crazy Joe may have some valid reasons for his latest foot in mouth comments.
There may be a secret service agent who made the Mexico trip with 0b0z0 infected by the flu.
So what did Ole Crazy Joe know that we didn’t and when did he know it?
Ping (Thanks, DvdMom!)
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