Despite national H1N1 emergency, health center not concerned

President Barack Obama declared the H1N1 virus a national emergency Saturday. However, Hugh Jessop, director of the IU Health Center, said the announcement does not affect IU.

“We’ve been doing all the necessary recommendations prior to it being made a national emergency,” he said. “The declaration by the president is simply noting the wide spread and the need to take the precautions seriously. I think the concern is the health center doesn’t have any vaccine.”

Jessop said as of now, there have been a total of 995 reported cases of the virus at the health center since the start of school, with 310 cases reported last week. He said those numbers don’t include unreported cases.

“I think one of the things we need to watch is it’s going up,” he said. “We went from 60 to 65 cases in the first weeks to over 300. But we’re hoping it’s leveling off.”

Jessop said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted the H1N1 virus will peak in November.

“Nationwide, visits to doctors for influenza-like-illness are increasing steeply and are now higher than what is seen at the peak of many regular flu seasons.

In addition, flu-related hospitalizations and deaths continue to go up nationwide and are above what is expected for this time of year,” according to the CDC Web site.

In a report on the CDC Web site that gives the status of vaccine shipment to each state, Indiana is listed as the 12th state with the most vaccines supplied with a total of 273,200. The most have been shipped to California for a total of 1,309,100 vaccines.

Most vaccines are 80 to 85 percent effective, Jessop said. If people still contract the virus after getting the vaccine, he said the voracity will be less and the duration will be shorter.

Jessop said the health center was told by the federal government earlier in the year that IU would receive the vaccine by the time the center’s online distribution program was set up. At this point, however, he said the center does not know when the vaccine will arrive.

The online program through OneStart will allow students to register for a day and time to get the vaccine when it becomes available, Jessop said.

“A student will sign up for Monday at 9 a.m. of week one,” he said. “Then when we get the vaccine, an e-mail will be sent out telling everyone who registered for week one to come to Assembly Hall. Students will have an appointment, so they won’t have to stand in line.”

Once the first two weeks are 90 percent full, Jessop said the third week will be opened for appointments.

The program is 97 percent complete, Jessop said, but still needs to be tested.
“We’re working out the details for plugging this in,” he said. “I don’t think anyone else is trying this in the country.”

Senior Dan Fer said he thinks this is the best possible system.

“It’s how we do most of that kind of stuff on campus,” he said. “But once people no longer see the virus as a threat, they’ll no longer be proactive about it.”

Sophomore Sarah Harshberger said she knows people who have had the virus and is nervous being around them without the vaccine. She said the online program will help prevent huge lines and chaos when the vaccine arrives.

“I’m definitely going to get it when it gets here,” she said. “I think thousands of people are going to get it.”