Over 300 Georgetown students have contracted the H1N1 virus since [the beginning of the fall semester](https://www.thehoya.com/news/gu-finds-50-likely-h1n1-cases/), a university official said yesterday.
[Assistant Vice President for Student Health James Welsh](https://www.thehoya.com/videos/georgetown-prepares-h1n1-outbreak-part-ii/) said the total number of affected students has passed 300, with 75 to 80 students reporting influenza-like symptoms resembling H1N1 last week. Welsh said he expects the H1N1 virus to continue to spread on campus in the coming months.
“We’re in a situation where the population has no natural immunity,” Welsh said. “The virus is very contagious and there’s every reason to expect for it to continue to spread.”
At The George Washington University, officials have indicated that 437 students have been diagnosed with influenza-like symptoms since the beginning of the semester, according to [the GW Hatchet](https://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2009/09/28/News/Thousands.Receive.Flu.Shots.At.Clinic-3785492.shtml).
Welsh recommended regular hand-washing, self-isolation for ill students and covering one’s mouth when coughing as the most effective safeguards against the virus. While such actions will not eliminate the virus, he noted, they will slow its spread, which may make a crucial difference as university officials wait for H1N1 vaccines provided by the federal government to arrive.
Welsh said that the D.C. Department of Health indicated as recently as last week that distribution will begin in mid-October, but priority will go to children’s hospitals and other organizations involved in treating chronically ill children.
In a teleconference on Sept. 18, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said the vaccine will become available during the first week of October. One dose should be sufficient, she noted, yielding an immune response within 10 days.
“We would hope that by late October [or] early November they’ll be distributing vaccines to colleges and universities as well, but that’s still up in the air at this point,” Welsh said. “We’re preparing to be able to administer it as soon as we get our hands on it.”
Students may also choose to receive a seasonal flu shot, which the university independently purchases and provides free of charge to all students, faculty and staff. Georgetown has yet to receive its shipment of seasonal flu shots, but Welsh said that the distribution schedule of the free vaccine should be announced within the next few days.
GWU distributed seasonal flu vaccines to over 2,100 students, faculty and staff at its first flu-shot clinic of the year. Last year, only 1,800 flu shots were given over the course of the entire semester at GWU, The GW Hatchet reported.
“Neither the seasonal vaccine [nor] the H1N1 vaccine will be mandated, but we will very strongly encourage students under the age of 25 to consider taking the H1N1 vaccine,” Welsh said.
Several students who have not yet contracted H1N1 expressed concern about falling behind in their work, though the duration of the virus varies, lasting as long as a week in some cases and as briefly as day in others.
“The reason I’m more worried about getting swine flu is because it seems to be more prevalent, not because it’s any more dangerous [than the regular flu],” Amanda Rosen (COL ’13) said. “I just don’t want to have to deal with missing class.”
In a e-mail, University Provost James O’Donnell instructed professors to excuse students from missing class because of flu-like symptoms.
“I worked really hard . to catch up, but my professors were really understanding, so that helped,” said Chris Butterfield (MSB ’12), who reported missing about a week’s worth of classes due to his bout of H1N1.
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