With the number of H1N1 cases rising on campus, Greek Life will encourage sick students to stay away from events where they would come in close contact with other people, including fraternity parties.
“Vanderbilt University is concerned about keeping our students as healthy as possible. One of the ways we are doing this is by taking precautions to prevent the spread of illness, including the flu, both seasonal and H1N1,” said Director of Greek Life Kristin Torrey. “These precautions include reminding students of the importance of personal hygiene and also reminding students if they are sick to stay away from events where they would come in contact with other people.”
As of Thursday, the Office of Greek Life had not instituted any new rules or regulations related to Greek social events but had made efforts to educate students on the ways to prevent the spread of H1N1 and other illnesses.
“We provided every Greek resident with the same letter received by students living in the residence halls, along with a small bottle of hand sanitizer. We also plan to install hand-sanitizing stations in Greek houses to help prevent the spread of illness, and we will continue efforts to educate students about ways to avoid getting the flu and spreading it,” Torrey said.
The difficult part about preventing the spread of an infectious disease like H1N1 or influenza in general is that most people are infectious about 24 hours before they know they’re sick, Hanson said.
“It's hard for students not to have contact with each other, especially in event situations,” she said. “Where you can avoid it and want to avoid it would be not drinking after somebody, not sharing food, not sharing personal care items, washing hands — all the things I think young adults, adolescents and children don't really think about.”
Although fraternity parties could potentially be an event where H1N1 and other illnesses are spread, students are not too nervous about attending Greek social events, nor are they planning on changing their social habits.
Sophomore Nate Engstrom said he believes he got sick from attending a party last weekend, but doesn’t plan on making many changes to his social habits.
“I don’t think that’s a reason to stop going to parties,” Engstrom said, but added, “I might bring a little bottle of Purell.”
Senior Luis Vallejo similarly said he is not worried about attending fraternity parties while H1N1 is a worry around campus.
“As long as people keep their own cups and don’t make out with random people, then I think we’re OK,” he said.
Vallejo also said he hopes that students will self-quarantine themselves if they have come down with the flu or any other ailment.
“I kind of assume anyone with the flu virus would be out of commission and not going out,” he said.
Sophomore Danielle Krauthamer said she is more worried about catching H1N1 from interactions in the dorm and in class than she is from going out on the weekend.
“I don’t really share cups with other people,” she said, “so it’s not really going to affect whether or not I go out on the weekends.”
While many students are not worried about the spread of H1N1 at Greek parties, Torrey said she believes Greek leadership will take this issue very seriously.
“It will be important that they promote good hygiene at social functions and dissuade sick members from attending functions,” she said. “We will follow the advice of Student Health and other university officials, who are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with federal and state health officials.”
Like many students, Krauthamer said the only lifestyle changes she has made are to use Purell frequently and wash her hands whenever she can.
“I’m not going to stop having fun because of swine flu,” she said.
