More than a case of the flu
Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento
Issue date: 5/14/09 Section: Opinion
As a college student who doesn't watch TV, read online articles, or, sad to say, picks up a newspaper that serves a readership beyond Forest Grove, I know very little about current events. For something to reach my ears, it has to be big news.
Swine Flu? Big news. My first reaction was dismissal, and that it would be old news soon enough.
After hearing about other schools shut down because of reported H1N1 cases, I waited expectantly - and not for long - for students at Pacific to begin wishing and hoping for our school to follow suit.
For a school that is usually quick to jump on the national bandwagon, Pacific held their ground. For this, I credit them. Why make a big deal out of something that doesn't have to be?
That is, of course, until a supposed case of Swine Flu on campus made it a big deal according to an email sent to students Monday, May 11.
The poor sick girl was told by a doctor that he would test her for H1N1. What she didn't know was that the process for testing her for the virus involved first testing her for Influenza A. Which she tested positive for.
When the doctor informed her that she "tested positive", she assumed it was for H1N1.
Then ensued an infamous trio of mass-emails sent by the higher-ups in Marsh. Definitely some wrong information in there.
Who's to blame? Everyone? No one? The Mexicans?
The way I see it, when panic basically sweeps the globe, people in small towns like our own are going to act hurriedly, assume incorrectly, communicate poorly. If something like the H1N1 virus mutates faster than doctors can keep up with, it's inevitable that people will get tripped up in the process.
The flu has hit Pacific University - perhaps not the actual strain, but the mere prospect of it's presence has definitely left a mark.
Swine Flu? Big news. My first reaction was dismissal, and that it would be old news soon enough.
After hearing about other schools shut down because of reported H1N1 cases, I waited expectantly - and not for long - for students at Pacific to begin wishing and hoping for our school to follow suit.
For a school that is usually quick to jump on the national bandwagon, Pacific held their ground. For this, I credit them. Why make a big deal out of something that doesn't have to be?
That is, of course, until a supposed case of Swine Flu on campus made it a big deal according to an email sent to students Monday, May 11.
The poor sick girl was told by a doctor that he would test her for H1N1. What she didn't know was that the process for testing her for the virus involved first testing her for Influenza A. Which she tested positive for.
When the doctor informed her that she "tested positive", she assumed it was for H1N1.
Then ensued an infamous trio of mass-emails sent by the higher-ups in Marsh. Definitely some wrong information in there.
Who's to blame? Everyone? No one? The Mexicans?
The way I see it, when panic basically sweeps the globe, people in small towns like our own are going to act hurriedly, assume incorrectly, communicate poorly. If something like the H1N1 virus mutates faster than doctors can keep up with, it's inevitable that people will get tripped up in the process.
The flu has hit Pacific University - perhaps not the actual strain, but the mere prospect of it's presence has definitely left a mark.
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