Pandemic Flu Response Plan
CLICK HERE to download the Response plan for Pandemic Flu
Dear Belmont Abbey Students,
We hope that this email finds you off to a good start to the fall semester at BAC. As we enter flu season, we want to make you aware of the College’s recommendations with regard to seasonal and the H1N1 Flu virus. Please take a few minutes to read this message carefully.
As we continue this semester, there are several important actions you can take:
First and foremost, don’t go to work, class or group activities such as practice and meetings when you’re sick with flu symptoms. Do not try to “tough it out.”
* In order to limit the spread of disease, everyone on campus must consider it a mark of good citizenship to stay home from work and class at the first sign of influenza symptoms (fever of 100 degrees F/37.8 degrees C or higher with cough or sore throat) until at least 24 hours after you have been completely fever-free (without fever-reducing medication). For most people, this takes 3 to 5 days.
* Communicate with your instructor if you have to miss classes or a deadline due to illness. You are responsible for obtaining class notes that you have missed and for making up assignments, papers or exams within a reasonable period of time. Your instructors are being asked to address these issues. Any extension of time for completion of assignments, examinations, or projects/papers for any reason must be prearranged and approved by your instructor at his or her discretion and will only be granted in extreme extenuating circumstances
* You do not need to present a medical excuse for brief illness-related absences. You do need to communicate to your instructor that you will not be in class and make arrangements for any missed assignments, projects, papers, or exams.
* Take basic precautions, but don’t let a fear of flu interfere with your activities. While we want to give you tools and information for dealing with this unusual semester, we don’t want to make you uncomfortable interacting with other people in your classrooms or around campus.
* Remember that people may still sneeze in class due to allergies or cough due to a cold. Simply being in the same room with other people is not considered a high-risk activity.
* Support your own good health with frequent hand washing and trying to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Influenza virus spreads through close contact with respiratory droplets, which generally means touching a contaminated surface with your hands and then touching your hands to your face. These hygiene measures are among the most powerful precautions you can take for yourself, as it will be impossible for every surface to be disinfected every time anyone touches it.
We wish you a very healthy and productive semester at the College. Thank you for your cooperation. For more information about the H1N1 flu please check this website regularly. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
Dr. Lucas Lamadrid
Vice President for Enrollment Management
& Student Affairs
Belmont Abbey College
100 Belmont-Mt Holly Rd
Belmont, North Carolina 28012
