HEALTH AND WELLNESS Swine CHRISTINE NEWBY managing editor Four reported cases of the HINI “Swine Flu” at Penn State Behrend have spawned rumors, false information, and wild speculation around campus. Accounts of the illness’s mortality rate, recovery time, and the effect it will have on the college may change de pending on who one speaks to. Local health profession- Knecht, the current mortal ity rate of the 2009 HINI virus is 0.001 percent. The mortality rate for the sea sonal flu is .01 percent. Charlotte Berringer, Direc tor of Community Health for the Erie County Health De partment said that 36,000 deaths occur per year in the United States for the sea sonal flu. HINI spreads faster than seasonal flu. “In the United States, from April to the middle of June, the HINI virus crossed six WATER POLO Men's water polo rebuilding dismantled team RACHELLE THOMPSON staff writer For the 2009 Behrend men’s water polo team, this year is all about re building. Despite the team’s 0-7 record and losing all but four players last year, head coach Joe Tristan isn’t worried about his team’s struggles. “This season is about rebuilding, and I don’t want to talk about the past.” Tristan said. “That’s why it’s in the past, yeah, it would have been great to come back with what we had, but we have character now. We move on. It doesn’t matter who is on the team- we’re going to play no matter what.” The team starts their workweek on Monday night and it continues through Saturday morning. The players will practice for typi- Photoßeview. 2 News 3 Local/National 4 Community & Sudoku 5 Science 6 Flu: Fa regions across the world,” Berringer said. “Any bug to spread rapidly is a concern. In a few months, it was all over the world.” Berringer said that in her 30 year career in the health field, she has never seen a bug spread so fast. There are already hun dreds of Swine Flu cases ii Erie County. There have been 23 con firmed cases of the HIN virus in Erie County, and 4‘. probable cases, between thi end of May and Sept. 26. At Penn State Behrend there have been only fou cases of the HINI virus con firmed. Seven other student! tested positive for Type A in fluenza, but there is no offi cial word on whether the; are positive for HINI. College students are more suseptible to HINI. While the seasonal flu pri marily causes deaths in the older population, the Swine Flu has been swarming the younger population. “Most of the confirmed cases both locally, statewide, and across the nation are in fants to 24-year-olds,” Berringer said. “Twenty-five percent of the (H1N1) deaths have been among younger, healthy children and young adults.” Behrend is going to shut down. If the spread of Swine Flu continues to extremes this is a possibility; however, the college will not shut down because of four cases. Berringer says that in the scenario that the flu reaches hundreds of students, the college may make this deci sion. “The college administra tion would talk to the local and state health departments and the state system of higher education about what the college would do,” Berringer said. cally two hours; this will happen every Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. Tuesday and Thursday prac tices are different. The team begins at 6:30 a.m. and consists of lifting and pool drills. Then, they must come back at night for their usual practice. “What’s great about these players is that they don’t complain.” Tristan said “They are hard-working and they do what they are asked,not only do they work hard at practice, but out of the pool they are continuously working at becoming better players. Some [of them] will ask for game tape so they can see [their] mistakes and try to get better.” Another way the team is rebuilding themselves is by new players stepping into new positions. jlndex Opinion 7 Culture.. 8 Showcase 9 VJL • q. . . . i y-v i n Registered Member opOITS 1U“ IZ Associated Collegiate Press There is a vaccination for Swine Flu. According to. Berringer that there are two vaccines: a nasal spray and injection. The nasal spray wiU be out to the public first. According to Erie County health officials, the spray will be released as early as mid-October. “There will be 1.3 million doses nationwide,” said Berringer. “Since there is a limited quantity, most of the first doses will be to ages five to nine because they need two doses.” Behrend students are also one of the first priority groups to get the vaccine be cause of the age of students. She also said that by the end of October, the injection vaccine will be available to local healthcare providers. The HINI vaccination provides protection for the seasonal flu. The HINI vaccination does not protect against the See Water Polo on page 12 77,6 m 6n ’ S Water po, ° team lOSt a " bUt f ° Ur playerS from laSt year Health, patients must get separate vaccines for full protection. “I strongly suggest for people to get the HINI vac cination,” Berringer said. Once you are infected by Swine Flu, you cannot get After catching Swine Flu, you can’t get the virus a sec ond time. However, there is a chance that someone can get the seasonal flu a couple times. “There are three other strands of flu circulating (be sides H1N1),” she says. “If you are infected with one (strand), you are not pro tected from the other two.” You are contagious only i Other strands of flu circulating When you notice symp- | besides the swine flu. toms. “You are contagious one day before you have symp toms,” Berringer said. According to the HlNlinPA.com, a person will be contagious up to seven days after the first day of being contagious. it a again. 4twtmm jJM 4*^ mm «« ft 41l m w —— n «i» IFluay SaVlXFOay SUXUCAcIy 5952 6 4-53 6^49 mostly cloudy mix of clouds and sun partly cloudy with scattered showers stray shower possible stray shower possible Forecast courtesy Matthew Alto , weather editor Swine Flu: By the Numbers Percent of the cases that go to the State Public Health Lab are the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus Probable cases of the 2009 HINI virus in Erie County from May 31-Sept. 26. Percent of the 2009 HINI deaths has been among young healthy children and young adults Confirmed cases of the 2009 HINI virus in Erie County from May 31-Sept. 26. Times more likely to die from seasonal flu than the 2009 HINI virus Confirmed cases of the 2009 HINI virus at Behrend. Number of days that one is contagious before symptoms even appear. RENOVATIONS New seating, other improvements coming to Reed 117 MIKE 0. WEHRER University Officials have nearly fi nalized plans to completely renovate Reed 117. Students have already begun to see many of the changes to for the Reed Union Building. Such as the much-im proved bookstore and new offices, and the moving of the RUB information desk to the Student Activities office. The next changes to impact stu dents’ use of Reed will be the new stu dent lounge downstairs and the renovations to Reed 117, where stu dents enjoy movies and other enter tainment courtesy of the Lion Entertainment Board and other stu dent groups. Reed 117 was the second most pop ular choice among students who re sponded to the facility fee poll last year. Unlike the proposed convenience store, the renovations to Reed 117 and the student lounge are fairly far along in their respective approval processes, according to SGA President Brad Ko valcik. The proposed convenience store is still undergoing a feasibility study to determine what form the store would take if one is constructed at Behrend. Both Reed 117 and the student lounge have passed the feasibility phase and will be going out for bid in November. The bidding process will continue through January, and construction will begin in May 2010, and construction on both projects is expected to be See Reed 117 on page 3 HEALTH AND WELLNESS Contingency plan devised for students with swine flu Behrend Housing and Food Services has devised a contingency plan for stu dents who have been infected with the HINI virus. Upon becoming infected, there are several options a student has to choose from. For students who live near campus or are able to make the trip, they may return home in order to isolate themselves until they are well. Because a trip home is more inconven ient for students who live far from campus or have come from distant parts of the world, they will be given further options. “We are allowing [the students who test positively for swine flu] to stay in their rooms,” says Randy Geering, Di rector of Housing and Food Services. “We feel that they will not want to move to a larger uncomfortable space that does not have any of their com forts such as TV and computer." Roommates of infected students are given a few courses of action as well. Until their ill roommate is ready to return, they may temporarily relocate with a willing friend who lives on cam pus, or they may room with a Resi dence Assistant. They are also permitted to remain in their own room if they so choose. According to Geering, there are 19 available spaces with Residence Assis tants —12 male and 7 female. See Swine Flu on page 3 new s fiiitoi ALLY ORLANDO nt'\\ t'ditor
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