By Kevin Lewis

The swine flu has been a hot topic in America for quite some time, as special measures are being taken in a lot of places. In early April, reports of several unusual cases of the flu came out of Mexico.

Mercy College has taken some precautions against the potentially deadly disease. The college has written a statement addressing the dangers of the swine flu for its professors, and how to make the school courses “flu proof”.

“The school put out a memo about the swine flu, and the precautions that should be taken about it,” said Mirlene Bellevue, the school nurse.

With the breakout of swine flu in the United States, and the risk of serious illness and death among people, there is a concern nationwide about the illness. It has become so much of a concern that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency.

The plan that the school has in place to counter a potential swine flu breakout is meant to help minimize the disruption of a course if a student misses time due to the sickness. The plan talks about planning ahead with a set communication strategy, a clearly stated course policy.

It asked its professors to “…have a communication strategy; tell your students where to find course information. Have a clearly stated course policy regarding make-ups and absences.”

It also states that there should be lecture based courses, with online documents and assignments in place of the lecture.

Asides from that, the school really doesn’t have any elaborate plans to counter or potentially stop the swine flu.

“As of right now, we just encourage everyone from the students to the faculty to be hygienically sound, to wash their hands, to cover their mouths when they sneeze, among other things. Other than that, all you can really do is pray that nothing happens,” said Bellevue.

When asked about what she would do if someone in the school came to her with potential swine flu symptoms, Bellevue said, “I’d have to send them to the emergency room. There isn’t much else I can do in that instance,”

The dangers of swine flu are quite clear, but there isn’t much that can be done except following basic guidelines and praying against catching it.

“Personally, there really isn’t much that can be done to prevent it. Mercy has laid down pretty basic guidelines,” said Bellevue. “Other than that, there just has to be a lot of luck and prayer involved.

“It is a potentially deadly condition that one has to hope just flat out avoids them.”