Students said they think Boston University’s policy not to inform students of the locations of the isolation rooms for those exhibiting influenza-like symptoms poses potential danger to other residents.
This reaction came after The Daily Free Press reported on Thursday that the administration had set aside rooms on the second floor of Danielsen Hall to isolate students exhibiting symptoms. Student Health Services Director David McBride and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore acknowledged the story in an email to students Thursday night.
‘I think they probably should have told us,’ College of Communication freshman Catherine Elia, a fifth-floor Danielsen resident, said. ‘They need to tell us so we can take extra precautions.’
Danielsen residents said they had heard rumors about empty rooms but were not aware that they were reserved for flu patients before this week. They said the BU isolation strategy is not a bad one, but the administration should be more open with students.
‘I don’t know how many other rooms are saved around campus,’ Elia said.
Seventh-floor Danielsen resident Fiona Owens said as a new student,’ she felt particularly unprepared.
‘We don’t know how things work,’ Owens, College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said. ‘If we’re living here, we should know.’
She said she and her roommates were upset when they found out about the reserved floor, but expected students would be sensible about their own health.
‘As long as they don’t cough on the elevator buttons and lick everything it should be fine,’ she said.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said revealing ill students’ location could violate privacy.
‘There’s confidentiality and privacy,’ Riley said. ‘The most important thing is to contain the spread.’
Riley said BU is following Boston Public Health guidelines. Students could isolate themselves in rooms anywhere on campus, he said.
‘If someone is ill and they live in your building, then there’s someone in your building now,’ he said. ‘They’re self-isolating.’
He said either healthy or sick students could be asked to move to a new dorm, depending on the situation. Only large numbers would dictate greater publicity about the location of affected students.
‘If we had an unmanageable amount, you will know,’ Riley said. ‘We’re probably going to look at a gymnasium to set up a location to handle large numbers, but that hasn’t happened and we’re very pleased about that.’
Not all area schools are handling the flu in the same way as BU. University of Massachusetts-Amherst spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said they will not designate specific rooms for isolation.
‘We ask students to stay in their room, then arrange for a ‘flu buddy,” he said. ‘There are ‘flu kits’ in each residence hall that the RAs can hand out that contain a mask and other preventative items. The staff and RAs will help to work with the students affected.’
‘With nearly 12,000 students living on campus, we simply don’t have the capacity to set aside rooms,’ he said.
Instead, they are asking students to remain in their own rooms and receive assistance from resident assistants and flu buddies, he said.
The Centers for Disease Control gives basic isolation policies for isolation of students who cannot travel home.
‘For those who cannot leave campus, and who do not have a private room, [institutes of higher education] may consider providing temporary, alternate housing for ill students until 24 hours after they are free of fever,’ the website states.
Overall, students said the isolation idea is solid.
Ian Koenigsknecht, who was isolated on the second floor of Danielsen and who spoke to The Daily Free Press about his experience in an article Monday, said he does not think students with flu-like symptoms pose a threat of infection to other residents.
‘I don’t really think they need to know,’ Koenigsknecht said. ‘I stayed in my room. The only time I left was to use the bathroom. It’s not like these kids are going to be roaming the halls.’
Third-floor Danielsen resident Christopher Gilmore said the plan was ‘logistically’ sound.
‘But it makes me very sad,’ Gilmore, a CAS freshman, said.
COM freshman and sixth-floor resident Meredith Danko said she does not think an isolation floor in her building is particularly harmful.
‘I don’t really feel like it affected me at all,’ Danko said. ‘If they need somewhere to go, it’s not like, ‘Keep them out of our dorm.”
CAS sophomore Valerie Belding, who lives on Danielsen’s 10th floor, said she is primarily concerned that BU had not revealed the location of the rooms.
‘If they need to quarantine people, fine,’ Belding said. ‘But tell us about it.’
Belding said the isolation policy concerns might discourage students from alerting BU to their condition.
‘This doesn’t seem like a step in the right direction, as far as getting people to come forward so they can get help,’ Belding said.
Belding’s roommate Bryn Daly, a CAS sophomore, said she did not think Danielsen was the logical choice for ill students for several reasons, including its lack of a dining hall.
‘They don’t seem to be treated very well,’ Daly said.
She said she does not believe revealing students’ location would violate privacy.
‘We don’t need specific names,’ she said. ‘They could definitely have handled it better.’
Staff reporter Allison McKinnon contributed to the reporting of this article.
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