From: Jones Schweitzer, Sharon On Behalf Of CrisisManagementTeam
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 5:45 PM
To: Trinity Students
Cc: Crisis Management Team
Subject: Swine Flu Update

Trinity University students:

The Crisis Management Team (CMT) is taking the swine flu threat very seriously and proactively planning in the event that swine flu affects our community directly.  The CMT will be meeting frequently, monitoring information about the evolving situation. For up to date information, the CMT asks you to read all the campus news and information through the Trinity swine flu information Web site, which is also hosted on the main Trinity Web page and the emergency preparedness page.

Health Services will report immediately any on campus, confirmed cases of swine flu to our team and we will notify the campus community  immediately of subsequent actions to be taken. 

At this time the Crisis Management Team is taking the following steps: 

• The Crisis Management Team is meeting daily to monitor Centers  for Disease Control and World Health Organization warnings and updates. 
• A list of campus events is being prepared and will be evaluated daily to consider whether cancellations should take place. This would be done in the event of confirmed campus cases and for events where assembling a large number of people in an enclosed space could contribute to spreading the virus. If cancellations are necessary they will be posted on the Trinity swine flu information Web site.    
• Contingency plans are being discussed and reviewed in the event that classes need to be cancelled and/or residence halls closed.  
• We are discussing and addressing the needs of international students, those who are abroad, as well as students planning to go abroad.  Travel for athletic teams is being monitored.

You can begin to make some preparations now: 

• Please do what you can individually to try to minimize exposure to the flu  (www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm) .  
• You may wish to avoid events on or off campus where there can be exposure to others with flu-like symptoms.  
• You are encouraged to contact professors to let them know if you are feeling ill and need to miss class. If you are becoming sick it would be better to avoid infecting others. Faculty members are being asked to be sensitive to student absence notifications.  
• If you are healthy, please try to work ahead in classes in the unlikely event that the semester needs to be shortened.  
• Please begin to think about preparations to leave campus in the unlikely event that the University is required to shut down. At this point it may be as simple as pre-packing or organizing to do so. If this were to occur, out-of-state and international students would await instructions from campus officials regarding travel. 
• On campus students are encouraged to let student Residential Life staff members know if they will be leaving campus for any extended period of time (such as overnight).

Students currently abroad: 

•  Stay in touch with your program director or international student office and follow any instructions you receive. 

•  Keep your family informed.  Remember that international news rarely contains details to go with the headlines. 

•  Check the Trinity swine flu information Web site for updates on what is happening on campus and in the local area. 

•  Keep the Study Abroad advisors informed of local changes or concerns.