A Word from the Vice President

T he university’s ability to respond in a crisis was severely tested earlier this year during the swine flu (H1N1) outbreak in Southern California. The epidemic, which had its origins in Mexico, spread to California within weeks and eventually spread to the CSULB campus. The university’s crisis management team convened, even prior to official notification by the Long Beach Health Department that one probable case of the swine flu had been detected among samples sent for analysis from Student Health Services. Throughout the crisis, the team met several times a day to monitor the situation. The team included President F. King Alexander, the provost, the vice president for Administration and Finance, the director of Housing and Residential Life, the director of Student Health Services and other key university officials, including the chief of University Police and representatives from the university’s Office of Safety and Risk Management. The team worked closely with the director and chief epidemiologist from the Long Beach Health Department and met with them at least three times for feedback and advice. Of the 11 samples submitted to the health department for analysis, one positive result was returned.

In its deliberations, the crisis management team planned for two different scenarios. The first scenario was to identify any “hot spots” in the residence halls. If multiple cases were reported in a particular housing unit, this scenario called for the university to quickly shut down that particular hall and send all “healthy” or non-symptomatic students home for seven days. Fortunately, the university was never required to implement this option. The second scenario, a much more extreme option, called for closure of the campus. The necessity for implementing this decision hinged on reaching a predetermined number of positive cases among members of the campus community. The duration of a campus closure would also have been for seven days. Implementation of this scenario required advance consultation with the LBHD and the CSU Chancellor’s Office.

During the height of the crisis, two CSULB students who demonstrated flu-like symptoms were isolated in separate campus apartments. The apartments were selected because each had a private bathroom and each was located out of the normal flow of student traffic. As a precaution, both students were treated with Tamiflu. Throughout the period of isolation, food was delivered to the students and a physician from Student Health Services provided daily health care services. The team was aware that there was a high probability that one of the two students in question had contracted swine flu—the university invited the student’s mother to campus and an on-campus accommodation was provided for her—and a positive diagnosis was eventually confirmed. The test results for the second student were negative and the student was released from isolation.

During this time, the campus enhanced its sanitation schedule by cleaning bathroom facilities in all residence halls several times a day. Other campus restroom facilities also received special attention, albeit to a lesser degree than those located in the residence halls. Highly visible actions, such as daily email updates to the campus community and the actions previously described, served to reassure students living in the residence halls and other members of the campus community that the university was taking measured, well thought out steps to respond to this very serious issue.

During the summer months, CSULB’s leadership has continued to meet to prepare for next year’s flu season when we expect to encounter other flu variations, along with a second wave of H1N1 flu cases.