University of New England

UNE Pandemic Influenza Plan

What the University of New England is Doing to Prepare

The University has a Crisis Management team and a Communicable Disease Response Committee whose purposes are to make sure that University is prepared to respond to catastophic events that impact the University.  The Communicable Disease Committee has identified a work group to assist departments and units at the University in developing  specific preparedness plans.  It will also conduct educational sessions to inform members of the University Community about pandemic flu and how to prepare. Drafts of these plans will be available sometime during the Spring 2007 Semester.

FAQs about UNE and Pandemic Flu Planning (pdf)

Planning Instructions for UNE Departments (pdf)

Other Resources

UNE Planning Timeline (pdf)

Why is Pandemic Flu a Concern?

In late 2005, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began in earnest to alert the world’s countries to the possibilities of a pandemic flu outbreak on a scale similar to that of the Spanish Flu of 1918. That pandemic took an estimated 50 million lives. The pandemic that is now predicted is estimated to take the lives of as many as 25% of the population in those countries that could be severely impacted. Such a loss will undoubtedly result in severe human suffering and extreme economic havoc.

Higher Education will be among the industries most severely impacted because of risks resulting from international travel by students, faculty, and staff; and with open and accessible campuses to the local community at-large.

According to the CDC, those most susceptible to death from a flu pandemic are those aged between 15 and 35 and the very old. Further, the CDC projects workplace absentee rates as high as 25% over a 4-9 month period.

The impact on college or university operations may include unprecedented demands on student health services, relocation of students in residence halls, the establishment of quarantine sites, debilitating sickness among staff and faculty causing severe reductions in the work force, essential services hampered and perhaps unavailable, and significant loss of tuition revenues from closure of the institution, and non-returning students

What You Need to Know About Flu

Symptoms, Prevention, and Treatment (pdf)

Practice Safe Coughing (video).

What Can You Do to Prepare Yourself and Your Family

University of New England's Pandemic Influenza Task Force