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Swine Flu Information Center
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Dear members of the Cabrillo Family,
President Obama and U.S. health officials say they are seeing encouraging signs the swine flu may be less severe than many had feared. The experts still encourage that we continue to develop plans to do everything possible to contain the spread of the virus. At this point, there are still no confirmed cases of the virus (H1N1 influenza A) in Santa Cruz County. Last week, Cabrillo distributed hand sanitizers to multiple locations on campus and also posted the latest information about the virus in restrooms across campus among other steps. Thanks to everyone on campus who has contributed to Cabrillo's calm, thoughtful plan implementation in response to the flu outbreak.
To continue to refine the implementation of our proactive plan, the Administrative Council and Cabrillo Managers met late Friday afternoon to review the latest information. The focus of the meeting was to develop concise answers to three basic questions:
1. What would cause Cabrillo to close? We are in direct contact with the County Health Department. If the County determines closure is the correct course of action after the identification of cases of the flu involving Cabrillo, we would close.
2. What if one or more cases of the flu involving Cabrillo are identified, but the County Health Department does not recommend closure? Conceivably, the County Health Department could determine closure is not required. (Several school districts, notably in Washington state, have determined they will not close any additional schools in response to the current virus but will respond as they would during a "normal" flu season.) In the event one or more cases of the flu are linked to Cabrillo but the County does not recommend closure, the Cabinet will meet in consultation with Katie Dowling, Interim Director of Health Services, to review all pertinent information and decide the most prudent course of action.
3. If Cabrillo were to close, what will happen? As you can imagine, the impact of any closure would depend greatly on when the closure would take place and what part or parts of the college would be closed. In the event a closure is the proper course of action, we will communicate directly with you. We would also develop a straightforward plan to address questions about the impact on students, faculty and staff, including a potential impact on end-of-semester activities including--but not limited to--finals and graduation.
If you have additional questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to email or give me a call.
Brian