September 16, 2009

Carnegie Mellon U. Quarantines Sick Students in Makeshift Infirmaries

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When segregating sick students is impractical, campuses ask them to self-isolate, sometimes sending them back to their dormitories with masks and lessons in "respiratory etiquette."

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When segregating sick students is impractical, campuses ask them to self-isolate, sometimes sending them back to their dormitories with masks and lessons in "respiratory etiquette."

By Katherine Mangan

While most campus health centers have sent sick students back to their dormitories with masks and lessons in "respiratory etiquette," a few have been able to segregate them in separate buildings.

For Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, those efforts appear to be paying off as the number of quarantined students has dropped significantly over the past few weeks.

"The flu hit just as first-year students were completing orientation, so we had a lot of