HIST348: Peoples of Kansas

Several all-campus emails have been sent regarding the swine flu epidemic that promises to affect our university this semester.  If you have not read these emails, you should do so now.

Here is some information about the swine flu more generally, as well as guidelines to follow for this course.  According to this very recent article , “swine flu, also known as H1N1, may infect as much as half of the [U.S.] population and kill 30,000 to 90,000 people, double the deaths caused by the typical seasonal flu.” Unlike the fatalities from regular influenza–which mostly kills the very young, the elderly, and those who have weakened immune systems–the swine flu is most dangerous for college-age students and teenagers, even those who do not have any other health problems.  Swine flu symptoms resemble those for the regular flu, only worse.  They include:

-  High fever (sometimes with chills)

-  Cough

-  Sore throat

-  Body aches/fatigue

-  Runny nose

-  Headache

There is no need to panic, but it is in your best interest to take this threat seriously and do whatever you can to stay healthy. For instance: wash your hands regularly (or use hand sanitizer with at least a 60% alcohol content), keep your hands away from your face and mouth, drink plenty of water, and take vitamins.  I use a fizzy drink called Airborne to boost my immune system; you can find this at Dillons or other grocery stores (the orange zest flavor is kind of disgusting, but the pink grapefruit and lemon/lime taste fine).  These preventative measures are especially necessary for those of you who live in dorms, Greek housing, or scholarship halls.  A vaccine specifically made for the swine flu will likely be available in October, in addition to the regular flu vaccine.  For more information, see WebMD’s section on H1N1.

If you come down with swine flu, here is what you should do:

-  Email or call your professors and make arrangements for completing class assignments and/or making up lectures. Watkins Health Center is NOT giving out notes.

-  Stay home. Or, go back home to a family member’s house where there is less of a chance that you’ll infect others.

-  Isolate yourself in your room or suite until your temperature, without aid from medication, is normal for at least 24 hours.

-  Don’t go to Student Health Services or other physicians’ offices unless your symptoms become severe.

Due to this unusual situation, I have modified the HIST348 attendance policy so instead of having only one unexcused (“freebie”) absence, you now have two.  Use these wisely.  If you get sick please email me so I know why you are not attending class.  If you will be sick for more than one week (and thus use up your two unexcused absences), we will talk individually about how you can make up class assignments and compensate for missed lectures.  Note that you will not be allowed to make up an infinite number of class assignments/lectures, so if you are hospitalized for a lengthy period of time you will need to take an incomplete in the course.  Don’t abuse this policy; if you are uninterested in attending class for other reasons (not related to the swine flu), you should drop the course.  This adjusted policy is to benefit students who are truly sick; it not meant to aid those of you who are seeking an opportunity to slack off.

1.  If you are an education major who will be teaching Kansas history, there will be a slide at the end of each PowerPoint with the history standards applicable to that lecture.  If I forget to switch to that slide, remind me.  Since I forgot that today I went ahead and just provided it down below in a separate post.

2.  Bring your laptop to class on Thursday so we can set up the blogs.

3.  I will post a more detailed announcement on this later, but note that the attendance policy for this course now states that you can have 2 unexcused absences from this class (not just 1).

4.  Order your course reader from University Readers as soon as possible.