BY MATT HUTCHINS
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The administration of Harvard University has activated an emergency response plan for the containment of the suspected H1N1 influenza cases at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. In order to reduce the chance of an outbreak throughout the university, the Longwood area clinic was closed on Thursday, and Friday classes were canceled in the schools of public health and medicine. To date there have been no suspected cases of H1N1 in the Harvard Law School community.
The Dean for Administration of HLS, Francis McCrossan, has cautioned students and faculty to take additional sanitary precautions to ensure that there is as little transmission of the virus as possible. However, with classes having already ended for the semester, the law school has not announced any special measures for reducing contact between students.
The H1N1 virus, which has raised concerns of a global pandemic, is a non-seasonal flu virus which is believed to have originally incubated in swine in Mexico before being transmitted to humans. There are currently suspected cases of the disease throughout the United States and Mexico, as well as in numerous other countries.
Despite the precautions being urged by law school officials, it appears to be inevitable that the globally connected Harvard community will become exposed to the H1N1 virus. If you have more information about H1N1 flu in the HLS community, please contact us at record@law.harvard.edu