Georgetown prepares quarantine houses for swine flu

By Christine Roberts, The Hoya/UWire

Published May 1, 2009

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY -- Responding to the spread of swine flu to the United States, university officials have temporarily evicted residents of one of Georgetown’s two university-designated quarantine houses to make space for any students who may contract the virus.

Wednesday morning, residents of 3517 Prospect St. were told that they have 24 hours to vacate their residence. According to Mark Valtierra (SFS ’10), one of three residents at 3517 Prospect, Patrick Lukingbeal, hall director of Alumni Square and university townhouses, notified Valtierra of the eviction at 10:30 a.m.

Valtierra and his housemates were given several boxes and told they must leave the house by tomorrow morning.

“[Lukingbeal] said that there are no cases in the area,” Valtierra said. “[The university] believes that there is a good probability that the disease will spread and wants to take necessary precautions.”

In 2006, the university and the District of Columbia Department of Health responded to the possibility of pandemic disease threats by designating 3517 and 3519 Prospect St. as quarantine houses. This containment plan, funded by a $5,000 grant, is designed to isolate students who are too contagious to remain in a residence hall or apartment but not sick enough to warrant an intensive care stay at a hospital. The university did not utilize the quarantine houses during the norovirus outbreak this October.

According to The Washington Post, six cases of swine flu have been reported in the Maryland, with two children infected in Anne Arundel and Baltimore. No cases have been reported in D.C. or Virginia.

Valtierra said that the eviction notice was largely unexpected.

“I was in disbelief,” Valtierra said.

The university will allow the residents of 3517 Prospect St. to relocate to rooms in LXR Hall or Reynolds Hall. The university also put $200 on each resident’s GOCard and sent e-mails to their professors to inform them of the situation.

According to an e-mail sent to the campus community by James Welsh, assistant vice president for student health, and Rocco DelMonaco, vice president for university safety, the university’s emergency response team is meeting regularly to discuss precautionary measures.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and are in touch with local and federal public health authorities,” Welsh and DelMonaco said in the e-mail. “Officials do not recommend changes to routine operations at this time and we are planning for final exams and upcoming activities, including commencement, to take place as currently scheduled.”

The university’s response comes just after the World Health Organization raised its pandemic threat alert level to phase five and U.S. officials confirmed the first swine flu-related death in the United States. At this time, 49 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in New York City, and 159 swine flu-related deaths have been reported in Mexico.