One of the many wonderful perks of college is that it isn’t too difficult to become very close with a group of friends. You see these people every day, you eat with them you study with them and in many cases you may even live with them. While these are all great things, they do come with a price. Because of this closeness it doesn’t take much for sickness to spread.
When it comes to sickness, dorm life is basically a breeding ground for infection. All it takes is for one person to get sick and suddenly everyone has it. It only makes sense that you would catch what you neighbor has, especially when you share a shower. As I walk into my residence hall I immediate hear the sounds of coughs and sneezes. Despite the fact that everyone has hand sanitizer in their rooms, people still manage to get sick. It doesn’t matter if you wash your hands every ten minutes because in that time each person has come in contact with germs at one point or another. Also in those ten minutes, each person has touched their eyes nose or mouth already and this is how sickness spreads.
Swine flu has become a big deal all over the country. You would have a hard time trying to find a food distributor on campus that does not have a swine flu poster of pamphlet. Thankfully we haven’t had any outbreaks of swine flu here at Cortland but if we were to, it wouldn’t be long before it spread all across campus. The same way we pass along the common cold, we could pass along swine flu. Although swine flu is very similar to the regular flu it can be fatal if the afflicted person is worn down enough. Any student can attest to the fact that it is easy to get worn down between late night studying and partying on the weekends.
While it is important to wash your hands and eat healthy it is our responsibility to make sure we are getting enough sleep and taking care of ourselves. It stinks for the person who gets sick but, we don’t think about the fact that we might be getting others sick too.
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I agree. It's not hard at all to catch a cold/flu when you're in a residence hall. If one person has it, it will spread no matter what. I think the place with the most germs are the bathrooms. Yes, the cleaning lady "sanitizes" it but still everyone uses it. We touch the same sink, toilets, and showers. It definitely isn't hard to catch whatever the other person has.
ReplyDeleteIt is very easy to get sick. I got mono last fall at Cortland. It was awful I never wanted to leave my bed. It is really hard not to spread sickness when you live with so many people in such close spaces. It also is hard because when you are in college you really can not miss classes. When you do miss a class you miss a lot of information and it is hard to catch up; therefore you go to class when you are sick. This is where a lot of germs a spread.
ReplyDeleteIt is so funny that you are writing about this. I totally agree. I live on the 2nd floor in Shea and almost all of us are sick. It started with my friend Emily; she got the flu shot. Then I got sick, and I am still trying to get over it. My lab partner and one of my friends on the floor is now sick because me. I just hope that it does't come back around once most of us are better.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree its a matter of a seconds before someone can catch a cold or a flu. Thankfully I havent caught anything yet Thanks God however in order to stay away from it people need to be a bit more cautious. You metioned the showers especially people should just stay with their slippers while in the showers so they catch whatever was left behind. Regardless students need to continue washing their hands and staying away from those who are ill.
ReplyDeleteI agree sickness spreads so quickly especially when people live so close to each other. All of my suite mates have been sick at some point during this semester but luckily i haven't had anything worse than just a runny nose. I'm pretty lucky considering the fact that there were multiple cases of swine flu in my building.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this, I suppose I should consider myself lucky! I hardly ever get sick, and even if I do... I deny it until it's so bad that I can't function at which time my friends or family will make me see a doctor. Like I said before though, this rarely happens. Looking at this post made me realize how lucky I must be.
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