'Swine Flu Dorms' Sprout at Colleges Nationwide

Sick students start school in quarantine zones
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 5, 2009 7:31 AM CDT
'Swine Flu Dorms' Sprout at Colleges Nationwide
A bottle of hand sanitizer and a sign about swine flu on a window are seen at the health center at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.    (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

College freshers across the country are starting their life in higher education confined to buildings full of their coughing peers, the New York Times reports. Fearing the virus will sweep through campuses, colleges have set up quarantine dorms for sick students, keeping them out of class and plying them with food and medication. Estimates are there are 2,000 current swine flu cases at colleges, and many, many more on the way.

Some students see the quarantine as a fun bonding experience. "We get to sleep all day and don’t go to class,” says one freshman confined to "Club Swine" at Atlanta's Emory University. “It’s kind of great." Others can't wait to get out. “I’m behind on school work. I haven’t done anything in three days,” an Emory sophomore moans. “I wish I was meeting new people and socializing, but I’m stuck here.” (More H1N1 virus stories.)

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