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'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

(Newser) – 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.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

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)

Flu shot program brochures are displayed at Walgreens in New York. (AP Photo/Yanina Manolova)

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My mom freaked out. She was worried I would get even worse if I lived with other kids who had the disease. I convinced her I wasn’t going to die.
- Hamzah Iqbal, 18, a freshman from Kanpur, India.

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'Swine Flu Dorms' Sprout at Colleges Nationwide