INITIAL ALERTEmail
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To the Amherst College community: The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has informed us that samples from two of our students have come back as probable cases of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. Including these two students, 15 students with flu-like symptoms are being isolated and cared for. None of the cases is considered serious, and all of the students are responding well to treatment. The College will remain open and classes will continue. As a precaution, all parties and large social gatherings scheduled for this weekend are cancelled. Please wash your hands frequently, cover coughs and sneezes, and stay in your room and contact Health Services if you develop a fever or flu-like symptoms. Anthony W. Marx, President
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
Reconstructed from press accounts: contemporaneous WBUR and Associated Press reports quote President Anthony Marx's April 30, 2009 letter, but the full verbatim text was not located, so this paraphrase preserves the confirmed specifics (two probable cases, 15 isolated, parties cancelled, campus open).
Categorized as an advisory rather than a Clery emergency notification: a flu outbreak is a public-health communication, not an immediate-threat notice under 668.46(g).
The decision to stay open while cancelling parties reflected early-pandemic CDC guidance that shifted in late April-May 2009 away from blanket school closures.