To avoid incentivizing attendance when students are ill, we urge flexibility.вЂќ вЂњWithout reasonable absence policies, students may elect to attend class while sick, exposing others to illnesses. вЂњIt is a reality that, with winter approaching, some students will become ill with colds or flu,вЂќ officials told all undergraduate and graduate school faculty. 28 announcement on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences website. Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd referred the News to a Sept. The University has no official guidelines available online regarding class accommodations - instead, this is left to the discretion of individual faculty members. She also urged all students to sign up for mandatory flu vaccines as soon as possible, calling the approaching influenza season a вЂњgreat concern.вЂќДЄs sickness continues to spread, the News spoke to four students who expressed concerns about the difficulties of missing class while sick. Still, she asked students to protect themselves from the circulating sickness with now-familiar pandemic precautions, like mask-wearing and social distancing. Д¬hen suggested that part of the increase in demand for clinic services can be attributed to an increased student population for this academic year. A weekly report on epidemic and seasonal viruses detected by labs at the Yale School of Medicine can be found here. Chen said that Student Health has seen no influenza cases and вЂњsporadicвЂќ cases of strep. YaleвЂ™s student outpatient clinic currently has tests for COVID-19, influenza, strep and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). вЂњThough we continue to see COVID-19 cases, the virus that has been circulating among students appears to be something else.вЂќ вЂњWe are experiencing an unprecedented number of visits, calls, and communications via this fall,вЂќ Chen wrote in an email to the News. When students fall ill, they are therefore forced to miss class for at least a day, if not more. Per the UniversityвЂ™s COVID-19 guidelines, students with flu-like symptoms are advised to stay in their room and self-isolate until they receive a negative COVID-19 test. 2019, according to Chief of Student Health Christine Chen. Yalies infected with the illness have struggled to make up content for missed classes.ДЄ large number of students have reported experiencing flu symptoms in recent weeks - with triage calls to Yale Student Health this month up 40 percent from Sept. Dubbed the вЂњYale Plague,вЂќ a non-COVID-19 sickness has spread throughout the student body.

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