Students wait in line for the H1N1 vaccine on Friday

When we reported on H1N1 cases at Georgetown in late September, the virus had infected about 250 students and the number of cases was rising precipitously every day. Infection rates have since dropped off. According to an e-mail from Dr. James Welsh, assistant vice president for student health, in the past four weeks, the number of students with Influenza-like Illnesses has dropped to about 35 per week.

Welsh wrote that so far, about 600 students have consulted the Student Health Center with H1N1 symptoms, with cases peaking throughout the month of September. (A report from the President’s Office had expected cases to peak in October).

“There continues to be however, significant signs of illness and we remained concerned about further spread within the GU community,” Welsh wrote.

As Sommer wrote in September, since that number does not include students who were sick but did not seek treatment or advice, that number is likely higher.

Read the rest of this entry »

While our friends in Foggy Bottom may be outdoing us in terms of programming  boards and on-campus comedians, there’s one thing they’re still envious of us about: GERMS.

The GW equivalent of GERMS is a “the Emergency Medical Response Group,” or EMeRG.  Apparently EMeRG doesn’t have the same warm relations with the student body it serves that GERMS has.

Because of GW’s medical amnesty policies, EMeRG is required to transport anyone who is assessed for alcohol consumption to the GW Hospital.  According to the GW Hatchet, which is doing a three part series on their school’s medical amnesty policies, the rule discourages people from calling EMeRG and creates hostility towards the program because of the medical bills that accompany the mandatory hospital visit.

The Hatchet highlights GERMS as an example of what EMeRG could be with a few policy tweaks:

The Georgetown student’s relationship with the volunteer GERMS group is worlds apart from the GW student’s relationship with EMeRG. Most importantly, GERMS is not required to transport all students that are assessed to the hospital. The amnesty policy of Georgetown is such that students don’t fear calling GERMS.

Last week, Georgetown received 300 doses of the nasal vaccine for H1N1, or swine flu, and distributed them to members of GERMS, Student Health Center employees, and workers in athletic training rooms, according to Assistant Vice President for Student Health, Dr. James Welsh. Nursing and medical students also received vaccines.

Only one dose was given to each person, good news for those who were worried about running out of the vaccine.

The doses given out last week were nasal, but Welsh says vaccines for the general University population will be injected. Welsh said the new doses will ideally come in the next few weeks.

According to a presidential report on H1N1, infection rates will peak into the middle of October.

Photo from Flickr user Alvi2047 used under a Creative Commons license

Want a shot at your own 15 seconds of internet micro-micro-fame? Start following us on Twitter (GtownVoxPop) and, if you’re connected to Georgetown, we’ll return the favor and you’ll automatically be in the running!

Scott Chessare witnessed a major intern gaffe involving the very dreamy Paul Rudd.

Nick Bunker was glad to get back to a place where the ambulances appreciate T-Pain.

Read the rest of this entry »

Oh dear. Before the start of a 1:15 Comparative Political Systems class, a light fell on a student who showed up early. GERMS took him to the hospital, but Professor Charles King, the class’s teacher, said he’s fine.

Potential for falling lights makes Tuesday’s speech by the founder of Juicy Campus that much more appealing.

Finally, a graphic memorial to all the people chugging Powerade because of the Georgetown norovirus. Graph by George D’Angelo, from our Flickr.

Taylor Burkholder (MSB `09), the Public Relations Director at Georgetown’s EMS service GERMS, said GERMS seems to be seeing fewer new cases of Georgetown norovirus.

“From what I can tell, it’s slowing down,” he said.

Burkholder said that their call volume may go back up this evening when the Student Health Center close. GERMS is still running two full crews per hour (ten people as opposed to the usual four), and that they are still responding to more calls than they normally would during a regular day.

The top part of a tree trunk split off and struck a woman on 36^th Street between N and Prospect Streets around 1:15 this afternoon. GERMS, the Metropolitan Police Department, DPS and the D.C. Fire Department were on the scene within minutes to tend to the victim, who was immobilized, loaded onto a stretcher and taken off the scene in a D.C. ambulance. She will be treated at George Washington University Hospital, according to Officer Brittingham of MPD. GERMS declined to comment at this time. The accident happened outside the Mortara Center, near Wisemiller’s Deli. More updates as this story develops.

View more photos after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »