A(H1N1) epidemic shows universities ill-prepared for crisis
- Source: Global Times
- [00:36 October 10 2009]
- Comments
Illustration: Liu Rui
By Dan Ben-Canaan
In late August and early September as the fall semester began, university campuses and schools were the most vulnerable to the A(H1N1) virus. By then, many cases of the disease were found within China's schools system.
Although government offices, large firms and professional institutions, among them universities and schools, followed an order issued by the State Council to work out emergency response plans, most reactions were slow, uncoordinated, and confusing.
According to sources within the Ministry of Education, there was "negligence in some schools where the infection was reported."
But public health policies and medical response are just one part of an adequate response to the spreading epidemic within the universities.
Lack of information, misunderstanding, and daily changing orders, gave rise to fear and confusion on several campuses. These should be a lesson to school administrators, and can serve as a good psychological case study on students' response to crisis.
By mid September, several universities in Shandong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan and Heilongjiang provinces closed their campuses, ordered teaching and research work to be halted until further notice, instructed students to stop all extracurricular activities and stay in their dormitories, and canceled the National Day holiday vacation.
To make the situation worse, several universities decided to send their students home a week before the holiday, while others reinstituted the holiday vacation on the afternoon of October 2 after the National Day celebrations in Beijing came to an end.
Unclear and confl icting reports, changing hourly orders, and mismanagement of information, gave rise to rumors and gossip.
Campuses became factories of circulating doubtful stories and unverified reports. Some students hung big signs on their dormitories and many used the Internet to spread rumors even further.
