UPDATED
A statement from Director Student Services Ruth Moorehouse has confirmed seven cases of swine flu in hostels, with 15 more suspected cases out of the hostel.
Moorehouse stressed that the situation was being careful managed and a supply of Tamiflu has been made available to people with flu like symptoms.
Salient still points out that there are only small, isolated number of people afflicted and possibly affected by swine flu and reminds students to maintain good hygiene, washing your hands regularly etc etc.
Original story
Salient warns students to be wary of reports today of an “outbreak of suspected swine flu” by Indiana Journo, Ryan Bridge.
Bridge’s story, which can be accessed via the Scoop site, was “a bit misleading” according to Victoria University’s communications department.
Salient would like to add further clarifying information to compliment the story. Swine flu has not been confirmed in any of the cases. There were also only three cases in one hostel—hardly “spreading” as reported by Bridge.
There is no confirmation from the hostels or the university about the veracity of swine flu. The students “which are from Helen Lawry [sic] [lol, sick] Hall, are currently seeking medical advice”—meaning they haven’t even been to a doctor and it might just be a case of the regular sniffles. It is also the middle of winter, of course people are going to be going to Student Health with “flu like symptoms”.
The story also claimed that the university’s communications department failed to respond to media inquires. This proved untrue when Salient‘s News Editor Michael Oliver picked up the phone, called the comms dept and solicited comment from a spokesperson.
Once again Salient urges students not to panic till more information comes to light about these very few suspected cases.