Imagine spending a week in quarantine with 75 other students in the Harper Center’s Fit Nest, with no ability to enjoy the campus, go to class or hang out with friends.

This is the conversation going on all over campus when it comes to H1N1. Well, to put student fears to rest, it is not looking as if it will be that bad, according to Wayne Young Jr., vice president of student services.

While the university has purchased 75 new cots for the Fit Nest in case of an outbreak, four key factors would all have to align for that scenario to happen. Basically, Young said, the Fit Nest would only be used to “socially isolate” students with the flu if they live in Deglman, Kiewit or Gallagher halls, since those are the three that have communal bathrooms. Students in the other residence halls would have to work out a system with their roommates if they got sick. Young suggested cramming three healthy students in one room and leaving the other for a quarantine.

The university has 15 empty rooms in McGloin and other halls that are usually used for visiting faculty or speaker housing. These rooms, along with McGloin’s third floor lounge, have been turned into possible sick rooms, which people with flu-like symptoms can use while recovering. Students who live only a few hours away from campus should go home, Young said. Those who cannot go home will be set up in a temporary room.

The Fit Nest will only be use if residents of those three dorms occupy all the temporary rooms at the same time.

“So far, things have gone very well at Creighton,” Young said. “As of right now, we have only had about a dozen students who have put themselves in social isolation, most for around 36 hours.”

Dustin Crichton, assistant director of residence life, headed the plan to use the Fit Nest in case of an H1N1 outbreak.

The Fit Nest was chosen for its ability to hold up to 75 students, its full bathrooms with multiple showers, its proximity to a kitchen and student health sevices and the fact that the Fit Nest has a separate air handling system so the virus would not be spread throughout the Harper Center.

“Additionally, it is wireless and it has TVs already installed and we will be able to have a 24-hour staff presence to answer questions and refer students to appropriate resources if they have questions or needs,” Crichton said in an e-mail interview.

Deb Saure, director of student health and counseling, said when a student thinks he or she has H1N1, a nasal swab test is performed. If the mucus in the nose tests positive and negative in three different areas, it is presumed that student has H1N1. No Creighton student so far has tested positively.

Still, at least 12 have an ILI. Because of this and the H1N1 vaccine due out in October, Student Health offered the seasonal flu shot a month earlier than usual. These vaccines were free to all full-time students, staff and faculty in the Harper Center Wednesday. The vaccination sessions will continue every Wednesday until the vaccine runs out.

Saure said right when the Centers for Disease Control suggested a sudden release of the vaccine, Creighton University made sure it was ready to offer it to students.

Because some vaccines take longer to take effect in the body, the CDC recommended getting the seasonal flu shot early to avoid any possible conflicts with the H1N1 vaccine, so they are releasing it earlier “just in case,” Saure said.

Other than the usual precautions of washing, disinfecting and sneezing into the shirt sleeve (germs die faster in fabric than on other surfaces), Saure said students need to get a thermometer.

“You can’t tell if you have a fever just by feeling your forehead or getting the sweats or chills, you have to take your temperature,” she said.

The flu starts with a fever, so people who feel sick for other reasons can recover knowing they are not experiencing H1N1. Students who have a fever, plus respiratory problems, stomach aches or vomiting or other discomfort should go to Student Health to be tested.

Once the H1N1 vaccine becomes available, Saure said Creighton will distribute it to students. While there is limited quantity, most Creighton students are in the “higher risk” category for H1N1 and will be made a priority.

People under the age of 24, people who have a chronic illness like heart disease or asthma and women who are pregnant, have small children or work with small children will all be the first on the list to get the vaccine.

“We are in contact with the state health department and are expecting the vaccine to be available mid-October,” she said.