The much-hyped swine flu epidemic is expected to sweep across college residence halls and classrooms this fall, as students from all corners of the world converge on their respective college towns. But University of Michigan officials say they've got the game plan to effectively fight the flu.

Dr. Robert Winfield, the University's chief health officer, said the strategy has been in the works since the avian flu scare three years ago.

At that time, the University formed the All Hazard Planning Group — a committee of individuals from various University departments — that made preparations for any pandemic that might reach the campus.

“We assembled a group of about 50 people from across the University to consider what could happen, how we would prepare for that, what things we could do to prevent spread, what things we could do to assure the safety of students, faculty and staff, how we could keep operations going academically and research-wise and how to keep the hospital system running in the event of a pandemic,” Winfield said.

After plans were developed, the work was put aside and the emergency planning group began considering other kinds of emergencies, including how to deal with active shooter situations like the one at Virginia Tech in 2007.

With the outbreak of H1N1 in Mexico last April, Winfield said the committee reconvened to update pandemic prevention strategies — holding daily phone conferences in the spring and numerous meetings throughout the summer.

“We reactivated our influenza plans and began actively screening for H1N1 disease, paying a lot of attention to (World Health Organization) notices, the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, the Michigan Department of Community Health guidelines and working closely with the Washtenaw County Community Health Department,” he said.

HOUSING'S PLAN

The All Hazard Planning Group has been collaborating with University Housing on plans to prevent H1N1 from spreading through residence halls. Housing Spokesman Peter Logan said the University advises ill students who live nearby to leave campus and go home to recover.

“We’re going to ask students who are sick to either go home to recuperate or, if that’s not possible — and there are a lot of students where it wouldn’t be feasible — to stay in their apartments and ride the flu out in isolation,” Logan said.

He added that the residence halls will be at full capacity and that there is no space available to isolate and quarantine students to prevent the spread of the virus.

Housing will provide meals to students isolated in their residence halls, so as not to infect healthy students eating in the dining halls. Students will be able to order meals on the Housing website through Residential Dining Services, and food will either be delivered to an ill student’s room or the student can have a roommate or friend pick up food from the closest dining hall.

Logan wrote in an e-mail that the plan is tentative and can be adjusted based on the amount of students in isolation.

"If the scale of illness and in-room meal requests gets so large that this standard program is not sufficient, University Housing will then implement a plan for delivering meals to the residence halls," Logan wrote.

The University is also working on developing an online communication database where ill students can inform the University if they are going home to recuperate or if they will self-isolate themselves in their rooms.

Earlier plans called for resident advisers in residence halls to check on sick students and communicate the student’s status to the University.