Ibuprofen, cough drops, vitamins, tissues—these are some of the school supplies students may overlook when packing for college. 

As Emerson thaws from a freezing winter with peaks in influenza cases and prepares for the seasonal allergies that come with spring, community members say they are making efforts to stay on top of their health.

“Getting sick here is entirely a worse experience than it is at home,” said Amelia Normington, a first-year business of creative enterprises major from Lowell. Normington explained that when she gets sick, she is able to take a quick train ride home to recover, but recognizes that isn’t an option for students farther from home.

“It’s just not an environment to heal in,” Normington said. “If I were someone who had to stay on campus while I was sick, I feel I wouldn’t heal as fast because I’m just in a sad, dark, hot room.”

For those far from home, the Emerson Wellness Center is a service available to all. The center offers services to students for both physical and mental health concerns. However, some say they have had difficulties receiving immediate care.

Hannah Tandy, a first-year writing, literature, and publishing major explained how when she has walked into the Wellness Center, she has been turned away, told to schedule an appointment and come back.

“I thought I had a sinus infection in December, so I went to the [Wellness Center] because I thought you could do walk-ins,” said Tandy.

Appointments can be scheduled over the phone or through the Student Health Portal. If students require care when the Wellness Center is closed, Brandin Dear, director of the Wellness Center, advises students to call the regular number to access the After Hours Medical Advice line. 

“Currently EWC … remains current with public health recommendations, keeps our community safe and informed, and manages the impact of the pandemic,” Dear wrote in an email statement to The Beacon. “We continue to keep a page on our website with the most updated information about COVID-19, other respiratory illnesses, and guidance on preventative measures.”

When students do get sick, many are encouraged by their professors to stay home and rest.

“I think there’s been an acknowledgement that trying to push through when we’re sick is not good for us, and it’s not good for our community,” said Nancy Lyons, a senior executive-in-residence at the Marlboro Institute and an instructor of classes on infectious diseases.

On Monday evening, President Donald Trump’s administration canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases following the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS [Health and Human Services] will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” said Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services. 

According to The New York Times, state health officials predict a loss of as much as 90% of staff on infectious disease teams.

“If we don’t stop infectious diseases in their tracks, then we will have larger and larger outbreaks, and we will start to see a return to high death rates associated with infectious diseases,” Lyons said.

She said another way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases beyond basic hygiene would be to stay informed by credible sources, such as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

“I do think there’s still quite a bit of misinformation or resistance,” Lyons said. “If you’re getting your health advice from some random health influencer who’s selling you products online, that’s maybe not the best source to get your information about health.”

The fear of another widespread infectious disease outbreak, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the campus five years ago, leads to greater concerns surrounding isolation’s impacts on people’s mental wellness along with physical health. A survey conducted by the American College Health Association in 2022 found that out of 606 Emerson student respondents, 61% tested positive for loneliness. 

Robin Danzak, a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, teaches a class where students conduct art-based research on the connection between health and social cohesion—a person’s sense of belonging. Efforts to foster social belonging at Emerson, Danzak said, would be beneficial if the community was forced into isolation again.

“Research shows that social cohesion is a protective factor, so the more we can build students’ sense of belonging … would definitely help mitigate risks in terms of stress, loneliness, isolation, depression, [and] other things that could be part of a pandemic scenario,” she said.

If students were to face another pandemic today, many have mixed feelings about Emerson’s ability to accommodate health and wellness needs.

“Personally I would be okay, but I don’t know how well the school would handle it,” Tandy said. “My friend has an autoimmune disorder and her roommate had COVID [in September] … When she emailed the school, they said ‘You just need to quarantine with your roommate,’ but she was at risk.”

In regards to learning impacts of a pandemic, some students feel that virtual learning resources would be beneficial to the learning process.

“Zoom has become so much of an everyday part of life now,” said Joshua O’Connor, a senior visual media arts major. “I think we are pretty well equipped.”

“I think we would be able to jump back into how it was because we’ve been through it already,” Audrey Dumerias, a sophomore journalism major, said.

Lyons said the Emerson community adapted well to the difficulties introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic and believes the same strategies, such as virtual learning and mask mandates, could be reintroduced if any other infectious disease, like tuberculosis, measoles, or the flu, rose to the level of a pandemic.

“I do think Emerson is well-posed that if we needed to reimplement those strategies a second time, we could do it and pivot very quickly,” Lyons said. “We did really well during COVID in that regard … I think we could do it again.”

Hannah Brueske of The Beacon staff contributed reporting to this story.