Business sustainability sophomore Will Greene was quarantined in his on-campus apartment with swine flu for the entirety of last week, in what he called a lonely experience.

“Just being alone for a week is kind of a weird feeling,” he said. “They encouraged me not to even leave my room … if I did I had to have a mask on.”

Greene visited ASU Campus Health Service on Oct. 26 and was quarantined until Monday, missing several midterms.

“It’s a big adjustment to getting back from a week of isolation,” he said.

This is the reality for the hundreds of students with confirmed cases of H1N1 on ASU’s campuses. Health Services has advised them to stay indoors and skip class to prevent spreading the disease.

Campus Health Services told Greene he was one of over 1,000 cases confirmed so far.

Luckily for Greene, he said his professors were understanding and gave him extensions on most of his assignments.

Political science sophomore Sarah Aagard, who was quarantined for a week in the middle of October, said her professors were also sympathetic.

“They definitely treated it like a legitimate excuse,” she said.

Aagard was able to recover at home without worry about missing midterms or class after she received a note and instruction packet from Health Services.

“[My professors] were happy I didn’t come to class,” she said. “They were more concerned with my health.”

Aagard stayed with her parents, who were visiting from Washington state during Family Weekend, for the first few days of her quarantine.

“I didn’t want to infect my roommates,” she said.

Campus health officials told Aagard she had influenza A, which has a 98 percent chance of being swine flu.

“There’s definitely a higher level of hysteria involved with swine flu because it is being treated like a pandemic,” she said, adding that the major difference between H1N1 and regular influenza is the level of contagiousness.

Aagard said she would advise anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms not to panic about missing class if they are diagnosed, because most professors understand the implications of swine flu.

Phillip Koshi, a graduate teaching assistant with the School of International Letters and Cultures, said he doesn’t recommend his students come to school if they are ill in any way, including swine flu.

“If you’re sick, you’re sick,” he said. “As long as you have a medical reason, you can miss class.”

As an intermediate Spanish teacher, Koshi only allows two unexcused absences in his class per semester. Illnesses do not factor into that, he said.

The responsibility ultimately falls on the student to go to the campus health center, Koshi said. He advises his students to get a note from the doctor if they are sick so that they can be excused.

“Especially at a big university like this, it is easy for information to get lost,” he said.

There is a negative connotation to swine flu, Koshi said, but he added that he personally does not see it any differently than other illnesses.

“I prefer any sick student, whether you have swine flu or the stomach flu, that you stay home,” he said.

ASU Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Capaldi wrote to all faculty members requesting they make accommodations to students with doctors’ notes confirming they have been diagnosed with H1N1.

Her advice to students is to seek medical attention and stay home while sick.

Reach the reporter at ndgilber@asu.edu.