With over 190 flu cases logged at the Moffitt Health Center, classrooms are feeling the impact as instructors adapt to masked students and spotty attendance.
Registered nurse Melanie Blanton explained flu cases have noticeably increased since August, mostly affecting students. Many report common symptoms such as runny nose, cough, body aches, fever, congestion and sore throat, with some later confirmed to have flu A or B through a nasal swab.
Blanton believes the rise may be linked to fewer vaccinations and students thinking, “Oh, I can’t miss class — I need this assignment.” That choice, whether to show up or stay home, varies among students, with some taking extra precautions.
One instructor noticing this trend is PhD candidate Mohammad Asadur Zaman. Out of the 50 students in his two classes, four emailed him saying they didn’t want to attend and risk spreading the flu. Still, Zaman continues implementing precautions in the classroom to minimize further risk.
“Sometimes, I walk around the students to make them understand everything,” Zaman said. “But whenever I see there are a few people wearing masks in the class, in that case, I don’t walk around; I stay in my podium and give the lecture.”
Zaman said some of his colleagues have also noticed students missing class due to the flu and other issues. Although the numbers aren’t high, faculty stay in touch by sending missed materials and offering accommodations when needed. He added that the flu tends to circulate among students, so he reminds them to put their well-being before classwork.
“Most of the time I tell students, take care of your health first,” Zaman said.
His approach echoes that of other instructors on campus, including professor Wilburt Martin, who teaches an in-person media law course and said he hadn’t noticed a major increase in absences. Still, a few students have reached out about missing class due to the flu, and like Zaman, he encourages them to prioritize rest and communicate with him instead of attending class.
“If someone’s sick, they should not come,” Martin said. “Just because they’re going to feel bad and potentially give it to someone else.”
Despite the flu spreading, Martin keeps his lessons, readings and expectations consistent. He explained that his quizzes are low‑stakes and frequent, so if a student is absent, he does not reschedule or repeat them — instead, he simply doesn’t count them toward their grade.
“If someone is sick, the tests they missed just don’t count,” Martin said. “So, it’s like those tests didn’t exist for them that semester.”
Martin explained that this attendance and grading policy is designed to be flexible for his class, so sick students aren’t penalized. Instead of offering makeup quizzes, he simply removes those missed grades from their overall average.
“The stress of being sick and everything else is pretty great on students,” Martin said. “I don’t feel the need to add on to that.”
Still, he said the flu’s impact on his classroom has been minimal. So far, Martin hasn’t had to adjust his coursework for absences — a stability he partly attributes to his own preventive habits. He makes a point of staying healthy by getting vaccinated against both flu and COVID-19.
“I’m regular on all that because…I don’t like being sick, and it keeps me away from teaching and just kind of disrupts everything for students and me as well,” Martin said.
Like health staff across campus, Martin views vaccination as a personal choice that provides an effective way to keep both faculty and students healthy.
“I would never mandate this — I think everyone should get vaccinated,” Martin said. “I’m a believer — I guess some people don’t. But that’s the thing…we all take our health in our own hands.”
