With spring break on the horizon, Chief Campus Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman warned that the upcoming break often leads to an uptick in student illnesses in a briefing with the Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media on Wednesday morning. 

Oftentimes, students come back to campus with illnesses that they’ve picked up during their travels. Van Orman said there are three big categories of illnesses that students usually contract over spring break: respiratory illnesses, gastrointestinal illnesses and sexually transmitted diseases.

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Van Orman said students should wash their hands, take COVID-19 testing kits on their travels, and take precautions around what foods and drinks one consumes to avoid traveler’s diarrhea. 

In terms of STIs, Van Orman said students who are considering engaging in and seeking out sexual activities with not-well-known partners should consider taking pre-exposure prophylaxis — also known as PrEP — which prevents takers from contracting HIV. 

  “If people are using alcohol or other intoxicants, those do affect decision-making in the moment and how you might be aware or not aware about protecting yourself against risk,” Van Orman said. “If you had a new partner over break, [you should] get fully tested and screened. We do see quite a few people coming back with sexually transmitted infections [after spring break].”

While flu case numbers are declining following a spike in January, Van Orman warned of a different influenza strain — which can be contracted immediately after the first — that can cause another spike.

“We haven’t seen much [influenza strain] B yet,” Orman said. “B tends to come later and B often has its own peak, so it’s possible we could get another influenza B peak later in the semester. B and A are sort of separate in terms of how they circulate. Bottom line: Get your flu shot.”

In the past two months, influenza cases have accounted for over 80% of all viruses that students tested positive for at Student Health. COVID-19 has taken a bit of a backseat, with the number of positive confirmed cases among students having dropped substantially compared to the past academic year.  

Van Orman said the influenza peak for USC came later in respect to the entirety of Los Angeles County, which she attributes to students having been away on winter break. 

Additionally, the Student Well-being Index Survey opened up Tuesday for students to fill out. The survey is being administered by the Student Health Office for Health Promotion Strategy and is a collaboration between Student Health and Student Life. 

The survey will collect data on several key performance indicators: sense of belonging, fairness and equity; flourishing; at-risk drinking; sexual violence and upstanding behaviors. It will also determine how the University can improve the student experience and culture.  

All survey responses are anonymous and Student Health works with a biostatistician to ensure that when data is disaggregated — broken down among specific student populations, like undergraduate versus graduate students, for example — a student’s response can’t be traced back to them. 

“It’s very easy to do a lot of activities in the wellness space and the well-being space and the health space without necessarily knowing, ‘Is any of it making a difference?’” Van Orman said. “The SWIS survey is to try to help us know [if we] are moving in the right direction and also to identify where there may be disparities.”