An epidemic of epidemics

We seem to be suffering from an epidemic of epidemics on campus. Many students are suffering from an epidemic of what some are calling "Dine Flu," which has resulted in the closing of every food-service venue except the main cafeteria, and even there all the self-serve options have been closed down. Five students were missing from my 9:00 class this morning and one at 10:00, all because of the horrible gastrointestinal symptoms of whatever this bug might be.

Meanwhile, faculty members are suffering from an epidemic of meetings. I'm on committees that meet once a week and others that meet less often, but regardless of how frequently they meet, every committee I'm on is having its first meeting of the semester this week. I also have meetings scheduled with individuals, and all told it adds up to nine hours of meetings this week. Nine hours! Last semester I would have skipped most of those so I could go to radiation or chemotherapy or go home to sleep or read or cry or whatever, but this semester I have no excuse.

Given a choice between two epidemics, I'd rather have nine hours of meetings than nine hours of Dine Flu--and having both together would be a nightmare. Fortunately, both epidemics are self-limiting, characterized by an initial onset that works its way out of the system fairly quickly. By next week we'll all be out of the woods...unless the Powers That Be decide to appoint an ad-hoc committee to study epidemics, which could make one epidemic better while making the other much, much worse.