More than 2,000 students in U-M housing have volunteered to wear masks in order to take part in a study that began when the flu made its official debut on campus last week. The aim is to figure out whether the masks can prevent the spread of influenza. Study leader Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and an international authority on respiratory disease, says there apparently are no firm data on whether such masks actually work. Sarah Rabeda, a freshman with an undeclared major, and Larissa Stassek, a sophomore majoring in Russian and East European Studies, who is wearing one of the masks, enter an elevator at Alice Lloyd Residence Hall. (Photo by Scott Galvin, U-M Photo Services)
