Recently Northwestern has been hit by a wave of sickness. At this point in the semester, most people have either been sick or had a friend who has been sick. It is unavoidable. According to the Center of Disease Control map of disease and illness, Iowa ranks as “very high” under reported cases, so it is no surprise that there has been a spike of illnesses on campus. This year’s influenza, in particular, has manifested in a variety of things such as coughing, sore throat, runny nose, fever, chills, muscle or body aches, fatigue and even vomiting or diarrhea. It can last anywhere from a few days or up to two weeks.
How has this sickness affected campus as a whole? And how has it impacted what students are paying for our education?
To start with for campus as a whole, it appears that sickness has brought down the mood in some areas. In classes where several people are missing due to sickness, may be a little more dreary than normal. For those that are left, if their friends are absent, they may be a little more quiet than normal. For those that are ill great but are in class anyway, their energy level may be lower than normal.
Kyra Visser, stated that some days her classes have “felt very empty some days because we are missing so many people. It is a little depressing.”
When asked about how sickness has affected campus on a survey, Abby Bram, said that sickness on campus has “made a lot of students and professors really miserable for the days they have been sick, but it is hard for students to not be excited when a class or test gets canceled because of sickness.” This begs a tough question; are there any positives to this sickness going around? Well, as Bram said, for those who are not sick, it is hard to not get excited, or at least relieved, if they get a test or quiz postponed due to an exam or class being canceled for the day. For those that are well, it is a nice chance to get some more work done or just relax and hang out.
In fact, Bram also mentioned that her own math classes had been canceled for a whole week due to sickness in the professor’s family.
Getting a day or even a whole week off sounds like paradise to many students, but can cause complications to classes and the pace at which the professor has to teach in subsequent weeks. On the other hand, getting a week off from a class can give students the opportunity to catch up on work for other classes or just take a well-deserved break.
As mentioned before, at college students do not have their parents with them in the dorms to help take care of them and bring them food when they are too sick to get out of bed. Instead, students have to rely on friends to help deliver food and help them out while they are not feeling well.
However, for those helping out a sick friend, Visser warns that “If you’re the friend who brings food to the sick one… good luck because you are next.”
