As of Jan. 25, Northwestern only has five active COVID-19 cases.
Fall break of the 2020 semester saw 30 active cases post-break. After Thanksgiving break, the trend took a turn for the better and only saw 11 active cases.
When the student body left for Christmas break, the campus had a total of 14 active cases. Two of those were employees and 12 were students. Following the trend of Thanksgiving break, the campus body came back after Christmas with 11 total COVID-19 cases, one of which was an employee.
Thus, the current statistic of five active cases is a positive number. Compared to the rest of NW’s COVID-19 data, it is significantly lower.
Now, this statistic of only five active cases hinges on the word “active”. Active, as defined by NW, means “cases where individuals are still in isolation.”
However, NW’s COVID-19 information does not display the number of students currently quarantined either from exposure or caution. Yet, it is still good to take this information into account when contemplating NW’s COVID-19 status.
“The number of students in quarantine can change by the minute, so we do not report or keep historical track of that data,” said Jill Haarsma, executive administrative assistant to the president of NW and part of the COVID-19 Response Team.
NW has kept up quite a few precautions that have aided in the lowering of virus cases. In the fall semestter, masks were required and social distancing in almost all activities around campus. The Raider Check app was integrated into students’ daily lives to try to keep track of student body health.
President Greg Christy in the latest re
sponsible Raider reminder stated, “We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we are not there yet.”
These same measures have been sustained throughout this first month of the spring semester with a further step of requesting that students receive a COVID-19 test the first week of January before returning. Though many of these mitigation measures will remain the same, there have been a few precautions that have been lifted.
Some changes to the cafeteria stations have already been put in place with self-service lines. As the semester progresses, the COVID-19 Response Team will continue to monitor measures with the hope that there will be positive changes further down the road.
In the meantime, Raiders are asked by the COVID-19 Response Team to continue to wear a mask, practice physical distancing, wash their hands, stay home if they are sick and complete the Raider Check app daily and truthfully.
Haarsma said, “We’re all tired and a little weary of life not being normal, but we have to keep up mitigation efforts to do our part to stop the spread of the virus.”
