The rapid spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19, has reached a new level and it’s getting closer and closer to campus. Over the weekend, 100 new cases were reported, with Illinois tallying its eleventh case in a 60–year–old Chicago man just last night. Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared Monday a disaster proclamation. At the time of publication, the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 update page reports that there has now been 118,096 total confirmed cases of the virus with 4,262 of those cases turning fatal.
NCC and Naperville itself have not reported any cases of COVID-19. However, NCC has maintained that they are monitoring the situation closely and will take the appropriate actions should the outbreak reach campus.
The College has created a COVID-19 page which is regularly updated with new cases of the virus, ways to avoid catching the illness and what to do if you feel you may be at risk for the virus. The College’s update page reminds students, faculty and staff that anyone who traveled to a Level-3 designated country must self-quarantine for 14 days to ensure they have not contracted the illness.
Thus far, NCC has no plans to close campus. However, several institutions around the country have reverted to online classes to maintain the safety of students, faculty and staff.
According to the New York Times, the University of Washington, Seattle University, Ohio State University and Stanford have all moved to online courses for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, universities like University of Chicago, NYU and Duke have asked students, faculty and staff to register their travel plans. NCC has adapted something similar, which they are calling the Travel Reporting Form. The form asks anyone who has plans to or has recently traveled internationally to detail their movements.
In a campus-wide email sent over Spring Break, President Hammond informed the campus community that four NCC students are currently studying abroad in Italy, a country that, at the time, was included in the Level-3 travel warning.
“Kimberly Larsson, the College’s executive director for the Center for Global Education, in consultation with others on the response team, wrote to these students strongly recommending that they return to their home countries as soon as possible,” Hammond wrote in the email.
Since then, however, Italy has gone on lockdown and the NCC students have been instructed to return home and self-quarantine immediately.
Hammond also said that the College has canceled the May term trip that was scheduled to take place in China, where COVID-19 originated, as well as in Japan. Additionally, faculty and staff have been asked to adopt Modified Course Attendance Guidelines, which includes working with students who “feel nervous or uncomfortable about being exposed to a lot of people.”
Both the State of Illinois and the College itself are monitoring the situation closely. The Chronicle will continue to update the community as more information is made available. You can also search the keyword “coronavirus” on our website to find more articles on the virus.
