Evelyn Campbell, dean of students, said she knows 10-12 students who have come down with flu-like symptoms, referring to the email she she sent out Monday.
Campbell stated in the email that the illnesses affecting the campus is a virus, which is moving through the Quad Cities, not a campus foodborne illness. Campbell said she received emails from concerned campus community members that the illness was related to food.
“There’s no more proof of that than there was of anything else,” said Campbell. “If you look at some of the evidence we have…some of the bigger evidence of what’s going on outside of Augustana, the length of this, the fact that it happened over a number of different days, it actually wouldn’t lead you to pick food as the number one cause of this.”
Campbell said the illness appears to be lasting for a couple of days. She said illnesses do appear occasionally in close spaces like residence halls and are not unusual. Many students usually become ill in the spring, especially during the new member period of Greek Life.
“When people are tired or are sharing cups of water…we will have this kind of thing, too, where this illness will go for about four or five days, and then we are done,” said Campbell.
According to Augustana’s website, students who are in need of medical services may take college’s medical shuttles from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday-Friday by calling (309) 781-571. Students may use Luck Cab Co. for transportation outside of those hours for free if they show the driver their Augustana ID by calling (309) 788-8182.
“For 24 hours a day, we want to make sure students can get medical access easily,” said Campbell.
The college also partnered with Walgreens to offer a flu-shot clinic on Tuesday for campus employees and their spouses that can be billed through insurance plans. Those who were not on the plan were charged $25.99.
