More COVID-19 cases at ISU

Posted on August 27, 2020
Around 80% of ISU’s classes are online this fall, but many of the COVID-19 cases are linked to off-campus gatherings. (Facebook/Illinois State University)

 

By Neil Doyle

NORMAL – Over 400 students at Illinois State University have tested positive for coronavirus.

According to the university’s campus case tracker Thursday, there are 410 confirmed cases, and ISU’s seven-day rolling positivity rate is 22.5%.

ISU President Larry Dietz said a lot of the cases are linked to off-campus parties that happened the weekend before classes. Dietz and Normal Mayor Chris Koos told WJBC’s Scott Miller there seemed to be better compliance last weekend.

“I think the landlords are putting in more preventative measure and are coming down on some of the social events that have happened off-campus,” said Dietz.

“We knew there was going to be a spike when the students came back,” said Koos. “You bring that many people back into a community, you are going to see some spike. And we knew that younger people tend to be more lax about COVID-19.”

“I don’t have authority over those individuals who live off-campus,” Dietz said. “We can try to educate, persuade, and cajole, but I think the thing we need to do is remind each other the importance of all of this and try to stay safe. I feel anxiety about all of this as well.”

Leaders from Bloomington-Normal, McLean County, ISU, and Illinois Wesleyan University met earlier this week to discuss the rise in COVID cases.

Koos said the town, city, and county are working on a unified approach and there could be an announcement in the coming days.

Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected]

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