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WIU COVID-19 Dashboard

Rich Egger

Western Illinois University reported 16 students living on the Macomb campus tested positive for the coronavirus. The information comes from the university's newly released COVID-19 dashboard.

Western reported two of the students have recovered. The other 14 cases remain active. The dashboard defines recovered as: “resolution of fever without fever-reducing medications for 3 days (72 hours), improvement of respiratory symptoms, and at least 7 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.”

Around 30 cases from the Macomb campus are pending. 

1,084 students living on the Macomb campus tested negative. In addition, no faculty or staff members on either campus have tested positive, and no students tested positive at the Quad Cities campus.

The figures were current as of Thursday morning. You can find updated figures at the WIU COVID-19 dashboard.

No Furloughs for Now

WIU Interim President Martin Abraham told employees during an online open forum that there are no plans to furlough or lay-off employees.

But he said he won’t make any guarantees about what might happen as the school year unfolds amid a pandemic.

Dr. Abraham said much will depend on whether Western ends up having to hold classes entirely online, which might mean fewer on-campus employees would be needed. Right now Western has a mix of online and in-person classes.

“The best thing that I can tell you in order to give us the best chance of avoiding furloughs is take the precautions that we’re asking you to take,” said Abraham. 

He emphasized that includes wearing face masks while on campus, maintaining social distancing, and staying out of large groups on campus and in the community.

This story was produced by Tri States Public Radio.  TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.

Rich is TSPR's News Director.