This article was written by Evelyn Megery and Gabriel Mott.
Students returned from winter break expecting to get a fresh start in the new semester. Between a heavy course load and unfamiliar schedule, getting sick is the last thing a student needs to kick off the spring term. Alas, college life is not for the weak, and the Polar Bears were subject to a wave of unfortunate health.
Within the first few weeks of school, the Northern Review staff noticed increased absences from class, a decrease in extracurricular involvement, and an overall drowsiness amongst the student population. It was postulated that the sudden spike of illnesses sweeping across campus seemed more intense than years prior. This observation prompted Northern Review to ask: why was everyone getting sick?
Join us as we explore this topic with industry experts and seasoned Ohio Northern professors.
How illness spreads at college
Getting sick is practically a given during the winter months, but this season seems to have affected the community on a larger scale. Dr. Amanda Fordyce has been the HealthWise pharmacy manager since last June and despite over a decade of experience in the healthcare industry, she claimed that “this is the worst bout of flu I’ve seen in a long time.”
HealthWise has had an increased amount of traffic these past few months with patients requesting Tamiflu, an antiviral prescription drug, cough medications, and other antibiotics. Tamiflu, specifically, was in such high demand that Dr. Fordyce said their main supplier went out of stock. She said that HealthWise “was ordering from secondaries to keep it in stock so we never actually ran out, but we went through quite a bit of it.”
Dr. Fordyce explained that HealthWise is not the only pharmacy experiencing low stock in medications: “…it’s a national problem.”
As recorded by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ohio’s level of respiratory illnesses is “Very High,” which is greater than most of the state’s geographic neighbors. The level of illness activity fluctuates between the states, but the Northeastern region of the country is reported to have above-moderate levels.
Linda Young is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Ohio Northern University who teaches Virology. She offered some insight as to how and why illness has spread, especially during winter: “because the weather often keeps us inside, we are all in close contact, making it easier for viruses to move from an infected person to the susceptible individual very nearby. Also, the humidity is much lower in the winter. Viral particles in micro-droplets released from us when we talk, cough and breathe are able to travel greater distances under low humidity conditions.”
According to Young, viral transfer can also occur via contact between surfaces: “Even if the virally-contaminated droplets don’t reach you and you directly inhale them, many land on surrounding surfaces…they are an indirect way to transfer the virus to a new host.”
Kami Fox is a Professor of Nursing at ONU who also serves as the Director of Nursing and the Director of the School of Health, Life Sciences, and Education. According to Fox, four viruses have been spreading simultaneously this semester: COVID-19, Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and Norovirus. This can compound the transmission behavior and effects described by Young. Common symptoms include fever, couching, and aches.
A (very) brief oral history of illness at Ohio Northern
As a central hub of inter-state activity, Ohio Northern’s campus has always been a natural hotspot for illnesses to spread. The authors, however, have only a limited frame of reference – as does most of the audience – because we have only been on campus for three years. To our perspective as mere blips of the grand story of Ohio Northern University, this year’s spike in illness could be part of a semi-regular three-year cycle, or it could be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
To gather clarity, we contacted a few faculty members. We asked Fox and Young about their experience at Ohio Northern in addition to Bryan Lutz, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition and Russ Crawford, Professor of History. Here’s what they had to say:
Clearly, this most recent bout of illness represents an unprecedented experience for ONU. But why? There may be several contributing factors.
“One contributing factor is that many students have let their vaccines lapse,” according to Young. At the national scale, it is well-supported by scientific inquiry that college students demonstrate high levels of vaccine hesitancy, especially in recent years: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, many different reasons for vaccine hesitancy have emerged,” reports one article in the peer-reviewed journal Vaccines. These reasons range from college students’ newly independent medical decision-making to low accessibility and a self-perceived low risk of illness. Fox concurrs: “Vaccination rates have fallen since the pandemic, particularly in children, which could help explain why it seems to be so bad this year.”
In his experience, Lutz believes the high-interaction environment of ONU contributes to the spread of illness: “I’ve been sick the most of my colleagues in English. That might be because I’m teaching the most classes this semester and advise a larger student club (Open Doors), so I interact with more students. I’m also the only colleague who exercises in King Horn each night, when it tends to be crowded.”
Empirically, ONU’s high levels of student involvement corroborate Lutz’ narrative, with 82% of students participating in at least one of our 200+ organizations, 22% participating in athletics and 14% in Greek life. ONU’s student organizations statistics rank higher than our peer institutions in the Ohio Athletic Conference, such as Baldwin Wallace University (“more than 100”), Heidelberg (70+), and Mount Union ( “nearly 90”).
Crawford voiced a slightly different – but not incompatible with Young or Lutz – explanation for the influx of illnesses: “the current generation of students has been socialized to stay home when they are sick.” He argues that COVID-19 “has had the effect of training young people to quarantine when sick. In previous years, classes would be filled with students coughing and sneezing all winter. Now those students self isolate, or are advised to do so by campus health or their physicians.”
Indeed, Ohio Northern’s policies since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have reflected these measures. The 2023-2024 Safety Plan encourages isolation for five days in the event of a positive COVID test and wearing a facemask for an additional five days afterward. This is reduced from the 2022-2023 Safety Plan, which stated that faculty, staff and students “must” do these things.
“This is a natural progression – once people become aware of a problem, it becomes more noticeable.” – Russ Crawford
What can we do to help?
There are many things students, faculty and staff alike can do to mitigate the spread of illness on campus. Dr. Fordyce, Professor Young and Professor Fox provided Northern Review with the following recommendations:
As mentioned above, vaccinations are a common way to prevent the spread of illnesses. HealthWise Pharmacy has become the main provider of vaccinations in Ada since the closing of Rite Aid this past year.
“It’s always good to call us and check and make sure we have stock, but we can do all of them across the board,” said Dr. Fordyce.
On a similar note, Young is a proponent of vaccinations. She argues that “unless you have an underlying condition and have been told by your [primary care provider] to avoid specific vaccines, everyone should get a flu shot and a COVID booster each year. We need these updated vaccines each year because these RNA viruses mutate very quickly.” For those who have needle phobias, she suggests the flu mist vaccine, explaining that “it’s highly effective and you sniff it up your nose like a nasal spray.”
Miscommunication regarding vaccinations has spread throughout the media, but Young assures the community that “vaccines are incredibly safe and effective, saving millions of lives annually around the world.”
There may be something faculty can do to help mitigate the spread of illnesses as well. Lutz has recognized the high absence rate in his classes this semester despite his attendance policy. He shared, “I have an attendance policy in my classes because students who attend class regularly do better on assignments…with so many illnesses about, I’m second-guessing the wisdom of that approach.”
Final thoughts
As waves of illnesses spread amongst the student body, the recommendations of ONU’s own industry experts can help prevent the transmission of harmful bacteria. As we navigate the last few weeks of the semester, let’s remain healthy and strong.