The student whose flu-related comments led to a classroom building at Southwestern College in Chula Vista being evacuated Thursday does not have Ebola, a college spokeswoman said.

The student has a sister in the hospital with flu-like symptoms. The sister was not near any Ebola patient or on any airline flight that such a patient may have taken, said college spokeswoman Lillian Leopold.

“There is no Ebola here,” Leopold said.

Late Thursday afternoon, Southwestern College posted on its website that there was “no Ebola, no infectious disease. Student has recanted story.”


Concern about a possible Ebola connection spread through rumor and social media faster than officials could confirm whether the student or a family member had been exposed to the deadly virus, Leopold said.

Within minutes, local media were reporting a possible Ebola connection.

Southwestern College said in a statement that it had evacuated and cordoned off Building 470 as a precaution. Emergency personnel from the city of Chula Vista were at the scene, but San Diego County public health officials did not send a team.

Photos on social media showed scores of students milling around outside classrooms on the campus as officials sealed off the building. The rest of the college, meanwhile, remained open.


The student, who was not identified, was taken off campus for examination as a precaution, officials said.

Southwestern College police Chief Michael Cash said the college used established protocols for handling health incidents and that several other students were being interviewed.

The student in question, he added, “is OK at this time.”

“I’m asking you to help us with communication: Southwestern College is OK,” Cash said.


With the Ebola crisis dominating recent news cycles, many false alarms regarding the virus have been recorded in Southern California, some of them blamed on hoaxes.

Some Southwestern students and their relatives took to social media to express their concern.

On the college’s Facebook page, Christina Myers wrote, “There def needs to be more information because my husband is there right now.”