Officials at Indiana University are calling for a shutdown of all fraternities and sororities on its Bloomington campus.
Nearly 2,600 students occupy the university’s Greek system’s 40 houses, and 8.1% of students in either fraternity or sorority houses tested positive for the virus in the past week, a university health official told NBC News.
“Greek houses at IU are seeing this type of spread at a quickly increasing rate,” said Chuck Carney, a university spokesperson during a news briefing, reported by NBC, and ““IU-Bloomington highly encourages closing all 40 houses.”
Indiana University is calling for the closure of all fraternity and sorority houses on its flagship campus in Bloomington due to a growing spread of the coronavirus that has already put 30 of the 40 houses under quarantine, university officials say. https://t.co/zZWfyTwjL8
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 3, 2020
The University is in bind because it does not own the houses, according to the report.
Nationwide, campuses are struggling to deal with the spread of the virus. Notable universities, including the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, ABC News reported, which recorded 1,200 positive tests from students and 166 from faculty and staff. (Related:Notre Dame Sees Coronavirus Spike Following Off Campus Party)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday during an interview with NBC’s Today show, that sending students home is “the worst thing you could do.”
“When you send them home, particularly when you’re dealing with a university where people come from multiple different locations, you could be seeding the different places with infection,” Fauci added during the interview.
There have been 6,087,403 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., as of September 3.