University of Southern California officials confirmed that there is a coronavirus outbreak among their fraternities.
What We Know:
- The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced that at least 45 students have tested positive for the coronavirus. USC’s chief student health officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman confirmed the information, telling The Los Angeles Times that “a significant number of the cases were associated with four fraternity houses”. Most of the cases were reported around 28th Street, home to many of USC’s fraternity houses.
- USC has 150 positive coronavirus cases amongst students and employees overall. Dr. Van Orman says the school has been aware of the outbreak since early July and that the number of new cases last week “dropped dramatically”. The Department of Health believes the outbreak may have been caused by Fourth of July parties. LA County does have mandates in place prohibiting large gatherings of people from different households.
- USC is urging members of the off-campus community to help stop the spread of COVID-19. According to Dr. Van Orman, it was not clear whether the positive cases were actually USC fraternity members because it’s common for the houses to sublease rooms for the summer. She believes the outbreak is mostly over, thanking the Department of Health for their aggressive testing and contact tracing.
- USC originally planned to have students back on campus this fall for in-person classes. However, the surge of cases in California caused the school to change course. USC will offer most of its undergraduate classes online in an effort to limit on-campus density. In a letter, the school informed students that only 10-20% of classes will be in-person, mostly courses that require hands-on work.
California has had its worst month of the pandemic in July. It has the highest number of positive cases in the country with over 470,000 and 197 people died because of the coronavirus on Wednesday, the state’s single-day record.
