USC quarantines another house in Greek Village, bringing total to 10
The University of South Carolina has quarantined a tenth house in its Greek Village due to cases of COVID-19, the school announced Wednesday.
More than a fifth of USC’s 48 chapters of fraternities and sororities and half of the Greek Village’s 20 facilities and houses have now been quarantined because of the novel coronavirus.
The school also confirmed that all the upcoming fraternity rush events would be held virtually instead of in-person to minimize large gatherings as USC deals with more than 1,000 cases of the novel coronavirus among students.
“This was not an easy decision to make but the health and safety of our members is the main priority and we believe this is a necessary step to ensure we limit exposure of the coronavirus throughout campus and the Columbia community. We ask that all 21 of the chapters within the Interfraternity Council continue to practice safety measures such as wearing masks and socially distancing to ensure we slow and stop the spread of the virus,” president of the Interfraternity Council Brice Talley and recruitment chair Brendon Flannery wrote in a letter sent to fraternities.
Sororities held their rush events several weeks ago in-person, and university President Bob Caslen has said he was pleased with examples he saw of Greek life members practicing social distancing and wearing face masks to protect against the virus.
On Aug. 25, however, two sororities were quarantined after multiple cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in each house. Since then eight other houses have been quarantined after Wednesday’s announcements. University officials have said none of the cases have required hospitalizations.
Since thousands of students began returning to campus in recent weeks, South Carolina has reported 1,172 cases among students, including 1,017 active ones as of Monday. That puts the university among the hardest hit schools in the country.
USC has also already suspended six Greek Life organizations for breaking rules against hosting unauthorized parties or large gatherings. Such gatherings have been one of the main culprits for the spread of the virus, Caslen has said, arguing that in-person classes have been safe.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 5:54 PM.
