IU suggests closure of all Greek houses after positivity rate in some houses tops 50%
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana University officials are recommending all fraternity and sorority houses in Bloomington to close due to COVID-19.
Officials have said the positivity rate at some houses is above 50%.
IU does not own the Greek houses, which means the university can’t order the houses closed. The Monroe County Health Department has ordered 30 of the 42 Greek houses to quarantine. There are 2,600 students who live in the 42 Greek facilities and the university doesn’t have room to place them into isolation.
There wasn’t much traffic on fraternity and sorority row Thursday morning, with the exception of a few in Greek life that appear to be packing up and heading away from campus.
IU wants every Greek house on campus to close for the remainder of the semester.
“There is a scenario under which they could be closed by the public health authorities,” said IU Provost Provost Lauren Robel. “I suspect that is a bit down the road from where the public health authorities are now.”
There are close to 100 students in each of the Greek houses. They share sleeping, dining and common areas with all the members. The university says the communal living space has allowed the virus to spread almost unchecked.
“Greek houses at IU Bloomington are seeing this type of spread at a quick and quickly increasing rate; some mitigation testing positivity rates are coming in as high as 87 percent,” said Indiana University spokesperson Chuck Carney.
IU required all students to have a COVID-19 test before coming back to campus. The virus, according to the university, is not spreading through the dorms.
Marcus Prine is a freshman and he tested positive for the virus before coming to campus. Prine lives in a dorm but is considering joining a Greek house.
“It is all online over Zoom calls, everyone goes on the Zoom and you do it that way,” said Prine. “It is kind of weird but I guess that is what we have to do.”
IU is not moving classes online, at least at this moment. They claim the virus is not being spread by students in the classrooms or in the dorms.
The university will test 15,000 students for the virus this week.