COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina has quarantined students in two sorority houses in the university's Greek Village after residents tested positive for COVID-19.
The school confirmed the news Tuesday in a statement. The students are said to be either asymptomatic or have very minor virus symptoms.
The school did not confirm which sororities were affected, but News19 has learned through multiple sources that they are Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta.
In a statement to the press, USC's Director of Public Relations Jeff Stensland wrote:
The University of South Carolina has placed two Greek Village houses in quarantine Monday after several residents tested positive for the coronavirus. The students will remain in quarantine for up to 14 days. The positive tests were confirmed via standard and saliva-based testing. The students were either asymptomatic or experiencing very minor COVID-19 symptoms prior to their tests. None of the students require hospitalization.
The decision to quarantine was made in consultation with SCDHEC.
“We moved quickly to identify positive students and then to quarantine the impacted houses and its residents. Our modeling shows that we will see an increase of cases as our students return. I remain confident in our ability to mitigate cases through testing, compliant student behaviors and the wearing of face coverings. Our campus community can be assured that we will act quickly and decisively if student behaviors are not compliant. The health, safety and wellbeing of our students is our number one priority, and we will take all appropriate measures to protect and care for the members of our campus community.” – Bob Caslen, President of the University of South Carolina
The university has an interactive web page where active COVID-19 cases can be tracked. Currently there are 44 active student cases of the coronavirus, 2 active faculty cases. To date, since the beginning of the beginning of testing on August 10, there have been a total of 90 students and 10 faculty testing positive for the virus.
The school just started the fall semester with in-person classes, but students at the Greek Villages began moving in almost two weeks ago. Other on campus housing has been back for over a week.
