COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina has given interim suspensions to 15 students and six Greek organizations related to the ongoing rise in coronavirus cases on campus.
The school said Monday afternoon the citations are for breaking student conduct rules, specifically for hosting unauthorized parties or large gatherings in violation of local ordinances or violating quarantine. The school had previously announced these penalties were possible for students.
The suspension means they will be barred from campus and classes until the resolution of the case by the university.
The school had said last week that six of the large fraternities and sororities at the school's Greek Village off Blossom Street were quarantined because students there had tested positive for the virus. On Monday, they added three more to that list, bringing the total to nine.
USC currently has 557 official coronavirus cases on campus. However, that number hasn't been updated since last Thursday. It should also be noted that the students are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, and there have been no hospitalizations or deaths at the school.
However, on Saturday, the city of Columbia shut down a large pool party at the Palmetto Compress Apartments near the USC campus. Those units are about a quarter mile from the entrance of the Greek Village and just under a mile from the heart of campus. While non-students can live there, many USC students rent there.
Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said he arrived just before 6 p.m. to find at least 200 people at the pool not wearing a mask and failing to practice social distancing.
After a conversation with the security guard and a manager at the apartments, they decided to shut down the pool until sometime this week.
“That was just a perfect storm to spread the virus. If someone in the crowd had it, it was just a perfect storm," Chief Jenkins told News 19.
Chief Jenkins says, aside from seeing hundreds of people disregarding local law, what he found most disturbing was a statement made to him during a brief conversation with a young man at the party. He says the young man told him, "I can't catch COVID."
There were other large off-campus parties that the Columbia Fire Department said it responded to.
Meanwhile, USC announced it was taking the following measure to ensure better testing:
- University saliva testing teams will deploy on campus this week to provide mobile student testing Monday-Friday in areas where wastewater environmental surveillance has shown concentrations of potential COVID-19 cases. The deployment will allow for more rapid identification, quarantining and care of students.
- On-demand student testing is focused this week Monday-Friday on Davis Field from 10 a.m.--12 p.m. Additional testing reserved for faculty and staff will be offered Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30 a.m.--2:30 p.m. at the 650 Lincoln location. All students experiencing symptoms should make an appointment to be tested Monday-Friday at UofSC Student Health Services. The combination of these four testing efforts will expand, better focus and improve our ability to care for our community.
Students and the public can visit the schools COVID dashboard for more information about other important the university is tracking to inform campus operations. The dashboard will be updated every Tuesday and Friday afternoon.