COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina has 501 active COVID-19 cases as of September 10, according to the university tracker, down over 150 from where that number stood on Tuesday. And the school said some sorority and fraternity houses that had been in quarantine have are off that status.
According to the most recent update Friday, there are 501 active cases. 491 of these cases are students and 10 are staff. On Tuesday, there were 654 total cases, with 640 of those being students. And it's a dramatic drop from a week prior, when there were 1,443 active student cases.
The university also announced eight Greek Village houses have been cleared since being quarantined, and one additional house will be cleared this weekend. A total of four houses remain in quarantine.
Since August 1, the university has reported a total of 2,108 cases in students and employees. They have performed more than 16,000 tests, according to their online dashboard.
The university is also using under half of their designated space to isolate and quarantine students.
Two students have also been issued interim suspensions they violated public safety, either through hosting/organizing large parties or violating quarantine
A total of 24 students have received COVID-19 related interim suspensions, according to USC. At this point last semester, only seven suspensions were issued. The university also said they have seen a decrease in hospital transports for drug/alcohol intoxication has decreased significantly from last year; three transports this year compared to 13 transports last year.
The university has also started targeted testing of certain resident halls and houses, along with partnering with DHEC and the City of Columbia to host 'surge testing.'
USC President Bob Caslen released the following statement with the update of COVID-19 numbers Friday:
I am pleased with the progress we are seeing in the lowering of campus COVID cases. We do anticipate more positive cases next week as we see the effects of increased socializing over the Labor Day weekend, the results of targeted testing and further ramping up of our capacity to test asymptomatic students, faculty and staff. We’re confident our mitigation plan can accommodate additional cases and our quarantine capacity remains strong. We’re also proud to be partnering with federal, state and local leaders to bring additional surge testing capacity to the Midlands community soon. As we’ve said from the very beginning, our plan is built to be dynamic and flexible, and we continue to adapt our work to meet the ever-changing public health needs on our campus. What doesn’t change is our commitment to our campus community’s health, safety and wellbeing. - Bob Caslen