COVID outbreak along UW’s Greek Row continues to escalate
Oct 5, 2020, 3:17 PM
Drumheller Fountain on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. (MyNorthwest photo)
(MyNorthwest photo)
A COVID-19 outbreak within the University of Washington’s Greek community continues to grow, with the school now reporting 163 total cases among fraternity and sorority members as of Monday.
Surge in positive COVID cases connected to UW Seattle Greek community
That marks a nearly 50% increase since last Thursday, out of the roughly 2,000 fraternity and sorority students living in 42 houses north of campus. The school had previously reduced the number of students living in Greek houses over COVID-related concerns, and typically has closer to 3,400 residents. As of Monday, COVID cases have been reported in 12 separate houses.
This is the second large-scale COVID-19 outbreak connected to UW Seattle’s Greek community, with the first occurring in July. In the first outbreak, 154 positive cases were identified.
Washington State University has also dealt with recent outbreaks among returning students, finding the risk especially high when large groups gather together or attend parties. Pullman police had started issuing tickets to the hosts, and later the guests, of these parties in the hopes of limiting any further spread of COVID-19 and protecting the community.
UW Medical Director for the Environmental Health and Safety Department Dr. Geoffrey Gottlieb issued a statement last Friday, advising anyone who’s been in close contact with members of the school’s Greek community in the last 14 days to get tested for COVID-19.
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Students, staff, and faculty are eligible to enroll in UW’s testing program. Those in the Greek community can indicate their membership when enrolling in order to schedule a test. For those already enrolled, they’re asked to mark that they’ve had a high-risk exposure during their next daily check-in.
Students living in the residence halls have not seen the same impact as out of the 1,600 dorm residents tested, with only five testing positive for the virus last week. UW’s Seattle campus has 500 isolation and quarantine spaces in residence halls for students with COVID.
View the UW’s case dashboard online here for more information.
MyNorthwest’s Kathryn Altena contributed to this report
