Sorority sisters are having to quarantine in BASEMENTS at the University of Washington as coronavirus cases soar above 200 among students on Greek Row
Sorority sisters at the University of Washington are reportedly being forced to quarantine in the basements of their houses as coronavirus cases soar on Greek Row.
As students returned to classes for the fall earlier this week, UW has announced a staggering 212 new cases of coronavirus across 15 fraternities and sororities.
That’s up from 179 cases as of Tuesday afternoon, and 131 cases on Friday - a jump of around 72 percent in just five days.
The school previously experienced an outbreak back in in the summer. But vowing to have learned their lesson, Chapter leaders cut the number of residents in each house by half, moved rush week online, and put placed a ban on all social events ahead of the fall semester.
However, speaking on the condition of anonymity, multiple Greek life members told the Daily Beast that the measures weren’t enough and now they’re scrambling to try and control the latest outbreak, quarantining members in their basements and blocking off stalls in shared bathrooms.
‘I don't think people learned their lesson from the summer,’ one sorority member said. ‘I think they just see it as a way to say they’re immune and continue to go out.’
Sorority sisters at the University of Washington are reportedly being forced to quarantine in the basements of their Greek Row homes as coronavirus cases soar on campus among fraternities
Around 2,000 students are living in the university’s Greek Row this fall, down from the average 3,400 inhabitants in years pre-COVID.
The school tested in excess of 1,250 of those members upon moving-in day on September 11, with just four cases of the virus found.
But when classes started on September 30, the Interfraternity Council reported 88 cases across eight different organizations. By the following day, that number was in excess of 100, the Daily UW reported.
‘I'm chiefly concerned about the health and safety of our members and believe that our chapters are well-prepared to both keep COVID-19 out of their facilities and handle it effectively if a member does become infected,’ IFC President Erik Johnson wrote in an email last week.
Johnson’s message was followed by one from Geoffrey Gottlieb, medical director for the schools environmental health and safety department, who urged anyone who had been in contact with a Greek life members to get tested immediately.
‘The UW Greek community is experiencing a significant outbreak of COVID-19 cases spread across multiple fraternity and sorority houses, associated ‘live-outs’ and individual members,’ Gottlieb’s October 2 message read.
He also warned that case counts had ‘increased rapidly over the last several days’.
One sorority member told the Daily Beast that she had been informed in late September that three of her sisters had tested positive for COVID-10 during a routine screening.
By the end of the day, the house, which is home to around 40 women, had nine cases. Within the space of the weekend, the number rose to 21.
‘There’s not many healthy girls left, if we’re honest,’ the sorority member told the Daily Beast. ‘At this point it’s like, all of the girls who are in the house are sick, so it’s not as big of a deal. They’re just staying in the house and focusing on getting better.’
When classes started on September 30, the Interfraternity Council reported 88 cases across eight different organizations. By the following day, that number exceeded 100, the Daily UW reported.
A closed sign is taped to the door of a fraternity house in the Greek Row area at the University of Washington in Seattle, in August
The sorority member said the house is still doing all they can to protect uninfected members. With the number of residents slashed in half for the new academic year, there’s enough space to give each member their own room.
However, difficulties arise in shared areas, such as bathrooms and laundry facilities, the member said.
The sorority says it’s blocked off certain bathroom stalls to be used only by infected members. Showering times have also been allocated on a rota for infected and uninfected members.
Members of a different sorority told the outlet that their organization was quarantining positive members in the chapter house basement.
Uninfected or recovered members are tasked with delivering their meals downstairs, while those in quarantine are occasionally permitted to step outside for fresh air.
The sorority said it had worked with the health department over the summer to come up with a safety plan. She pushed back on the idea that Greek life members weren’t taking the virus seriously, saying such outbreaks were to be expected in any large, communal living situation.
‘We’re dealing with an uphill battle that can’t really be contained by us,’ a member of the sorority said. ‘All we can do is do our best to limit the spread.’
The member added that the entire situation feels ‘out of their hands’, and, with so much still unknown, they’re left to ‘err on the side of caution without substantial information.’
The school previously experienced an outbreak back in in the summer. But vowing to have learned their lesson, Chapter leaders cut the number of residents in each house by half, moved rush week online, and put a moratorium on all social events ahead of the fall semester
The University of Washington experienced its first outbreak in June, where 154 of the 1,100 students living in frat houses over the summer tested positive.
The outbreak didn’t result in any hospitalizations, but several questions were raised about how the school would handle the influx of students arriving back on campus in the fall.
Consequently, the IFC and Panhellenic – the governing body of fraternities and sororities on campus – banned all social events for the rest of the year.
Recruitment week, which usually sees hundreds of students descend on its Greek Row, was moved online.
Internal events for a number of the chapters were also moved to more remote settings.
Despite the policy shift, a number of students said members still found their ways of congregating en mass.
One sorority member told the Daily Beast her house had traced their outbreak to two sophomores who met up with men at a ‘live-out’, which is a non-official house for members of a specific fraternity.
A fraternity brother also admitted to recently hosting ‘at least’ 30 people in his live-out.
Orders from the state department currently require anyone living in communal housing to wear face masks and practise social distancing when in shared spaces.
A limit on gatherings with more than five people outside your household unit per week has also been introduced.
Sorority and frat members said that while some chapters had improved their efforts to follow the guidelines for the most part, rule breaches are still fairly frequent.
The University of Washington experienced its first outbreak in June, where 154 of the 1,100 students living in frat houses over the summer tested positive
On October 6, the university penned a letter to chapter leaders warning of possible consequences for violating local health orders.
Such consequences may include suspension, dismissal, or a notice to chapter house landlords.
Other universities have already taken such steps, in some cases suspending entire chapters for violating public health rules. Police at the nearby Washington State University have also starting issuing fines to those caught partying.
However, at UW not a single student has yet been sanctioned. The school told the Daily Beast it was striving to take a ‘more positive and collaborative approach’ to the situation.
Similarly, neither the IFC nor Panhellenic have sanctioned any chapter or individual for violating the new rules.
Johnson, the IFC president, told KATU that fraternity members were spending a lot of time in their rooms, wearing masks in common areas and sanitizing any commons surfaces they touched.
Though one fraternity member told the Daily Beast he believes the case will continue to rise unless substantial changes are made.
A lot of people have the mindset that, “I'm a healthy young person and I'm only seeing other relatively healthy young people, what can go wrong?”’ he said. ‘Unless this scare really actually gets to people, I don't really think that it's gonna get better very soon.’
According to the UW’s case tracking system, as of October 6, 476 students, 63 staff and 10 faculty have tested positive since February 27.
COVID-19 infections have also hit the state’s other large Greek system, on Washington State University’s Pullman campus. Since the semester began August 24, 661 people in the Greek community have tested positive and 659 students on campus have contracted COVID-19 as of Sunday.
Of the 40 sororities and fraternities at WSU, 13 have chosen not to open this semester and the remaining chapter houses have reduced occupancy and have plans and procedures in place, WSU officials said.