Cases Spiking in Some Southern Universities

 

By Ralph Ellis

September 1, 2020 – Coronavirus cases are climbing fast at the University of Alabama’s flagship campus in Tuscaloosa, with more than 1,200 students and 166 faculty and staff testing positive for COVID-19, according to the university system’s COVID-19 dashboard.

That’s a big jump from about a week ago, when around 600 students and five faculty-staff members had tested positive. The school normally has about 33,000 students.

The university is sticking with in-person classes so far, but is limiting campus gatherings. Some on-campus housing has been cleared out for students who’ve tested positive, and about 36% of that isolation space is occupied, the dashboard said.

In an attempt to keep students from congregating downtown, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox issued an executive order to close bars from Aug. 24 to Sept. 8.

Those numbers from last week alarmed the university administration, with school President Stuart Bell saying Aug. 24 that, "The rise we've seen in recent days is unacceptable, and if unchecked, threatens our ability to complete the rest of the semester on campus. Now is the time for action."

In other news about education and the coronavirus:

The University of South Carolina is warning students who violate coronavirus restrictions by holding parties and ignoring quarantines.

The school sent letters to students saying they could be suspended or expelled for breaking the rules, the Post & Courier in Charleston reported.

“We are very serious about that,” USC President Bob Caslen said during a virtual town hall. “We ask students to take responsibility.”

The school’s COVID-19 dashboard says 620 students and 14 school employees have tested positive since Aug. 1. The case count has risen sharply in the last week.

Georgia Tech reported that new cases on campus doubled in a week, according to WSB-TV.

By Saturday, the school was reporting 641 confirmed cases since March, twice the number from 7 days ago. The school coronavirus dashboard said that as of Sunday, 705 cases had been reported, with 64 new cases reported on Sunday.

The school locked down Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house after dozens of members tested positive for coronavirus, the fraternity announced on Instagram.

Sources: https://www.webmd.com