Several University of Idaho Greek houses are under quarantine after coronavirus hotspots were detected among fraternities and sororities.
U of I President Scott Green released a memo on Monday, saying most of last week’s positive COVID-19 cases came from the school’s live-in Greek houses. Eight of the 26 houses now under quarantine.
Last week’s positivity rate at U of I shot up to nearly 12%, though Green said much of the testing was targeted towards these students after detecting higher viral loads in wastewater coming from Greek Row.
The total number of active cases among all students and staff is about 1% and the school said public health officials told them last week’s results are not representative of large outbreaks across campus.
Contact tracing so far hasn’t found any examples of transmission in the classroom, according to the university.
Still, Green said faculty are allowed to teach their courses online this week, but could be required to go back to in-person classes starting next Monday.
If cases of COVID-19 continue to rise through this week, the school’s recommendation will be to transition to online-only learning for two weeks.
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