US campus COVID cases rise as classes begin

Just three days into the fall semester, Chadron State College students and faculty are already feeling the pressure of COVID-19. 

As of Tuesday, three CSC staff members had tested positive with COVID-19 along with four students, according to Chadron State College. Several more are in quarantine. 

“There’s a lot of transmission right now and it’s extra important that both at our school and at the college and in the community that people take it very seriously,” Kim Engel, director of Panhandle Public Health District, said at PPHD’s daily briefing Tuesday. “Wear a mask, and don’t have large gatherings.”

Chadron School Superintendent Ginger Meyer said in a press release Saturday that three staff members at Chadron High School and one from the Middle School have tested positive.  

On Wednesday, PPHD said there have been 38 confirmed cases in Dawes County since spring. Of those 38 cases, 24 are active; 14 people have recovered; no one has died.   

As campuses reopen, institutions nationwide are dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks in myriad ways.

 On Aug. 9, the Associated Press reported that the University of Texas at Austin is prohibiting parties on or off campus. The same report also said Tulane University students will face suspension or expulsion if they are found hosting parties with more than 15 people and not following guidelines.  

The University of North Carolina at Chaple Hill made headlines recently after a series of “untenable situations” triggered COVID-19 outbreaks in dormitories and fraternity houses. 

After in-person classes lasted only a week, U.N.C. Chapel Hill officials shifted all undergraduate classes to remote learning for the remainder of the semester, The New York Times reported Monday.  

U.N.C. Chapel Hill isn’t the only higher-ed  institution facing outbreaks. 

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the University of Washington’s Seattle campus attributed 165 of its 290 confirmed cases to its Greek Row. 

Since campuses reopened, more than 13,000 students, faculty and staff have been infected nationwide. 

The Times report also stated that many campus cases spawn from student Greek organizations whose memebers have active social lives, in houses not owned by the institutions. That scenario makes it hard for administrators to regulate them.  

Since the outbreak hit, the Centers for Disease Control said more than 5 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 and the number is still climbing.