UPDATE 1:14 p.m., Sept 29
Two additional houses — Alpha Sigma Phi and Sigma Kappa — have been taken off IU's greek house quarantine list Tuesday.
The total quarantined is now nine houses.
This is the first time the total number of house quarantined has been in single digits since late August.
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UPDATE 12:33 p.m., Sept. 27
Three greek houses — Chi Omega, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Theta Chi — were taken off IU's quarantine list. Pi Kappa Alpha is a new additon to the list. The total of houses on quarantine is now 12.
Pi Kappa Alpha had zero COVID-19 cases as of IU's last house-by-house data update, which only includes data as recent as Sept. 5.
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UPDATE: 10:48 a.m., Sept. 23
Leslie Fasone, the assistant dean for sorority and fraternity life, gave the following statement in an email to the Indiana Daily Student regarding greek houses being taken off quarantine:
"The Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life wants to thank the students, families, student leaders, alumni, house corporation board members and national chapters for helping to update plans and procedures to promote a healthy and safe environment for their live-in members. With their support, we have made it to the fifth week of classes in Bloomington and are thrilled that our campus is still able to be open for our community as a whole. As the Monroe County Health Department releases chapters from quarantine requirements, it is more important for our students and houses to remain vigilant to prevent and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by wearing face coverings, physically distancing, prohibiting non-essential guests from entering their facilities and by hosting all events virtually."
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UPDATE: 10:19 a.m., Sept. 23
Kappa Alpha Theta was taken off quarantine according to IU's list Wednesday. That brings the overall total to 14 houses. Nearly 20 houses have come off quarantine.
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UPDATE: 1:10 p.m. Sept. 22
Two more houses — Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi — were taken off qurantine today. That brings the total down to 15 houses.
Phi Delta Theta reported 38 total cases since Aug. 19 and a positivity rate of 65.91% over the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 4 according to IU's website data. Sigma Chi had 26 total cases since Aug. 19 and a 66.67% positivity rate over the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 4.
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Only 17 greek houses at IU are now on quarantine after IU updated its website data Monday, down from a peak total of 33.
That total has decreased over the last week and now includes fewer than half of the greek houses. This is the first time IU has dipped below 50% of houses on quarantine in roughly three weeks.
Acacia fraternity, which had the highest mitigation testing positivity rate between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4 of any greek house and 46 total cases since Aug. 19, was taken off quarantine today. Alpha Phi, Beta Theta Pi and Phi Mu were taken off the quarantine list as well.
Greek houses are expected to quarantine for 14 days after receiving an order from Monroe County. If no new positive tests are recorded for 14 days, the quarantine ends. With every new positive test, the quarantine restarts.
Five of the original eight houses to be placed on quarantine remain as of this latest update. The 17 houses still in quarantine are:
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Sigma Phi
Beta Sigma Psi
Chi Omega
Delta Upsilon
Kappa Alpha Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Gamma Delta
Phi Kappa Psi
Pi Kappa Phi
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Chi
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Pi
Theta Chi
Zeta Beta Tau
IU’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life as well as the Monroe County Health Department have not responded to requests for comment from the IDS.
This all comes as IU reported a decrease in mitigation testing positivity rates among greek residents in last week’s update. A new COVID-19 dashboard update is expected Wednesday.
