A top Ingham County Health official calls the situation “alarming.”
Monday, the county health department placed 21 Michigan State University fraternities and sororities under a mandatory quarantine for COVID-19.
In all, the Ingham County Health Department has identified 30 large houses in East Lansing with known exposure to the coronavirus. People living there have been ordered to quarantine for the next two weeks. Residents of the quarantined properties are being told to remain at home unless they need medical care or necessities that cannot be delivered.
“I do not take this lightly, but there is an outbreak centered on Michigan State University and it is quickly becoming a crisis,” says Linda Vail, Ingham County health officer. “I am disheartened to add that this outbreak is being fueled in part by a lack of cooperation and compliance from some MSU students, many residing in the properties now under mandatory quarantine.”
Over the weekend, the county health department asked MSU students to voluntarily self-quarantine over the weekend.
Ingham County has experienced a 52% increase in total case count since August 24 and has shifted from a percent positivity rate of 2% to 5%. In comparison, the MSU community percent positivity has ranged from 11% to 15% since September 5. More than half of all new cases countywide reside in the city of East Lansing, and the majority of all new cases are MSU students.
*Correction: An earlier version of this story said 23 MSU frats and sororities were placed under quarentine. The actual number is 21. The headline and body have been corrected.
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