Some Panhellenic Council (PHC) chapters at the University of Idaho are reportedly on lock-down due to an increase of COVID-19 cases in the fraternity and sorority life community.
After rumors of a COVID-19 outbreak swirled through the community this week, multiple UI members of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta and Delta Gamma confirmed their chapters are on lock-down.
According to Special Assistant to the President Toni Broyles, UI has been conducting surveillance testing since the initial COVID-19 screening in August. Some of the positive cases found through this testing include students in fraternity and sorority life, she said.
“During our testing this week, we also had students who were in the Greek system,” Broyles said. “Some them will be positives. The positives thus far are clustered across a handful of chapters.”
The university reported 25 new employee and student-related cases of COVID-19 on Sept. 21. Updates on the number of COVID-19 cases in the UI community come once per week on the UI COVID-19 website. The next update will be posted Sept. 28, according to the website.
Latah County reported 31 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, the highest number of new cases reported in a single day, according to Public Health – Idaho North Central District.
UI President C. Scott Green has been sending memos each Monday with case updates from the prior week and will do so again this coming week, Broyles said.
Panhellenic Council President Kylie Smith and PHC Vice President of Public Relations Hailee Gabbard could not be reached for comment.
Haadiya Tariq and Zack Kellogg contributed to this report.
Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @apalermooo.