Within the first week of classes at UNC Chapel Hill, three outbreaks of COVID-19 were reported by the university in campus alerts.
Two clusters of positive coronavirus cases were found Friday in two UNC residence halls, the school reported.
A third cluster was reported Saturday afternoon at the off-campus house of the Sigma Nu fraternity.
A cluster is defined by the state as five or more cases in close proximity. The students who tested positive are in Ehringhaus Community and Granville Towers, according to an alert.
“The individuals in these clusters have been identified and are isolating and receiving medical monitoring,” the alert said. “We have also notified the Orange County Health Department and are working with them to identify additional potential exposures.”
The school said all residents of the dorms and fraternity house have been given information about next steps, and contact tracing has begun. Anyone identified as having been in close contact with an infected person will be notified directly, the alert said, and given further guidance.
UNC resumed classes on Monday, with more than half of classes involving in-person instruction. About 5,800 students are living in dorms, more than half the university’s capacity.
Students began moving into campus housing on Aug. 3, The News & Observer has reported. On Monday, the university reported 11 new coronavirus cases on campus in the previous week. The university is tracking cases on campus among students and employees and updates its dashboard weekly.
There are 1,002 students living in Granville Towers as of Monday, according to UNC. Ehringhaus has 485 residents this semester, down from the 640 the suite-style community was designed to house, UNC said.
In North Carolina, 14% of the state’s more than 142,000 cases of COVID-19 have been among people aged 18 to 24, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 3:05 PM.
