Governor says Kansas can’t let college students become COVID-19 ‘super-spreaders’

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday said she welcomed the decision of local health officials to quarantine nine University of Kansas fraternities and sororities to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department on Wednesday placed nine Greek chapter houses under quarantine, an extraordinary decision coming after data showed students in Greek life testing positive for the virus at rates higher than the overall student population.

“That’s clearly the kind of environment that will create problems — we know it. I’m glad they did what they did,” Kelly told reporters in Topeka after an unrelated event.

The Democratic governor indicated prevention that includes accountability is critical, “because we just can’t let this continue to happen.”

“These same kids who are in these fraternities and sororities, or mass gathering in dorms, who will be going back out to other communities … we just can’t have them become super-spreaders,” Kelly said.

As of Friday, members of fraternity and sororities at KU were testing positive at a rate of 10.01%, compared to 2.18% for the university as a whole. Overall, KU has reported 474 positive cases from 21,719 tests of faculty, staff, and students. In Greek life, 270 positive results have been reported out of 2,698 tests.

All students were required to get tested ahead of the start of classes this week.

Kelly’s comments come at the end of a volatile week for the KU Greek community. Last weekend, video of an angry exchange between a motorist and members of a fraternity went viral and the university issued public health bans to members of two fraternities.

Health officials then placed nine chapter houses under quarantine on Wednesday, although two houses were taken off the list and one was added on Thursday after further investigation.

This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 3:09 PM.