104 students test positive for coronavirus on UW’s Greek Row

The Greek community at the University of Washington Seattle campus is undergoing another wave of Covid-19 as 104 students test positive for the virus among nine fraternities and sororities.

This comes after the university reopened for the fall quarter on September 30 in a hybrid approach, with 90% of classes being online, and a limited few clinical and lab based courses being taught in person.

It also comes after recruitment for sorority and fraternities took place mid-September according to the events calendars from the fraternities and sororities. But both the Panhellenic Association and Interfraternity Council said they used only virtual recruiting methods due to the ongoing pandemic.

Prof. Geoffrey Gottlieb, who sits on the university’s advisory committee for communicable diseases, says closing down Greek housing isn’t really an option -- the university doesn’t have jurisdiction and the City of Seattle currently has an eviction moratorium in place, meaning that people can't be evicted.

“Kicking students out into the street from all the Greek houses really doesn't make any sense, from a public health point of view,” Gottlieb said, adding that being punitive isn't the goal.

“We don't want those students going back to their communities and spreading Covid back to their families and communities where they came.”

This is the second outbreak of its kind in the Greek community at UW.

Earlier in July, there was another wave of cases with 154 sorority and fraternity members testing positive in total.

So far these round of cases have been mild or asymptomatic with no one needing to be hospitalized.

Currently, there are fewer than 2,000 students living in 42 fraternity and sorority houses in the neighborhood north of the UW campus, with more Greek life members in the surrounding area north of university.

“I suspect the numbers are likely to go higher over the next few days,” Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb encourages students to get tested and to continue wearing masks, avoid large gatherings, and wash their hands.

“But we will see. Hopefully everybody’s tested quickly. And we’re getting folks in isolation and quarantine, who need to be. [That] will limit the peak.”