RALEIGH, N.C. _ North Carolina State University reported four new additional COVID-19 clusters at four Greek Village residences Friday, according to a news release.
The clusters total 54 cases across the residences of one fraternity and three sororities.
The announcement comes the day after the university announced it would shift to remote classes for undergraduates starting Monday. Students are not being asked to move out of residence halls to reduce their occupancy.
In the Greek Village area, there are 26 cases at the Sigma Nu Fraternity house; 15 cases at the Delta Gamma Sorority house; and six cases at the Sigma Kappa Sorority house. There are seven cases at the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority House located outside the Greek Village.
The state defines a cluster as five or more cases in close proximity.
The Sigma Nu fraternity hosted a party Aug. 13, according to the news release. Anybody who attended is being advised to get a COVID-19 test.
"All students who test positive as part of these clusters will be isolated, and all residents of the houses are being quarantined. Contact tracing has been initiated with direct communication to anyone known to have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19," the release said.
The school previously reported five clusters at Greek houses and off-campus residences.
Students returned for mostly online learning in early August.
There are 892 students in isolation or quarantine off-campus, according to the school's COVID-19 dashboard. On-campus, there are 82 units being used for isolation out of 166 available units.
The dashboard reports that 822 students were tested this week at NC State Student Health Services with 15 positive results. As of Thursday, 2,510 individuals have been tested since March.
As of Thursday, the state Health and Human Services Department reports 14% of the state's total coronavirus caseload is among people ages 18 to 24.
N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson said Thursday that off-campus activity is blame for the decision to shift to online classes. The off-campus activities are "inconsistent with our community standards and have had an impact on our ability to go forward," he told reporters at an afternoon news conference.
"What I would say is that the behavior of the few has jeopardized the ability for us to go forward for all of our students in a way that many of our students wanted us to," he said.
Woodson said there are limited measures to "manage behavior in off-campus apartment complexes."
"Having said that, though, I believe that with the state department of health and Wake County, we can remind those owners and those communities that they do have a state mandate to follow," he said. "The governor has made it clear that outside gatherings of greater than 25 are forbidden."
Raleigh Mayor Mary Ann-Baldwin told The Raleigh News & Observer Thursday she hasn't heard from constituents who live near campus who worried about the increased COVID-19 cases.
"The police chief has told her officers to be very firm in their warning, but I will say officers have said there are a lot of students wearing masks," Baldwin said.
However, some students told The News & Observer they felt it was irresponsible for the university to have in-person classes.
Jaz Bryant, a senior, said the university has said "it's not on us, it's on you" to students who get sick. But in her opinion, the university did little to mitigate large gatherings on and off campus.
"It's still on the administration for letting us come here," she said.
The university has an extensive list of community standards that encourage accountability and includes now-standard behaviors of avoiding large groups, washing hands and a face covering requirement.
The university has spent almost $2 million since July 1 to ready the campus for the return of students and staff, said Charlie Maimone, vice chancellor for finance and administration, The News & Observer reported Friday.
Kevin Salcido, a senior, echoed Bryant and said the school may have potentially sent students home at the risk of getting their families sick.
"While Greek life did play a hand in the clusters in their own houses, the blame needs to be put on the UNC Board of Governors and Trustees as a whole," Salcido said. "They knowingly reopened without proper capability to handle a crisis."
