Ohio police over Labour Day weekend busted a group of university students hosting a large house party despite having tested for COVID-19 and being in violation of the city’s quarantine rules.
The 5 September incident was caught on police body camera footage. An officer with the Oxford Police Department can be seen arriving at a home near Miami University where multiple people are hanging out on the front porch drinking and listening to music without wearing a mask.
The officer asks the party dwellers who lives at the home. One of the men tells the officer that 20 people are at the party. Per the city of Oxford’s coronavirus restrictions, mass gatherings are limited to only 10 individuals.
The officer asks the group to disperse while he runs the ID of one of the residents.
"I've never seen this before," the officer is heard saying after running the student’s ID. “There's an input on the computer that you tested positive for COVID”?
“Yes”, the student answers, adding that he tested positive just one week before and that everyone at the party has the virus.
“This is what we're trying to prevent”, the officer says. “We want to keep this town open”.
Oxford police fined the six men who live at the home, as well as one visitor, $500 each.
Cincinnati's WKRC reports that 1,000 Miami University students have tested positive for COVID-19 since fall classes began.
In a Thursday briefing, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said that cases among Miami University are the reason why Butler County remains at a level 3 on the state's public health advisory system.
Miami University announced that it plans to resume in-person classes on Sept. 21. School officials have warned that students who refuse to be tested for COVID-19 be denied access to campus services and will have to return to remote learning.
