ATLANTA — A member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Georgia Tech confirmed on Sunday morning that 26 of its members had tested positive for COVID-19.
This comes after the university reported a cluster of cases in the Greek Life housing community. A fraternity member who didn't want to be identified spoke about the decision to put their house on lockdown. That member said that leading up to the outbreak, he believes they did everything right but said it was almost an unavoidable situation.
It was certainly not the typical welcome back they expected as a fraternity.
"You don't like being in the news but, at the same time, had we not reported the things that we reported, we probably wouldn't have identified upwards of 18 to 20 of our cases," he said.
The member said that leading up to the COVID outbreak among chapter members, the organization had not hosted any events or parties. He said members were only allowed to gather in small groups. "We're talking things like going to Topgolf just in groups of six or fewer people," he said.
Once inside the house, everyone was required to wear a face mask in common spaces.
"Looking at any of these Greek houses, none of them are built to be quarantined locations, they're built to be common spaces," the fraternity member said. "They're built to be places that people can congregate."
The student said the fraternity found out about its first case on Aug. 18. From there, they tightened visitor restrictions. Anyone who wasn't supposed to be in the house was fined $25.
"Once we found out that that first exposure, we did prioritize keeping people who were not part of that living community outside of it," he said.
Once the initial six students' roommates tested positive, Tech's health center and Greek Life advisors told the organization to get all of its members tested regardless of where they live.
"At this point, we do believe we have everybody isolated to the house. We've only allowed people to quarantine in their apartment buildings if they have their own bedroom and their own bathroom," he said.
The student said, at the end of the day, it's a brotherhood. Members helping each other out any way they can.
We've got guys that have tested negative delivering groceries and dropping them off on the porch for guys to pick up," he said.
And that fraternity member added that Georgia Tech has actually opened up a separate after-hours COVID testing site so that members of the fraternity can get tested.
Since the announcement on Saturday, Georgia Tech reports that two houses have been found to have COVID-19 cases - one on Friday and another one on Saturday. The university doesn't name either house though Sigma Phi Epsilon came forward on Saturday confirming their house was one of the ones in question.
The university is now urging all members of the campus to get tested weekly.