Following reports from The Battalion about at least 10 positive cases of COVID-19 among several Texas A&M sororities, the university has addressed the situation.
In a university-wide email sent to students on Aug. 20, A&M confirmed the sororities Kappa Kappa Gamma and Delta Delta Delta having experienced exposure to the virus. According to the email, A&M has initiated a chapter-wide quarantine and contact tracing for individuals who live in the sorority houses or were in contact with those in the sorority houses.
Vice President of Student Affairs Daniel Pugh said the chapter-wide quarantine began the morning of Aug. 20 — A&M’s second day of class.
The announcement of this chapter-wide quarantine comes four days after in-person sorority Bid Day celebrations violated state, local and university COVID-19 guidelines, as confirmed by A&M Collegiate Panhellenic Council (CPC) President Alexandra Campbell. Pugh said the exposure of COVID-19 at both sororities under chapter-wide quarantine occurred during events related to Bid Day.
“On Bid Day, individual members became excited in welcoming home new members that some of the approved plans were not followed,” Campbell told The Battalion on Aug. 19. “CPC does recognize the shortcoming, and moving forward, we plan to do better with events our community hosts this semester, and beyond.”
According to The Battalion’s report, at least two members of Kappa Kappa Gamma and one member of Delta Delta Delta have tested positive for the virus. The Battalion also reported five cases of COVID-19 in Kappa Alpha Theta and two in Delta Gamma; the university has not confirmed those cases.
“The university has reached out to several chapters who have identified [positive cases],” Pugh said. “They didn’t rise to the [chapter-wide quarantine] situation we’re talking about and we’re working with those chapters to get all of their members to go through the contact tracing process immediately so that the tracers can identify if we need to do something more intentional.”
No information regarding how many positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported to A&M has been released at this time. An A&M spokesperson said the university will be providing weekly updates on self-reported COVID-19 cases among students, faculty and staff “as soon as possible.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.