One Emporia State fraternity has developed cases of coronavirus, but university administrators are praising the group for how it’s handling the situation.
Chief Marketing Officer Kelly Heine tells KVOE News a member of Sigma Tau Gamma was discovered as a COVID-19 patient after going to work recently. The unspecified business sent the student home for self-quarantine and contacted ESU. Other fraternity members then adhered to directions to self-quarantine.
ESU says there are 11 total cases, including symptomatic and asymptomatic students. Heine says members have been a model for “doing it the right way” when it comes to the COVID-19 response, including the self-quarantine, ongoing conversations with ESU and Lyon County Public Health and future plans to bring in an outside cleaning firm to do a deep cleaning of the house at 1309 Sylvan.
While Heine says Sigma Tau Gamma should not be having any activities because of the virus and resulting quarantines, she says there is no need to suspend activities at the fraternity for poor behavior — something that hasn’t been seen at other Greek organizations elsewhere. Other universities across the country have issued cease-and-desist orders or suspended operations for fraternities and sororities, in part due to mass gatherings.
The fraternity is directing all media inquiries to Heine at this time.
