(INDIANAPOLIS) — Purdue’s crackdown on big parties reflects what the state health department says is the biggest problem right now in fighting the coronavirus.
Purdue suspended 36 students for attending an off-campus party, hours after warning it’ll treat violations of social distancing orders on a par with violations like hazing or cheating. IU Bloomington says it’s investigating a gathering on Wednesday and is warning of potential discipline.
State health commissioner Kristina Box says a similar big party is behind a burst of more than 200 coronavirus cases at Notre Dame in three days, while other parties and gatherings have sparked several of the outbreaks in Indiana high schools. And because people in contact with a known positive case need to isolate for two weeks, those gatherings have led to hundreds of students or entire football teams being ordered to quarantine.
Box says violating those orders stretches out the time it’ll take to stamp out the virus. And she says it’s critical that students told to quarantine after contact with an infected person actually do it.
