23 East Lansing Fraternity, Sorority Houses Ordered To Quarantine

EAST LANSING, MI — Thirty large houses in East Lansing — including 23 fraternity and sorority houses and seven large rental houses — have been identified by the Ingham County Health Department as having known exposure to the coronavirus. The people living in the properties have been ordered to quarantine immediately for the next two weeks, the health department announced Monday.

The quarantine was mandated by an emergency order issued by Ingham County Health Officer Linda S. Vail Monday afternoon. The health department will continuously monitor the situation, and if additional properties are identified with cases or exposures, those houses will also be placed under quarantine, the department said in a news release.

“I do not take this lightly, but there is an outbreak centered on Michigan State University (MSU) and it is quickly becoming a crisis,” Vail said. “The surge in cases we have seen over the past few weeks is alarming. I am disheartened to add that this outbreak is being fueled in part by a lack of cooperation and compliance from some MSU students, many residing in the properties now under mandatory quarantine. We must contain COVID-19 cases; however, within the MSU community we have been unable to do so with comprehensive contact tracing so other means of disease containment are necessary.”

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Residents of the quarantined properties should remain at home for the next two weeks, the health department said. They must remain in their residence unless they need medical care or necessities that cannot be delivered. People who do not live in the residence are prohibited from entering the premises unless they are providing an essential service deemed necessary for the immediate health and safety of the residents.

Ingham County has experienced a 52 percent increase in total case count since Aug. 24 and has shifted from a percent positivity rate of 2 percent to 5 percent, the health department said. In comparison, the MSU community percent positivity has ranged from 11 percent to 15 percent since September 5. More than half of all new cases countywide reside in the city of East Lansing, and the majority of all new cases are MSU students.

Violations of the order are misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or a fine of not more than $200, or both.