COVID-19 Roundup: A Pool Party ‘Almost Like Mardi Gras’

The Columbia, S.C., Fire Department shut down a pool party Saturday attended by hundreds of University of South Carolina students, The State reported.

“It was almost like Mardi Gras,” Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins told The State. “I saw a large crowd in the pool, in the area on the side of the pool, and on top of the pool house.”

He continued, “Nobody was practicing social distancing. Nobody was wearing a mask. But there was lots of drinking going on.”

The pool was at an off-campus apartment.

No fines were issued, but not wearing a mask is a civil infraction with a fine up to $25, and businesses face a $100 penalty. If the fire department has to return, there will be fines.

Missouri State University has seen 383 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last seven days.

The figure includes self-reported cases off campus as well as those diagnosed on campus. The university administered 752 tests over that period.

Last week, the equivalent to the 383 figure was 141, and the week before that it was 38.

In Iowa, the counties that are home to the state’s public universities had 31 to 40 percent of their coronavirus tests come back positive Monday, The Gazette reported.

Johnson County (University of Iowa) had 40 percent of COVID-19 tests taken in the 24 hours before 11 a.m. Monday return positive. Black Hawk County (University of Northern Iowa) had 38 percent positive tests, and Story County (Iowa State University) had 31 percent positive tests.

Statewide, the positivity rate is 18.94 percent.

Inside Higher Ed has released a map and database tracking changes in colleges' plans for reopening this fall. Scores of colleges and universities have in recent weeks reversed plans they announced in the spring or early summer, and this new feature allows readers to see how the changes have unfolded over time and by region, and to search for individual institutions.

The project is a collaboration between Inside Higher Ed and Benjy Renton, a Middlebury College senior and student journalist who has been tracking COVID-19-related developments in higher education.