During Opening Week we received notification that two members of the chapter were in contact with positive COVID cases. Immediately we quarantined both members. Unfortunately, several days later, the chapter was notified that one of the members had tested positve. While the chapter was placed into a full two week quarantine, the University released a statement in which they named ‘an individual living at Delta Tau Delta’ as the first confirmed positive case on the S&T campus. Epsilon Nu truly was First Among Equals.
The actives living in the Shelter were limited to their rooms for most of the day. We could only leave to use the restroom, do laundry, and spend time outside (following specific social distancing guidelines). Meals were pre-plated and brought to our rooms. The situation was definitely not comfortable, but in the end no other active living in-house tested positive for the virus.
While quarantined, the Chapter published an official statement about how Epsilon Nu discovered and handled the situation. Our statement was well received and the chapter was largely supported by the campus community.
Although the University’s original statement—which was not ran by the Chapter prior to its publication—was unfavorable to the chapter, Epsilon Nu still manged to come out on top. We kept the virus from infecting any of our men living in house, and the guidelines that we had for visiting members kept all of our alumni volunteers from being infected as well.
By: Sean Carney (ΓA 467)