Coronavirus outbreak at TCU likely connected to student gatherings, health officials say
FORT WORTH, Texas - There are more than 400 coronavirus cases on the TCU campus.
More than half of the cases are students who live on the campus.
Tarrant County health officials believe the outbreak is linked to student gatherings both on and off campus.
Two and a half weeks into the fall semester, TCU reports 414 active cases of COVID-19. 245 of them are students living on campus.
The university addressed its posture to stay the course and continue with an open campus.
In a statement, TCU noted operational decisions are based on “the number of active cases on campus, isolation bed capacity, local hospital and ventilator capacity and other factors and information from state and federal health authorities.”
Tarrant County officials have the university under close watch pointing out the surge of several hundred cases since fall classes began on Aug. 17. They’re likely frustratingly connected to gatherings on and off campus.
“These kids believe they’re invincible and they can go out and do whatever they please,” said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. “And if they get it, they get it. But they’ve got a responsibility to the rest of the public.”
On campus, TCU students by and large move about with face coverings, although some are seen without them.
A daily online dashboard updates the school’s COVID-19 stats. On Monday in a campus communication, the TCU vice chancellor mentioned a five-day decline in the daily case count and noted a major decline in on and off-campus gatherings.
Tarrant County Public Health Director Dr. Vinny Taneja hopes that will be the case with the upcoming Labor Day holiday at a time when the county’s data seems headed in the right direction.
“They’re working very aggressively on clamping that down,” Dr. Taneja said. “They have a lot of testing going on. They have a lot of wraparound services. They have rooms available to isolate students, so they’re taking the right steps. Unfortunately, the numbers are quite large and it has the potential to change the curve back in the county when you start adding those numbers.”
“I guess what I’d say is I hope that TCU doesn’t close the dorms,” Whitley said. “Because if those kids go home, the parents and grandparents or likely to come down with it.”