Alva Review-Courier -

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Health officials ordered residents of nine University of Kansas fraternity and sorority chapter houses to quarantine for two weeks following a coronavirus outbreak on campus.

The university opened its fall semester Monday with in-person classes and offered free testing for students, faculty and staff. By Tuesday, 222 people had tested positive out of 19,452 test results received, for a positivity rate of 1.1%, according to the university. But the rate among fraternities and sororities was nearly 5.5%, with 133 Greek members testing positive. Updated results will be released Friday.

"As you've heard me say many times, our situation is fluid and can change rapidly," Chancellor Doug Girod said Wednesday in a written statement. "We anticipate additional county-issued quarantine orders will continue to impact the KU community in the days ahead."

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health said in a news release that the quarantined houses are Pi Kappa Phi, Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Nu and Beta Theta Pi. A ninth house — Pi Beta Phi — was added Thursday afternoon.

Two other houses that were initially on the list — Kappa Alpha Theta and Phi Kappa Psi — won't need to quarantine because the members who tested positive weren't currently living in the chapter house, the release said.

"In cases where contacts are identified in Greek chapter houses, we consider them as living in a household," said Douglas County's Local Health Officer Dr. Thomas Marcellino. "And household members are considered high risk."

Phi Gamma Delta President William Wilk, a 21-year-old strategic communications major from Basehor, said he was among five people in the house to test positive. None of the cases were serious. Wilk said he had a fever and body aches earlier this month but was symptom-free by the third day and was able to return to the fraternity after quarantining at home.

Because of the cases, 80 members are unable to leave, and the house has been cleaned from top to bottom. Wilk and his fraternity brothers are attending classes on Zoom.

"Obviously it is not a normal isolation where you are completely alone, so that is a positive," he said.

Statewide, the number of new cases rose by 1,536 from Monday to Wednesday to bring the total to 39,937. The state Department of Health and Environment also reported an additional 11 COVID-19-related deaths, to put the pandemic total at 437.

Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced a new program Thursday to help essential workers sickened with the virus cover the cost of medical care. The program, which will be paid for with $8 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds, will provide workers in fields such as child care, education and food service up to $25,000 for medical expenses if they are uninsured and $15,000 if they are insured and need help with copays and deductibles.

Before, they were out of luck, trial attorneys and some legislators say. They say the issue is that Kansas law is written so that coronavirus is almost certainly not an occupational disease, which means if you get it on the job, you can't get benefits through that system. But, because the law says the workers' compensation system is the exclusive remedy for on-the-job injuries and occupational diseases, you can't sue your employer, either.

"The dedication and selflessness displayed by Kansas essential workers has been critical to our recovery efforts across the state in cities big and small and rural communities," Kelly said in a news release. "They risk their health each and every day to help others and these funds make it possible for the state of Kansas to help cover expenses in the unfortunate cases when they contract COVID-19."

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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.