Lexington’s college COVID-19 cases keep rising. Could UK football parties contribute?
The first college football weekend typically is a time for parties in a new fall semester, but with the rise of COVID-19 cases, the University of Kentucky is asking students to gather in a nontraditional way.
On Saturday, Lexington reported 110 new COVID-19 infections — 55 of which were college students, according to Lexington-Fayette County Health Department statistics.
The bulk of the new college cases, including more than 160 since Monday, have been UK students. Roughly 1,900 of UK’s student cases have accumulated since the beginning of August. Fayette County’s total since March is 8272 , and college students make up 26 percent of that amount with 2,185 cases.
For some near-campus residents, UK’s steady daily increase in infections has led to concerns over whether or not students are ignoring precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
The pandemic has not prevented students from congregating — without masks or social distancing — for high-profile sporting events. Since early August, the University of Kentucky has received reports of off-campus parties in near-campus neighborhoods populated largely by students. UK received 10 such reports last weekend — four of which came from the neighborhoods which flank Waller Avenue. Over the first weekend of September — when this year’s Kentucky Derby took place — Lexington police stated that they received nearly 30 calls for noise complaints potentially linked to student parties.
The university saw a “slight uptick” in active student cases in the week starting Sept. 14 — around nine days after the Derby, UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said. The university’s seven-day average for new cases that week was similar to the week before the race, making it hard to definitively determine whether student parties around the event caused a spike, he said. Symptoms of COVID-19 can take two-14 days to emerge.
As UK plays Auburn on Saturday, students who wish to watch the game with others are encouraged to attend a watch party with social distancing at Kentucky Proud Park, UK’s outdoor baseball stadium on Alumni Drive, Blanton said earlier this week.
Aside from the watch party, the university uses social media and on-campus signs to encourage students to stay at least 6 feet apart, Blanton said.
This semester, UK has found about 100 students guilty of violating the university’s COVID-19-related social distancing guidelines added to its student Code of Conduct. The code applies both on and off campus, Blanton said. Penalties for violating the code can vary from an informal warning to a potential suspension or expulsion, depending upon specific circumstances and frequency.
UK often receives reports of off-campus parties from the Lexington Police Department, Blanton said, as the department has jurisdiction over off-campus neighborhoods. While the police are not specifically targeting student gatherings, they are responsive to noise complaints called in by neighbors.
““There is no ordinance/law regarding large gatherings on private property, so that is outside the scope of law enforcement,” Lexington police spokesperson Brenna Angel said. “We respond to noise complaints and calls regarding disorderly conduct, which we would normally do even if there wasn’t a pandemic.”
Erica Meuser, a Bluegrass Community & Technical College professor who lives on Linden Walk, said she’s been “overall impressed,” with the students who live near her. She’s called the police for noise complaints on student parties in years past, but this year, she’s done so less frequently. There appear to be fewer parties than a normal year, mainly because the neighborhood seems less populated.
“Myself and my next door neighbor are kind of our watchdogs for the neighborhood. The houses surround us. Literally the party houses are in our backyard on Aylesford,” Meuser said.
Four houses around her are known for having parties, Meuser said. Before she calls the police for the first time, she typically asks the house occupants to turn down the noise. If the noise continues, then Meuser calls. She’s not checked to see if participants are wearing masks. After the first couple calls this year, the students at those houses “have been better, actually.”
“I’m not here to enforce anybody’s behavior,” Meuser said.. “It’s just if it’s too loud, vibrating inside my house, that’s usually when I call.”
She said she’s also been impressed with the number of students she sees wearing masks on the UK campus. Meuser said she has been concerned with the number of maskless people she sees congregating close together at bars and restaurants along South Limestone.
While students may be adhering to social distancing guidelines on campus, Lea Terry, who lives near Forest Park Drive — a street near Waller Avenue — said that only shows one side of campus behavior.
Parties are an ongoing problem “every weekend and sometimes on weeknights,” Terry said. Two houses on the 200 block of Forest Park are a problem in particular.
“They’re meeting in these big backyards,” she said. “We see just 100 kids standing around in the streets.”
Terry said she’s called the police multiple times, but the music turns back on as soon as they leave. The majority of students at the parties aren’t wearing masks, she said.
“We’ve had parties through the years, but it’s just so much worse right now,” Terry said. “...It’s either naivete or rebellion, and it’s dangerous.”
Morgan Eads and Karla Ward contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 3:17 PM.