University of Arizona president Robert Robbins told the Arizona Board of Regents Friday that unauthorized "rush" or recruitment activities at sororities and fraternities triggered the recent outbreak of COVID-19 around campus.
"Even though the rush activities were conducted officially over Zoom and teleconferencing, we now know through contact tracing there were in-person gatherings during the rush process," Robbins said.
Robbins says 17 of the university's 22 Greek houses are now under quarantine as a result.
At the outbreak's peak in mid-September, the university was reporting more than 200 new cases of the coronavirus each day. The number has fallen since Pima County asked students to voluntarily quarantine.
