MUNCIE, Ind. -- Among the 50 U.S. counties with the highest concentrations of college students and overall populations of at least 50,000, 20 have consistently reported higher rates of new virus cases than their states have overall since Sept. 1, according to an Associated Press analysis.
On average, infection rates in those 20 counties have been more than three times higher than their states' overall rates.
Just two weeks after students started returning to Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., last month, the surrounding county became Indiana's coronavirus epicenter.
Out of nearly 600 students tested for the virus, more than half have been positive. Dozens of infections have been blamed on off-campus parties, prompting university officials to admonish students.
University President Geoffrey Mearns wrote that the cases apparently were tied not to classrooms or dormitories but to "poor personal choices some students are making, primarily off campus."
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"The actions of these students are putting our planned on-campus instruction and activities at risk," he said.
At James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., which recently sent students home through September because of a surge in cases, the county is averaging a weekly infection rate of nearly 90 cases per 100,000 people, or more than eight times the statewide average.
Health officials fear that surges among college students will spread to more vulnerable people -- those who are older and those with underlying health problems -- and trigger a new wave of cases and hospitalizations. Some worry that college cases will overwhelm hospitals now bracing for increased cases of covid-19 and flu this fall and winter.
"There's this waiting game. Does it stay on college campuses or will it escape?" said Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer at the University of Wisconsin medical center in Madison, where cases among college students have been climbing.
While universities have emerged as hot spots in nearly every state, many of the worst outbreaks have been scattered across the South and Midwest. Of the 50 college counties analyzed by The Associated Press, James Madison's had the highest infection rate, followed by counties that are home to the University of Georgia, Florida State and Indiana University in Bloomington.
In the 10 counties with the highest infection rates, colleges have reported at least 15,000 cases among students and employees in recent weeks, though testing and reporting practices vary significantly and the actual number is likely much higher.
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OFF-CAMPUS WOES
For many colleges, the return to campus was a carefully orchestrated process that took months to plan and millions of dollars to pull off. But as safe as they've made their campuses, they have struggled to curb off-campus gatherings that have been tied to thousands of infections.
Parties were blamed for dozens of cases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Students there returned to campus in early August only to be sent home weeks later.
Some schools have cracked down on parties and disciplined students. The University of Missouri in Columbia announced this week that it expelled two students and suspended three others for violating rules intended to slow the virus' spread.
The outbreaks are increasingly straining relations between universities and their hometowns.
Amid a spike in cases at the University of Colorado at Boulder, county health authorities Tuesday urged all students to quarantine for two weeks. Students and others at the university have accounted for 76% of the county's 663 positive cases over the past two weeks, officials said.
"More stringent and mandatory restrictions will be imposed if students do not comply and break the transmission cycle," Jeffrey Zayach, executive director of Boulder County Public Health, warned in a letter to students.
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The school's chancellor, Philip DiStefano, warned in a letter to students that the quarantine will be strictly enforced and that students who violate it could face suspension or other discipline. Already, DiStefano said, more than 400 students face university discipline for violating public health orders.
At Miami University in Ohio, county health authorities ordered all of the school's athletes to isolate for 14 days last month after 27 tested positive for the virus. Last week, local police cited six men at an off-campus house party that included several students who had recently tested positive.
As cases increase at Boston College and the campus runs out of quarantine space, the mayor of nearby Newton, Mass., is asking the school not to use any of the town's hotels or other property to isolate students.
ROOTING FOR SCHOOLS
Some cities have tightened rules at bars to discourage students from gathering. As cases surged at Illinois State University in Normal, the city's mayor issued an order requiring all bar customers to be seated to be served. He also limited gatherings near campus to no more than 10 people.
Still, residents and officials in many college towns are rooting for universities to work through outbreaks and avoid campus closings that could further hurt the local economy.
Fred Pryce, who manages a series of stores in a strip mall near Ball State, said sending students home would hurt the area's businesses "big time."
"That's 20,000-plus potential patrons that will vanish," Pryce said. "There are ways to keep students in Muncie safely while they do their classes."
Ball State, roughly 60 miles from Indianapolis, has about 22,000 students on a campus in Muncie, where the university is the city's second-largest employer after Ball Memorial Hospital.
On campus last week, sophomore La'Tricia Williams, wearing a mask, said she was glad to be back instead of sitting on the couch with her laptop at her family's home taking online classes.
"But I get that it comes with some risk," she said. "You can give students a whole bunch of rules for what they should and shouldn't do while they're back at the school, but they're not going to stop doing certain things here or going out into the community."
Caleb Henry, a Ball State junior who lives off campus, said he and other students have been frequenting local bars and meeting at friends' houses, but he and most others are behaving responsibly, wearing masks and social distancing. He said students are being vilified unfairly.
"Everyone seems to be getting upset at college kids right now, accusing us of spreading the virus and making us out to be these highly infectious creatures that need to be sent home," Henry said. "What about all the other people around town going to bars ... having parties, weddings, whatever? We're only doing the same things they are."
As cases mounted at Ball State last month, the school tried to ban students from visiting dorms other than their own, but officials reversed the rule after a backlash from students. Even so, officials say infection rates have started to subside, and the school has no plans to suspend campus instruction.
While some colleges have sent students home amid outbreaks, many others are digging in. Some have moved classes online but urged students to stay where they are until cases drop. Among them is the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, which paused in-person classes Aug. 18 and moved them online amid a surge that saw as many as 89 new cases per day. Weeks later, after a sharp decrease in infections, classes have started to resume on campus.
Other schools are hoping to replicate that success, including the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin and West Virginia University, which recently shifted classes online as the virus spread.
In a recent call with governors, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, cautioned against sending students home, saying that could spark outbreaks elsewhere.
NYC SETBACK
Meanwhile, in New York City, an effort to be among the first big cities to get students back into classrooms suffered another setback Thursday. The mayor announced that he was delaying the start of in-person instruction for most students because of a shortage of staff members and supplies.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new timeline that will keep most elementary school students out of classrooms until at least Sept. 29. Middle and high school students will learn remotely through at least Oct. 1.
The latest delay came just days before students across the nation's largest school district were to resume in-person instruction Monday. Now, only prekindergarten students and some special-education students will go back into physical classrooms next week.
The mayor announced the delay alongside union leaders, who had sounded alarms in recent days that schools weren't ready to reopen.
United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said it wouldn't have been safe to open all of the school sites next week.
"If we are going to do this, we must make sure that we get this right," he said. "We want our school systems up running and safe, and we want to keep it up running and safe because that's what the families, the children of this city deserve."
The city's reopening plan, which has now been delayed twice since it was announced in July, calls for most of the more than 1 million public school students to be in classrooms one to three days a week and learning remotely the rest of the time. Public school students began an online orientation Wednesday with full-time instruction beginning Monday.
WORLD CASES
Elsewhere in the world, India reported another record daily increase in coronavirus infections Thursday, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government faced criticism in Parliament over its handling of the pandemic and a contracting economy that has left millions jobless.
Confirmed cases jumped by 97,894 in just 24 hours, raising India's total past 5.1 million, 0.36% of its nearly 1.4 billion people, the Health Ministry reported.
It also said 1,132 more people died in the same 24-hour period, for a total of 83,198. India's fatalities are the third-most in the world, but experts believe India has undercounted.
India's infection numbers are expected within weeks to pass those in the United States, where more than 6.6 million people have been infected.
In Thailand, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has issued a public call for people not to gather for an anti-government rally this weekend, saying there is a risk of spreading the coronavirus.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has imposed a three-week lockdown, beginning this afternoon -- just hours before Rosh Hashana starts. Israel's first lockdown, in March and April, put a damper on Passover, the Jewish spring holiday marking the deliverance of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.
Now, the Jewish High Holidays look to be similarly subdued.
Israel has seen new daily cases of covid-19 skyrocket in recent weeks, climbing to more than 5,000 Wednesday -- one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world. Since the pandemic began this year, it has recorded more than 169,000 cases, including 1,163 deaths, as of Wednesday, according to Health Ministry figures.
Religious and secular Israelis alike mark Rosh Hashana with holiday feasts with relatives and friends. They pack synagogues, often spending hours in prayer, especially during the fast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which falls later this month.
Information for this article was contributed by Irena Hwang, Collin Binkley, Karen Matthews, Jennifer Peltz, Ilan Ben Zion, Jim Mustian and Carolyn Thompson of The Associated Press. Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
