College fraternity houses could become coronavirus hotbeds

Between the lines: Frat houses are used for both hosting parties and housing students, meaning the virus could spread the same way it would in a bar or as it would through any other type of communal housing.

Driving the news: The University of California at Berkeley told students last week that the number of coronavirus cases on campus had more than doubled in just a week. The majority of cases trace back to fraternity or sorority social gatherings.

• Outbreaks at the University of Washington and the University of Mississippi have also been traced to fraternity housing or activities.

The bottom line: "If they are crowded indoors, and they're in close quarters for a long period of time, it's just a recipe for getting infected," Thomas Russo, an infectious disease professor at the University at Buffalo, told WashPost.

• "And the setting almost guarantees if multiple individuals get infected, you suddenly have scenarios where they can spread it to 10, 20, 30 or 40 other individuals."

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