A college student house held a party over the Labor Day weekend that included people who had recently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to police body camera footage.
Oxford police cited six men who attended a house party near Miami University on Saturday for violating the state’s mass gathering and quarantine ordinance.
Bodycam footage shows an officer arriving at a home near the campus and finding men without masks on the porch.
One of the men tells police that 20 people have gathered at the house, twice the amount of people allowed to congregate in Ohio. The officer asks the group to disperse while he runs the ID of one of the residents.
“I’ve never seen this before,” the officer is heard saying to the student after running his ID. “There’s an input on the computer that you tested positive for COVID?”
“Yes,” the student answers. He goes on to disclose that he tested positive a week before and that every single person at the party has COVID-19, including two people from the house across the street.
“Oh, God. This is what we’re trying to prevent,” the officer responds. “We want to keep this town open.”
The officer questioned why the students weren’t practicing a self-imposed quarantine for 14 days, as recommended by state and federal health officials.
More than 1,000 Miami University students have tested positive for COVID-19 since classes started this fall, according to WKRC.
Gov. Mike DeWine said in a briefing Thursday that cases at Miami are the reason why Butler County remains at a level 3 on the state’s public health advisory system.
The university still plans to start in-person classes on Sept. 21. But school officials have warned that students who refuse to take a test will be denied access to campus services and will have to return to remote learning.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.