SAN DIEGO — On Friday, San Diego State reported 120 students tested positive for coronavirus in the last two days.
This brings the total number of students to 184 since the start of the semester.
SDSU said the County Health and Human Services Department is working to investigate 14 different clusters of the virus in various off-campus locations in the College Area.
SDSU added that no labs or other in-person locations on-campus were hosts to an outbreak.
An email from the university to students read, in part:
"Since the start of the fall 2020 semester, no known cases have been reported among SDSU faculty, staff, visitor or vendor populations. Further, the HHSA’s COVID-19 case investigation is ongoing."
The email also said that SDSU is bumping up its security protocol for parties occurring in the College Area.
"Going into Labor Day weekend, the university has further increased patrols with Elite Security, which now occur on both weekdays and weekends," the email read.
Elite Security will now be patrolling the university area on weekends and weekdays.
In a live Zoom press briefing on Friday afternoon, SDSU President, Adela de la Torre called the off-campus gathering issue a "plague of parties," and that the effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has to come from everyone.
"It's going to take a village for us to get a handle on this," de la Torre said.
So far this semester, the university has issued 457 citations for health order violations. This includes hosting or attending in-person gatherings, lack of facial coverings or refusing to socially distance.
Dr. J Luke Wood, SDSU's vice president for student affairs and campus diversity said in the same press conference that these violations have been given to student organizations like fraternities and sororities, but not all of them.
The penalties for violating health order, according to multiple campus officials, ranging from warnings to expulsion.
Dr. Luke Wood said in the press conference that no suspensions or expulsions have been issued, but there are still some violations being investigated.
"There are some that are under investigation right now that could possibly lead to that level," Wood added.
At the start of the semester, the largest fraternity organization on campus places itself on a social gathering ban. This means no collaborative events with other fraternities or sororities, and recruitment would be help virtually.
You can view the full statement from SDSU's Interfraternity Council on their Instagram page.
Dr. Luke Wood did not give an exact number to the number of violations given top SDSU's Greek system but said it's been a large number.
For the first two weekends of the semester, News 8 crews witnessed more than 200 students walking the streets and attending large parties in the College Area.
Up to 40 students were seen at several houses with loud music, the same time that Elite Security was reportedly patrolling the College Area.
Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, SDSU officials also warned students to stay vigilant and not to attend parties like others previously witnessed.
"I want to be clear that there are consequences for violations of our local COVID-19 policies," Wood said. "Our students and other members of the community should not be traveling and gathering, especially during this holiday weekend"
UC San Diego is planning on testing all students upon move-in day, SDSU did not do this last month.
De la Torre said this is because education and easy access to testing is far more helpful than having students test in the beginning of the semester.
Currently, students can get free testing through the Student Health Center. Officials during the press conference said about a hundred students are tested there every day.
There is also a walk-up, free testing site through the County located in Parking lot 17b.
At the end of the briefing, SDSU said the campus will not shut down the campus, and that it did not do so even when the virus started affecting students in March.
School officials also confirmed that 150 students on-campus have been placed under quarantine. They could not provide a number of off-campus students who are now in quarantine.
De la Torre said university officials will work with the county to determine when it is best to resume in-person instruction after the previously-announced four-week suspension.
You can keep track of the current coronavirus situation by visiting the COVID-19 Protocol page through SDSU.