Off-campus housing near Purdue seeing COVID-19 clusters

Three off-campus apartment complexes near Purdue have been dealing with COVID-19 clusters.

Site of three covid-19 clusters since july.

News 18's joe paul reported on the latest cluster at grant street station.

He's live to tell us about new details on the hotspots discovered across west lafayette.

The cottages on lindberg behind me were the site of a covid-19 cluster this summer.

That has since been resolved.

But it's not the only off-campus housing complex that has been dealing with a spike in cases.

< "i feel pretty safe.

I'm out wearing my face mask, so i'm protecting myself."

Anthony patterson is a resident at the cottages on lindberg in west lafayette.

The complex is one of three near purdue to see covid-19 clusters.

That's according to tippecanoe county health officer jeremy adler.

"most of the apartment complexes in the area have been taking those areas as safe as possible."

A cluster of 11 cases was found at grant street station on september 11th.

In july, clusters of 13 cases at the cottages and 12 cases at rise on chauncey were also discovered.

"those were handled in the same way, with a temporary closing of common areas, increased cleaning and disinfecting."

Khala hochstedler with the county health department says students living off- campus can quarantine in their rooms. or in purdue's isolation housing.

"we don't handle their case investigations because they are students, and so we have been coordinating wh protect purdue, but i can't answer if any of them have been moved."

A purdue spokesperson wasn't available to comment for this story.

But purdue's covid-19 website says the university can make arrangements to isolate students living off campus.

That information was updated september 11th.

The same day signs were posted at the entrance of grant street station informing residents of the cluster.

Patterson says that cleaning and sanitizing has been ramped up where he lives.

"there are hand sanitizer dispensers, and i do see a lot of people, when i go into the clubhouse every morning, i do see people always cleaning it."

+ property managers at the cottages and rise didn't respond to our requests for comment.

Adler tells me that the amenities residents want at these buildings... like gyms, pools and other common areas... can encourage groups to form and socialize, which can be problematic.

Reporting live in west lafayette, joe paul, news 18.

Tippecanoe county has 23 new covid-19 cases.

That's according to the indiana state department of