- A video posted by a student-run television station showed “hundreds of students” gathered at a sports bar — minutes away from the University of South Carolina.
- Police broke up the gathering after receiving the video, which showed the students ignoring COVID-19 safety measures like wearing face masks or social distancing.
- The University of South Carolina currently has over 1,450 active coronavirus cases on campus among students and employees.
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College students congregated at a local sports bar nearby the University of South Carolina on Thursday to avoid following COVID-19 safety guidelines, WACH Fox 57 reported.
A video posted by the university’s student-run television station, SGTV News 4, showed “hundreds of students” at TLC Sports Bar mingling without social distancing and appropriate face coverings.
—News 4 (@SGTVNews4) September 4, 2020
Following the video, local authorities from Richland County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the bar around 11:30 to shut the gathering down and hundreds of students left the scene, WACH Fox 57 reported.
The Univerity of South Carolina released a statement regarding the viral video, posted by SGTV News 4.
“It’s disappointing to see videos like these, and while we don’t know which of the attendees were our students, we can assume many likely were,” university spokesperson, Jeff Stensland, said. “We continue to strongly urge all of our students to follow public health guidelines to keep our entire community safe: wear face coverings, socially distance and avoid large in-person gatherings like the ones depicted in the video.”
—News 4 (@SGTVNews4) September 4, 2020
According to the university's COVID-19 dashboard, there are currently 1,461 active cases of COVID-19, but the campus status remains on a low alert level.