Tippecanoe County Health Officer Dr. Jeremy Adler said Purdue University’s Protect Purdue Plan -- released last week -- is “well thought out”, including in its reconfiguring of on-campus spaces to mitigate the possible spread of COVID-19 among students and employees, ranging from classrooms to dining halls.
“Of course, the one factor that can’t be controlled completely is the behavior of students and other Purdue personnel outside of those campus buildings, off-campus, and that’s the x-factor -- that’s the human factor -- in this,” Adler said.
West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said the city is in “constant communication” with Purdue regarding reopening plans for the coming school year. Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski said the university has kept him up to date, and the school’s task force reached out this past week to ask the city of Lafayette to put together an “executive team” to partner with them on how to ensure Lafayette residents remain safe.
“Those discussions are taking place also directly with the city of Lafayette, because they know that we do have students that come over and live on the Lafayette side, and they’re getting ready to tackle that piece,” Roswarski said. “So I want the community to know that discussions are taking place to look at how what happens at Purdue can affect both cities, and the county, and what we can do together to help minimize that.”
Adler also provided an update on a cluster of novel coronavirus cases at Lafayette nursing home Rosewalk Village; 23 residents and 9 employees have now been diagnosed with COVID-19.
A sixth COVID-19 death was reported in Tippecanoe County Wednesday. The Indiana State Department of Health also reported 497 novel coronavirus cases. The highest percentage of county cases remains in the 20-to-29 year-old demographic, at 22.9 %.