RICHMOND, Ky. — College towns across the country are seeing a spike in cases. Schools like Eastern Kentucky University work closely with city and county officials to keep everyone in Richmond safe.

What You Need To Know

  • EKU partners with city and county health officials for testing

  • School wants to avoid an outbreak among students

  • There are a number of locations students can go for testing

  • EKU has reported 95 cases

“If there is an outbreak on a college campus, it absolutely can be a problem for the local community,” said Kristi Middleton, a spokesperson with EKU.

An outbreak on campus is what Eastern Kentucky University is trying to avoid. As of Saturday, EKU has a total of 95 cases in part because of students and faculty closely following the safety protocols. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Madison county has totaled 1,552 cases.

Middleton said that the school has partnered up with the Madison County Health Department and Richmond City Hall to try and keep COVID numbers as low as possible.

“We didn’t want to be an extra burden to the Madison County health department, so we have our own team of trained contact tracers who work directly with the health department to make sure data is confirmed and matches up and that we are doing everything that is expected in sharing that information,” she said.

Zack Manning started his sophomore year at EKU and is one of the 14,000 students currently enrolled. He says that he has his mask on all the time on campus and checks his temperature daily to do his part.

“Social distance a lot, markers on the floor in every building, hand sanitizer everywhere,” said Manning

Manning currently lives off-campus. He says that with this semester, the students know if they follow the regulations, the faster things at EKU and Richmond will return to normalcy.

“The population of Richmond increases by a lot when students come back. With the influx of people, it’s nice knowing we are going to stay safe and Richmond stays safe so we can eventually do stuff outside of campus,” said Manning.

Middleton says that Richmond and EKU have such an important bond. Students eat at restaurants, shop, and work at local businesses. It is for this reason, that everyone in this town knows it’s important to make responsible choices for the good of their neighbor.

“Such a source of pride here for Richmond. We don’t want to become an extra risk point. we are doing everything we can to keep our employees and students safe which will help keep Richmond’s numbers down too,” said Middleton.

EKU students can get tested through the Madison County Health Department and Richmond health providers.