Nobody Could Have Predicted

Though worse than I expected.

COLUMBIA — University of South Carolina President Bob Caslen has asked his staff to consider closing the state’s largest college after COVID-19 cases doubled in a day.

Caslen stressed during a town hall meeting Thursday that he is not ready to shut down the campus after starting the semester with a combination of in-person and online classes, and an USC epidemiologist said the school’s case totals were within what was forecast.

But a shock came Thursday when USC reported 191 new coronavirus cases in a single day, bringing the total to 380 during the first week of classes. Almost all of those infected are students.