EAST LANSING - Since September 1, East Lansing has seen over a 300% increase in COVID-19 cases. This follows the return of students to Michigan State University’s campus. Although the Spartans do not account for all of these cases, they make up 80% of the new cases in this outbreak.

Ingham County has exceeded the state’s maximum indicator threshold for very high-risk areas which are 70 cases per million; Ingham has 252 cases per million.

To stop this exponential growth, an emergency order was issued on Monday that put 30 larger houses under mandatory quarantine for the next two weeks. It originally included 23 Greek Life and seven rental houses. Since then, two houses were removed from their quarantine after the health department’s investigation.

On Thursday, Health Officer for Ingham County Linda Vail issued another emergency order that expanded the quarantine to another 11 houses. As of 8 am Friday morning, 40 addresses are under the mandatory quarantine in East Lansing.

Residents in these quarantined homes must remain in their current location unless they need medical assistance.

If someone is to leave their residence for any reason, a mask is required to be worn and the resident must keep 6 feet of social distance from others.

Guests may not enter the quarantined residence unless they provide an essential service needed for the residents.

The quarantined must also take their temperature every morning and night, display the mandatory quarantine notice and return Ingham County Health Department phone calls within two hours.

Health department staff will be conducting random checks to make sure everyone is following orders and must be allowed to enter the property.

Any violation of these orders will result in a referral to the Ingham County Circuit Court and may be considered to be committing a misdemeanor that may result an imprisonment of 6 months and/or fines up to $200. Additionally, Michigan State University will be contacted if applicable and may result in a student’s suspension.

As of Thursday night, Ingham County has 2,954 positive cases of the coronavirus. Over 1,500 people have recovered, 42 have died and 1,581 are under monitor or quarantine.