Six fraternities and sororities at three Colorado universities reported new COVID-19 outbreaks in the past week, while the University of Colorado Boulder’s community-wide outbreak grew to more than 1,500 confirmed cases.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 1,503 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among CU Boulder students, with another 161 probable cases. The number of staff cases remained steady at 12.

However, that increase comes as CU leaders and Boulder County health officials this week reported that coronavirus infections among people in their late teens and early 20s are trending downward as efforts to stop the virus’ spread among students start to work, but cases now are increasing among all other age groups in the county.

The new university-related outbreaks were:

• Beta Theta Pi fraternity, University of Denver: four cases
• Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, Colorado State University: four cases
• Sigma Kappa sorority, University of Northern Colorado: three cases
• Delta Zeta sorority, DU: two cases
• Phi Delta Theta, CSU: two cases
• Sigma Pi fraternity, CSU: two cases

A social gathering among Metropolitan State University of Denver students also resulted in four cases, bringing the total number of ongoing outbreaks linked to colleges to 27. Most are tied to Greek organizations or sports.

New outbreaks in K-12

Four K-12 schools, including two in the Denver metro area, also reported new outbreaks this week, bringing the total to 17 that are still ongoing. The 13 previously reported school outbreaks are linked to 29 staff cases and 37 student cases.

New K-12 outbreaks were reported at:

• Yuma High School, Yuma School District: one staff case, seven student cases
• Chaparral High School, Douglas County School District: three student cases
• Rocky Mountain Prep Southwest, Denver Public Schools: two staff cases
• Summit Middle School, Summit School District: two staff cases

Outbreaks also are ongoing at 11 child care centers, with 26 cases among staff and 30 among children.