An anonymous Instagram account claiming to promote 'COVID parties' at Arizona State was deleted after the school sued. But the parties are still happening.

• An Instagram account claiming to throw 'COVID parties' at the Arizona State University was deleted after the school sued the account owner, accusing them of spreading misinformation.
• Still, ASU students have been partying at off-campus houses since the school's fall semester started last week.
• ASU officials won't release COVID-19 data, so it's unknown if any staff or students have tested positive for the virus.

Students at Arizona State University partied at houses near campus over the weekend, after an anonymous Instagram account claiming to throw 'COVID parties' was deleted when the school sued.

Classes started at ASU on August 19, and police in Tempe, Arizona, told AZ Central that it issued six party citations at student gatherings over the weekend. A video shared by psychology student Kevin Redifer showed dozens of young people lining up outside one house party.

ASU also recently filed a lawsuit against an anonymous Instagram account, named "asu__covid.parties," saying it was missing the schools' name to spread "dangerous misinformation about COVID19." The Instagram account, which billed itself as an "event planner" who was "THROWING HUGE PARTIES AT ASU," has since been deleted, according to AZ Central.

But despite reports of multiple parties and gatherings near campus, school officials told AZ Central that it would not release data on COVID-19 cases, citing "privacy issues," so it's unclear if any students have tested positive for the virus.

—Kevin Redifer (@kevinredifer) August 23, 2020

Many schools across the US have kept up-to-date public data of how many students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19. The data has led some schools to temporarily close in-person classes, while other schools have quarantined hundreds of students.

ASU said on its website that instead of publishing data on COVID-19 cases, it is "assisting our student body and workforce on their own needs relative to the pandemic," and providing learning environments "in accordance with public health guidelines."

"We do not believe that publishing positive case counts contributes to that effort, because knowing how many cases may be present in our community at one time does not give members of our community useful information about whether they particularly may need to take extra precautions," the school said.

"The virus is present in Arizona and within the ASU community, and the ASU community itself is present in many different locations — not all students will be living on campus or even in Arizona, and both students and employees may study or work remotely for all or part of the upcoming semester, as their needs dictate."

The City of Tempe said in a news release on Monday that officers are regularly patrolling neighborhoods to break up any large gatherings.

"It is vital that college and university students in Tempe wear masks in public, avoid large groups and use physical distancing," Mayor Corey Woods said in the statement. "This is important for their own health and that of all our residents, as well as for the health of our local economy."

ASU did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.