A look back at a remarkable quarter
COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force
Dear Bruin Community:
This year will stand out as one in which immeasurable amounts of expertise, care and cooperation were invested not only in keeping our community healthy, but also in bringing our Bruins home to UCLA after so many months spent working and learning remotely.
With just a few days until we close for the winter holidays, we reflect on the strides that our community has made in responding to the pandemic this year. We are pleased to share that more than 90% of UCLA students, faculty and staff are now fully vaccinated. During the fall quarter, UCLA averaged approximately 39 new cases per week among campus faculty, staff and students, which was significantly lower than what we anticipated and prepared for. There were no documented cases of transmission within a university classroom. We attribute these better-than-expected outcomes to Bruins’ belief in their collective responsibility to one another, and to the mitigation efforts we have all undertaken to keep our communities safer.
We are grateful to the campus community for their trust in and support of the COVID-19 guidance and protocols issued throughout the pandemic.
We would also like to thank the members of the Response and Recovery Task Force and its working groups, including representatives from UCLA Health, the Fielding School of Public Health and other units across campus. Collectively, they have helped UCLA navigate all facets of case management, education and operational response in partnership with state and local public health authorities.
Although this calendar year will soon be behind us, the COVID-19 pandemic is not. 2022 will undoubtedly bring some adjustments and changes to the way we do things in our day-to-day lives — hopefully in a manner that allows us to ease restrictions. But until then, we will continue to do everything we need to do to limit the spread of COVID-19 and keep our safety, and that of our friends, family, neighbors and community members, clear in our sights.
Thank you again for your continued cooperation and understanding with campus COVID-19 mitigations. Have a wonderful holiday break and we will see you again in 2022!
Sincerely,
Michael J. Beck
Administrative Vice Chancellor
Co-chair, COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force
Megan McEvoy
Professor, Institute for Society and Genetics,
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics
Co-chair, COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force
