Indoor masking strongly urged as COVID-19 cases continue to increase
COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force
What you need to know:
- Indoor masking strongly urged
- Daily symptom monitoring and weekly COVID-19 testing still required
- NEW: Twice-per-week COVID-19 testing for on-campus residential community on the Hill required
- To-go or outdoor dining options encouraged
Dear Bruin Community:
Over the past month, we have continued to see increasing new COVID-19 cases at UCLA. Weekly case numbers on campus have increased fivefold since Spring Break with 650 new cases reported last week. Cases in LA County, across the country and globally are also increasing. The U.S. mourned the one millionth death from COVID-19 this week.
Of particular note is the rise in BA2.12.1 variant cases, which according to current studies is approximately 20–30% more infectious than the original Omicron variant.
Indoor masking strongly urged
We strongly urge all UCLA students, faculty and staff to wear a well-fitting mask or respirator while indoors and in crowded outdoor settings, on and off campus. As previously mentioned, we must remain diligent so that positive case numbers do not impact in-person learning and end-of-academic-year events.
To make this easier for our campus community, we are continuing to supply students, faculty and staff with upgraded masks, which are free of charge, at the UCLA Emergency PPE Supply Store, the John Wooden Center, libraries, all residence hall front desks, and in Ackerman Union at the Level A information window (next to the post office) and various UCLA Store cash registers.
Daily symptom monitoring and weekly COVID-19 testing still required
We also remind you that daily symptom monitoring and weekly COVID-19 testing through our campus program will continue to be required until further notice.
NEW: Twice-per-week COVID-19 testing for on-campus residential students on the Hill is required
As an additional precaution, starting May 9, students living on the Hill will be required to complete COVID-19 surveillance testing twice per week until further notice. Tests continue to be available at all on-campus housing front desks and campus vending machines. See UCLA Community Screening Protocol (PDF) for details. Students in undergraduate housing will receive a separate communication with more details about this increased testing requirement.
To-go outdoor dining options encouraged
To reduce population density in indoor dining venues, we highly encourage students, faculty and staff to utilize to-go or outdoor dining options. All dining halls on the Hill will also offer the option of taking meals to go and students are encouraged to take advantage of these options.
Note:
Those who work in UCLA Health clinical areas (including medical, dental and nursing clinics) must follow the COVID-19 protocols for healthcare settings. However, those who work in both clinical and non-clinical settings must also comply with these campus protocols when outside of the healthcare environment.
UCLA PreK–12 facilities (including early care and education centers, UCLA Lab School and Geffen Academy) will continue to follow protocols that were communicated separately last week from the schools.
The Case Management Team continues to monitor COVID-19 developments in line with the LACDPH Post-Surge Plan and Early Alert Signals and associated impacts to UCLA. While our campus COVID-19 testing program and residential wastewater testing system have been tremendous assets in our ability to detect new cases, we must all still continue to work together as a community to mitigate the spread of infection.
Thank you for your support and cooperation.
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
