Extension of Stay at Home Order
Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,
Happy New Year. We hope you are safe and well, and thank you for your continued hard work under such challenging conditions.
As you are likely aware, the COVID-19 situation in our area and our campus continues to pose serious challenges. The state stay at home order in our region has been extended due to the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, which has led to a severe shortage of ICU bed capacity and a serious strain on our local health-care system. Here on our campus, testing this week has turned up what seems to be an uptick in positive cases among our off-campus students—31 positive cases from this Monday alone (almost as many positives as occurred during all of last week’s Entry Testing of more than 1700 tests). We are expanding our communications outreach to students to address this.
Amid all this, we want to update you with some information about testing for those approved to access campus to perform essential activities, and reminders about campus access and health directives we must follow.
Testing
Each person approved by their unit for campus access this quarter to perform essential activities has been assigned to a Testing Tier which determines their testing frequency. If you have questions about what Testing Tier you belong to, please contact your unit head or Sean Collins.
SCU has created a new testing hour (9 a.m. to 10 a.m.) for faculty, staff, or students at higher COVID risk due to age or other conditions. This does not preclude faculty or staff from being tested during normal clinic hours, but if you want a lower density testing time it will be available Monday through Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Please also note that the clinic is now being closed for cleaning mid-day daily from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
COVID TESTING
Monday - Wednesday*
Benson Center, Williman Room
*CLOSED Monday, Jan. 18 for MLK Holiday.
Lucas Hall Room 125 (testing at this location begins Week 4)
Locatelli Student Activity Center (testing at this location subject to demand. Please go to Williman Room until further notice).
9 a.m. - 10 a.m. Dedicated time for higher risk faculty/staff/students
10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Regular testing hours
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Testing clinic closed for cleaning
1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Regular testing hours
Please note:
- SCU on-campus testing is only for asymptomatic individuals. Do not come to testing clinics if you are experiencing symptoms. Call your personal health provider instead - they will be able to provide you with both testing and critical information to take care of yourself, whether you have COVID or not.
- Remember not to drink (even water), eat, smoke, or brush teeth for 1 hour before saliva testing. Otherwise results will likely be invalid, and you will have to re-test.
- If you have tested positive and recovered, please wait 90 days after your positive test before coming to the clinic for your next test. (You will likely continue to test positive for the virus for weeks or months after the infection has cleared, even though you are very unlikely to be able to infect others once your isolation period is over.)
Stay at Home Order
California’s stay at home order, which applies region by region, has been extended indefinitely in our Bay Area region. ICU bed capacity in our county recently was about 5%. The order will be lifted once the four-week projection for ICU bed capacity is above 15% for our region. The county noted we are likely to be under the order “for some time.”
This means that campus remains largely closed for all but essential workers, as the stay-at-home order requires all non-essential campus operations and activities to cease for the duration of the order. Please re-commit to remote work and do not come to campus if your work can be done at home. As in November, no new requests for on-campus essential access will be made until further notice.
Essential Access
Those approved for campus access this quarter should display an essential access winter quarter sticker on their SCU Access Card. Details on how to obtain winter quarter essential access stickers have been communicated to those approved. If you have any questions, please contact Sean Collins. Please abide by all SCU COVID-19 health and safety protocols when coming to campus and complete a daily symptom check using the SCU symptom screening tool.
Additionally, essential workers who are in buildings are not allowed, under county health rules, to eat in break rooms (even by yourself). Please use break rooms only to quickly grab or prepare food and eat separately. This is for the safety of you and your colleagues.
Finally, other public health orders also continue to apply locally, including Santa Clara County’s 10-day travel quarantine requirement for those traveling from more than 150 miles away to our region.
Thank you for your continued diligence and flexibility as we navigate what we hope is the final leg of this pandemic.
Sean Collins, MSPH
Director, Environment, Health & Safety
COVID-19 Operations Team
Katherine Saxton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biology Department and Public Health Program
COVID-19 Health Ambassador, COVID-19 Operations Team
Craig Stephens, Ph.D.
Sanfilippo Professor, Biology Department and Public Health Program
Testing Team Lead, COVID-19 Operations Team