UPDATED: Every-14-Day Testing Requirement Revised

Returning to Campus: A Quick Reference Guide

  • by Dateline Staff
News
People take COVID-19 tests at the ARC.
Asymptomatic testing at the Activities and Recreation Center. “Testing” section in the Quick Reference Guide below indicates new guidance is coming shortly for fully vaccinated employees and students who do not access campus regularly. (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis)

 

INDEX

Updated 5 p.m. Sept. 15: The every-14-day testing requirement for fully vaccinated employees and students has been revised, so that it now applies only if your normal schedule requires you to be on campus at least once per week. If you are on campus less than that, you must get tested prior to accessing university facilities, either on the day of your visit or up to 14 days prior. See “Testing” section.

While some staff members never left campus during the pandemic, many others have recently returned or will soon return for the first time in a year and a half. Faculty members are coming back after four quarters and two summers of remote teaching.

VACCINATION RATES

Davis campus (Sept. 13):

  • Employees — 90%
  • Students — 95%
  • Combined — 93%

UC Davis Health (Sept. 13):

  • Combined — 92%

“Some people may be excited to reengage with co-workers and students, while others may have concerns about commuting again, and some have worries about COVID safety,” said Rob Starkey, a clinical psychologist who is the director of the Academic and Staff Assistance Program, or ASAP, on the Davis campus. “There are also many people who are feeling a tremendous amount of anxiety about returning to the office in-person.

“These fears are real,” he said. “Adapting to this new normal is going to be a process.”

Campus leaders are confident in the policies UC Davis has in place to keep the coronavirus in check.

“We have said many times that we have science on our side,” Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan said in a fall update Friday (Sept. 10). “We would add that circumstances are very different than they were a year ago, when we decided to operate remotely. Vaccines are available and effective. We have mask and vaccine mandates. We have free testing for all members of our campus, our community, and our loved ones. We have effective contact tracing and other infection surveillance strategies, such as wastewater monitoring.”

Below you will find a quick reference guide to various sections of the Campus Ready website to help with your return to campus, along with information from other sources, including Transportation Services (about parking) and Athletics (about the Saturday football game).

‘Focus on patience’

In addition to fears about COVID-19, Starkey said, people may experience uncertainty about how to navigate relationships with co-workers and the personal boundaries of others when it comes to safety.

Rob Starkey headshot
Rob Starkey

“These fears and the resulting anxiety will likely be experienced differently by different people. Some people will adapt easily and the anxiety may dissipate quickly as they get into a routine. Other people may feel it pervasively over time or it may ebb and flow depending on the situations that they are in or their own state of mind.

“Now more than ever is the time to focus on patience, grace and understanding for yourself and others while recognizing that these qualities may be particularly difficult to summon at this time.”

If you are having difficulty with the anxiety of returning to work and/or conflict with co-workers as you adapt to new routines or anything else causing psychological distress, please contact ASAP: 530-752-2727.

Vaccinations

Required for all Davis campus staff, faculty and students, per UC-wide mandate. The university has sent first notices of noncompliance to employees and students who did not meet the Sept. 8 deadline. To comply, you must be fully vaccinated and have reported your status to the university; or you must have applied for an exception (medical, disability or religious) or deferral (pregnancy).

Testing

  • Unvaccinated employees and students (with pending or approved exceptions or deferrals from the vaccine policy) — Testing required at least every four days regardless of when you access university-controlled facilities.
  • UPDATED: Fully vaccinated employees and students — The every-14-day-testing requirement (starting Sept. 20) has been revised. It's still every 14 days, and it still starts Sept. 20, but it now applies only if your normal schedule requires you to be on campus at least once per week. (If this applies to you, the 14-day clock starts Sept. 20, so you would have until Oct. 3 to be tested.) Here’s the rest of the update: Fully vaccinated employees or students who are on campus less than that (because of a flexible work agreement or remote class schedule) must get tested prior to accessing university facilities, either on the same day of your visit or up to 14 days prior.

UC Davis offers free, asymptomatic testing on the Davis and Sacramento campuses:

Employees and students can get tested elsewhere, say, at Healthy Davis Together, but they will need to upload their results into Health-e-Messaging.

Watch for updates on the Campus Ready website.

Mandatory reporting

All employees and students are required to report to the university if they:

  • Receive a positive COVID-19 test result or are diagnosed with COVID-19 by an outside/community physician.
  • Are advised that they have been identified as a close contact to someone diagnosed with COVID-19 within the past 10 days. Such notice would come from an outside/community case investigator.

Also see Public Health Policies and Requirements on the Campus Ready website.

Campus response

Why wasn't I notified? If you are not a close contact, a supervisor or otherwise potentially affected by a CDC-defined facility exposure, then this information can infringe on the privacy of the infected individual, and there is nothing actionable about having that information

Face coverings

  • Unvaccinated people (with pending or approved exceptions or deferrals from the vaccine policy) —  Face coverings required at all times indoors, on mass transit and outdoors in crowded settings.
  • Fully vaccinated people — Face coverings required at all times indoors and on mass transit.

Two exceptions allow you to unmask indoors:

  • While actively eating or drinking in a designated area (look for signs) or cubicle (provided the cubicle has walls at least higher than the top of the head while seated).
  • While alone in an enclosed office.

See Public Health Policies and Requirements on the Campus Ready website. See below for face covering protocols for Aggie football at UC Davis Health Stadium.

Daily Symptom Survey

Survey yourself daily for new symptoms and stay home if you have them. The survey is a requirement for everyone — students, employees, visitors — at all UC Davis-operated facilities anywhere in California and serves as a reminder to pay attention to your symptoms. Each day, keep your survey email handy, on your phone, to show every time you enter a facility.

University officials may request to see your Daily Symptom Survey email to verify that you are compliant with campus policy and permitted to access university facilities and programs. The webpage includes “Instructor options for reviewing DSS results.”

Webinars

“Back to School, Parenting and the Pandemic Age” — Presented by Allison King, a licensed clinical social worker who manages the Behavioral Health Clinical Program for Health Net’s UC Blue & Gold medical plan.

  • Noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23
  • The webinar will be recorded.
  • Register here.

“Flexible Work Planning With Health and Safety Update” — This webinar was held earlier today (Sept. 14). See the PowerPoint slides here and look for the video recording Wednesday (Sept. 15).

Aggie Info and Help Line

  • A resource for students — something for faculty and staff to keep in mind, where they can direct students with their COVID-19-related questions. Students can call 530-752-4636 or submit questions via the website.

Instructor accommodations

Campus Ready guidance has been updated to reflect new flexibility for instructors and teaching assistants in the event they are required to isolate after contracting COVID-19, are required to quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 or need to care for family members due to COVID-19 infection or exposure — in which case they can temporarily teach remotely, as announced in a memo last week from the chair of the Academic Senate and the provost’s fall update.

See Information for Classroom Instruction on the Campus Ready website.

Parking

If you have not been to campus in a while, be aware: There’s a whole new way to pay for parking. By using the ParkMobile app, you will pay a daily rate — and, if you park on campus only a few days a week, you will pay less per month than what you would pay for a monthly permit. The daily rates are $3.60 for an A space, $3 for a C space, $2 for an L or M (motorcycle) space, and $3.50 for an electric vehicle space (including four hours of charging).

  • Download the ParkMobile app.
  • Set up your profile (including contact information, vehicle license and payment information). Be sure to use your @ucdavis.edu email address to qualify for affiliate rates.
  • When you park, look for signs with the ParkMobile zone number, because you will need to insert that number when using the app.

Don’t have a smartphone or don’t have the app? Use a desktop or other computer to set up your account, then log in daily to activate payment. Or set up your account, then call ParkMobile to pay for parking: 877-727-5718. You can also pay at ParkMobile kiosks, but you will pay visitor rates ($1.50-$3 per hour, or $12 for a daily permit).

Need to move your car during the day? No problem. If you paid for an A daily permit, you can park anywhere else on campus (A, C or L spaces); if you paid for a C daily permit, you can park in another C space or an L space; and if you paid for an L daily permit, you can park in another L space. If you’re moving your car out of an electric vehicle charging space, you may repark in a C or L space. If you are moving from a time-limited space (say, where a parking meter used to be), you must pay for a new permit if you repark in an A, C, L or M space.

If you park on campus daily and wish to pay by the month, Transportation Services offers the Level Rate Parking Program (monthly permits for A, C or L spaces).

See below for football parking information.

Football protocols

Aggie Athletics announced COVID-19 protocols under which attendance at UC Davis Health Stadium will be limited to fewer than 10,000. In addition, face coverings are:

  • Required for anyone who is unvaccinated, unless actively eating or drinking.
  • Encouraged for everyone when social distancing is not possible.
  • Required for everyone indoors (restrooms).

Also, all indoor spaces, except restrooms, are closed to the public, and the consumption of food and drinks is allowed outdoors only.

Parking: Fans are advised to pay in advance via the ParkMobile app.

Note: All tickets for the home opener this Saturday (Sept. 18) have been sold or reserved for students.

Healthy UC Davis resources

Healthy UC Davis has prepared three guides, one for academics and staff, one for graduate and professional program students, and one for undergraduates. Academics and staff will find resources for the following:

  • Feeling anxious?
  • Hesitant or nervous about the vaccine?
  • Do you want to talk to someone? (It could be professional or personal.)
  • Want to improve your work-from-home set-up or routine?
  • Need help handling pressures from remote teaching?
  • Looking for ways to stay active?
  • Facing child care challenges?

FROM UC DAVIS HEALTH

 
Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.

Primary Category

University

Secondary Categories

Dateline

Tags

Coronavirus Campus ready