The campus community’s response to the CZU Lightning Fire demonstrated how our individual actions collectively enable us to accomplish a monumental task to support the health and safety of the Banana Slug community. Individuals from units across campus worked to facilitate evacuations, set up evacuation and emergency housing sites, and support those who were impacted by the fire.. This all took place in the midst of a pandemic. Generosity, teamwork, and compassion were hallmarks throughout.
As we approach the fall quarter, these same attributes are needed as we support the overall health of our campus community and limit the spread of COVID-19.
Today, we want to share information about a new interim policy that codifies the practices we have adopted over the past several months.
The Interim Public Health Policy applies to everyone in our UC Santa Cruz community including anyone who visits, works, lives or otherwise engages on any UCSC owned or leased property. The entire policy can be reviewed online.
This policy is effective immediately and everyone is expected to adhere to the policy and join in the shared social responsibility to support the health and wellbeing of our community. This policy will be retired when COVID related mitigations are no longer required.
Because of the public health risks of COVID-19 spread on our campus and in the greater Santa Cruz Community, we must all do our part to limit the spread. Our campus approach to gaining community participation in helping to stop the spread will continue to emphasize education, engagement and when appropriate, enforcement. This policy serves as the foundation for these community expectations. When community members are not willing to align with the standards outlined in the policy, consequences up to and including possible loss of access to the campus, employment impacts or impacts to student status may result.
We ask all members of the UCSC community to:
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Comply with the policy
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Encourage all students, academic employees, staff, visitors and vendors to comply with the policy
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Actively participate in all mitigation efforts that are established for the campus and in support of minimizing infectious spread of COVID-19, including but not limited to:
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Maintaining physical distance requirements
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Wearing face coverings
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Practicing consistent physical hygiene (i.e., frequent hand washing)
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Participating in daily symptom check processes
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Participating in testing programs as required
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Participating in contact tracing programs as required
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Participating in sequestration/quarantine programs as required
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Flu vaccination per UC policy
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We developed our approach based on input from campus experts, best practices, and guidelines and requirements outlined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), California Department of Public Health (CDPH), University of California Testing and Tracing Task Force, UC Consensus Standards for Operation, and the Santa Cruz County Public Health Department.
Managers and supervisors should communicate the new policy to those for whom they have supervisory responsibility and ensure compliance. Instances of non-compliance may be reported through the COVID-19 Physical Mitigation Reporting Form.
More information about COVID-19 and the campus recovery efforts is available online.
Finally, we want to commend the entire UCSC community for the responsible efforts that everyone has been making since March 2020 to support the public health of our community. We thank you for supporting this interim public health policy that will require all of us to continue to work together to support the health of all. We must continue our vigilance and be invested in containing the spread of COVID-19.
