Week 2 of winter quarter began Monday (Jan. 10) with UC Davis allowing some in-person instruction through Jan. 28 while taking other steps to help slow the spread of COVID-19, like increased testing for students and working with Yolo County Public Health to hold a booster shot clinic next week. The campus remains open, though many employees are working from home.

RELATED CONTENT

• Campus Ready’s Winter Quarter Guidance Update
• From UC Davis Health: 10 Things to Know About the Very Contagious Omicron Variant
• UC Davis LIVE: Pandemic Update (2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14)

Administrators urged students to stay on campus or in town, even if their classes are being taught remotely, so as not to risk contracting the virus elsewhere and coming back with it.

A check of the UC Davis COVID-19 Dashboard this morning (Jan. 11) showed the campus’s asymptomatic testing program detected 1,405 positive tests out of 30,815 tests administered between Jan. 2 and 10, for a positivity rate of 4.56%.

Most of the positive cases were among students: 1,230 out of 25,076 tests administered, for a positivity rate of 4.91%.

Monday, the campus implemented an every-seven-days testing requirement for students living in residence halls. The requirement will continue through Jan. 31 and may be extended depending on the number of cases and positivity rate over the next few weeks.

There are no changes to testing requirements for staff and faculty: If fully vaccinated, you must test every 14 days (although you are encouraged to get tested more often); if you are unvaccinated (with an approved exception), you must test every four days.

Booster shots

UC already requires staff, faculty and students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — meaning, one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines — and is now requiring booster shots as well for everyone who is eligible. You are eligible for a booster two months after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, five months after your second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. Note: Vaccination requirements do not apply to staff, faculty and students with approved exceptions.

The clinic on campus next week is aimed primarily at students, while staff and faculty are encouraged to see their health care providers for the vaccine, so as to help ensure appointments are available for students. Volunteers are needed to help run the clinic, with students and employees welcome to pitch in. Please contact Yolo County Public Health’s Julie Cross by email.

CLINIC JAN. 18-19

• The vaccination clinic will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 18 and 19.
• Appointments are available now in the state’s My Turn system. Note: This clinic is open to the general public, so, please, make your appointments now.
• When making appointments, look for the clinic site at 611 Hilgard Lane, which is the address for Parking Lot 1, behind the Gateway Parking Structure off Old Davis Road
• It is a “drive-through” clinic, but you are welcome to make it a “bike-through” or “walk-through” clinic.

 

Most of us have until Jan. 31 to ensure our booster shot information is in the Health-e-Messaging system. In many cases, our information will be loaded automatically, if we previously assented to allow the university to access our records in the state’s immunization database. Otherwise, you will need to upload your information (see instructions here). Also note: If you are not eligible for a booster shot until after Jan. 31, you will have 14 days from your date of eligibility to get your shot and upload the information into Health-e-Messaging.

Instruction

As in 2020-21, the School of Medicine, School of Nursing and School of Veterinary Medicine may continue in-person instruction for all courses deemed essential for clinical and nonclinical training.

For all other colleges and schools, all lectures are being held remotely through Jan. 28. For all other types of courses and nonlecture course components, instructors of record are encouraged to teach the following types of courses in person:

• Laboratory, fieldwork, capstone, studio, performance and other similar courses
• Undergraduate, graduate or professional-level courses that have a focus on experiential learning, interactive learning and/or hands-on learning
• Internships and field trips (with or without academic credit)

Library

Shields Library is open to UC Davis affiliates and the public, but with modified hours:

• Weekdays (except Jan. 17) — 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
• Saturday, Jan. 15 — 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Sunday, Jan. 16 — noon-6 p.m.
• Monday, Jan. 17 — noon-6 p.m. (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
• Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 22-23 and 29-30 — 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• 24-Hour Study Room — Open

Carlson Health Sciences Library is closed through Sunday, Jan. 30.

Check the library website for the latest information.

Activities and Recreation Center

As of Monday (Jan. 10), the ARC discontinued its reservation system, allowing access at any time to UC Davis students, faculty and staff for exercise and recreation. Access is restricted for all other membership eligibility groups until further notice.

Also as of Monday, the Rec Pool is open without reservations to UC Davis students, faculty and staff only. Hours of operation may need to be adjusted to accommodate reservation windows.

See complete ARC information here.

Events

The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts is proceeding with its 2021-22 season as planned, including performances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jan. 15; and the Circa Contemporary Circus, Jan. 28 (which also happens to be the Well-Being Ticket deal for January); and the Alexander String Quartet with Robert Greenberg, Jan. 30. The Department of Music, on the other hand, has canceled its Jan. 13 and 27 Noon Concerts.

Athletics will allow fans at competitions, including women’s basketball Jan. 15, 20 and 22, and men’s basketball Jan. 27 and 29. COVID-19 issues affecting CSU Bakersfield’s basketball programs have prompted the cancellation of their Jan. 13 games with the Aggies: the women’s game in Davis and men’s game in Bakersfield.

Housing

UC Davis has designated more than 250 campus beds for isolation purposes. As of Monday afternoon, when the COVID-19 Dashboard was last updated, 59 percent were in use.

With the start of the New Year and the anticipated increase in cases among students, the campus decided to use these spaces for residence hall students who are living in high-density housing, said Michael Sheehan, associate vice chancellor for Housing, Dining and Divisional Operations in Student Affairs. This shift in use of isolation housing is temporary, and it will be offered again to all students once the case rates decrease.

Any student who tests positive for COVID-19 and lives in an apartment — on or off campus — is being asked, if possible, to isolate in a room of their apartment. As an additional resource, the university is developing a program through Aggie Compass to provide temporary hotel accommodations for roommates of students who test positive for COVID-19 and may not be able to stay separated in their apartment. Students can contact Aggie Compass by email if they think they may need this housing support.

Sheehan said student housing is also taking other measures to be prepared for an increased need for isolation space, if necessary.

Food and coffee

Almost all Dining Services locations are open: Silo Market; Latitude Restaurant and Market; Spokes Grill (Silo); Peet’s Coffee at the Silo, King Hall and Activities and Recreation Center; Scrubs Café (Health Sciences District); Sage Street Market Café (UC Davis West Village); and the Segundo, Tercero and Cuarto dining commons and markets. See hours here.

The dining commons, including Latitude, are providing “to-go” meals upon request. This program will run through the end of January.

The Coffee House has extended its winter closure through the end of the month.

Unitrans

Based on staffing challenges and remote instruction, Unitrans is operating on a break schedule through Jan. 28.