"Safer at Home" (than on campus)

Circulated by email very late last night:

To the Campus Community:

Today, Los Angeles County (PDF) and the City of Los Angeles (PDF), among other nearby jurisdictions, ordered all residents to stay home starting 11:59 p.m. tonight, March 19, through April 19, 2020, which are actions similar to those of other large metropolitan areas attempting to limit the spread of COVID-19. Educational institutions, like UCLA, are subject to these orders but are considered essential businesses. This means we will suspend all on-campus operations with the exception of those that are essential and cannot be conducted remotely, effective 11:59 p.m. on March 20, 2020.

We understand that each new announcement from campus leadership about the coronavirus creates new challenges for all of us. Your flexibility and commitment the past few weeks have been inspiring and our community is now called upon to comply with these orders.

During this time, campus will operate similar to winter closure, meaning that only a few core services will be operating. Here is a summary of those operations we have determined to be essential for purposes of complying, including those that will continue on campus at this time:

• Health care services and corresponding support. UCLA hospitals and clinics will remain open and fully operational; more information is available on UCLA Health’s website
• Classroom and laboratory instruction for remote learning will continue through the end of spring quarter. Deans and chairs will determine what on-campus essential support may be needed
• Student housing and dining services
• Building systems and custodial services, although at reduced levels
• Animal care or animal research
• Research laboratory safety
• Research approved by the vice chancellor for research
• Emergency response, such as police, fire, emergency medical services, and environment health and safety
• Emergency management
• Custodial services will continue to operate at reduced levels, but surfaces in common areas continue to be sanitized regularly
• Building systems
• IT services associated with onsite support of campus IT infrastructure and remote learning
• Human resources, finance and counseling services will continue, but primarily remotely
• The Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center will remain open for in-person services
• Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), although all services will be offered via telehealth. Students should call CAPS at 310-825-0768, 24/7, for assistance. No onsite services will be available at this time

This is not an exhaustive list. Further information regarding the status of essential administrative services will be distributed separately.

In an effort to help guide you through the weeks and possibly months ahead, below is a summary of decisions from our administration. We expect faculty, staff and students to comply with these emergency measures. Employees in the Health System are generally exempt from the restrictions below when providing health care services.

The current UCLA directives instruct that you should:

• Cease all in-person instruction. Remote teaching and learning will continue through the end of spring quarter without exceptions. Instructors and students should become familiar with academic continuity tools and faculty may join UCLA’s workshops for remote teaching and learning.

• Only stay in student housing if you need it. The county and city orders do not prevent students from moving out of campus housing to return to their permanent residence. However, students who need to stay in housing may be moved to a different building to support the needs of the community. As shared earlier, students who choose to move out of UCLA housing can obtain prorated relief from their housing contracts. Students should email UCLAhousing@housing.ucla.edu with any questions.

• Essential activities including traveling to return to your permanent place of residence is permitted.

• Only come to work if your supervisor has told you to do so to fulfill an essential function. You are allowed to come to work if you are supporting an essential operation on campus. If you do not think that you are supporting an essential operation, but are expected to report to work anyway, you can contact your department’s human resources representative to confirm whether your work is essential.

• Courtesy parking is available for employees and students who must come to campus during this period in order to reduce reliance on public transportation and avoid crowds. Log in to the Bruin ePermit portal to register your vehicle to park in select parking structures at no additional cost. Employees and students with parking permits will not be charged for parking during this period, even those using payroll deduction.

• Regularly visit UCLA’s COVID-19 webpage for resources about how to address mental and social wellbeing during this time. Students may also call or contact CAPS at 310-825-0768 24/7 for assistance. Staff and faculty may contact the Staff and Faculty Counseling Center.

• Contact UCLA’s student support line for general student support at 310-825-3894 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

• Send email to covid19@ucla.edu with any questions regarding UCLA’s response to COVID-19.

You should not do the following:

• Do not host any in-person UCLA events or gatherings of any size through the end of spring quarter.

• Do not come to work if you are sick. Students living on or off campus may contact the Ashe Center Infection Control Line at 310-206-6217 with questions about how to self-quarantine, for health monitoring or if they need other support. Faculty and staff who are sick should contact their health care providers. Please always call ahead before arriving. If you are ordered to self-isolate or to self-quarantine related to a COVID-19 exposure or diagnosis, notify UCLA Occupational Health Services at 310-267-3300.

• Do not come to work if you are on approved administrative or other approved leave.

• Do not come to work if you have been asked to work remotely. Some personnel assigned to essential roles that need to be conducted on campus will need to continue to work on campus, and leadership is working with supervisors to define and identify these roles and personnel. Note that students, including graduate students, cannot be mandated to serve as essential personnel.
  • We expect that supervisors will work with their staff to update business continuity plans. If employees, including student employees, are not required to work on campus, but cannot work from home due to the nature of their jobs, the UC Office of the President has developed expanded leave policies and employees should consult with their supervisors about use of these policies.
  • IT support services will be fully operational and faculty and staff who need assistance while working remotely should contact their local help desk per standard procedure. If you are not able to reach your departmental help desk, you may call the IT Services Support Center at (310) 267-HELP (4357).

• Do not come to work to engage in research, except to engage in ramp down, continuity or laboratory safety work. Essential experiments and essential research personnel may continue, but only with the approval of designated leadership within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR), the David Geffen School of Medicine, the Samueli School of Engineering and the UCLA College. The OVCR is issuing more specific guidelines for on-campus research, off-campus research and clinical research activities, which will be distributed separately.

• Do not come to work to take advantage of better internet connections or fewer distractions, except for classroom or laboratory instruction for remote teaching. We understand that it may be harder for some employees to conduct work from home. UCLA has procured IT equipment and portable internet hotspots to help faculty and staff work from home. Faculty and staff can address their needs with supervisors or department chairs.

• Do not come to work to retrieve items from your office or visit colleagues required to be on campus after Friday, March 20 at 11:59 p.m. Only come to campus if you have permission from your supervisor.

We want to assure each member of our Bruin community that we remain fully committed to all of you and your well-being. Additional updates will be communicated in future messages, and we are posting updates regularly on UCLA’s COVID-19 information page, Bruins Safe Online and UCLA’s Twitter feed.

Most importantly, please continue to be good to each other and yourselves. We will get through this together. We are all Bruins, now and always.

Sincerely,

Gene D. Block

Chancellor

Emily A. Carter

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

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Gov. Newsom's news conference announcing shelter-in-place can be seen below: [Starts at minute 1:25.]