Things to Come at UCLA?

USC - already in its fall semester - ended up operating much as UCLA will operate in the fall (late September) with almost all courses online and few in the dorms. The issue for both universities is that there will be students in the local area surrounding the campus, even if not in the dorms.

From the LA Times: Just one week into fall semester, USC is reporting “an alarming increase” in the number of COVID-19 cases in students among the campus community, according to a Student Health notice sent out Monday.

In the past seven days 43 cases have been identified and more than 100 students placed in a 14-day quarantine due to exposures, the memorandum from Dr. Sarah Van Orman, chief health officer for USC Student Health, said.

The university is testing students who are symptomatic and those who have had contact with positive individuals, as well as some asymptomatic students. All of the positive cases were related to students living off campus, the statement said.

“This increase comes despite the continued state and county health guidance that significantly restricts in-person instruction and on-campus activities for universities located in counties that are on the state’s COVID-19 monitoring list, including Los Angeles County,” Van Orman wrote.

USC resumed instruction almost entirely online Aug. 17 and is limiting access to campus. But many students remain in private apartments and houses off campus, where they have reported some parties and gatherings of people from different households, a situation one public heath expert called a “recipe for disaster.” ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-24/usc-increase-in-covid-19-cases