Not Sure that "Riven" In Today's LA Times Headline Is the Right Word...

 ...at least at UCLA. Indeed, the Bruin carries an article about concerns about testing at various UC campuses, basically focused on inadequacies. But after focusing on other UC campuses, we read:

UCLA and UC San Diego are among the UC campuses with greater COVID-19 testing resources. In January 2021, UCSD became the first UC school to introduce vending machines stocked with free COVID-19 testing kits, according to ABC News.

UCLA followed suit in July and now has 13 COVID-19 vending machines on its campus, according to a university press release. The university offers students two free test kits a week from the vending machines, according to the press release.

However, UCLA students still faced a shortage of tests at the beginning of the quarter.

Nina Do, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said she visited campus in the beginning of winter quarter to take a COVID-19 test. However, Do said she was unable to find a stocked vending machine when she visited campus in the late afternoon.

“I think it’s an algorithm – you have to play it by what you think the (restocking) schedule is like,” Do said.

According to an emailed statement from UCLA spokesperson Bill Kisliuk, UCLA’s demand for COVID-19 tests has more than doubled since the start of winter quarter. The university now averages 30,000 PCR tests per week, Kisliuk added.

Despite her difficulties, Do said she appreciates the convenience of UCLA’s vending machines, adding that the challenge of finding stocked machines has decreased in recent weeks...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2022/01/30/uc-campuses-provide-varying-levels-of-covid-19-testing-access-to-community-members.

Yours truly can report on his own experience, so far. To come in on Sunday, I first tested at home using a rapid test and got authorization to come on campus. I stopped by a vending machine and acquired the required test that uses saliva rather than a nose swab. There is a web app that goes along with first using the test which is not perfect. At least on my iPhone, there were ads that popped up making it difficult to click on some steps. But it was doable. An email came back indicating I had properly registered. 

My own class uses many guest speakers and it appears that the coronavirus rules for guest speakers are sufficiently complicated and time-consuming that it is impractical to bring them on campus. So they will be Zoomed into the classroom. (The reason I went in on Sunday was to test out using Zoom in that classroom including getting the image on the classroom screen.)

Although there have been demands for some kind of hybrid instruction where some students could continue on Zoom while others were in the classroom, without installation of cameras and mikes that operate automatically in every room, there is no simple way to do it. Most classrooms are not so-equipped or, if they are, would require disruptive instructor attention to make sure everything was operating properly, etc.