Quarantine worries as UCLA goes back to in-person classes

From the Bruin: Many students are raising concerns over the conditions in university isolation housing for students who test positive for COVID-19.

The UCLA isolation dorms are a subsection of housing intended to separate students who tested positive for COVID-19.

According to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, COVID-19 positive individuals presenting symptoms and/or a fever must quarantine for 10 days, while asymptomatic people only have to quarantine for five days. However, many COVID-19 positive students were unclear about how this impacted their time in the UCLA isolation dorms.

An email sent to students in isolation stated that if students are asymptomatic, they are able to leave isolation on the fifth day to take a COVID-19 test in the UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center. If that test comes back negative, they are allowed to leave isolation

However, Nina Knitowski, a first-year pre-human biology and society student, said she was unsure of what to expect when she first entered isolation. When she checked into her isolation room, she received a text saying to prepare for 10 days, although it added she may be released in a shorter time frame.

“The CDC changed (it) to five days and I didn’t know what 10 days meant, like from my positive test or … from when I had my first symptoms,” Knitowski said. “They ended up sending a second email, saying they’re doing an honor system where it’s 10 days from your symptoms or 10 days from your positive test.”

Another common concern in the isolation dorms are roommates.

In an email to The Bruin on Jan. 21, UCLA spokesperson Bill Kisliuk said the university is currently placing students in single occupancy housing, however, if needed, UCLA would quarantine multiple COVID-19 positive students in one room.

Scott Anglim, a third-year political science transfer student, said he had a roommate who tested negative for COVID-19 in isolation with him. However, UCLA’s Isolation and Quarantine Policy states fully vaccinated UCLA community members who come in contact with COVID-19 positive individuals do not need to isolate.

Anglim said his roommate in isolation housing was in close contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 and that his roommate in quarantine continued to test negative...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2022/01/27/ucla-students-voice-concerns-about-conditions-in-university-isolation-housing.