January 11, 2021

Dear Pacificans,

Welcome back! We hope you had an enjoyable winter break.

Stay-at-home orders based on ICU capacities in our three county regions require us to remain in a mostly remote teaching and learning environment, keeping a steadfast focus on the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff and community. We begin 2021 with hope as COVID-19 vaccine distribution is underway across our nation and we eagerly look forward to when we can return to our campuses.

Many faculty, staff and administrators continue to work on our response to COVID-19:

Pacific’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory and Implementation Team
A new cross-departmental COVID-19 Scientific Advisory and Implementation Team (CSAIT) has been formed to focus on operational planning and implementation on the Stockton and Sacramento campuses. (The San Francisco Campus has different health and safety requirements.)

The CSAIT is the expansion of a Scientific Advisory Committee that was created last fall to assist Pacific’s COVID-19 Council by implementing strategies and protocols such as testing and contact tracing. Committee members worked to operationalize the health and safety plan, determined testing strategies, selected testing vendors, and developed the university’s health screening app, COVID-19 dashboard and COVID-19 website. The CSAIT will also be involved in planning for vaccine distribution.

The COVID-19 Council, which was formed last year and includes a representative from each campus, developed the philosophy, principles and practices the university uses to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infection and to support the health and safety of our university community as reflected in Pacific’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Plan. The council members are:

  • Nicoleta Bugnariu, Dean, School of Health Sciences
  • Dayna Cerruti-Barbero, Director, Student Health Services
  • Eve Cuny, Executive Associate Dean, Dugoni School of Dentistry
  • Roberta Martoza, Director, Enterprise Risk Management Operations
  • Maria Pallavicini, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chair

Council members continue to ensure that the health and safety plan is current and aligned with rapidly changing public health guidelines from national, state and county agencies. Members serve as the liaison with county public health services.

COVID-19 Updates
In addition to the work listed above, efforts to date include:

  • An updated COVID-19 Health and Safety Plan for the Stockton and Sacramento campuses. Since patient care is performed on the San Francisco Campus, there is a separate health and safety plan and other supporting documents specific to those programs (Pacific login required).
  • New testing protocols that go into effect this month. Testing requirements differ between campuses and whether you are on campus regularly or not.
  • Integrated software services to monitor COVID-19 cases while maintaining data security and privacy. Positive cases are reported daily on the new dashboard.
  • Updated Stockton and Sacramento campus requirements for visiting, working or living on campus and a new protocol for contractors, consultants and vendors.
  • COVID-19 general exposure advisories emailed to the campus community when there is a positive case reported on campus. (These are required by California law.)

Reminders for students, faculty and staff on campus or visiting regularly
The best way to stay healthy and to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is to limit in-person contact. Only students living on campus or permitted to visit for school and employees deemed essential or permitted to visit should be on campus. Students and employees on campus are required to follow Pacific’s health and safety protocols:

  • Complete the online health and safety training course:
    • Stockton and Sacramento campuses: Your Campus and COVID-19: The Road Back (use your Pacific email address and Welcome1! as the initial password; you will be prompted to change your password).
    • San Francisco Campus: COVID-19 Safety Training in Canvas (Pacific login required).
  • Complete a health screening:
    • Online: Stockton/Sacramento | San Francisco (Pacific login required)
    • Mobile apps: Apple Store | Google Play
  • Maintain social distancing
  • Wear a mask/face covering
  • Follow healthy hygiene practices, including frequent hand washing.

I encourage you to regularly visit the COVID-19 website for updates and resources. Thank you to members of the COVID-19 Council, the CSAIT and to the Pacific community for supporting a safe and healthy environment.

Sincerely,

Maria Pallavicini
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
COVID-19 Council Chair

COVID-19 Council:
Nicoleta Bugnariu
Dean, School of Health Sciences

Dayna Cerruti-Barbero
Director, Student Health Services

Eve Cuny
Executive Associate Dean, Dugoni School of Dentistry

Roberta Martoza
Director, Enterprise Risk Management Operations