Dear Pacific students and employees,

We hope you are having a safe and relaxing winter break. As we prepare for the spring academic terms, we want to provide an update on our response to COVID-19 and the omicron variant.

University leadership and the COVID-19 Council have continued to closely monitor the spread of the omicron variant. To protect the health and safety of our communities while continuing to prioritize and support our students’ education, we are implementing the following effective Tuesday, January 4, 2022 (Jan. 3 is a university holiday):

For all academic programs:

• At this time, we are planning on all instruction to be in person starting Jan. 18, although we will continue to monitor COVID-19 positivity rates and may need to push back that date.
• For programs that begin before Jan. 18, most—but not all—instruction will be remote. See in-person exceptions listed below.
• All administrative offices on all three campuses will reopen as scheduled on Jan. 4.
• Stockton and Sacramento campus libraries will be open starting Jan. 4.
• Residence halls and dining services will reopen as previously scheduled.

We continue to closely monitor the rise of the omicron variant and will provide updates as we get closer to the Jan. 18 return date.

For the first two weeks of the term, starting Jan. 4, at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, McGeorge School of Law, School of Health Sciences and Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy:

• Clinical operations and simulation labs for health care providers and patient care will continue in person and continue to follow COVID-19 protocols.
• Clinical operations for McGeorge legal clinics will continue in person and continue to follow COVID-19 protocols. 
• All other instruction will be remote from Jan. 4–15 with the anticipation that we will return to campus as scheduled on Jan. 18.

Returning to campus/working remotely:

• We will stagger employees’ return to campus in order to best serve our students. Some will return Jan. 4 and others will work remotely and return at a later date to be determined. Look for follow-up communications from the university and your supervisor.

Required boosters, masking and social distancing:

• As we communicated last week, Pacific is requiring all eligible students, faculty, staff and other members of the Pacific community to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster. Find your nearest location. We are planning campus vaccination clinics later this month and will provide details when they are scheduled.
• Wearing masks indoors and maintaining social distance will continue to be required per university protocols.

Required testing:

• All students, faculty and staff will be required to be tested on campus when they return and before they can attend classes on campus or work on campus.
• To maintain data integrity and allow us to track completion of testing requirements, we will not accept test results from other providers.
• Initial return to campus testing will be staggered for students and employees. Pacific uses rapid tests and results will be available within approximately 15 minutes.
• We will prioritize testing for those students and employees who are required to return on Jan. 4: students engaged in clinical operations and enrolled in simulation labs for health care providers and employees who are required to be at work on January 4. These groups will receive more information on recommended times to report for testing.
• If you are not required to be on-campus on January 4, please do not visit the testing sites so we can prioritize access to testing for those who have the earlier return dates.
• Testing will be available on all three campuses:
  • Stockton Campus: testing will be at the Tri-Delta House Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–6 p.m., beginning Jan. 4. Expanded Saturday hours will be announced soon.
  • Sacramento Campus: testing will be available Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., beginning Jan. 4. Location and expanded Saturday hours will be announced soon.
  • San Francisco Campus: you will receive separate instructions regarding testing.
• If you test negative, you are expected to return to campus as scheduled.
• If you test positive:
  • Following CDC and state public health guidelines, you will be required to isolate for five days. If, after five days, you have a negative test and are symptom-free, you are expected to return to campus as scheduled. You must have negative test results before returning to campus.
• After your initial return test, you will be required to be tested on campus weekly while the omicron variant continues to spread through our three campus counties. We will communicate further about ongoing testing requirements.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we plan for a safe start to 2022. Thank you for your commitment to keeping our Pacific community healthy.

If you have further questions, please email Pacific’s COVID-19 Council at COVID-19_information@pacific.edu.

Sincerely,

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

Maria Blandizzi
Vice President for Student Life
COVID-19 Council Co-chair