Due to COVID-19 case numbers rising once more, California State University of Monterey Bay (CSUMB) has increased precautions in order to ensure the safety of all faculty and students.
As seen over the past two years, this virus has fluctuated, and as the spread rises again, so do the mandated rules to help prevent it from causing any more damage.
“The evidence shows that vaccination plus boosters more effectively limits symptoms of Omicron infection to mild levels or none, and more effectively prevents serious illness and hospitalization than vaccines alone,” said CSUMB President Eduardo Ochoa.
Taking this information into account, the school has ensured every student gets their booster along with wearing N95 or KN95 masks in all indoor spaces.
“I think it will be important for faculty to be flexible with students and encourage them to stay away from campus if they are not feeling well,” said HCOM professor Patrick Belanger.
“I appreciate the campus-wide vaccination requirement, that there are N95 masks available on campus, and also the existence of on-site rapid-testing,” Belanger said. “If it becomes possible, it would be ideal if this rapid testing becomes available to the families of students, staff, and faculty.”
Even though the campus has gone back to total capacity, there are still certain things they haven’t let return, causing some students to question why they’re not letting these activities come back completely.
“I think they’re doing a reasonable enough job; I am somewhat confused as a student that there are certain restrictions on things like recreational life,” said Cecilia Colchico, a third-year student at CSUMB.
“We’re not allowed to do things like play open gym basketball during certain times of the day, so their hours are limited right now, yet we’re in full 100% capacity classes, so something like that doesn’t necessarily make sense to me,” Colchico said.
“There is wide variation across the country, from full face-to-face instruction with no vaccination or masking requirements to fully virtual instruction. Across this wide spectrum, CSUMB is on the strong end, with mandatory vaccination plus boosting, expectations of N95 or comparable masking, and weekly testing of unboosted individuals,” Ochoa said.
As the spread of COVID grows, so do the defense mechanisms CSUMB is making a priority to guarantee the rise of Omicron doesn’t strike the majority of individuals on campus.