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Re: Do Your Part Weekly Recap: Campus Access Health Screening
To: All staff and faculty
Sept. 4, 2020
 
Dear Campus Colleagues,
 
Merced County continues to be challenged by the pandemic, and we continue to hew to the strictest protocols for reopening to mitigate risk to the greatest extent possible for our campus and our community.
 
Remote classes began this week, with several hundred students in residence. Our testing regime remains in operations, with more than 600 tests administered and only four positive cases to date — all asymptomatic. In the very near future UC Merced will post a dashboard, updated weekly, of tests administered and any positive cases.
 
Castle Family Health Center began on-campus testing for faculty and staff today, by appointment, and employees can always go directly to Castle in Atwater for testing. Student Health Services continues to test all graduate and undergraduate students on campus. As a reminder: students and employees will be required to take two initial tests, with the second test being required no later than 14 days after the first test; thereafter, individuals on campus will be tested randomly through Thanksgiving.
 
Another of our protocols, following state guidelines, is strictly limiting visitors to campus. Beginning Tuesday, there will be one vehicular path into campus, at the Bellevue entrance. Access to parking on campus, beyond Bellevue Lot, will be through Loop Road.

Upon entry, everyone will be driving through a COVID-19 symptom screening checkpoint. Individuals who are already using the campus health screening app/email and are able to display a green screen with the correct correlating date will be waived through the screening checkpoint.
 
Those who are not using the health screening app/email will be directed through one of several screening rows in the Bellevue parking lot. Drivers and passengers MUST remain in their vehicle; screeners will ask all occupants about symptoms and check their temperatures. Those who are symptom-free will be allowed onto campus.
 
We encourage everyone to use the health app/email to expedite this process and avoid the longer screening queues.
 
Finally: We are all in this together — the campus and our broader community. COVID-19 recognizes no geographic boundaries, and healthy practices should not be limited to campus. Wear face coverings on and off campus, wash hands, and maintain physical distance, whether in the Pavilion or in a supermarket. Please follow all signage on campus to ensure your safety and that of our community.
 
We recognize Labor Day weekend has long been a time for big gatherings of family and friends, around the grill or the smoker. We ask everyone — students, faculty, staff — to keep those gatherings limited and as safe as possible this year. As a community, as a nation, we can pull through this together.
 
Be well.
 
Andrew Boyd
Chief Resilience Officer
This is an important message from UC Merced. Please share with colleagues who may not have ready access to email. If you require a Spanish translation, please email pr@ucmerced.edu.