Health Considerations During Fall 2021 Move-In

As UCSC prepares to receive a full complement of residential students to its campus, we want to share steps taken to mitigate the spread of infectious illness during move-in.

This year’s move-in event spans four days – from Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19, during which nearly 7,000 students will move into their on-campus accommodations.

Keeping infected or potentially infected people away from the campus:

• Among the most important elements of resisting the spread of infection is to limit the likelihood that anyone arriving on campus is infected with COVID-19. Several aspects of our planning efforts are focused on this.
• All arriving students are asked to demonstrate the results of a negative COVID-19 test acquired within the 72 hours prior to their arrival to campus. Any student receiving a positive result indicating they are infected with COVID-19 should remain at home, seek medical treatment, and only travel to the campus when a physician recommends it. Students not able to be tested within this 72-hour time frame, or not able to receive test results in that timeframe, will be required to be tested on campus at the time of move-in before being given keys to their residential accommodation.
• All students are required to perform daily symptom checks prior to arrival and throughout their time on the UCSC campus.
• The number of family/friends allowed to accompany a student to campus is capped at two – and both of those individuals must also perform a symptom check on the day of their travel to campus and to then display those results at the move-in location. Anyone noting symptoms of concern should not come to the campus. Younger siblings for whom alternate care is unavailable may accompany the student to campus. These siblings will not be required to perform a symptom check but must wear face-coverings and observe other COVID spread mitigation guidelines such as social distancing, etc.

Ensuring excellent compliance with UC Vaccination mandates:

The UC has mandated that all members of our campus community be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have an authorized exemption to remain unvaccinated. As of this writing, 96.6% of UCSC students with a fall housing contract are compliant with this policy. Students with exemptions will, ongoing, be required to regularly participate in the on-campus asymptomatic testing program every four days.

Low-Contact Move-In

• Everyone is required to wear masks at move-in whether inside or outside.
• There will be minimal contact between students and move-in staff.
• Plexiglass shields will be in pace at each point of interface between staff and student.
• Hand trucks, dollies, rolling bins, etc., will be available for move-in use and will be sanitized between uses.