The University of California San Diego (UCSD) said Thursday it has extended its online instruction until the end of January, citing a spike in COVID-19 cases that have affected its students and staff members.
The university sent a statement to all staff and students saying the omicron variant has affected the UC San Diego community in two ways. One, by experiencing staffing shortages. Second, a number of students getting exposed to COVID are impacting their ability to attend classes in person.
UCSD said the decision allows to keep teaching modalities as simple as possible given that many students, faculty, and staff members may be sick or recovering in the second half of the month, or some may be experiencing extra caregiving responsibilities.
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UCSD said the decision to extend online learning also gives time to students, faculty and staff who are eligible to receive a vaccine booster to schedule an appointment before returning to campus.
Campus housing and dining will remain open. Residential undergraduate students may choose their arrival date and are encouraged to stagger their return between now and the end of January.
Students can indicate their planned date of arrival to the Housing Dining Hospitality, here.
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UCSD reminded residential students need to complete a PCR test no less than 24 hours after their arrival.
"UC San Diego will continue to monitor, evaluate and make operations decisions with the most up-to-date data and predictive modeling available. Thank you for your continued patience and resilience," UCSD said in a statement.
