UCLA now extends online instruction through January 28 Friday, January 07, 2022
From the UCLA website: Remote instruction extended through January 28 January 7, 2022 COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force Dear Bruin Community: We write today to share the news that UCLA will extend remote instruction through Jan. 28. While we had hoped that our safety protocols and enhanced testing requirements would be sufficient to allow us to resume in-person instruction after next week, regional and campus trends in positivity rates, as well as staffing and operational concerns, have led us to conclude that an extension of remote education is the prudent course of action. We acknowledge that changes in plans driven by the shifting nature of the pandemic are difficult and we thank you for your patience and endurance. Please know that we are making this pivot in the interests of a healthier Bruin community. This decision is based on a number of factors, including high case rates on campus and in the region. Since the start of January, we have documented more than 1,200 new faculty, staff and student cases of COVID-19, which is impacting our teaching and campus services, as well as our ability to respond to this level of cases. Additionally, a smaller than anticipated percentage of eligible UCLA students (~34%) has received the vaccine booster thus far. The extension of remote instruction will enable eligible members of our community to receive boosters; it will help faculty, staff and students meet our testing requirements; and it will allow us to further stagger students’ return to campus. Modeling indicates that this extension could help to reduce by 50% the number of students who would need to be placed in isolation or quarantine. We want to emphasize that this decision should not be seen as a precursor to a fully remote winter term. We have every expectation that we will return to in-person instruction after this extension. We will of course continue to be in close contact with our public health experts to evaluate the situation over the next few weeks and communicate with the campus accordingly. UCLA Faculty Association Blog: First Quarter 2022
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