After administering COVID-19 vaccine to more than 11,000 employees to date, UC Davis Health at noon today (Jan. 12) planned to start inoculating its patients against the virus, starting with at-risk people aged 75 and older, in accordance with federal guidelines.

The health system anticipates that it will have vaccine available for most healthy patients sometime this spring.

As previously announced, UC Davis employees are more than likely to receive their COVID-19 vaccination from their health care provider, whether it be UC Davis Health or another plan such as Kaiser Permanente or Sutter Health. More information is available in this FAQ on the Campus Ready website.

UC Davis LIVE: Vaccines

What’s in these vaccines? How do they work, how effective are they, and is this really the beginning of the end of the pandemic? Tune in to UC Davis LIVE at noon this Thursday (Jan. 14) to hear from UC Davis experts in vaccines and vaccinations, answering these questions and more. The guests:

• Stephen McSorley, professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, and director of the Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases. His research focuses on the immune response to pathogens, especially memory T-cells that allow the immune system to “remember” previous infections. 
• Stuart Cohen, professor of internal medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Health. He has been leading UC Davis’ participation in clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines.

UC Davis LIVE, hosted by Soterios Johnson of the Office of Strategic Communications, is available on UC Davis’ Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages. Questions can be submitted via Facebook and Twitter either in advance or during the show.

Other presentations

• COVID-19 Symposium — On tests and vaccines. UC Davis’ Heather Bischel, Richard Michelmore and Nam Tram will discuss the campus’s saliva testing program, in-hospital testing (emergency room and bedside) and wasetwater surveillance. Stuart Cohen from UC Davis Health will address vaccines. This is another in a series of COVID-19 symposia organized by Distinguished Professor Walter Leal. 5 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 13). Register here (use the registration form to ask questions in advance). Also streaming on YouTube.
• Vaccine Information Session — David Cooke, associate professor and head of the Section of General Thoracic Surgery at UC Davis Health, will discuss COVID-19 vaccines and the African American community. Hosted by the African American Faculty and Staff Association. Noon Friday, Jan. 22. Log in here.

Child care assistance

A YMCA Learning Lab continues this quarter on the Sacramento campus, offering tutoring and child care for employees’ children, grades K-6. The Davis campus lab has ended, but all UC Davis families are eligible for the Sacramento program. Learn more here.

UC Davis has joined with UCSF and UC Berkeley in a Berkeley-based platform, CareBubbles, which provides a parent-to-parent resource to help UC community members meet their child care needs during the pandemic. Find other families looking to trade child care, share tutors, create bubbles and more. Affiliates can either create posts of their own information (what and who they are seeking) or search other people’s posts. This is available to all employees and students. Learn more and log in using your UC Davis credentials. Questions? Please send them to worklife@ucdavis.edu.

Time in quarantine

UC Davis had adjusted its quarantine guidance, shortening the recommended duration to 10 days, in alignment with changes at the federal, state and county levels.

If you had close contact with a person who has COVID-19:

• Stay home until 10 days after your last contact.
• Check your temperature twice a day. Watch for fever (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit), cough, shortness of breath or other symptoms of COVID-19.

If possible, stay away from people who are at higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19.

And watch for symptoms until 14 days after exposure.

• If you have symptoms, immediately self-isolate and contact your public health authority or health care provider.
• Wear a mask, stay at least 6 feet from others, wash your hands, avoid crowds and take other steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Back to in-person instruction

The UC Office of the President gave a heads-up in a Jan. 11 news release about all campuses returning to primarily in-person instruction starting in fall 2021, “enabling prospective and current students as well as their families to understand our goal well in advance amid the uncertainties of the pandemic.”

UC Davis leaders previously announced their expectation for a return to pre-pandemic, in-person instruction in the fall. Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary S. Croughan and Academic Senate Chair Richard Tucker made the announcement in a Dec. 18 letter to the faculty.

“We will remain in close partnership with our public health colleagues and we will continue to base our decision-making on then-current public health guidance,” they wrote. “We acknowledge that we may need to provide accommodations for some members of our campus community whose health circumstances require continuing caution with respect to potential exposure.

“But we hope that you will share our excitement with the prospect of returning our campus operations to something very close to normal. We ask that all faculty, staff and students plan accordingly with the expectation of resuming in-person instruction in fall of 2021. We will provide additional information in the months ahead, including our plans for summer 2021.”

Croughan and Tucker based their optimism on the vaccines now being distributed and UC Davis’ robust testing program.

Similarly, UCOP credited robust research advancements and COVID-19 vaccines soon becoming available to students, staff and faculty as reasons for optimism. Officials added that they remain vigilant in all critical prevention efforts and continue to prioritize the health and well-being of the university community.

“As the university continues to monitor the evolution of the pandemic, we are also carefully planning a safe return to in-person classes,” said President Michael V. Drake, who made the decision in consultation with the 10 UC chancellors. “Current forecasts give us hope that in the fall our students can enjoy a more normal on-campus experience.”

In spite of dynamic conditions, the university understands the importance of communicating its plans as early as possible, as it stays flexible and nimble, to ensure students and their families have the latest information for decisions on enrollment, housing and other aspects of university life.  

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