Fellow Trojans,
With cases of COVID-19 remaining low across Los Angeles County, the university is making further changes to its pandemic mitigation strategies to align with changing guidelines from Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles. Beginning Monday, April 4, Trojan Check will no longer be required to access campus, and the University Park Campus perimeter will no longer be staffed by CARE Crew personnel verifying Trojan Check compliance. On the Health Sciences Campus, access controls currently in place at the entrances to non-clinical buildings may also be discontinued.
The physical infrastructure around our University Park Campus will, for the time being, remain in place, should conditions necessitate the reintroduction of perimeter access controls in the future. Although your Trojan Check will not be verified when you access campus, all faculty, staff, and students should continue to check their symptoms whenever coming to campus. The Trojan Check wellness assessment will remain available as a helpful tool to complete this.
Face coverings/masks
Masks are not required but remain highly recommended, and they are required in some indoor settings such as health care facilities (including patient care buildings and testing sites) and on public transportation (including USC shuttles). N95 masks are available to all students, faculty, and staff who wish to increase their personal protection. These are available upon request and at no cost.
Boosters
Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines and boosters remains the best protection against severe disease and hospitalization. Being up to date means receiving a primary series and booster(s) when eligible. Earlier this week, the CDC released new booster recommendations:
- Anyone over the age of 50 is now eligible for a second booster, as long as four months have passed since their first booster. This is especially important for individuals over 65 and those over 50 with medical conditions that weaken their immune systems.
- Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as their primary series should receive a second booster with an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna), four months after their first booster.
Booster appointments are available through USC Pharmacy.
Testing
As announced in February, students, faculty, and staff who are fully vaccinated and up to date with their boosters are no longer required to participate in surveillance testing. Those who are not up to date on vaccines are required to test once per week. Testing also remains available for all students, faculty, and staff who develop symptoms or have been exposed to someone with symptoms. Information about testing, including scheduling details, is available here.
All students, faculty, staff, and visitors should monitor themselves for symptoms daily when accessing campus. If you develop any of the symptoms listed by the CDC, please stay home and arrange to have a COVID-19 test as soon as possible.
Over the last two years, a group of staff, faculty, and students on the clinical frontlines came together to administer more than one million COVID tests on our campuses. They also vaccinated our students, employees, and patients, as well as 1.5 million people from all over Los Angeles.
As we move into this new phase, the duty to keep our fellow Trojans healthy and safe is a shared one we must all take on together. Thank you for doing your part to keep us on this positive trajectory.
Sincerely,
David Wright
Senior Vice President, Administration
Sarah Van Orman, MD, MMM, FACHA
Chief Health Officer, USC Student Health, Division Chief for College Health, Keck School of Medicine of USC