COVID-19 Campus Health and Safety

The health and safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors on campus has been integrated into all of our interactions and protocols. We will continue to work closely with Marin Health and Human Services and the Student Health Center to ensure that our planned operations are congruent with their guidance and suggested best practices, as follows:

• Public Spaces: Masking will be optional for all Dominican community members and visitors in public spaces. This includes the Alemany Library, Caleruega, Conlan, and residence halls.
• Classrooms: The masking requirements will be set by the faculty member(s) teaching the course based on the setting which includes the number of students, distancing ability, size of the classroom, nature of the interactions, and disability accommodations. The faculty member may choose between required masking for all, including faculty and students, or mask-optional for all, including faculty and students. No individual in a classroom may require or ask another to remove their mask.  Students will be informed of the planned changes to our campus-wide policy this week. They will also be  informed that faculty will set the requirements with these characteristics in mind, that an instructor might need to preserve confidentiality regarding the reason for continuing to require masks in the setting, and that once a requirement has been set and shared, it will be strictly enforced through the student conduct policy with the support of the Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Offices.
• For all employees: if your health considerations or those of a member of your household/family require you to be accommodated for medical reasons, please contact your physician for a medical note and work with your immediate supervisor to make the changes where possible.

The University has appointed a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team (PRT) to manage our ongoing response and ensure alignment with evolving health protocols. The PRT can be reached via email at penguinprepared@dominican.edu.
 

Vaccinations: Students

Dominican University of California has adopted the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American College Health Association (ACHA) that all students enrolling in in-person classes provide:

• Proof of COVID-19 vaccination, including booster; or a request for an exemption based on medical or religious grounds. Please note these requests will be reviewed and might not be approved. 
  • If you have already submitted your vaccination + booster information, you need do nothing additional. If not, please submit that information here. 
  • If you have not received the first booster, please seek that shot immediately, and submit that information here. Shots are widely available from healthcare providers and pharmacies. You can find vaccines in Marin here.
  • If you submitted an exemption request last year that was accepted, that exemption will continue for this year. New exemption requests must be submitted here.
  • New students must submit vaccination status by August 19.

Students who do not comply with this policy may be prohibited from the following: 

• Attending classes;
• Participating in extracurricular events, such as athletics; and/or
• Participating in Dominican-related domestic or international programs or other Dominican-sponsored off-campus events.

Vaccinations: Faculty and Staff

All faculty and staff are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with an initial series, plus a booster.

• Faculty and staff may request a medical or religious exemption; if that exemption is approved, please know that there will be restrictions, for your and others' safety.
• If you have already submitted your vaccination + booster information, you need do nothing additional. If not, please submit that information here. 
• If you have not received the first booster, please seek that shot immediately, and submit that information here. Shots are widely available from healthcare providers and pharmacies. You can find vaccines in Marin here.
• If you submitted an exemption request last year that was accepted, that exemption will continue for this year. New exemption requests must be submitted here.
• New faculty and staff must submit vaccination status by August 19.

Testing will be focused on symptomatic individuals. Rapid antigen tests are available from your personal health insurance carrier, the Student Health Center, RAs in the dorms, and through penguinprepared@dominican.edu. 

We will continue to urge ANYONE who has symptoms (and if you need a reminder of those, find it here) to stay home and not come to campus; use a home rapid antigen test and if the results are positive, report it here.

If you have a positive test result, you must isolate for at least 5 days (information here) and test negative with a rapid antigen test to return to campus before 10 days.

The definition of “close contact”, as defined by CDPH, includes shared indoor airspace (e.g., home, clinic waiting room, airplane etc.), for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period with a covid-positive person during their infectious period. 

The definition of “infectious period” 

• For symptomatic infectious persons: The infectious period is 2 days before the infected person had any symptoms through Day 10 after symptoms first appeared (or through Day 5 if testing negative on Day 5 or later), and 24 hours have passed with no fever, without the use of fever-reducing medications, and symptoms have improved, OR
• For asymptomatic infectious persons: The infectious period is 2 days before the positive specimen collection date through Day 10 after positive specimen collection date (or through Day 5 if testing negative on Day 5 or later) after specimen collection date for their first positive COVID-19 test. 

Public health provides specific guidance for what individuals experiencing close contact should do.
 

If you test positive for COVID-19, you must isolate for a minimum of 5 days and test negative with a rapid antigen test before returning to campus (if returning before 10 days). Detailed isolation guidance from public health is here. During this isolation period, you should NOT leave your isolation space and should minimize contact with any other person. 

Academic Support

Please email your instructors to let them know that you are working with the University and following the University’s isolation/quarantine guidance, and that you are not allowed to attend any in-person classes or activities (ex: meetings, sports, labs, or clinicals/field-placements). You may copy penguinprepared@dominican.edu on the email you send them so that they know your request is verified.

• Dear Instructor,

  I am letting you know that I am currently following the University’s COVID isolation protocol as instructed by the University’s COVID response team (copied). At this point, I will need to remain isolated until at least DATE. This could be extended up to 5 more days based on continuation of symptoms or lack of a negative COVID test. 
   
  During my quarantine/isolation I am not able to attend any in-person classes, sport, activities, or clinicals/fieldwork placements, but I can participate in any virtual classes - if there is an option to do so.

  Please let me know what arrangements or accommodations can be made while I am quarantined. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

  Thank you

IMPORTANT: if you test negative and are cleared to stop quarantine, be sure to notify your instructors before you return to class so as to avoid any misunderstandings or concerns. 

Resident Students: Housing and Dining

This section applies ONLY to those resident students living in Edgehill Village, Fanjeaux, or Pennafort. 

• If you are NOT a resident student (you live off-campus) you are NOT eligible for meal delivery.
• If you ARE a resident student, but plan to isolate off-campus, please do not sign-up for meal delivery.

The isolation/quarantine protocol means that you may not leave your on-campus room during the designated period except to pick-up meals and visit the health center (for confirmed visits only). We will make arrangements to have your food prepared at Caleruega for special outdoor pick-up each day. 

Please complete the Isolation/Quarantine Student Meal Pick-up Request Form as soon as possible so that we can make arrangements to prepare your meals. Please note the following on the form:

• Your name
• Be sure you give us the correct building/room info
• Provide a cell phone in case we need to contact you
• Indicate meal choice (anything - vegetarian - vegan)
• Tell us of any food allergies/restrictions

Your meals will be pre-packaged and will include lunch, dinner, and breakfast for the following morning. You will need to keep some food in a refrigerator, and may need to microwave some meals. If you do not have a refrigerator or microwave, please let us know immediately.

Meals will be available for pick-up daily around 11:30am (prior to lunch). You are required to wear a mask when leaving your room to pick-up your meals and you will NOT enter the dining hall building. The outdoor pick-up is located at the door just to the left of the regular dining hall entrance door.

If needed, we will also arrange to have mail picked up and delivered to your room. Email housing@dominican.edu for assistance.

When you complete your isolation period, notify housing@dominican.edu and they will discontinue meal pick-up services.

Positive COVID tests must be reported here. For students who test positive and attended class in the 48 hours prior to their positive result, instructors will be notified, and asked to share that information with that class. Only positive test results should be reported. 

May I ask my students if they are vaccinated?

No. You cannot ask students to reveal personal medical information. The University is requiring all students to be vaccinated. Students must submit their vaccination records, or formally request a medical or religious exemption from vaccination.

May students ask other students if they are vaccinated?

We discourage this practice, though we understand that this may happen.

Do we need to physically distance ourselves in the classroom?

No. Recent evidence indicates that in-person instruction can occur safely without minimum physical distancing requirements when other mitigation strategies (e.g., masking) are fully implemented. 

Are outdoor classrooms available? 

Yes, and they may be reserved through our usual reservation system.

All campus spaces have been returned to their pre-pandemic capacity.

• Custodial teams will clean common spaces daily and frequently touched surfaces based on CDC guidelines.
• Ventilation systems have been assessed and are in compliance with current state guidelines, which includes updating HVAC filters and adding air filtration equipment to smaller spaces without windows. Additionally, when and wherever possible, windows and doors will be left open to reduce handling and increase air flow.
   

University housing (on-campus and townhomes) will operate at normal capacity for the 2022/2023 academic year.

• Pennafort Hall will continue to house all new first-year students; all rooms are designated for triple-occupancy.
• Fanjeaux Hall will house a mix of new and continuing students; rooms are mostly double occupancy.
• Edgehill Village will house continuing students with some new students; all suites are 2 double rooms (4 students) per unit.
• The Dominican Townhomes (off campus) will house continuing students; 2 double rooms and 1 single room per unit (5 students total).

Be advised: There are a limited number of single rooms available in on-campus housing (townhomes excluded), and these are reserved for students with an approved accommodation documented with the Office of Accessibility and Disability Services.

Campus will follow protocols developed with the County health inspector.

• Caleruega dining hall will be fully operational and ready to serve the campus community at the start of the semester. Epicurean Group (EG) will continue to follow the most updated CDC and Marin County Environmental Health guidelines for food preparation and service.