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At least three cases of COVID-19 reported in students living on the Hill

At least three students living in university housing have tested positive for COVID-19, a UCLA spokesperson said. (Kanishka Mehra/Photo editor)

By Saumya Gupta and Bernard Mendez

Oct. 9, 2020 11:53 a.m.

At least three students living in university housing have tested positive for COVID-19, but UCLA will not publicly announce which buildings the cases occur in unless there is an outbreak on the hill.

UCLA Housing required that students moving into university housing receive two rounds of testing, one before moving into their rooms and another after seven days of isolation. Two students tested positive in the first round of testing while the other student tested positive in the second round, said UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez in an emailed statement.

All three students and their close contacts are in isolation, Vazquez said. There are six students still in isolation as of Oct. 8 and there have been no recorded incidents of community spread, he added.

Vazquez said that UCLA will only inform people who were in close contact with a person who tests positive. However, if there are enough epidemiologically-linked cases to qualify as an outbreak, UCLA will send out an emergency notification with the location of the outbreak, he said. Vazquez did not clarify how many cases would qualify as an outbreak.

In the event of an outbreak, the director of the Office of Emergency Management or the assistant vice chancellor of Environment, Health and Safety will determine if an emergency notification is warranted, according to UCLA’s standard operating procedure for responding to COVID-19 cases.

UCLA previously announced that certain buildings would be set aside for students to quarantine. But, since UCLA Housing now only offers single occupancy rooms that all have individual bathrooms, students will quarantine in their own rooms, Vazquez said. Students living off-campus will also be able to occupy vacant buildings if they need to isolate, he added.

Only 630 out of UCLA Housing’s approximately 14,000 student capacity are occupied in the fall, Vazquez said. UCLA Housing only offered spots to students that demonstrate a need for housing, according to its latest guidelines.

Students can now receive a free COVID-19 test at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center, according to the Ashe Center website.

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Saumya Gupta | News senior staff
Gupta was the 2020-2021 assistant News editor for the national news and higher education beat. She was previously a contributor for the beat. She is also a fourth-year psychology student.
Gupta was the 2020-2021 assistant News editor for the national news and higher education beat. She was previously a contributor for the beat. She is also a fourth-year psychology student.
Mendez was the 2020-2021 News editor. He was previously a staff news reporter for the Science & Health beat and a developer for The Stack. He is also a third-year math student at UCLA.
Mendez was the 2020-2021 News editor. He was previously a staff news reporter for the Science & Health beat and a developer for The Stack. He is also a third-year math student at UCLA.
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