Cal Poly announces winter plan for school year

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo released their winter operations plan on Thursday.

Their winter plan worked with County of San Luis Obispo Public Health Department to develop a safety plan for students and staff returning on campus.

When the school year begins, the university will stagger the return of students onto campus the first week.

They will require frequent student COVID-19 testing and an increase of on-campus isolation capacity which will include an all-virtual finals week.

The university will hold about 10 percent of its classes in person, about 428 of the planned 4,105 class section.

Only courses that cannot be delivered virtually and are required for graduation are being offered face-to-face.

Under Public Health guidelines, Cal Poly will be requiring students living, studying and/or working on campus to present a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of their arrival. Students that do not provide their results will be tested immediately when they arrive on campus.

The university announced plans to increase molecular testing of students through a new faculty-developed saliva-based molecular, or PCR, program that can test up to 4,000 times per day. They say this will allow for more frequent testing throughout the quarter. 

Students living on campus and off campus will be required to take the test at least twice per week.

The university says they will have rigorous sanitation and are engineering control protocols in place.

The university says so far they had no cases of coronavirus transmission traceable to face-to-face classroom exposure.

“COVID-19 is spreading more widely in SLO County than ever before and many community members might be uneasy about the decision to bring back college students at this time,” said Dr. Penny Borenstein, the County Public Health Officer. “With the university and students keeping the health and safety of our community top of mind and strictly following public health guidelines, I can support Cal Poly’s winter quarter plan.”  

University Housing will host about 4,500 students in single-occupancy rooms with masks required in public spaces. They will actively discourage of gatherings on campus.

The university also is adding about 50 beds to its on-campus isolation rooms with a total of 236 beds.

Cal Poly’s winter quarter begins Monday, January 4.

Students living on campus that have in-person obligations can move in on January 3.

Students without in-person obligations can move in January 8-9.

For more information about Cal Poly's plans, click here.