TO: All employees
FR: Stan Nosek, Interim Vice President for Administration and Finance, and Karen Moranski, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
We wish you the healthiest and happiest of holiday seasons! As you gather with friends and family over the next few weeks to celebrate the winter holidays and ring in a new year, we ask you to keep COVID-19 in mind, and take steps to prevent its spread.
Below are some suggestions for keeping yourself and your loved ones safe during this holiday season:
- Get vaccinated and get booster shots. It’s the best way to protect yourself and others.
- Keep gatherings small.
- If your guests are unvaccinated or you don’t know their status, plan gatherings that are small, short, and outdoors.
- Wear a mask over your nose and mouth:
- When physical distancing is not possible;
- When you might be around unvaccinated people, especially indoors;
- When around older individuals or people with medical conditions.
- When gathering inside, ventilate well. Open doors and windows, run HVAC systems, and install high-quality air filters.
- Check local conditions. Your county may have stricter guidance than the state. Take extra precautions when local levels of virus transmission are high.
- Activate CA Notify and ask your guests to do the same. CA Notify anonymously notifies individuals of a possible exposure.
- Get tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms.
- Stay home if you are sick.
For more guidance and tips, please visit CDPH Holiday Gatherings and Travel.
Omicron Variant
The Student Health Center and Risk Management and Safety Services continue to monitor the emerging data about the new omicron variant. At this time, limited data indicates that the variant is causing illness that is less severe than the delta variant, but is likely more transmissible. We will continue to monitor the situation over the break, however, at this time the delta variant continues to be the primary concern in Sonoma County.
On-campus COVID Testing Center
The on-campus COVID-19 Testing Center will be open Tuesday, December 21, from 8 to 10 a.m. and Thursday, December 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Fieldhouse of the PE Building. There will be no testing between December 27 and December 31 due to a planned campus power outage and the winter closure. We will resume on-campus testing when campus reopens in January. The Spring 2022 COVID Testing Center schedule will be posted on January 3.
Travel
Employees who elect to travel over the holiday season should check destination travel advisories and requirements as well as the CDC travel recommendations. We encourage employees who do travel to take a COVID-19 test upon return from their travels. Managers may not prohibit employees from on-campus work due to personal travel.
Testing requirements
Employees who are required to participate in the COVID-19 employee testing program will not be required to test for the week of December 27 to January 1. Employees will be asked to test on Monday, January 3, 2022, or their first day of work after the winter break.
If you have any questions about these orders or campus safety protocols, please email covid.monitoring@sonoma.edu.