Cal Poly students begin moving into on-campus residence halls with COVID-19 precautions
About 150 students moved into on-campus housing at Cal Poly on Thursday, following protocols to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the San Luis Obispo university.
Thursday was the lightest day of Cal Poly’s nine-day move-in period for the fall term. A total of 689 students were expected to move in to residence halls and apartments on Friday and 956 on Saturday.
The university’s busiest day for fall move-in will be Tuesday, when slightly less than 1,300 students are expected to move in. Students have a set time for move-in each day: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
About 4,300 students have applied to live on campus for the fall term and not yet deferred their housing contracts to the winter term, said Keith Humphrey, Cal Poly’s vice president for student affairs. That’s just over half the university’s normal capacity of 8,500 students living in on-campus residences.
Pushing carts full of bedding, clothes, room decor and other items toward their new homes for the fall quarter, Cal Poly students and their parents were cautiously optimistic Thursday.
“We’re all in this together,” said Jackson Kestler, an incoming freshman from Acton. “So even though it’s going to be difficult, everyone’s doing the exact same thing.”
Students were required to wear masks at all times, except while in their rooms, and had to pass temperature screenings before receiving their student ID cards.
Additionally, students had to take COVID-19 tests and present results from those tests within 72 hours of arriving on campus. Those who could not obtain a test before getting to campus can get one at Cal Poly’s Campus Health and Wellbeing, which will return their results in a few hours, Humphrey said.
Kestler, a soccer player who is majoring in animal sciences, said he will have to quarantine for 14 days before he can begin soccer practice. He said he’s confident that Cal Poly is doing all the right things and that it shouldn’t have to shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
“I feel like this is the best place to be,” he said. “They’re being more responsible here than they are anywhere else in the area.”
Cal Poly’s move-in comes just days after schools such as UC Santa Barbara and Chico State changed plans following spikes in COVID-19 cases among students.
Chico State canceled all in-person classes and ordered all dorms to be cleared after 30 students tested positive for coronavirus in the days following the first day of classes.
Just a week after Chico State began classes, 464 new coronavirus cases were reported in Butte County, with the majority of those cases involving people ages 18 to 24, Butte County health officials said.
As of Thursday, Cal Poly has 57 students and six employees who have tested positive since March. On Aug. 28, the university reported 18 new cases among students.
The rise in Cal Poly COVID-19 cases seemed to cause little concern for students and their parents moving in Thursday. They praised the university’s coronavirus-related protocols and safety measures.
“I’m not really worried because as long as I’m staying safe and doing everything I should be, and everyone else is doing their part I think it should be good,” said Morgan White, a freshman communications major and soccer player from San Diego.
White’s mom, Cindy, shared similar sentiments.
“I feel pretty comfortable,” she said. “Because I know that she knows how to keep herself safe, and I think the school has gone above and beyond in trying to make everything safe.”
“It’s the best in the current world that we can do,” Cindy White added.
Students continue to move into their on-campus residences through Sept. 13. The first day of classes at Cal Poly is Sept. 14.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 2:25 PM.
