Cal Poly reported its first COVID-19 case 6 months ago. Where does it stand now?
On March 24, Cal Poly sent out a campuswide communication that a student had tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Over the following months, COVID-19 cases increased at the San Luis Obispo university while its administration worked to put together a comprehensive reopening plan.
Cal Poly staff and faculty members have expressed concern about whether the university’s level of preparation was sufficient and what potential risks bringing students back posed to the health of the community.
Communication from the university regarding the coronavirus pandemic has varied widely — from urging students to stay away from San Luis Obispo County to welcoming them back onto campus.
The default for freshmen at Cal Poly is to live on campus. That had not changed for fall quarter 2020 until just one day before first-year housing decisions were due, when university President Jeffrey Armstrong sent a message asking students to defer housing if they do not have in-person classes.
Cal Poly’s housing website still says first-year students are required to live on campus.
The students now occupying residence halls on Cal Poly’s campus are primarily freshmen. Most have only online classes and don’t know any freshmen with in-person classes, according to dozens who have spoken to The Tribune.
Meanwhile, those living off campus in San Luis Obispo are primarily returning students, many of whom have in-person classes.
As of Friday, Cal Poly had reported 102 cases of COVID-19 — not including six involving staff and faculty members that self-reported positive test results before Aug 10.
Those numbers may not be complete. The university only tests and reports positive student cases, and does not report when an employee tests positive — aside from the six cases it initially reported.
In addition, Cal Poly students who obtain positive coronavirus test results from public or private testing sites are not reported to or by the university.
“The university is generally pleased with how fall quarter has started, and we appreciate that our campus community is, by and large, doing its part to help slow the spread of COVID-19 locally,” Cal Poly media relations director Matt Lazier wrote in an email to The Tribune. “We have worked closely with our local public health officials and with infectious disease experts both on and off our campus, in order to develop a robust and comprehensive campus operations plan and health and safety programming and guidelines aimed at allowing as many students as possible to live and/or study on campus, under the limitations of the ongoing pandemic.”
Cal Poly’s initial reaction to coronavirus pandemic
At first, Cal Poly reacted to the burgeoning coronavirus pandemic like many other universities across the nation: It closed the doors to classrooms and sent everyone home after winter quarter.
Students were given partial refunds for housing if they moved out early, and teachers scrambled to transition their curricula to a fully virtual format for final exams and spring quarter.
Some essential activities continued — such as maintaining the health of campus animals and lab specimens — and students who had nowhere else to go stayed in campus housing. But other campus activities came to a complete stop.
“These are difficult times, but please keep in mind that we will get through this,” Armstrong wrote in a campuswide communication sent on March 18.
Less than a week later, Cal Poly reported its first positive COVID-19 case — which involved a student.
The student lived outside of San Luis Obispo County and had perhaps contracted the virus sometime in their travels home, Armstrong said in a campuswide communication.
“We also ask that those who have left the San Luis Obispo area not return at this time,” Armstrong wrote in that same email.
That messaging was repeated several times throughout the beginning of spring quarter.
In April, Cal Poly teamed up with the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department, Dignity Health and Tenet Health Central Coast to convert the university’s Recreation Center into a Alternate Care Site equipped to care for 165 sick patients, with the capacity to expand to more than 900 beds.
To date, the facility, which cost about $3.5 million for medical supplies and equipment, has gone unused.
In May, as a result of the COVID-19 impacts, the university predicted a $35 million overall budget deficit. To help with that, Cal Poly received $14 million in federal relief funds, half of which went to the university; the other half went to student financial aid and institutions serving minorities.
Some of the largest concerns for the university were a predicted decline in enrollment and financial stress related to loss in parking and housing revenues, according to an analysis conducted by Cal Poly in May.
Cal Poly’s enrollment did not take a big hit during spring quarter, which began in late March and ran through mid-June, even though classes were completely virtual at that point. About 400 fewer students took classes through the university compared to spring 2019.
In the summer, Cal Poly once again offered all classes fully online, and saw a massive jump in headcount: about 6,600 students enrolled in summer classes, compared to 2,700 the previous year. Summer courses are offered at $225 to $250 per unit, according to the university.
On June 4, Cal Poly submitted to the California State University Chancellor’s Office its plan for reopening campus and offering in-person classes during the fall quarter. At that point, the university had reported only three COVID-19 cases.
A month later on July 7, the university sent out a campuswide communication reporting its first positive COVID-19 case involving an on-campus employee. At that time, Cal Poly’s coronavirus website indicated that a total of six people — students, staff and faculty — had tested positive for the virus.
Summer brings more COVID-19 cases, no concrete reopening plan
During the summer, Cal Poly “continued to work on plans and readying campus in anticipation of welcoming some students, faculty and staff back for select in-person learning and experiences this fall,” Armstrong said in a campuswide communication sent on July 31. “Key components of our plans are contingent upon the release of higher education guidance by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state public health officials.”
Those guidelines, released a week later, outlined broad measures universities must take to ensure proper physical distancing including prioritizing single-person rooms, providing grab-and-go meal options, limiting campus activities and mandating face masks.
On the same day the state’s guidelines were released, Aug. 7, Cal Poly reported its 20th COVID-19 case — 14 more than it had reported a month earlier.
On Aug. 12, Cal Poly announced that its reopening plan had been approved by the CSU. The university said it would conduct about 560 classes in person, and host no more than 5,980 students on campus — about 70% of its normal residence hall capacity of 8,500 students.
Several university departments — such as the Cal Poly English and History departments — completely opted out of in-person instruction. Others with hands-on projects and experiments, including some engineering and science departments, chose to provide in-person classes with strict protocols in place to maintain a healthy environment.
Teaching staff and faculty told the Tribune that they had to make decisions in the spring regarding whether to offer courses online or in person — before they knew how many students would be living and attending classes on campus.
In August, faculty members expressed shock and concern about Cal Poly’s decision to bring thousands of students onto campus without a surveillance testing plan in place.
“If our university and county do not have the capacity to provide regular and repeated testing (and there is no indication that they can or will), then we cannot safely house students at 70% capacity,” read an open letter to Cal Poly students, parents and supporters signed by more than 460 university employees, students and community members.
“The hard truth is this: The only safe and effective way to reduce risk right now is for students to choose not to return to campus,” the letter, sent Aug. 19, stated. “As painful as it may be, we are asking you to opt out.”
The university administration did not publicly respond to the faculty letter.
Parents grew concerned when, on Aug. 27, the university sent out a note saying it would require students to show negative COVID-19 test results within 72 hours of arriving on campus — a day after freshman housing deferrals were due.
“Our county does not provide a 72-hour turnaround,” one parent, Marna Palsgaard, wrote on Facebook. “I’ve called our primary care physician, diagnostic labs and County Health. They don’t want to test unless a person has symptoms.”
By Aug. 30, the university had reported 52 positive cases of COVID-19 among students.
Students arrive on campus, begin classes as COVID-19 cases rise
On Sept. 2, the day before Cal Poly students began moving into on-campus housing, Keith Humphrey, the university’s vice president for student affairs, announced that those who had not been able to obtain COVID-19 tests would be able to do so at Campus Health Services. Those test results would not come back for at least a few hours, but students were still allowed to move in while they waited.
Due to deferrals, the university is only housing about 4,500 students on campus for the fall term, all in solo rooms. About 5,500 students are taking classes in person.
On Sept. 14, the first day of classes, Cal Poly reported 76 cases of COVID-19 — 70 of which involved students. That’s compared to 57 students who had tested positive for the virus on Sept. 3, the first day of move-in.
As of Thursday, those numbers had risen to 104: 98 students and six employees.
“We know that COVID-19 was already in our San Luis Obispo community before fall quarter began — and that the expectation that we would see no cases on campus or among our students and employees who live off campus is simply not valid,” Lazier wrote in his email to The Tribune. “But we will continue to work diligently to minimize the spread of the virus — through robust surveillance testing, quarantine and isolation measures, and ongoing focus on health and safety guidelines — working hand in hand with public health officials.”
Faculty at Cal Poly say the university has had been issues with transparency in the past, but the coronavirus pandemic has brought the issue to the forefront.
“Faculty need to feel safe, and I think students need to feel safe,” English professor Brenda Helmbrecht told The Tribune. “We need to be able to trust the administration that they’re being transparent with the information. And right now, I’m not sure that trust is there.”
Several staff and faculty members have taken to social media to demand that Cal Poly improve its COVID-19 dashboard, which is where the university reports the number of positive coronavirus tests, and provide more clarity about its surveillance testing status.
On Thursday, the university announced in a campuswide communication that its “surveillance testing goals for Fall 2020 are 1,000 tested/week in weeks 1-2, ramping up to 2,500-3,500 in weeks 3-5, increasing to a target of 5,000/week thereafter, and more if feasible.”
During the week of Sept. 21, the university tested 617 students.
According to several individuals familiar with the matter, the increase in testing capacity comes months after many Cal Poly scientists and employees pushed for surveillance testing capacity in April.
“We did start ramping up our capabilities as we began testing on campus in July,” Lazier wrote, noting that, prior to that, the Health Center collected specimens only for symptomatic individuals but sent them to outside areas for testing.
“Developing these testing processes is extremely complex and can’t be done quickly or undertaken without careful planning,” he wrote.
“Cal Poly has been planning its surveillance protocol for several months, and we are still refining it and will continue to do so,” he wrote. “The (Campus Health & Wellbeing) Lab was able to acquire testing capability (equipment) and began testing symptomatic individuals in early July and added asymptomatic testing in August.”
What’s next for Cal Poly?
Most Cal Poly students will head home Nov. 20 after in-person classes conclude, with virtual finals taking place online Nov. 30 through Dec. 4. Students can remain on campus if they do not have other homes to go to, or are required to maintain essential campus activities.
What lies ahead for Cal Poly in the coming months is uncertain, faculty told The Tribune. The university has not made clear what set of circumstances would cause its campus to shut down again.
“I think it would be miraculous if Cal Poly’s case rate were to stay relatively low, given our lack of testing and given what we’ve seen at other campuses,” Sarah Bridger, an associate professor of history, wrote to The Tribune in an email. “Since I’m not in the habit of depending on miracles, I guess I’d say I’m not at all optimistic. But you never know.”
As of Friday, 150 students were in quarantine and 12 were in isolation, as mandated by the county Public Health Department.
Students who violate the university’s COVID-19 policies can be suspended or expelled. One student has already been suspended and another suspension is in the works, according to Matt Lazier.
Meanwhile, those charged with enforcing those policies are feeling overwhelmed.
Cal Poly resident advisers — students charged with maintaining the university’s residence hall protocols — told The Tribune that the tribulations of dealing with Cal Poly’s COVID-19 standards have been insurmountable at times. As of Thursday, three RAs have quit their jobs.
Teachers are experiencing coronavirus-related stress as well.
“I am very tired and pretty anxious,” Helmbrecht said. “It’s not a great time.”
According to Lazier, Cal Poly anticipates that campus operations “will continue through the academic year as they are now.”
“But we know that the pandemic is a fluid and evolving situation,” he wrote. “So, Cal Poly will continue to work with Public Health officials to respond accordingly to the changing circumstances of the pandemic and continue to abide by all local and state guidelines, with a focus on preserving the health and safety of our community.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
