Student Health prepares for semester’s end

There are currently no new coronavirus-related guidelines from Los Angeles County in place for commencement, set for May 13, but the University encourages attendees to screen for symptoms, avoid attending if they feel ill and wear masks, Chief Student Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman said in a student media briefing Tuesday. 

USC Student Health recommends students who plan to attend commencement or leave campus mid-May to test beforehand, especially if traveling to visit family that may be at higher risk.

Student Health will remain open for the entirety of the summer to provide all of its usual resources and services to students seeking medical care. If a student is not registered for classes over the summer and would like to receive health treatment from Student Health, they must opt in to its services by purchasing the Student Health Services Fee. The fee is not necessary for students to continue using coronavirus testing services.

Student Health hours may modify, Van Orman said, but testing services are expected to remain open on weekdays. USC’s coronavirus dashboard, which tracks case numbers among students and employees, will also be updated weekly over the summer. 

The University recorded nearly 10,000 student coronavirus cases since the University began testing students in March 2020. 

“I was shocked to know that we’ve managed about 10,000 cases of COVID through the past, over two years now,” Van Orman said.  

Last week, 112 students and eight faculty members tested positive for the coronavirus. An additional 40 students and eight employees tested positive for the coronavirus using at-home rapid tests. More than 90% of these cases are of the BA.2 variant, Van Orman said.

“Those numbers are lower than before,” Van Orman said. “We know we’re testing fewer people, but [cases] are remaining elevated. They still are elevated compared to where we were previous to Spring Break.”

USC hosted the Spring football game Saturday, which boasted more than 30,000 attendees. USC also hosted the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books last weekend, which attracted nearly 150,000 visitors but required strong vaccine verification for indoor events.

“The Festival of Books does tend not to interact in terms of a population mixing with that many of our student and faculty population,” Van Orman said.  “I think those of us who are watching this are watching all of this closely because we had Easter weekend, going into Festival of Books, going into commencement and other kinds of travel.”

The University is also continuing to conduct wastewater testing in residence halls. Last week, some residence halls saw a spike in wastewater detection — particularly those located in USC Village. Students living in these buildings were requested to test by the University. Student Health is still waiting on wastewater results from this week. 

Although cases are still elevated, Van Orman said she does not anticipate any policy changes before the end of the semester. 

“What would drive that would be if something changed dramatically in the county in terms of health care, hospitalizations or severe disease,” Van Orman said. “We’re not seeing anything change at the county level, and so we really don’t see anything changing this semester.”

At this point, there are also no plans to change coronavirus guidelines for the fall semester. However, Student Health expects changes in vaccine requirements. 

“It’s a moment for all of us to take a big breath and sigh of relief. We really want to thank students actually, and faculty and staff for their cooperation,” Van Orman said. “It’s hard to believe that just at the beginning of this semester, we were faced with a delayed start because of the huge surge. I think students have done throughout this a great job complying with all the policies.”