Coronavirus

The UC president outlined the unexpected financial costs ($558 million in March alone) of responding to the pandemic across the system, and asked for more funding to help.

UC is taking swift action to ensure that this pandemic will not derail anyone’s ability to attend the university, including our newly admitted students and those who are hoping to attend UC in the near future, writes UC President Janet Napolitano for The Sacramento Bee.

From clothing to groceries, there's a lot of question marks these days. What should we actually worry about (and what’s just overkill)? Dr. John Swartzberg, professor emeritus of public health at UC Berkeley, gives us some clarity.

We are optimistic that a clear path forward for the U.S. and the world can be identified, write UC President Janet Napolitano and UC Health Executive Vice President Dr. Carrie L. Byington in a new opinion piece.

Our nation’s public research universities are one resource that can help light the way. Researchers across the University of California and our associated health centers are already engaged in more than 300 research initiatives designed to combat COVID-19.

The University of California Health on April 6 has begun issuing daily updates via its @UofCAHealth Twitter account about SARS-CoV-2 testing volume, the number of positive tests and age distribution of confirmed cases gathered from its five medical centers across the state.

Led by Atul Butte, M.D., Ph.D., chief data scientist and the director of the Center for Data-driven Insights and Innovation (CDI2) at UC Health, the dashboard unifies testing information on patients at each of UC’s academic health centers – UC Davis Health, UC San Diego Health, UCI Health, UCLA Health and UCSF Health - as well as externally performed tests for UC patients.

To accelerate urgently needed breakthroughs in the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California will provide $2 million in seed funding to scientists across the state to help jump-start their high-impact research projects.

Awards of up to $25,000 are available immediately, said Theresa Maldonado, Ph.D., vice president of UC’s systemwide Research and Innovation division. The goal is to help researchers begin work as soon possible, knowing that larger federal grants may take longer to be distributed. Learn more and apply for an award

In an open letter to the community, UC leaders write: Today we collectively announce that there will be no COVID-19 related layoffs for all career employees through the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2020.

Providing pay and health and welfare benefits during this period will allow employees to more effectively care for themselves and their families as we all support California and the nation by staying home and doing our part to reduce the spread of this virus. Read the full letter.

The University of California on late Tuesday, March 31, took a number of steps to temporarily adjust admissions requirements, to ensure that newly admitted students and prospective students are not harmed by educational disruptions from COVID-19.

The measures include suspending the letter grade requirement for academic classes taken in winter, spring or summer terms of 2020; providing flexibility for students who need more time to meet registration, deposit and transcript deadlines; and suspending the standardized test requirement for students applying for admission as freshmen for fall 2021. More details are available in this FAQ.