A message from the Office of Communications
December 15, 2021
It’s been less than a month since the new, heavily mutated and highly transmissible Omicron strain was detected and designated a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization. It’s now rapidly spreading across the world.
Although we are still learning about the Omicron variant, preliminary studies show that people who get a booster shot, or third dose of vaccine, may be better protected from serious illness. This research suggests that getting a booster will help protect people already vaccinated from breakthrough or possible severe infections with Omicron during the winter months.
As Josh Adler, Chief Clinical Officer for UCSF Health, said in his message to the UCSF community, UCSF is launching a campaign to encourage every eligible employee and learner to get a booster shot by Jan. 15, 2022. Our goal at UCSF is to achieve booster compliance that mirrors UCSF’s overall COVID-19 vaccination compliance – 98 percent – of our total population.
“As we face this new COVID-19 variant, I urge you to lead by example once again and help us reach our booster vaccination goal,” Adler noted. “In so doing, you will not only reflect the best of our PRIDE Values but also help to protect yourselves, your family and friends, and our shared communities.”
We echo UC President Michael Drake’s message about boosters to the UC community, “All of us have an important role to play in ending this pandemic. Please join me in this effort, and please stay safe this holiday season.”
UCSF Sets Deadline for Booster Shots – NEW
Due to the spread of the Omicron variant, UCSF has set a deadline for all eligible members of the UCSF community to get booster shots by Jan. 15, 2022. Here’s what you should know:
- To be eligible for a booster, you must have received your second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at least six months ago or your Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago. You can mix and match whichever vaccine brand you prefer for the booster shot.
- UCSF is reserving appointments for employees to get booter shots this weekend. To find out how and where to get a booster shot at UCSF, please visit the coronavirus vaccine information page. To see the holiday schedule for COVID-19 vaccines and testing, please see this page.
- Booster shots are widely available through vaccination clinics, health care providers, Safeway stores and neighborhood pharmacies.
- Californians can visit the My Turn website or call (833) 422-4255 to make an appointment or find a nearby vaccine location.
- If you get a booster at a location outside UCSF, please upload a copy of that record to the Occupational Health Services portal (UCSF MyAccess is required.)
Friday Town Hall to Cover What’s Next in Pandemic – NEW
Please join Chancellor Sam Hawgood, Mark Laret, president and CEO of UCSF Health, and UCSF experts at the COVID-19 Response Town Hall on Friday, Dec. 15, 2021, at 4 p.m. via Zoom. Friday’s program will feature a panel discussion focusing on “What’s Next in the Pandemic in 2022?” This panel includes UCSF’s leading experts in response to COVID-19, including
- Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine, who will moderate serve moderator
- Charles Chiu, Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Director, UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center
- Peter Chin-Hong, Professor, Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and Associate Dean, Regional Campuses
- Monica Gandhi, Professor, Medicine, and Associate Division Chief, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Health at UCSF Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
- Kim Rhoads, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Associate Director, Community Engagement, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
- George Rutherford, Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Acting Director, Institute for Global Health Sciences
Steps to Return to Work Following COVID-19 Symptoms – NEW
Please see the steps below to ensure that you don’t experience delays in returning to work after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. One call at the beginning of your symptoms is all that’s required for most people. Please don’t wait until you’re ready to return to work to complete your clearance interview.
- Complete Daily Screener to report symptoms (including allergies), provide “preferred phone number,” and receive a “Not Cleared to Work” screen
- This will send a message to the COVID Response Team, who will call you to complete an interview in 1 to 2 days.
- Get Tested for COVID-19. You have options (use link at bottom of “Not Cleared” screen.
- For moderate symptoms, get a Color Test for a 24- to 48-hour turnaround
- Get UCSF clinical lab test, fastest, less than a 24-hour turnaround
- Get local test, and send results to [email protected]
- Regardless of your where test is completed, the COVID Response Team clearance is REQUIRED before returning to work.
- Answer Phone Call from the COVID Response Team (an unidentified 415 or 650 number)
- For most employees with typical illness, this is the only interview needed to return to work, and you will get a clearance email at that time.
- Employees can return to work when feeling ready (providing no fever over 24 hours, or diarrhea over 48 hours)
- Exposure return-to-work does require a second evaluation if quarantine was required with required testing
Traveling Internationally Requires Two-Step Testing – NEW
Employees may be planning international travel over the holidays. UCSF now requires two-step COVID-19 testing following international travel.
If you are fully vaccinated, you do not need to quarantine but should monitor symptoms for 14 days after return. Individuals returning to onsite work within 10 days following international travel should obtain a COVID-19 test through Color within 24 hours of entering a UCSF facility.
A second COVID-19 test is required three to five days following the first test. Unvaccinated employees will keep the current workflow of a requiring an interview with the COVID Response Team.
UCSF Stress and Resiliency Study – NEW
Are you feeling down or blue? Are you a woman between ages 30-60 and in good health?
If so, you can help UCSF researchers study healthy ways to cope.
Join the UCSF Stress and Resilience study to help researchers better understand stress. If you join, you will learn a new breathing technique you will practice over 3 weeks at home, and see how it affects your mood, health, and stress. Contributing to science helps us move toward a healthier future for yourself and others like you!
You also will receive up to $470 for doing all parts of the study and get a chance to win a $200 Amazon gift card. Find out if you’re eligible to participate today at https://www.stressresilience.net
Complete Daily Health Screener – REMINDER
Everyone must complete the COVID-19 health screening tool before coming to any UCSF location. The screener can be found on the UCSF Mobile App, or online at www.ucsfhealth.org/daily-health-screening. Among the highlights:
- Employees without a smartphone can go through the aforementioned website or, for now, continue to go to the manual screeners located at main entrances.
- Once cleared for work, employees and learners can simply tap their UCSF Identification (ID) badge at any electronic badge reader before entering a building.
- Employees at UCSF BCH Oakland will continue to show the Employee Pass screen to ambassadors or the security desk.
- Employees at UCSF Fresno will continue to use the current badge reader for entry and show the Employee Pass screen at the security desk.
Wear and Swipe UCSF ID Badge Daily – REMINDER
Please remember to wear your UCSF ID badge prominently above the waist and to swipe your badge at least once a day. Please note the following:
- You can read more about this Key/Badge Policy that extends this requirement from UCSF Health facilities to those working in campus facilities.
- Employees and learners who tap their badge into a UCSF building as required, but don’t complete the mandatory daily health screener, will be sent an email notification for non-compliance with the screener policy. Managers of employees will be copied on the email notification. Read more about the policy here.