By Jocelyn Reyes, Oct. 18, 2022
With the return to campus, Cal Poly Pomona is now offering free COVID-19 pop-up clinics for students, faculty and staff throughout the end of November.
CPP has several resources to promote the safety and health of the campus community and to help prevent the spread of COIVD.
The new pop-up clinics are open to everyone and are located in the Student Service Building 121, every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“I think the COVID clinics provided on school campuses are very convenient for all students,” said Kevin Calero, engineering student. “The fact that it is also free makes it much easier for students to actually afford it.”
According to Safer Return Task Force Administrative Analyst, Jonathan Lopez, the vaccination rate on campus is 65%. Reports are produced daily, with the recent transcript showing a decrease in hospitalization and daily case rate.
In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, CPP has implemented new personal equipment and provided higher grade masks to the campus community including N95 and KN95 masks. Sanitizing stations around campus and classrooms have also been provided for the remaining academic year.
“We have COVID-19 vending machines located in the Bronco Student Center and Secoya Residence Hall, which started in the fall semester,” said Frances Teves, assistant vice president of Government and External Affairs and head of the Safer Return Task Force. “We also recognize and want to provide individuals to use it for free testing. Especially if others believe they might have an increased risk of exposure to COVID.”
With the holidays approaching it is important to know that there are resources for students, staff and the CPP community to stay safe during big gatherings and celebrations.
While students are preparing to enjoy their holiday break, the Safer Return Task Force wants to implement resources for students who might need them during holiday gatherings.
According to Teves, it’s important to set protocols and reinforce the importance of everyone working together to have safer return protocols in order to stay safe.
“The safer return effort is prepared but we are expecting increases in cases and with the timing around Thanksgiving holidays,” said Teves. “The thing about our multi-pronged approach around vaccination testing and event monitoring is since we have been doing this for the last three years we have been preparing for cases to rise.”
Students at CPP are required to be up to date with their vaccination requirements — unless they have a religious or medical exemptions.
“COVID protocols are necessary in order to help stop the spread of COVID and help prevent more people from getting sick,” said Calero.
Although there are students who are not vaccinated for personal or religious reasons, these pop-up COVID clinics are a resource for the community in hopes of reinforcing the importance of working together and keeping everyone healthy and safe.
“We are hosting these clinics to ensure we are providing these resources to the community. LA county has been one of the strictest counties in the state and the nation because we are the most popular,” said Teves. “We are now in the low category of transmission for the CDC guidelines so now the masking is left to individual preference except for healthcare settings.”
For more information about the COVID-19 vaccination pop-ups visit the Safer Return website.
Feature image courtesy of CDC