Hello KGI Faculty, Staff, and Students,

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back together on campus for the first day of classes. You will find our current campus guidelines and policies below.

Guidance

The COVID-19 Task Force has worked closely with the following individuals to review guidelines, policies, and recommendations for implementation on KGI’s campus for the past 18 months: 

  1. Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, Med – LACDPH Director
  2. Robert Gilchick, MD, MPH – LACDPH Child & Adolescent Health Section Chief
  3. Prateek Jindal, DO – Director TCC Student Health Services
  4. Steve Galson, MD, MPH – Former Surgeon General of the United States
  5. Dave Lawrence, MD, MPH – SOM Dean and Former Kaiser CEO
  6. Rod Markin, MD, PhD – Assistant Vice-Chancellor, University of Nebraska SOM
  7. Alan Rothfeld, MD – KGI Faculty and Pulmonologist
  8. Stuart Rudnick, Partner – Musick Peeler Law Firm
  9. Virginia Scanlan, RN, CIC – Infection Prevention and Control, St. Joseph Hospital

Additional guidance has come from the TCC Coronavirus Response Group (TCC-CRG) through all 7C college’s individual clinical advisors and healthcare providers and teams. The TCC-CRG has met two times a week since the beginning of the pandemic to share information, resources, coordinate responses to guidance, and advocate within LA County for our students and employees. 

LA County Department of Public Health (LACDPH)

Since the start of the pandemic, we have aligned our policies to follow the direction of their guidance for higher education institutions. The LACDPH guidance has always been more restrictive than surrounding counties, the California Department of Public Health, and the CDC.

Current LACDPH HEI Guidance

Employee guidance follows OSHA guidelines.

Exposure Management 

We will work to maintain a safe campus by everyone doing their part to follow our guidelines and protocols:

  1. Vaccination: KGI was the first higher education institution in Southern California to announce a full vaccination policy for COVID-19 for employees and students except for those with an approved exemption. Those with an approved exemption are required to test 2 times per week at Student Health Services. Compliance with testing will be handled directly through Student Affairs and Human Resources depending on the individual. Below are our current numbers.
    • Faculty and Staff Compliance = 93%
    • Student Compliance = 91%
  2. Face Covering: Everyone, regardless of vaccination status must wear a face covering while on campus. If you forget one, please see Student Affairs or Human Resources. The exception to face coverings is when at your private workspace, eating in the Chan Family Café, Gayle Riggs Student Center, or outdoors. Eating will be allowed in the Gayle Riggs Student Center as an extension of the Chan Family Café. Please keep your face covering on when entering and exiting public areas and not actively consuming food or drink. Employees can pick up face coverings, hand sanitizer, and face shields for lectures in Human Resources.
  3. Symptom Checking:  If you are experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19, please stay home, and contact your supervisor. A complete list of symptoms can be found here. Notify your professor or supervisor if you will be staying home. If you are symptomatic, you need to check in with your primary care provider and request a test.
  4. Contact Tracing & Testing: Contracting tracing for employees and students will be conducted by Student Health Services. If there is a positive case on our campus, and you were in close contact as defined by the CDC, you will be notified by the contact tracing team. If you have been determined as an “exposure” you can receive a test at SHS for free, by contacting Human Resources or Student Affairs for an approval form. If you do not receive notification from SHS, you have not fit the criteria of an “exposure” by the contract tracing team. Faculty are not expected to advise students on their exposures, quarantine, or isolation protocols. Please refer the students to Student Affairs.
  5. Badge Access: Until further notice, all KGI campus buildings will require KGI ID badge access to help mitigate exposure of COVID-19 and assist with contact tracing. Entry to facilities will be regulated and monitored. You will be required to swipe your KGI keycard every time you enter and exit a building. We will keep track of those who enter and exit the building if we need to contact trace. You do not need to touch the ID badge reader when you swipe. You may not hold, or prop open exterior doors for any other person; each person should produce a unique swipe. After entering a building, sanitize your hands at the nearest sanitizer station and follow signage on all posted guidelines. If you have misplaced your badge, please visit TCCS Card Services.
  6. Social Distancing: While there is no current mandate of social distancing, we do encourage you to follow the guidance to distance yourself whenever possible, even while wearing a face covering outdoors. We encourage no physical greetings. Do not shake hands or greet others in any manner that requires physical contact (such as fist or elbow bumps). In the “new normal,” this is considered polite, not rude.
  7. Eating in Classrooms: Food is not allowed in classrooms. While this is not a part of the LACDPH guidance, we are instituting this policy to help keep our classrooms safe, clean, and prevent unmasked activities while in the classroom for long periods. Water is still allowed in the classroom. The academic deans will provide faculty with flow charts to assist you with various processes in the classroom.
  8. Campus Operations: We have increased cleaning in all high traffic areas with disinfection taking place three times a day between two shifts. We have increased the availability of disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer in all areas. In each classroom on the podium, you will find a QR code that allows you quick access to request additional supplies.

Our HVAC system in our buildings has been evaluated and filters are changed regularly. No government agency has yet set clear standards for air exchanges in a room for mitigation of the spread of COVID-19. We have adjusted the fans in our HVAC system to be on in every classroom continuously to improve air circulation and increased the amount of air being brought in from the outside.  

  1. Events: Events are allowed on campus. We remind everyone at those events to maintain appropriate social distancing. If eating, please do so in the Chan Family Café or outdoors if possible. Food, preferably, should be individually packaged.
  2. Campus Visitors: There are currently no restrictions on on-campus visitors. All campus visitors must fill out the Visitor Policy Form. Instructions include monitoring for symptoms and wearing a face covering. This form will help in the even we need to contract trace.
  3. Travel: KGI sponsored employee or student travel is allowed at this time. We will be following CDC and LACDPH guidelines. Pre-departure paperwork must include our COVID protocols that students and/or staff sign and acknowledge, which will include verification of vaccination or testing status before departure and returning to campus. The testing protocols for students will be the same as for faculty/staff.  Please contact Student Affairs if you need assistance with pre-departure paperwork for student travel.

Please continue to monitor the KGI COVID-19 webpage for archived messages and updated information. If any of the LACDPH guidance changes, we will notify our community immediately by email.

If you have any questions which have not been covered in this communication, please do not hesitate to reply to this message or send an email to COVID-19_Taskforce@kgi.edu.

Be well and have a wonderful semester.

Back to kgi.edu/coronavirus page