UC Merced extends remote learning for additional week amid statewide COVID-19 surge

UC Merced officials have announced the campus is extending remote learning for students for one more week, due to the current surge of new COVID-19 infections reported in California and nationwide.

The news means although spring semester starts Jan. 18, in-person classes will not resume until Jan. 31, according to a campus news release.

The announcement from UC Merced came not long after Merced County on Thursday reported its second highest daily count of new COVID-19 cases ever recorded during the two-year pandemic.

The virus has infected 49,005 residents and killed 710 in Merced County since the outbreak began in March 2020, according to the Merced County Department of Public Health’s online dashboard.

A little more than 45% of the Merced County’s population is fully vaccinated as of Thursday. The statewide average is much higher at 80% of the population vaccinated against COVID-19.

Campus officials hope the additional week will give students, faculty and staff more time to be tested and get vaccinated, the release said.

The university estimates 97% of its students are fully vaccinated, along with 88% of academic personnel and staff — meaning they’ve had either the two-shot Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The UC system is also requiring students and staff to get a booster shot once eligible.

Officials are also concerned about the rapidly-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19, which is at least two to four times more transmissible than the previously dominant delta variant.

CDPH data shows that omicron made up 76% of sequenced cases for the week ending Dec. 26. On Dec. 12, it was 4%.

This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 11:57 AM.