TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Amid the rising COVID-19 cases, the University of Arizona prepares for the first day of the spring semester classes with revised health safety precautions. Students are now required to wear a higher grade mask like KN95, instead of the cloth masks.
The university's Health Services Interim Co-Executive Director David Salafsky said students living in the dorms should expect to test for COVID-19 each week and those that live off-campus are encouraged to do the same. There are incentives available for students like money that will go to their Cat Cards every time they test.
If students or staff have any questions or start to feel sick, the health services office is here to help. Students feeling sick will test for COVID-19 and then isolate in the designated quarantine dorms.
"We’re here to serve the community. So fortunately what we are seeing with Omnicron is that is more mild but we will be seeing a lot more people test positive," he said.
The goal for the semester is to maintain good physical and mental health. Salafsky said the pandemic has been a stressful time and placed more pressure on students and staff. He said the university encourages students and staff to utilize group therapy and telehealth options.
"We focus a lot on the physical side but I think we all can acknowledge that and certainly for our students that the mental health side is just as important," he said. "Caps or counseling and psych services here on campus they’ve been really busy doing a lot of outreach on that.”
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