Written by Anthony De Leon and Zaeem Shaikh

With the 2020 fall semester beginning this week, Fresno State has released an updated plan that follows the newly released guidelines by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

In accordance with CDPH, the daily population on Fresno State’s campus will be around 2,200 students, faculty and staff. The numbers account for 7.5 percent of the overall campus population.

Nearly 1,000 students will be enrolled in 101 in-person courses approved by the university. The list of classes released were initially 128 at the time of the fall 2020 announcement, but have since been reduced by 27.

“The great news is that our planning over the last several months really paid off, and our plan was very much in line with Gov. [Gavin] Newsom’s guidelines that came out the Friday before last,” said Dr. Joseph I. Castro, president of Fresno State, in a press conference. “We eliminated a few of our in-person classes that didn’t quite fit into his guidelines.”

With students, staff and faculty coming back to campus, Fresno State is the only CSU campus that is offering baseline COVID-19 testing this month until Aug. 21.

Voluntary baseline COVID-19 testing is highly encouraged for all students, faculty and staff who will return to campus in the fall. The university has partnered with Valley Children’s Healthcare, and is offering one-time testing to those who are approved to be on campus for the fall.

“We’re going to continue to do COVID testing, we’ve done baseline testing open to any student, faculty or staff on the campus this fall,” Castro said. “…We’re going to do more regular testing for those in housing as well.”

Vice President for Administration & Chief Financial Officer Debbie Adishian-Astone said for many people who got tested the results came back very quickly within 24 hours.

The university has not clearly mentioned that a plan for further testing beyond Aug. 21 is in place, but Astone said the university will be working closely with their colleagues in athletics and in housing to do more frequent testing.

Currently Fresno State is aware of 17 individuals who were confirmed positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and who had been on campus during their infectious period, and the university will continue to update the number of positive cases every Monday on their web page.

The university has declined to report on the number of tests daily and the number of negative cases on campus.

Required daily health screenings and temperature checks will also be conducted. Students and employees coming to campus must go through one of five checkpoints for a screening. A sticker will be provided to students indicating that they have gone through the proper checkpoints.

Due to COVID-19 and guidelines from the California Department of Public Health, only authorized students, faculty, staff and contractors are permitted on campus. Signage will be posted at campus entry points, discouraging non-essential visitors.

Astone said these requirements placed on the campus community operate as an “honor system.” If students are not following protocols, the university will put a student conduct review in place.

According to the university, to reduce possible exposure to COVID-19 and to help prevent the spread of the virus, face masks or cloth face coverings are required to be worn in public spaces on campus and during in-person classes, consistent with the governor’s order and updated state public-health guidelines.

“It’s incumbent upon all of us to provide the reminders and when we see someone on campus to feel comfortable and [say] ‘please remember to wear your facial covering, if you don’t have one here’s where you can get one or to make sure that we’re maintaining the proper social physical distancing,’” Astone said.

The university says that they will continue to review and adjust plans and services, if necessary. Additionally, Fresno State says it’s prepared for the possibility that all courses may need to return to virtual instruction at any point during the semester.

Castro commented on the possibility of a student, faculty and staff succumbing to COVID-19 and said they’re staying in touch with all of their employees who have tested positive as well as others who may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

“I’ve been in frequent touch with [Fresno County Director of Public Health] David Pomaville, and so I feel very confident that we’ve done everything we can to keep the risk down as close to zero as possible,” Castro said. “The key thing is that we all have a role to play here in minimizing risk for everybody on the campus.”

For further information, the full Fresno State release can be found here.