UCOP COVID-19 Positive Case Reporting

UCOP isolation, quarantine, and return to work requirements are in alignment with California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Cal/OSHA guidance. In some cases, local county or UCOP guidance may be more restrictive than CDPH guidance or Cal/OSHA requirements, and in those cases, the more restrictive requirements are applied.

As the requirements differ for positive cases, close contacts, and vaccination status, the UCOP contact tracing team will advise you of requirements relevant to your specific situation.

All on-site employees, contractors, vendors and visitors must report positive COVID-19 cases and must not come on-site.

Who needs to report?


All employees, contractors, vendors and visitors, must report if they have a confirmed positive case of COVID-19.

If you have come in close contact with someone who has a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 AND you have been on-site within the last five days (48 hours for contractors, vendors and visitors), you also need to report it.

How do I report if I have a positive case of COVID-19?


UCOP employees:

UCOP contractors, vendors or visitors:

What should I do if I come in close contact with someone who has a confirmed positive case of COVID-19?


If you have household or close contact with someone who has a confirmed positive case of COVID-19, you should do the following:

UCOP employees:

  • Self-monitor for symptoms of the following:
    • Fever ≥ 100.0°F / 37.8°C
    • Cough
    • Difficulty breathing
    • Sore throat (not due to a chronic condition)
    • Muscle aches (not due to a chronic condition)
    • Severe fatigue
    • Nasal congestion (different from pre-existing allergies)
    • Loss of sense of smell or taste (not due to a chronic condition)
  • If you develop Influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms (fever with shortness of breath and/or cough), stay home. You will not be allowed to access UCOP facilities.
  • Contact your primary care provider if symptoms warrant it.
  • You may return to work when signs and symptoms of ILI are resolved for 24 hours without use of fever-reducing medications and five days have elapsed since the onset of symptoms.
  • If you have a confirmed positive case of COVID-19, you are required to report this to:

UCOP contractors, vendors and visitors:

  • Stay or return home.
  • Self-monitor for symptoms of the following:
    • Fever ≥ 100.0°F / 37.8°C
    • Cough
    • Difficulty breathing 
    • Sore throat (not due to a chronic condition)
    • Muscle aches (not due to a chronic condition)
    • Severe fatigue
    • Nasal congestion (different from pre-existing allergies)
    • Loss of sense of smell or taste (not due to a chronic condition)

What should I do if I have symptoms of COVID-19?


If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should do the following:

UCOP employees:

  • If you have Influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms (fever with shortness of breath and/or cough), you must remain home and will not be allowed to access UCOP facilities.
  • You are required to report your "not approved" status to your supervisor.
  • Contact your primary care provider if symptoms warrant it.
  • You may return to work when signs and symptoms of ILI are resolved for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications and five days have elapsed since the onset of symptoms.
  • If you have a confirmed positive case of COVID-19, you are required to report this to:

UCOP contractors, vendors and visitors:

  • Stay or return home.
  • Notify your employer.
  • Contact your primary care provider if symptoms warrant it.
  • If you have a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 and you have been on-site in a UCOP facility within the last 48 hours, you are required to complete the UCOP Case and Contact Reporting Form OR report to UCOP-Incident-Report@UCOP.edu/510-987-9991.

What happens once I report a positive case of COVID-19?


UCOP follows predefined protocols when there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 or a close contact for someone who has been on-site. When a report is received, a UCOP Exposure Management Lead (EML) initiates the exposure management process, and the following steps are taken:

A member of the HR team will reach out to you to complete a contact tracing interview to gather the specifics of the case, including the following:
  • How are you doing?
  • When did you receive a positive test result?
  • Are you having symptoms:
    • If yes, what types of symptoms and when did they begin; discuss the next steps for self-care and return to work based on vaccination status.
    • If not, discuss the next steps for self-care based on vaccination status.
  • When were you last on-site and what was your path of travel when on-site?
  • Who did you interact with when on-site and were they within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more within 24 hours? This will generate additional contact tracing calls to those contacts.
  • If HR does not connect with you, they leave a message and request a callback.
The HR team then makes contact tracing calls to notify the potential contacts (who have been determined to be close contacts based on the discussion) and conducts a contact tracing interview with each close contact and advises them based on the information received.
  • If HR does not reach a contact, we leave a message to call us back. We do not leave details regarding why we are calling. We do ask that we receive a call back as soon as possible. Delays in callbacks can cause delays in our interviews and sometimes creates angst when some people hear that some have been contacted and others have not.

Once all interviews are completed, HR compares this information to when the case received the positive test result and when the positive case was in the office.

HR pulls badge data for the date the positive case was last on-site and two days prior and identifies all employees who entered the building and were on-site.

HR then notifies anyone who was in the building the last day the positive case was on-site and/or any of the other two days prior.

  • Anyone in the building and in the path of travel of the positive case on any or all of those dates is sent an email notification. 
  • Those who did not badge into work for an on-site workday(s) on the dates for the positive case will not be sent an email notification.
  • The respective unions are also notified.