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=University of British Columbia Covid-19 Response=

Covid-19 Response 2020-2021
After British Columbia announced a province wide state of emergency on March 18th of 2020, UBCO gave an announcement that all final exams for the winter session would be held online. This was before the province of British Columbia knew the full extent of how serious the pandemic had gotten. After the exams, UBCO administrators had no choice but to release a statement saying that the first Summer term of 2020 would be held online. Some classes that were not prepared to move online had to be unavailable to students. The second semester was still under discussion initially, but in the end was also moved to being completely online. This was announced on April 17th, 2020. As the winter term of 2020/2021 approached, it was decided that the larger classes consisting of hundreds of students would still be held online. A handful of smaller classes would be permitted to be held in person, depending on the professor's choice and the occupancy of each class. This was announced and confirmed on May 11, 2020. Social distancing and masks were heavily enforced for those who chose to go and study on campus. For Term 2 of the winter session, it was announced that UBCO would start to have more face to face instructions for a wide range of programs. The majority of term 2 would still be online, this was announced September 2, 2020. After assessing the province guidelines, it was again announced that the first term of the Summer session of 2021 would also remain online for most courses. This being announced on January 13, 2021. After Dr. Bonnie Henry provided Secondary school guidelines on on-campus activity, it was announced that the first term of the winter session 2021 would be on campus. This statement was issued on March 8, 2021. This would only be possible if more than 70% of the students had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. In student-housing and a handful of activities available would require students to have a proof of vaccination card in order to participate. That being said, most classes, regardless of how many students, were offered in-person with options for online participation for those who felt more comfortable with that setting.



Winter Semester Mandate
As of December 7th 2021, UBCO has issued new mandates on top of the previous mask, social distancing and occupancy mandates that are in effect for all of its student population. The most important being the transition of previously in-person classes and labs being put into an online format. Previously this mandate was set to end on January 24th but it has since been extended to February 6th, 2022 for classes and January 31st, 2022 for Labs. Both of these dates can be subject to change and can be pushed back until further notice. Along with the absence of in person classes and labs a strict Rapid Testing program is in full effect. The program that was originally released on September 7th, 2021, aims to limit the spread of Covid by offering Covid-19 Rapid testing to those who are unable or unwilling to receive 2 doses of the Covid-19 Vaccine. The program is being heavily enforced by the university as failure to comply and provide information about an individual's vaccine status can result in a multitude of punishments. These include the dropping of the students' current registered courses, being unable to view current grades or transcripts, the disabling of new registrations and the disabling of applications for different UBCO programs.