Returning students: What to know about San Diego’s Covid regulations

Returning students: What to know about San Diego’s Covid regulations

By: Emma Valdiserri, Assistant News Editor

As of August 18, San Diego County has been removed from California’s COVID-19 watchlist, meaning there have been less than 100 new cases reported daily per 100,000 residents in the area. Theoretically, if San Diego maintains this rate for the next 14 days, K-12 schools can reopen. Even though the watchlist only applies to K-12 schools, it may still inform USD’s decision, as the university continues its online semester. Several universities that reopened for the fall, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Notre Dame in Southbend, Indiana, have seen spikes in cases and have been forced to suspend their online classes or cancel them altogether. 

At the end of July, USD’s President James T. Harris III, D.Ed. confirmed that the university would be online for its fall semester after months of making efforts to have students return to campus in a hybrid setting. The university has also recently announced that its January intersession term will be taught remotely as well. 

Despite USD going online, many students have returned to San Diego to complete their courses, and some are noticing differences in how the pandemic is being handled between their hometowns and San Diego itself. 

Klea Washington, a senior undergraduate originally from Fresno, California, has safely returned to her house on Mission Beach that she shares with three roommates. 

“In Fresno, people are pretty good at wearing masks, but cases are still high,” Washington said. “San Diego feels completely different though, like you wouldn’t really know there’s a pandemic, especially on the beaches and boardwalks. I just hope people don’t think that being removed from the watchlist means we can go out and party, causing us to end up back where we started.”

While San Diego is making progress by being taken off the watchlist for the virus, there have been other setbacks. The county has had to re-close certain businesses like indoor gyms and bars earlier this summer after cases surged from initial reopenings. That being said, it’s safest for returning students to continue following the CDC guidelines and take the necessary safety precautions to keep themselves and those around them safe and healthy.

Although it’s not quite time to enjoy popcorn and soda at the movie theatre or lift weights at the gym, returning students still have a variety of options for places to go and activities to do when they need a break from Zoom. For those who enjoy outdoor recreation, beaches and parks are open and activities like boating, camping, golfing, tennis, and recreation equipment rentals are allowed as long as those participating wear masks and keep their distance. 

Businesses in the food industry that are currently open include restaurants with outdoor seating, grocery stores, food banks, and farmers markets like those in Ocean Beach and Little Italy. Restaurants with modified outdoor dining services are required to close on-site dining between 10 p.m.and 5 a.m. while bars, breweries, and distilleries that don’t serve food are closed, but can still offer takeout and pick-up services. The smaller the group size at a restaurant, the better.

Other places such as convenience stores, pharmacies, banks, laundromats, hardware stores, pet groomers, car dealerships and washes are also open. If online shopping and Amazon packages have run their course, retail stores with outdoor entrances can have in-store customers while indoor malls have to wait longer before they can open. Businesses that are open but limited to outdoor operation include gyms, places of worship, salons, museums, galleries, zoos, among others. 

In other words, most businesses with the ability to operate outdoors can be open. The places that are closed and will have to wait for updated regulations from the state include indoor shopping malls, movie theatres, bowling alleys, and other indoor recreational activities. Of course, for these businesses to open and remain open, all employees and customers are required to wear masks and be cautious of their distance. 

While USD’s campus may not be open for classes and recreation, there are still a lot of safe and socially distant activities for returning students to do in San Diego that can bring some normalcy to the semester. Students visiting campus for any reason, like picking up textbooks, are required to wear a mask and must have their temperature checked at one of the on-campus tents (there is one located outside the Student Life Pavilion) to obtain a wristband before entering any of the buildings. Even though online learning may leave more time for boogie boarding at the beach, it’s strongly recommended that returning students are responsible when it comes to wearing masks and keeping their distance to help San Diego remain off the watchlist.

For more information in regards to San Diego’s COVID-19 regulations, faculty and students can visit the San Diego County Government website for updates on what’s closed, open, and predicted to open in the future.