Dear Colleagues,
The UC Office of the President posted today a report by the chair of the systemwide Working Group on Comprehensive Access (WGCA), which has worked since August 2019 to develop recommendations on the critically important issue of UC’s affiliations with faith-based health systems.
The WGCA chair’s report was presented to UC President Janet Napolitano earlier this month and is now available for public viewing at ucal.us/wgca, along with comment letters from some of the individuals who served on the WGCA. The report will be presented to the UC Regents at their meeting in May.
We encourage you to read the report and share your perspectives via an online tool, which is available at the url above. The public comment period will run through February 21, 2020.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
Mark R. Laret
President and CEO
UCSF Health
Dear colleagues:
As you likely know from news coverage, a new respiratory illness associated with a novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, in late December, and has now affected more than 500 people. Although most infections have been identified in China, several have occurred in individuals who traveled to Wuhan City and returned to other countries, including cases in Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, and one in Washington State. While most of the early cases were linked to exposure in a seafood and animal market, there is now evidence of person-to-person spread. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with state and local health departments to institute several efforts to control further infections, including screening passengers at SFO who arrived on direct flights from Wuhan.
No individuals have been identified in California with novel coronavirus infection. However, it’s important to be aware of the situation and to remind ourselves that there are steps we can each take to protect ourselves and our community against both a novel coronavirus illness and much more common respiratory infections like seasonal influenza. We are currently in the midst of the annual influenza season and influenza activity remains high.
There are a number of important things that you can do to prevent the spread of all respiratory infections:
- Here is the most important thing to do: If you have a fever or flu symptoms, do not come to school or to work. Stay at home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone, unless you need medical care.
- If you do need medical care because you...