Dear LBCC Students,

I’m writing to you today to update you on some important decisions Long Beach City College has made regarding this fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Requirement for Students Taking In-Person Classes

Long Beach City College will require proof of vaccination from our LBCC students who are taking in-person classes. If students are unable to provide this information, they will be regularly tested for COVID-19. If you are taking all of your classes online, you do not have to follow this vaccination requirement.

This decision follows a similar order from California state workers, City of Long Beach employees, and the California State University system for students and employees.

Additionally, I met with all of our LBCC campus leaders, including student representatives. We agree that this is the best next course of action as we see the number of COVID-19 cases spike and hospitalizations increase drastically in the past few weeks alone.

When Does This Requirement Start and How Will it Work?

I’m sure you will have questions about how this process of verification will go and when it will start. Since we are still in the early stages of planning, I don’t have details just yet. But I wanted to inform our campus community as soon as possible. For those of you who are still unvaccinated, I hope this gives you time to get your free and safe COVID-19 vaccination shot.

From day one of this pandemic, our situation has changed constantly. I know that I was feeling extremely hopeful when we announced that we were making a partial return for Fall Semester and about our plans to return to pre-COVID levels for Spring 2022. But if we don’t use all of the tools available to us, our plans to return to pre-COVID days will be delayed.

With the majority of our student population between the ages of 18-35, this is the population that is being hit the hardest by the COVID-19 Delta variant. So, I’m encouraging you to please get your vaccination as soon as possible. Not only to help protect your immediate family and friends but to also help protect your classmates as we work together to beat this pandemic.

We’ll be sending out more information soon.

Please be safe and let’s continue to care for each other.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mike Muñoz
Interim Superintendent-President
Long Beach Community College District