This page covers the following topics:
- Masking requirements on campus
- Recommended types of masks
- Where to get masks on campus
- Can I change the masking requirements?
- Those seeking mask accommodations
Masking on campus
Indoors
It is strongly recommended but not required that students, faculty, staff, visitors and others wear well-fitting face masks in indoor spaces on campus and at UCLA facilities.
Masking, however, remains mandatory in the following facilities and situations:
UCLA health care settings
This applies to patient care and waiting areas at the Arthur Ashe Health & Wellness Center, the David Geffen School of Medicine and the School of Dentistry, as well as clinical and patient care settings in the following facilities:
- Community Health Sciences building
- Factor Health Sciences building
- Gonda (Goldschmied) Neuroscience and Genetics Research Center
- MacDonald Medical Research Laboratories building
Masks are not required in the main building lobbies or in offices and conference rooms outside of patient care units.
Isolation and quarantine exemptions
Per UCLA’s isolation and quarantine protocol and LACDPH guidelines, if you are isolating, you must wear a highly protective mask during your isolation period if you will be around others, including those you live with. If you are able to end your isolation period early:
- Students: Students released from isolation on or after Day 5 must wear a mask around others through Day 10, but they may discontinue masking sooner if they have two negative COVID-19 tests in a row taken at least one day apart before Day 10.
- Faculty and staff: It is required by Cal/OSHA that employees who return to work following early release from isolation wear a highly protective mask in the workplace through Day 10.
If you have been in close contact with an infected person but are asymptomatic, you do not need to quarantine. However, it is strongly recommended that you wear a highly protective mask around other people — especially those who are at high risk of severe illness — until 10 days have passed since your initial exposure.
Travel and public transit
Masks are strongly recommended by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on public transportation and at transportation hubs.
Outdoors
Masks are optional outdoors.
Recommended types of masks
Well-fitting masks recommended for use by students and employees:
- Medical-grade surgical masks
- KN95s
- KF94s
- N95s or other respirators approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
For more on masks and respirators, including how to properly wear them, visit the CDC’s mask page and the LACDPH’s mask page.
Where to get masks on campus
The following locations currently provide free masks to students and employees:
- UCLA PPE Store
- John Wooden Center
- Student Activities Center
- Ackerman Union’s A-level information window
- UCLA residence hall front desks
Can I change requirements in my classroom or department?
Faculty, staff and students are are not permitted to create masking requirements for offices, classrooms or other campus spaces that deviate from current UCLA protocols. These protocols need to be applied consistently and equitably across all campus entities.
Those seeking mask accommodations
Students, faculty or staff who are seeking a COVID-19–related accommodation due to a medical condition that either requires them to wear a mask or precludes them from wearing one should consult with the following:
- Faculty and staff: Insurance and Risk Management
- Students: Center for Accessible Education