Berlanga

BACKGROUND

Student appellants were enrolled at USF as undergraduate students in the spring 2020 semester. Prior to March 2020, they attended their USF classes in-person. On March 4, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in response to the global outbreak of COVID-19, a new disease caused by a “novel coronavirus.” That declaration emphasized the need to “mitigate the spread of COVID-19” due to concerns that “the number of persons requiring medical care may exceed locally available resources.” On March 16, 2020, the San Francisco Health Officer issued a shelter-in-place order requiring residents of San Francisco County to remain in their homes except when engaging in essential activities, and to stay at least six feet apart from other persons when leaving their homes. A few days later, the Governor issued an executive order requiring all Californians to stay at home except for essential activities. As a result, USF was prohibited by law from holding large in-person gatherings, and USF suspended all in-person instruction and closed its on- campus facilities. USF announced all classes would transition to distance learning for the remainder of the semester. In July…