COVID-19 – Frequently Asked Questions

Tropicana is closing non-essential amenities including, but not limited to, the recreation rooms, the Tropicana Del Norte theater, and the pools. Tropicana hopes to continue offering study lounges in socially distanced setups. Certain areas may be converted into study areas as possible or may be re-opened and subject to physical distance and face-covering requirements. Printing will still be available through the front desk; however, public computer workstations will be removed. Tropicana’s Residence Life team will still coordinate events and programs that fit within the social distancing guidelines, including virtual events, outdoor adventures, and other similar activities.

In-person activities and programs will need to comply with physical distancing and public health guidelines.

We plan on having more outdoor activities or social engagements over Zoom to try and allow for more physical distancing. Hikes, beach days, bike trips, Zoom trivia nights, are some of the things we have planned for this quarter. 

We have suspended our overnight-guest policy and are instituting a strict no-guest policy. Guests/visitors are defined as anyone who is not a current leaseholder in one of the Tropicana communities.

All students are required to wear face coverings while in public areas within Tropicana communities. Public areas are considered any area that is not within a student’s suite. This includes other students’ suites, if a student is not an occupant of a suite, they are expected to be wearing a mask.

At any time, Tropicana may request or require a student to leave their assigned space when Tropicana reasonably concludes that the student’s continued presence in the housing community poses an actual or potential health or safety risk for community members. Residents are required to comply with requests from Tropicana to leave their assigned space due to COVID-19 or other public health emergency and failure to do so is a violation of the Contract and may subject a student to emergency removal from their assigned space. When at all possible, the student should return to their home or a space provided by Tropicana which could be at a nearby offsite location. A student’s removal from their existing assignment to isolate or quarantine does not constitute a termination or a temporary pause of this Contract. Refusal to relocate, self-isolate, self-quarantine or follow staff directions may be considered a serious violation constituting a nuisance injurious to the health of the community (Civil Code 3479) which may terminate the resident’s contract in accordance with California Code of Civil Procedure § 1161(4).

Tropicana has already modified its maximum room occupancy to single occupancy, in coordination with the State of California Higher Education Guidelines and UCSB Chancellor Yang. Please be informed that furniture in rooms may not match the actual occupancy, e.g. double furniture accommodation may be present in a single occupancy room. Students are required to comply with any dedensifying efforts needed due to COVID-19 or other public health emergency, including, but not limited to, the relocation of all or some residents to alternative housing. Relocation does not constitute a termination of a resident’s housing contract. If Tropicana is not able to accommodate your housing request due to reduced occupancy limits mandated by COVID, it will notify you within seven business days of the standard Contract Start Date and will return all deposits and payments within ten business days. If, during the academic year, there are significant changes related to COVID-19 and the
public health concerns subside and/or a vaccine is available, we reserve the right to reevaluate density levels and students who are living in Tropicana residences may be assigned a roommate. Please know that this would only be done with consultation of health officials

The café hours will be reduced and all meals are currently carry-out. This process can and will change in accordance to local guidelines. Students can place orders online and retrieve their order from the designated cafeteria. Each order consisting of a single entrée, up to two sides, and a beverage, is considered one meal use, which will be deducted from a student’s weekly meal allowance. Any changes to the meal plan policies will be sent to students via the student’s email address provided to Tropicana. Personal face coverings will be required to enter any cafeteria to pick up prepared food. If/when we are able to safely offer dine-in, it is anticipated that a significant portion of the dining business will continue to be take-out for the remainder of the academic year. If/when dine-in options are approved by the County Public Health Department, seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Seating will be limited in the dining hall to allow for physical distancing.

Upon reasonable notice, Tropicana reserves the right to terminate the Contract due to public health emergency needs, including COVID-19. In the event Tropicana terminates the Contract due to public health concerns, Tropicana may offer fair and reasonable reimbursements and/or pro-rated refunds for impacted students as appropriate and based on information available at that time and provided that the resident has removed their belongings and returned their key to the applicable front desk.

If you have symptoms, or have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, please contact the Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health for more information about community testing at
https://publichealthsbc.org/testing/ You will be expected to notify Tropicana by using
the online form at https://forms.tropicanastudentliving.com/covid/

At the time of this writing, Tropicana still expects to provide housekeeping for students in a residence hall community (Tropicana Gardens and Tropicana Del Norte) 1-2 times a month (Please note: this is very much subject to change. We will be following the guidelines set forth regarding our staff entering student suites to clean. Each student is expected to maintain and clean their own living areas and bathrooms. If housekeeping is permitted to clean rooms, all students would be required to vacate the immediate area (bedroom or common area) during the housekeeping cleaning to maintain social distancing guidelines, and for the safety of our staff and the student(s). If any student refuses to vacate the immediate area, housekeeping will skip that area until the next scheduled cleaning. Students will be given notice prior to the cleaning. Housekeeping will frequently clean common/public bathrooms, common/public areas, and high-touch surfaces multiple times a day.