Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may determine to switch from a first cell of a first distributed unit (DU) to a second cell of a second DU, wherein the first DU and the second DU are included in a set of DUs of a central unit (CU). The UE may communicate, using layer 1 (L1) or layer 2 (L2) signaling to change an activation status of at least one cell of the first DU or the second DU. The UE may switch from the first cell to the second cell in connection with the change to the activation status of the at least one cell of the first DU or the second DU. Numerous other aspects are provided.