Important Updates to Research, Teaching, and General COVID19 Related Information

Research

1. PPE: For now, individual groups and the stock room can continue to order PPE as usual.  Please let me know if you are having problems securing the PPE you need in the coming weeks and months.  We have been told that gloves and masks are becoming increasingly scarce.
2. Can we further ramp up research?  There has been a steady stream of anonymous reports of students aggregating in offices and hallways, eating in hallways, and of violations of the stockroom restart policy.  Any further increase of research activity/lab population must be accompanied with an additional plan on how your group will address these public health threats both in your lab AND in shared spaces. You should also plan to have detailed and specific conversations with your group on how social distancing, hand hygiene, and surface disinfection will be achieved.
3. Training new students:  Clear and detailed guidelines on how to safely train new graduate (and potentially undergraduate) students will be issued in the near future.

Teaching

1. ZOOM will require passcode or waiting room starting Sept 27.  If you go with the passcode option, the code will be embedded in the link, so you can still paste links in Canvas for your students to access.
2. Syllabi inserts on assigned seating, mask wearing and consequences for non-compliance will be issued from the Campus/College shortly.

General COVID19 related updates

1. Undergraduates and incoming graduate students will be required to report the results of a COVID test taken within the 10-day window preceding their arrival on Campus (i.e., if their first on-campus activity is on 24 August, their test must have been taken and result uploaded between the 14^th and the 23^rd).  As of the time the email announcing this rule was sent, the portal for uploading the results was not yet in place.  See the email with subject line “Faculty/Staff Fall 2020 Update | July 10” sent at approximately 3:30 on Friday, 10 July for links to FAQs.
2. Responding to anonymous feedback:  If we get information on possible exposure in common areas, yes, we absolutely will inform the department.  Also, any information of this nature will be posted by Public Safety in that area.
3. Suggested reading from our Chemistry colleagues:

• A good article published in Science magazine back in March:
  https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/not-wearing-masks-protect-against-coronavirus-big-mistake-top-chinese-scientist-says
• "Required" reading for graduate students, postdocs, faculty and staff:
  https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/they-want-to-kill-me-many-covid-patients-have-terrifying-delirium/