Thanks to the ongoing efforts of many, UMMS is well aligned with Gov. Baker’s newly announced plan to begin to re-open businesses across the commonwealth. In fact, all elements required for a Phase 1 return are in place at UMMS, and the governor has indicated that laboratory personnel can return beginning May 25, which happens to be the Memorial Day holiday.
With this, UMMS will delay by a few days the return of approximately half of our laboratory researchers. Those who have been identified as part of the ramp up will now return on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, instead of May 20. Those who have been identified as essential and who are currently on-site should continue with their work. Also beginning May 26, only individuals with a confirmed negative coronavirus screening test will be granted access to campus.
In addition, the laboratory guidance document, which was developed by the UMMS Coronavirus Workplace Safety Working Group, and the slides presented during yesterday’s research community virtual town hall, are attached for your reference. These resources are also available at https://umassmed.edu/coronavirus. Any questions can be addressed today at 1 p.m. during the weekly UMMS Virtual Town Hall meeting.
Thank you all for your patience and attention to these workplace safety guidelines during the phased ramp-up of our research labs.
