Care For Community (Physical Space & People)
Carrying out appropriate distancing and hygiene protocols protects you as well as others. But we all need to do our part to protect our physical space and our community.
- Maintain occupancy of on-campus spaces at or under 25% of typical capacity. This includes lab and research spaces as well as communal spaces. Small rooms and office spaces should typically be limited to single occupancy.
- Remain consistent in your efforts to stay healthy and maintain safety. Expand your knowledge about the current emergency or pandemic. For example, learn about how SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 spreads and stay up-to-date on evolving information.
- Practice NPIs - Non Pharmaceutical Interventions (actions, apart from getting vaccinated and taking medicine, to help slow the spread of illnesses like pandemic flu)
- Follow daily health and safety protocols
- Know what to do if you or a member of research personnel (or a research participant) develops symptoms of COVID-19
- Know where to report a concern about health and safety
- Use hand sanitizer (minimum 60% alcohol)
- Especially:
- Before eating
- After you have been in a public space, including use of the restroom
- After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
- After contacting any high touch surfaces such as doorknobs, light switches, elevator buttons
- Rigorously clean and disinfect surfaces and objects at a minimum at the end of each day, and more frequently as needed
- Clean visibly dirty surfaces using soap and water
- Disinfect personal and shared workspaces and equipment using recommended disinfectants
- Personal workspace:
- Desk surface, phone, chair, computer monitor, keyboard and mouse
- Shared workspaces:
- Shared desk surfaces, computers, keyboards, doorknobs, light switches, laboratory instruments and equipment
- Sensitive electronics:
- Use alcohol-based wipes for phones and other electronic devices
- If you need assistance to determine a safe method for equipment disinfection, please contact Facilities and the Environmental Health & Safety.
Helping others cope with their stress, such as by providing social support, can also make your community stronger. During times of increased social distancing, people can still maintain social connections and care for their mental health. Phone calls or video chats can help you and your loved ones feel socially connected, less lonely, or isolated. (Source: CDC.org)
You can also help prevent the spread of misinformation. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, misinformation on COVID-19 is widely spread online. If you see misinformation, report it to your platform and let anyone posting/sharing it know (e.g., via private message or commenting on the post). Retrieve information from trusted sources like these:
Share positive news and acts of kindness with your community.