Research Impact of Decreased COVID-19 Alert Level

Dear Colleagues,

Since April, COVID-19 cases at Yale have steadily decreased and the university’s positivity rate is currently near zero. These encouraging trends have enabled us to move our campus COVID-19 alert level from yellow to green, the lowest alert level, which pertains to our research efforts as follows.

Vaccine Status and COVID-19 Lab Safety Plans
Assuming current pandemic conditions hold steady or continue to improve and we maintain our green alert level, we plan to relax physical distancing requirements for approved cohorts of fully vaccinated researchers in their respective research spaces starting June 15.

There are two important actions you can take immediately to help us meet this goal and return our campus and research programs even closer to normal this summer:

• Beginning June 1, all faculty, students, and staff are required to either submit their vaccination documentation to the university or to confirm that their vaccination information is on file with the university. If you have not already done so, please upload your vaccination documentation immediately and encourage your colleagues to do the same. Please also note that the university is currently discussing its COVID vaccine policies with the unions.
• All members of your lab must be recorded in your EHS Integrator COVID-19 safety plans. If the composition of your lab group has changed since you submitted your safety plans, you should update the membership of your groups in your COVID-19 safety plans through EHS Integrator (VPN required).

Research Supplies Available from SciQuest-Hosted COVID Stockroom

• The stockroom continues to have broad availability of select supplies via the Yale COVID Stockroom.
• We strongly encourage the community to check the Yale COVID Stockroom as a first choice when ordering supplies. Items still available include: face shields, isolation gowns, select nitrile gloves, ASTM-1 surgical masks, ASTM-2 surgical masks, and N95 masks.
• Preferred brands of some items (e.g. Kimberly Clark gloves) continue to be a shared sourcing challenge given the high ongoing demand from the healthcare sector.
• Procurement is available via email or phone to assist with any of your bulk purchase needs.
• Routine, smaller supply purchases should continue to be made via the Yale SciQuest system.

IDs Required for Building Access
As of June 1, 2021, faculty, students and staff will no longer be required to obtain prior authorization to come to campus. However, in order to monitor campus population density and limit visitors, the university will require individuals to use their Yale IDs to access most buildings. I strongly encourage you to review the materials posted on Yale’s COVID-19 website, particularly the Health and Safety Guidelines, and to review your commitment to adhere to these guidelines as outlined in the Statement of Expectations.

Thank you for your dedication to continuing our research throughout the pandemic, and for your commitment to safety protocols and flexibility in working in shifts and with physical distancing. Your efforts have played an invaluable role in bringing us to this point. I look forward, as I am sure you do, to being able to have an in-person lab meeting with my entire group very soon.

Sincerely,

Michael Crair
Vice Provost for Research