[Che-student-staff-list] Covid-19 end-of-year safety communication

[Nagy, Gabriela]

Hello everyone,

This year was a particularly challenging year for everyone, as Covid-19 pandemic affected many aspects of our lives, including work and research activities. As the number of positive cases increased on campus throughout the semester, our School was, unfortunately, not spared from having a few positive cases. This required affected labs and offices to be closed for 1-2 days for proper disinfection before continuing normal operations. Understandably, this also caused some anxiety and uneasiness within the ChE research community, due to limited information available. I wanted to assure you that the FRNY Building has remained a safe place for work and research throughout the semester due to everyone's vigilance and the diligent disinfection work completed by affected groups, in addition to the frequent disinfection of public areas conducted by Physical Facilities teams.

I also wanted to remind everyone that Covid-19 positive cases are managed at University level through the Protect Purdue Health Center (PPHC) and contact tracers, and no one else than the direct supervisor/PI of the affected person is informed when a person tests positive for Covid-19. The identity of the person who tested positive is kept confidential, being protected by federal law. The contact tracing system is pulling data from the online library of Covid-19 SOPs and notifies the PIs of the labs/offices for which the person testing positive is listed on their Covid-SOPs and informs them of the need for lab cleaning/disinfection according to the procedure described in this document: https://www.purdue.edu/ehps/rem/worker/covid19/cleaningguide.pdf. Once disinfection of affected areas is completed, the space (lab/office) is opened and research activities continue as normal. More information is also available on Protect Purdue's website, at: https://protect.purdue.edu/updates/ufaqs/what-are-the-procedures-for-cleaning-research-facilities-if-someone-with-covid-like-symptoms-has-been-in-the-research-space-added-june-4/. Individuals identified as "close contacts" with the positive case (per current CDC guidelines (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracing/contact-tracing-plan/appendix.html#contact) are also contacted and notified of the need to quarantine/get tested, without being told whom they were in close contact with. It is our School's intention to provide in the future timely and relevant communication regarding the need for disinfection of affected areas in our building, when this becomes available.

As we near the winter recess and prepare for a safe return to work and research activities in January, I urge you to stay vigilant and uphold the Protect Purdue Pledge (https://protect.purdue.edu/pledge/) at all times during the winter break and beyond.

Wishing you a safe and happy Holiday Season,

Gabriela
On behalf of the ChE Safety Committee

__________________
Gabriela Nagy, PhD
Industrial Education Director
Davidson School of Chemical Engineering
Room FRNY G051
Purdue University
Tel: (765)-496-1710
E-mail: nagyg at purdue.edu<mailto:nagyg at purdue.edu>

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