In an e-mail just sent to the UT community, UT president Victor van der Chijs announced the stricter measures. In doing so, the UT does not deviate from the course set by the VSNU for the next three weeks, following yesterday evening's press conference.
Working from home
More attention is being paid to working from home. 'We were doing good at keeping to the homeworking standard that already applied,' says corona spokesperson Laurens van der Velde. 'But now we are asking employees to look extra critically at whether or not they need to be on campus. This does not seem to be the case for team building activities, for example, for which there are alternatives - at least for the next three weeks. But not all is black and white. For the activities that fall into the grey area, we hope that employees will ask themselves whether physical presence is both urgent and necessary.'
40% capacity, no constitution drinks
The UT is still committed to an occupation rate of 40% on campus. With that capacity, the UT community can stick to the one and a half metre distance, is the idea. As far as education and research are concerned, nothing much will change. The labs and lecture rooms will remain open. And activities such as exams, practicals and tutorials can still take place. Even for self-study you are not necessarily assigned to your student room. Other activities will be reduced to a maximum of thirty people. Think of PhD defences, inaugural lectures and graduation symposia and ceremonies. And the UT advises associations not to hold constitution drinks (cobo's) in the coming period.
Mask advice?
The UT does not recommend mouth masks. 'For the sake of clarity, we adhere to the recommendations of the safety region and the Outbreak Management Team,' says Van der Velde. 'If there is a change of course, we will look again at the advice that applies at that time. Every individual is free to wear a mouth guard, for those who feel more comfortable with it.'
