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NRAO Coronavirus COVID-19 Response > news > From the Director: NRAO/GBO Update - Wed Mar 18th

From the Director: NRAO/GBO Update - Wed Mar 18th

To all NRAO/GBO employees:

Over the past few days we have successfully transitioned to Infectious Disease Operating Status (IDOS) across all NRAO sites and GBO. Our North American (NA) instruments (JVLA, GBT, VLBA) are all still operating, with support from skeleton crews and people working from home. In Chile, it has been decided to halt ALMA operations within the next few days, and enter a work-from-home and minimum onsite staff mode (covering safety & security) for the indefinite future. School closings remain in force across most of the US, including our main sites (VA: schools closed until April 10th; WV March 27th; NM April 6th). NRAO/GBO travel restrictions remain in force, and national guidelines on international travel are in place. NSF and AUI remain online, and in close contact.

Transitioning the Observatories to this new operating mode (involving: work from home – WFH; skeleton crew – SC; unable to work from home – UW) has been relatively smooth so far. Our IT systems appear to be coping well, most meetings have transitioned to videoconference (Zoom being the preferred option), and some parts of Observatory life are continuing normally. Our buildings are secure, and people have been good about requesting permission to access their offices/labs, quickly retrieving things they need, and not lingering. Administrative processes (JDE, procurement, fiscal) remain online, although there may be some delays in processing requests. If you experience such a delay, please notify the appropriate division head or your site director. The management team meets every day or two at 10am EDT to review issues which have arisen, address concerns. 

What we have heard in some cases is that people are struggling to balance work responsibilities with their new personal responsibilities (e.g. childcare, looking after a sick family member), i.e. suddenly working two jobs, having difficulty attending online meetings, meeting deliverable schedules.  Forcing people into these stressful situations is not our intention. People that can work from home – should adopt that status, and be working from home as effectively as possible. People who are unable to work from home (for whatever reason) – in all cases, you and your supervisor should have noted your UW status, and you should not be stressing yourselves unreasonably by attempting to work from home on top of your personal responsibilities.  Work is continuing across the Observatory, and it will be frustrating to suddenly be decoupled from that, but everyone in the country is seeing some difficulty in the current crisis.  If you are having these or any other issues adjusting to the new operating status and working from home, please talk to your supervisor or department head immediately.

Across the Observatories, we are aware of a handful of employees at home, feeling unwell (…not unusual for a combined staff of nearly 550). At the current time, no AUI employee (or family member) has tested positive for COVID-19, as far as I am aware. If you do fall ill with cold/flu symptoms, please let HR know (if you’re comfortable doing that). Eventually when we may have COVID-19 staff member infections, understanding the baseline staff health situation will be beneficial.  

FWIW this work-from-home situation might be a good time to take advantage of online training and learning opportunities:

  • The Observatory has a pool of funds available for professional and technical development; talk to your supervisors about what might be possible. https://info.nrao.edu/hr/Prof-Development/copy_of_Prof-Development
  • Remember that Observatory employees are encouraged to include diversity & inclusion courses in their PEPs. It’s not too late to request this training and add the certificates to Halogen. More information found here: https://info.nrao.edu/do/odi/ODIOnline.
  • If you haven't already done so, please use this time to complete the required annual policy sign-off processes. SABA/Halogen can be accessed from anywhere at: pep.nrao.edu
  • I have read that with people staying at home, blood supplies have been encountering problems. If you feel healthy, you might consider local opportunities to donate.

IMPORTANT: later this week you will all receive an update from HR regarding medical benefits and information, and early next week, HR/Budget will send a note reminding people about the paycodes to be used at the end of next week for ETK.  People without access to computers during this IDOS period need to work closely with their supervisors to remain up-to-date.

The incredible rate of change of our daily lives right now is difficult to comprehend.  Supply chain infrastructure seems to be holding up well, but clearly parts of society (service industries, airlines, education) are going to suffer greatly. We have triggered IDOS at NRAO/GBO on the basis of the school systems at our sites closing; in my opinion, it seems unlikely the schools will return in early April or perhaps at all this year. Let’s hope for the best, but plan for the worst – we all need to be thinking about what this situation means for home, work, life, if it continues for several weeks.  I see strength and resilience all around us, and I think the Observatories are a great example of that, and we need to soldier on.  Let’s get through week #1.

My next note will be Monday March 23rd.  As IDOS continues, issues and concerns will continue to pop up - any staff member with questions, concerns or comments, please contact your supervisor, Department Head, Site Director, or me. The website to coordinate IDOS information is online, and will always contain our latest status: https://info.nrao.edu/covid-19

Tony Beasley