NRAO/GBO update - Dec 28th
Welcome back after the first end-of-year holiday section. The North American NRAO/GBO instruments/support systems are online and performing well. In Chile, ALMA continues restart activities at the Array Operations Site.
We are moving through our work “quiet month” (mid Dec – mid Jan), and I’m pleased to say that our COVID caseload has declined from the numbers we saw in November (employee infections, number of quarantines, etc.). There was some increase in the number of cases after Thanksgiving, but not too bad. Vaccine distribution is underway across the US, although there are still no clear plans/dates available for most of us. We have begun thinking about how we will incorporate vaccination status into our NRAO/GBO workplace precautions, more on that in coming weeks. Everyone is still strongly encouraged to maintain safe practices - avoiding travel and large social events, maintaining physical distances in public, wearing a mask and frequent hand washing. The new infection rate across the US remains very high, with around 200k people being detected positive each day at present. Experts are warning of further surges in infections and deaths arising from holiday activities, so please stay safe, and act responsibly.
The Federal Budget for 2021 was signed over the weekend, and NSF fared reasonably well in it (total funding up a few percent over the previous year). The numbers are consistent with the plans for 2021 we submitted earlier this year, so we’re not expecting any surprises. Routine operations and our development initiatives are generally funded and moving forward, and 2021 is shaping up to be an important year for both Observatories. I’m finding it hard to look back on 2020 objectively… it was a terrible year in so many ways, but some good things also happened. We really were incredibly fortunate to supported by NSF and AUI during the lockdown, and kept safe at work by an extraordinary team effort from everyone. We’ve made long-lasting changes that we needed to make (e.g. improved safety practices, significant teleworking, new modes of operations). But: some have lost friends and relatives to COVID, and education at many levels has been disrupted. We may not know all the plusses and minuses of the year to add up until the pandemic is truly over, perhaps by mid/late summer. I’m not sure if the worst is yet to come across the US (as some predict), but we (NRAO/GBO/AUI) are facing this threat effectively, and I expect our current level of COVID impacts to continue or improve.
If you need COVID information or support, please contact your supervisor, Dept Head, ESS or me. The website containing all our info is: https://info.nrao.edu/covid-19. Thanks as usual to our Safety and Computing teams for keeping us safe and online.
Tony Beasley
